Cable briefs

Press, 17 December 1982, Page 6

Cable briefs

Beirut bomb Three people were killed and three injured when a car-bomb exploded outside a hotel in a Christian-con-trolled area of Lebanon. The "Voice of Lebanon" radio said the blast occurred at Safra, on the coast 20km north-east of Beirut in an area dominated by Christian militiamen. — Beirut. Afghan ’quake ■ k severe earthquake has occurred about 160 km from the Afghan capital of Kabul, says a spokesman for the Peshawar Meteorological Station. The epicentre was in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. - Peshawar. Pakistan. Bumper turkey The world's biggest turkey, weighing 35.79 kg, was sold at auction in London for a record price of 5NZ6624. The giant bird outweighted by 99.2 grams the previous record holder which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, was raised, in Britain two years ago. The auction, oh a ship on the River Thames, will aid families of seamen who served in - the Falklands conflict with Argentina, said the British Turkey Federation. The turkey will provide a traditional Christmas dinner for retired sailors at a home in southern England. — London. Weapons clamp The French Government has announced it is setting up a central organisation to tackle a widespread underground trade in illegal explosives and weapons and to prevent their use in bombings and shootings. An Interior Ministry spokesman said that the decision was taken by the Cabinet after a spate of attacks by gunmen in Paris, including the killing of six people and wounding of 22 in a Jewish restaurant. — Paris. Farmers rally About 600 Japanese farmers held a rally to renew their opposition to an expansion of imports quotas and liberalisation of imports of American oranges, beef and other agricultural products. Officials of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-opera-tives, the rally's sponsor, told participants that they had already collected 572,000 signatures in their campaign for 10 million public signatures against the liberalisation of farm product imports. - Tokyo. Script sold The original script of the 1932 Hollywood film classic “King Kong" was sold at auction in London for $U513,700. A book dealer, Charles Sawyer, bought it.for an unnamed American client at Sotheby’s from Penelope, the daughter of the author. Edgar Wallace. - London.