Et Cetera

United Press International is certainly living up to its last name. Bailed out once by a Mexican publisher, the struggling 34-year-old U.S. wire service again avoided dissolution when London-based Middle East Broadcasting Center agreed to purchase it for $3.95 million. The chairman and principal shareholder of MBC is Sheik Walid al-Ibrahim, brother-in-law of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd. The U.P.I. purchase marks the Saudis' first foray into the mainstream American press.