European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 26, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes saturday August 26,1989 strike bound passengers get lift from australian air Force Sydney Australia up i the Royal australian air Force aided by International airlines took to the skies Friday to Rescue thousands of passengers grounded by a pilots strike against Domestic carriers. Travel within Australia was chaotic As the strike turned into a massive Legal tangle with 1,600 Domestic pilots resigning while airlines sought to serve them with writs for violating the terms of their contracts. Airline officials said about 30,000 passengers were affected by the strike the first such labor action against australian air carriers to last More than 24 hours. Eight overseas carriers Cathay Pacific thai International Garda malaysian Continental olym Pic British airways and Singapore airlines that have pickup rights at More than one Airport within stranded passengers on Friday hitch a ride out of Syd Ney Australia on an air Force cargo plane. Australia agreed to Airlift passengers. A spokesman for the foreign carriers said they car ried 2,650 passengers to Domestic Points on thursday. The Royal australian air Force also began carrying civilian passengers Friday after bureaucratic re tape on thursday held up military participation in the Airlift officials said. The transport chaos was triggered wednesday by the pilots strike which was called when they failed to receive a 30 percent pay increase after staging a go slow that limited scheduled flights to a 9 a.m.-to-5 . Period. The pilots resigned in Masse on thursday and the nation s three Domestic carriers Anscott australian airlines and East West began issuing supreme court writs for damages from the pilots for not adhering to the terms of their contracts. Hundreds of passengers have been forced to Fly to neighbouring countries and Back again to other parts of Australia to reach regions of the country normally Only minutes or a few hours away on Domestic carriers. Basketball teams from Perth in Western Australia scheduled to play in Sydney Over the weekend flew to Auckland new zealand on thursday and arrived Fri Day in Sydney in Lime for their games. Businessmen in Darwin in North Australia were flying to the resort Island of Bali to make connections on Indonesia s Garda airline to various australian cities. Interstate trains and buses were Jam packed As tourists tried to Patch together itineraries and Holiday trav Elers and businessmen sought a Way to get Home. The resignations of the pilots activated huge sever Ance payouts from the Domestic carriers which could total $300 million allowing the strikers to survive Dur ing the turmoil caused by their departure. There was some confusion Over whether the airlines had served the writs on the pilots before the mass resignations. Paying out superannuation and leave entitlements to Australia s 1,600 pilots could destabilize the austra Lian share Market and wipe out a year s profit for australian airlines transport analyst Margaret Goroncy said. The president of the australian federation of air pilots Brian Mccarthy said it was his understanding that the pilots had not been terminated but had re signed. Pilots Are prepared for Legal action Mccarthy said but he would not reveal what action the pilots would take. In the writs that were jointly issued by the airlines the statement claimed the Legal action was related to actions by individual pilots that resulted in losses by the airlines. Each of these cases being cited in writs had resulted in the airlines facing heavy unnecessary costs and Legal action was being taken against the individuals concerned seeking  the statement said. Police confiscate flags attack protesters at mass rally in Kiev Moscow a police grabbed National flags away from ukrainians who marched through the re Public s capital of Kiev and attacked protesters at a mass meeting activists said Friday. Police arrested six protesters from the 2,000 at wednesday s March and meeting marking the 50th anniversary of the soviet nazi pact that carved up Poland and the Baltic states ukrainian Helsinki group spokesman Anatoly Dotsenko said. Activist orcs Shevchenko said police were under orders to take away the Aqua and yellow ukrainian flags. He said they beat several people using their fists and in some cases  it was a wild and disgusting sight,1 Shevchenko also from the Helsinki group said in a Telephone inter View from Kiev. No one was reported seriously injured. Dotsenko said that of the six protesters arrested three were released and three were required to pay symbolic fines of $ 16. The protesters had official permission to meet in a City stadium but they were warned by police not to raise National symbols Dotsenko said. He said they defied the order and held up their flags. They also shouted Freedom to the Ukraine and slogans denouncing soviet Power and the Republic s conservative party chief Vladimir v. So Cherbitsky. Mass meetings touting similar slogans were held in the ukrainian cities of Lvov Ivano Frankovsky and Dnepropetrovsk Dotsenko said. In Moscow at least 75 protesters were arrested on wednesday night at an illegal rally in Pushkin Square. In the Baltic republics of Estonia Latvia and Lithuania display of National flags is Legal and common. Hundreds of thousands of Baltic residents took part wednesday in a giant human Chain and a variety of protests and meetings without any reported clashes with police. Reformist movements in the Ukraine lag behind similar groups in the Baltic though. Dotsenko said founding Congress for the ukrainian popular move ment would be held in Kiev on sept. 8 to help organize the Republic s grass roots forces. World today Spain awards 1 St licenses for private to stations Madrid Spain a Media groups associated with private French and italian to inter ests have won two of the first three licenses granted by the government to operate private television stations in Spain. On Friday government spokeswoman Rosa Condo announced the License Grants to canal plus gust vision Tel Cinco and Antenna 3 do  decision Caps a process that began shortly after socialist prime minister Felipe Gonzalez took office in december 1982 and opens the Way for private to broadcasting in Spain Tor the first time since television went on the air in i9s6. Bahrain seeks to Stop decline in Palm Trees Manama Bahrain a the government is trying to halt a Steep decline in Palm Trees on the persian Gulf Island state in recent decades a government official  Mohammed bin Abdul Wahab Al Khalifa director of research for the ministry of com Merce and agriculture said thursday that in the past 30 to 40 years the number of Bahrain s Palm Trees has dwindled from about i million to a Little More than 250,000. The  Prince in Bahrain s ruling family blamed the decline on widespread urbanization the increasing salinity of underground reservoirs and an agricultural trend toward growing  department is studying hybrid fertilization and seeding programs to bolster the Palm Trees he said. 4 killed As Wall collapses after being hit by truck London a four people were killed including three children from the same family when a Wall collapsed after being hit by a truck making a a turn in a driveway police said. Several pedestrians including Carol Croucher and her four children were waiting on the sidewalk for the truck to finish the a turn m South Londo when the vehicle struck the 5-foot Wall police said. About 3 tons of masonry fell on top of them police , 28, and her 9-Ycar-old daughter sur Vived but two daughters Ages 4 and 8, and their 8-month-old brother were killed. Another Pedes Trian by Verlcy Walsh was also  truck Driver was questioned and released without charge police said. Man fined for taking life at slower Pace Pontypridd Wales a Myrddin Thomas was fined thursday for driving too slowly but said he d do it again because the world is going too  53-year-old former Coal Miner was fined $80 by magistrates for driving 20 Mph in a 30 Mph zone creating a two mile line of fuming Drivers behind him. When he was cautioned by police he said he always drives slowly prosecutor Alison Morris told the court. Magistrate Richard Evans told Thomas his driving could cause frustrated motorists behind him to  the ruling the welshman was unrepentant. Sometimes i drive As slowly As 10 Mph but i do it because then i feel Safe. The world is going too fast and it would be better if everyone drove like me he said. Crews making headway against fires near Athens Athens Greece a firefighters backed by water dumping aircraft brought wildfires under partial control Friday As the blazes threat ened to devastate scores of summer cottages an villages 25 Miles North of the capital. Fires broke out thursday in forests near the summer communities of Kap Androli and Varna Vas while another front swept close to Lake Marathon. _. Low flying aircraft dropping tons of water helped bring the fires under control but they were unable to curtail the Blaze near Lake mar athon fire officials said