News In Brief

International 'peace ship' out to strip Nicaragua Red label

A ''peace ship'' carrying $2.5 million in aid to Nicaragua is intended to disprove claims that the leftist-run nation is a ''hotbed of communism.'' The mission is headed by George Wald, an American who won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1967. Three other Nobel Prize-winners are among the 16 passengers.

The Swedish-registered freighter is carrying assistance from the governments of Norway and Sweden, the bulk of which consists mostly of medical supplies, fertilizers, and more than 800 tons of newsprint.

Dr. Wald said the ship is also carrying paper on which ballots will be printed for Nicaragua's Nov. 4 election, although, he said, it is ''impossible for a nation to hold free elections while facing a military invasion.''