Cable briefs

Press, 8 November 1984, Page 10

Cable briefs

Call to Soviets The Soviet Union was urged in the United Nations Human Rights Committee yesterday to allow an international inquiry into allegations that political prisoners are detained in Soviet psychiatric institutions. Sir Vincent Evans, of Britain, and other members of the 18-member watch-dog committee, made the suggestion and said information from “responsible sources” contradicted Soviet assurances that no healthy person was confined in such hospitals.—Geneva. Target unreached Nicaragua’s governing Sandinist National Liberation Front yesterday held 66.8 per cent of the vote in the General Election, but the few opposition parties challenging their rule maintained a better performance than expected. After more that twothirds of the vote was counted, the Sandinists were short of the minimum 70 per cent predicted by the Minis- ’ ter of the Interior, Mr Tomas Borge—Managua. Typhoon toll At least 200 people are feared dead and thousands have been made homeless by a typhoon that swept through the central Philippines on Monday. It left a trail of damage estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars.—Manila. S.A. calmer Tension appeared to be subsiding in South African black communities yesterday after 16 people were killed in riots that engulfed the country’s industrial centre during a 48-hour strike by black workers. Black workers, hit by the economic recession in the white-ruled republic, gave strong support to the strike call by anti-apartheid organisations. Some businesses reported that 90 per cent of their workers were absent—Johannesburg. Soldier ends hijack A Saudi soldier with an axe and other passengers ended an eight-hour ordeal for about 130 people by overpowering two hijackers of a Saudi Arabian TriStar airliner at Teheran’s Mehrabad Airport on Tuesday. He told reporters that he had attacked one hijacker with an axe and threw him off the plane after his attention had been diverted with an offer of blankets, which started a general scuffle.—Teheran.

Curfew lifted Bolivia yesterday lifted a three month old curfew in a major cocaine producing area after deciding to allow peasants to sell a small part of their crop of coca leaves, said officials. The anti-nar-cotics council agreed with peasants of the Chapare region, south-east of La Paz, that growers could freely market the crop from up to 1 hectare each.—La Paz.