Hiroshima, Japan: Survivors of the world’s first atomic attack prayed for peace alongside politicians and celebrities Monday on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the dawn of the nuclear age.

The smoldering remains of this once devastated city 440 miles west of Tokyo have been rebuilt into a thriving industrial center of more than 1 million people.

A round of ceremonies and conferences is planned in memory of the nuclear holocaust that struck Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.

La Paz, Bolivia: Congress Monday designated conservative former president Victor Paz Estenssoro runnerup in the July 14 general elections that produced no majority winner, to a fourth term as head of state.

He will succeed center left President Hernan Siles Zuazo, who stepped down a year early under pressure from the opposition because of Bolivia’s economic problems.

Paz Estenssoro, leader of the conservative Nationalist Revolutionary Movement Party, won 94 votes compared to 51 for former president Gen. Hugo Banzer, head of the rightwing Nationalist Democratic Action Party. A total of 79 votes were required for election.

Nairobi, Kenya: More loss of life is “now unavoidable” in at least five famine stricken countries because port congestion has prevented food deliveries to the hardest hit victims before the start of the rainy season, a U.N. relief agency said Monday.

“The international community in the weeks ahead must take whatever actions are possible to accelerate the internal distribution of the aid already pledged,” the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization said.

Remedies recommended by the FAO included the expansion of airlifts and airdrops of supplies to remote areas as well as the airlifting of vehicles, spare parts and railway and port handling equipment.

Beirut, Lebanon: A ship sailing from Cyprus to Beirut sank off the Lebanese coast Monday and army coastal guards and helicopters searched for the missing 13man crew, security sources said. The sources said the ship called “Lawrence” sank 30 miles off the coast but it was not clear how the accident occurred.

Katmandu, Nepal: Janak Nath Pyukhrel, 45, who led a teachers’ strike earlier this year that was suspended following a wave of terrorist bombings, died of cancer Friday in a hospital in India, family sources said Monday.

Pyakhurel, president of the Nepal Teachers Association, led a strike by 60,000 teachers seeking increased salaries and official recognition of their association. He became ill in March while he was being detained.

The U.S.educated teacher called off the walkout after Nepal’s first terrorist bombings in June that left seven dead and 25 injured.

Islamabad, Pakistan: A faction of the Pakistan based Afghan resistance group HizbeIslami  (Islamic Party) has closed its offices in Iran to protest pressure by the Iranian government, the newspaper Jang of Rawalpindi reported Monday. A spokesman for the group confirmed the report but was vague on details.

The newspaper said the closure was ordered by the high command of HizbeIslami, under “constant pressure, noncooperation, insulting behavior and lack of attention” by the Iranian authorities.

Rangoon, Burma: Burma’s ruling political party plans to create the position of party vice chairman to take over some responsibilities of the chairman and act as interim chairman if the post falls vacant.

A draft amendment to the constitution of the Burma Socialist Program Party calling for a vice chairman is being considered by the party congress currently in session in Rangoon.

The Burma Socialist Program Party, the only political party allowed by law to exist in the socialist republic, has been led by U Ne Win, 74, since he founded it 22 years ago, in July 1962.

Katmandu, Nepal: An Indian army expedition this fall will mount the most ambitious Indian attempt on Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, team sources said Monday.

The Indians will mount an assault through the normal southeast ridge as well as on the “hard and dreaded way up the southwest face,” team, members said.

Lt. Col. Prem Chand, 44, said this was the first Indian army attempt of the 29,028foot Everest and the fifth all Indian team. The last time Indians climbed the mountain was in spring 1984.

Manila, Philippines: Three miners were killed on a mud slide inside a copper mine in the central Philippines, the official Philippine News Agency reported Monday.

The news agency said the avalanche, caused by accumulated underground water, took place Sunday in a tunnel of the Atlas Copper Mines outside the port city of Cebu, 350 miles south of Manila.

Rescue workers found the bodies of the three miners buried in the mud.

Bonn, West Germany: The West German government Monday condemned the Moscow youth festival that ended over the weekend as a “communist propaganda show.”

Irmgard Karwatzki, parliamentary state secretary in the ministry for youth, family and health, said the government was justified in refusing to appropriate taxpayers’ money to finance the trips of 500 West Germans to the festival.

“All the efforts of youth representatives from Western countries could not change the fact that the 12th world youth festival was a pure communist propaganda show,” Karwatzki said in a statement.

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 9, 1985