European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 05, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday february 1993 world the stars and stripes Page 11 Many thai tanks from . Found to develop cracks " i i from wire reports Bangkok Thailand almost half of More than 100 Stingray Battle tanks bought by the thai army from the United states three years ago have developed faults an army spokesman said thursday. Col. Palan Kura Klah Arn said that of the 106tanks bought for $164 million from .-based Cadillac Gage text Ron 44 have developed cracks. Six of the 44 tanks with problems Are under repair and we Are checking the details on the rest Tosee How the cracks occurred Palan Kura said. He said Cadillac Gage has offered to repair the vehicle without charge. A senior army officer told the Bangkok pos newspaper that the army had been warned before the purchases that the stingrays could develop technical problems. The Model is a prototype which has never Bee used in combat he said. The manufacturer used our army As its testing ground for its product he charged. Drugs instead of pants Rotterdam Netherlands a woman fishing for Blu jeans that blew off her clothesline and into a canal snared a sack of cocaine instead police said wednesday. Rotterdam police spokesman Ger de Jong said the woman was trying to retrieve her Wash monday from the canal behind her apartment Block when she hooked Brown Canvas school bag. The unidentified housewife took the bag to the nearest police station. The watertight package contained a set of Scales a Small bottle of ammonia two Grams of amphetamines and 2.9 pounds of cocaine Worth the equivalent of about $170,000, de Jong said. It s not what you expect to find floating in the canal he said. And she never got her jeans  ., Vietnam renew efforts Bangkok Thailand. . Officials met with their vietnamese counterparts in Hanoi on thursday to plan new efforts to resolve the fates of 2,261 american servicemen missing from the Vietnam War. The two sides have made 21 joint ground searches in Vietnam. The most recent last month completed preliminary investigations of 135 cases in which there was some evidence pointing to the survival of servicemen after their disappearances a . Spokesman it. Col. Dave Fredrikson said in Bangkok. The Hanoi government Hopes its cooperation will bring an end to the economic embargo the United states imposed on Vietnam after the communist takeover of the South in 1975, . Policy is not to normalize relations with Vietnam until a satisfactory accounting has been made of the missing. Honecker trial discontinued Berlin i prosecutors on thursday called a final end to the Case against Erich Honecker after he refused to return from Chile for a resumption of his trial. The former East German Leader is charged with  see no More possibilities that the trial can continue said Chiet prosecutor Christof Schaefgen. The 80-year-old Honecker had been on trial in Berlin for his alleged orders to communist Borde guards to shoot and kill would be escapes from East  trial was abandoned Jan. 13 because Honecker is suffering from liver cancer. Honecker flew to Chile where he now lives with his wife. Last week Berlin judicial authorities said they would ask Honecker to return for a resumption of his trial monday. On tuesday Honecker said head no intention of returning to Berlin claiming he was too sick to travel. Floods kill at least 6 in Iran Nicosia Cyprus heavy storms in Iran Trice red floods that killed at least six people knocked out Bridges swamped villages and Cut Power state run iranian radio reported thursday. The broadcast monitored by the British broadcasting corp., said storms Sank five boats in the persian Gulf and caused the Jarrahi Zohr hand Kashkan Rivers in Western and southwestern Iran to overflow. At least six people were killed or reported missing in the Region. Local residents described the flooding As the worst in 20 years the report said. Rains slow Rescue efforts at death dealing Volcano Legazpi Philippines a heavy Rains thurs Day drenched the area threatened by the Mayon Volca no slowing Rescue operations and raising fears of new deadly landslides like those that occurred in an eruption two Days ago. Twenty five people were hospitalized at a provincial clinic with critical Burns suffered tuesday when the Volcano erupted sending Rivers of steaming debris Cas Cading Down the slopes. In Manila the government health Secretary said most of the 25 had Little Chance of survival. Early thursday the Crater of the 8,077-foot Volcano glowed a deep red before Dawn indicating that magma had reached the surface according to the philippine Institute of volcanology and seismology. Mayon emitted Small amounts of steam and Ash thursday in Wake of nine volcanic quakes one of them fairly Strong that Shook the area late wednesday. \ Volcan Logist a gnus Aguilar said the continued activity could Point to a new eruption of Mayon historically the most Active of the Philippines 21 live Volca noes. Raymundo Punongbayan chief of the volcanology Institute warned that a major eruption could occur with in Days. That prompted the government to order a evacuation of villages within six Miles of the slopes. Mayor Imelda rocks said she expected about 20,000 people to seek emergency shelter. But Many Farmers left their families in the evacuation centers thursday to work their Fields in the danger zone and return to the evacuation centers at night. Government agencies gave conflicting death tolls from tuesday s eruption with the highest put at 45. They included five Burn victims who died after being airlifted to Manila. Simon Perry shows off the tibetan cheese said to be 200 years old in London on wednesday. The British cheese collector is wearing the false Teeth he uses As Host of a children s to show. $ 1,500 cheese Noi fiting to sniff of London a a British collector coughed up More than $1,500 on wednesday for a handful of smelly Brown tibetan cheese that is said to be 200 years old. I have had a Quick sniff of it though and i would t be surprised if it is even older than 200 years said Simon Perry who will add the hardened ounce of cheese to a collection of several thousand cheeses he keeps in the cellar of his House. John Nurden a spokesman for Perry described the cheese As  it s dark Brown. It looks like a dried Chestnut All shrivelled and shrunken Nurden said. ". Perry Host of a children s television show paid 1,058 pounds about $1,555 to outbid Pierre Bruno of Signy cheeses of Normandy for an Assort ment of tibetan artefacts that included a prayer wheel and the cheese. Bruno wanted the cheese for the company s museum rotheby s auctioneers said. Rotheby s said it had not authenticated the age of the cheese though it came with a Label saying tibetan cheese Over 100 years  rotheby s said the Label is about 100 years old As Well. I have always loved cheese Ever since i was a kid and started eating cheese triangles soft cheese wrapped in Triangle shaped foil packets said  i won t be eating this. I imagine it would taste rather unpleasant and anyway it s too value  the cheese was brought to Britain at the turn of the Century by Henry Martyn stumbles who spent three years in Tibet with the tibetan pioneers mis Sion rotheby s said. It was sold by stumbles son the auctioneers said rotheby s spokesman Chris Proudlove said it was the first time that the company had sold a piece of food. Smog prompts traffic ban in Prague Prague czech Republic a police banned car traffic in downtown Prague for the first time in his tory thursday after smog Levels went beyond accepted standards. On wednesday Sulphur dioxide in downtown Prague exceeded the permitted Content of 350 milligrams per cubic meter leading officials to the unusual action. Main roads leading into downtown Prague were blocked by police thursday permitting Only taxis City traffic disabled Drivers and cars using unleaded Gas into downtown. A Large majority of cars in spite of the recent Boom in purchasing Western cars still do not use catalyse is needed for unleaded Gas. According to mayor Milan Kondur the ban should have a psychological effect on the population urging people not to use cars at times of bad weather conditions