‘was recognised: at last | Armistice violated By WILFRED BURCHETT HANOI > : ‘for the Pathet Lao forces ac- In his jungle headquarters I! heard Prince Souphanouvong, leader of the Resistance forces in Laos, put the blame squarely on the United States for the grave situation which has arisen there. In Laos, one of the three states of Indochina and now an inde- pendent member of the United Nations, a little war is already raging and there is imminent danger of expansion of the con- flict. Prince Souphanouvong re- ceived me in his modest bamboo hut headquarters deep in the jungle-covered mountains. He is a stocky, handsome man, who in youth turned his back on the luxuries of the ‘royal, court, graduated as an’ engineer and worked at a trade in many countries. Aghast at the exploitation of his people and racial discrimin- ation against himself and other! qualified local technicians by | the French colonialists in Indo- china, Souphanouvong joined the revolutionary movement in the forties. He headed the. Liberation! Front which seized power from | the Japanese and French in 1945! and later founded the Pathet Lao forces, which he led in the suc- cessful Resistance war for nine years against French colonial- ism till the independence eee ar’s | Geneva conference. Speaking of the elections, staged by the royal government and held on Christmas Day; Souphanouvong said they “aimed at excluding Pathet Lao and former Resistance members from the national community, at di- viding the nation, transforming Laos into a U.S. colony and a military base for a new war.” With myriad restrictions, aim- ed chiefly at preventing Resis- tance supporters’ voting, only a quarter of a million of the coun- try’s over two million popula- tion were eligible to vote. He, said that on U.S. instruc- tions the royal government re- jected even minimum conditions permitting Pathet Lao to take part in elections. “They rejected our request permitting all those who could read or write to be eligible as voters and candidates,” he said. “They rejected the participation of women in elections. “They rejected everything connected with the letter and spirit of the Geneva agree- ments regarding free general elections, and finally, on Nov- ember 4, the royal government flatly rejected Pathet Lao par- ticipation at all.” Nevertheless, the small National Union party led by Bong Souvannavong, the only one of the four parties participa- ting in the elections to take a stand against U.S. domination and for negotiations with Pathet Lao, polled a substantial vote. Commenting on the armed clashes last month in Sam Neua province, in which many hun- dreds of troops were killed and PathetLaoheadsays U.S. fomenting strife | country.” : total casualties ran to over 1,000, Souphanouvong said: “These two provinces are regroupment areas cording to Article 14 of the Geneva Agreements. “But the royal government on U.S. orders, with U.S. equip- ped troops, continually sent troops-deep into these provinces. Despite cease-fire agreements, signed in March and October last year, the royal government has consistently violated all agreements until this very day.” Asked what was the main obstacle to the stabilisation of peace in Laos, Souphanouvong replied sharply: “The activities of the Ameri- cans and their agents, whose only aim is to sabotage the Geneva agreements, trans- form Laos into a military base for a third world war. Their sabotage of free elections pro- mised at Geneva is just another step in this plan to divide the The Pathet Lao leader recalled that his forces have done every- thing possible scrupulously. to implement the Geneva agree- ments. They withdrew from ten southern provinces and regroup- ed in two northern ones several days ahead of time. All prisoners of war and civil internees were returned to the French or’ royal government. “But the reward for our sincer- ity,” he said angrily, “was that the royal government parachut- ed troops and officers into our rear, started pressganging the youth to try to force them to attack us.” Soviet scientists expect to launch their first space satellite this year. teeter bt se ctr anarmetaane tena eneemen mentee menete| nape enases - . | sol mL Soviets send animals into space, bring them s I made a date today with a poodle, to outer space and return alive. In a few days I hope to report This is not a shaggy dog. story. The poodle is one of a' group of monkeys and dogs rocketed into outer space by Soviet scientists recently. as part of experiments in the launching of an artificial satellite from the earth. eur . Soviet scientists have launched a.number of rockets’ containing these animals and they have penetrated some hundreds of miles into inter-planetary space. The animals returned to earth none the worse for their experi- ence. E Equally important, the instru- ments which accompanied them have returned, too, with valu- able data for the scientists who now regard interplanetary com- munication as a practical possibil- ity in the not-too-distant future. All this and more has been disclosed here by a leading mem- ( ¥UNNAN Re $3 KS f Z Matt ber of the Soviet Commission on Yb: : ie) Hue” i Sglouran eg : ‘STOURANE DFaiFo | SS A MERA | Lt Be — ee? iat este a y © INDOCHINA)@™™ ACAMBODIA\. : ese 605 R aoe > oo, } 2 : Tuyhoa$ Gulf of Siam S 10°. Ee . a tak 7 —; BR ; PNOMPENH ee / ? oa 8 ete Re +8 —_—— This map shows the boundaries fixed by the truce agree-_ ment on Indochina. Pathet.Lao leaders charge the U.S. with fomenting strike in Laos with the aim of breaking the jtruce. ? By SAM RUSSELL ‘ afely back to earth , MOSCOW who claims he is the first dog to make a journey ‘just what the poodle has got to say for himself. Interplanetary | Communication, | Professor Pokrovsky, in a sur- prise New Year statement. According to Prof. Pokrov- sky, it is possible to launch this year an artificial satellite which will revolve round the earth after having overcome the force of gravity. “Recently,” he said, “when we spoke about. the possibility of travelling to the Moon or to Mars, it was regarded as just fantastic. But now we can say that the possibility of inter- planetary communication — has reached the stage of practical reality.” 4 % ot + With this aim in view, Soviet scientists have been concentra- ting on finding out how the human organism would stand up to conditions in outer space— with. the help of the. proudest poodle in Muscovy. } But apparently the poodle and his friends have even greater adventures awaiting them, ‘for the scientists say that their ex- periments with rockets are limited because the flight lasts only a few seconds. And so they are planning to launch a satellite’ which will stay in outer space for some time. Prot. _Pokrovsky explained that so far they know two ways} to build satellites. First, a three-stage rocket which will launch itself in suc- cessive stages’ after leaving the earth. The first two explosions will take the last section of a rocket hundreds of miles from the earth, reaching the speed of 300 miles a minute and, overcoming the force of gravity, circle the earth | in one hour 43 minutes. ‘Soviet . scientists have also worked out a second method by which an artificial meteor is launched by a rocket with an explosive charge of a_ special nature. When the explosion takes place a metallic mass is projected into space and transformed into a meteor.* : If this meteor were as big as a tennis. ball especially powerful telescopes would be needed to observe it. But if it could be made as big as a football then it could be observed by ordinary methods and its value for scien- tific observation would be greatly * enhanced. , The scientists consider that such a football-size satellite would be cheap and easy to make. So they are convinced that they have all the means at their disposal for building and launching it this year. And the poodle will then have played a principal part in one of the most exciting scientific de- 'velopments of the century. Sobell’s lawyers plan to apply for new trial NEW YORK Mrs. Helen Sobell revealed last week that a motion for a new trial—supported by hitherto undisclosed evidence—will be filed on behalf: of her husband, Morton Sobell, before the month is out. f “I can now definitely say that a motion for a new trial for my husband will be filed by his at- torney in the Federal District court here within a month,” she said. ere i Morton Sobell was convicted in 1951 with Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment. He has steadfastly maintained his in- nocence and his wife’s campaign to. obtain a new trial for him has led many public figures in the U.S. to re-examine and ques- tion the evidence and methods by which he was convicted. “The motion will charge the knowing use of perjured tes- timony by the prosecution. It will be supported by documents and affidavits,’ Mrs. Sobell said. “It will bare a most explosive issue.” _ i Asked if new evidence not con- ~ ‘PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 13, 1956 — PAGE 10 tained in the book, The Judgment of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, by John Wexley, which revealed many new facets of the case, would be presented, she replied: “There will be new evidence, as yet completely unrevealed. to the public.” It was this news of the expect- ed date of the forthcoming motion which buoyed up her husband when she visited him, she said. He had consulted with his coun- sel in the 3,000-mile-distant fort- ress of Alcatraz, but it was not until his wife’s visits in Novem- ber and December that he was made aware of the approaching date. ; ; The first of the recent visits was on’ Thanksgiving day, his fourth since his arrival at the nation’s most repressive and fearful prison on Thanksgiving i