Cable briefs

Press, 23 November 1987, Page 9

Cable briefs

National strike Paramilitary police in trucks equipped with machine-guns patrolled the streets of Dhaka after Bangladeshi Opposition parties vowed to extend a national strike aimed at toppling President Hossain Mohammad Ershad. Police said they expected more clashes on the second day of the 48-hour stoppage. Several homemade bombs filled with metal fragments went off in the capital, Dhaka, on Saturday night, injuring eight policemen and a press photographer. — Dhaka. Greek ship hit Iranian gunners strafed a Greek-flag ship after the United States Navy scared off Iranian warships in another area of the Gulf on Saturday and European warships prepared for a new sweep for mines. Regional shipping sources said machineguns opened fire on the 29,018-tonne Jimilta, headed for Kuwait in ballast, as it passed very close to Farsi Island, a Revolutionary Guards base in the northern Gulf. The cargo ship sent out a Mayday call but was not thought to be badly damaged, the sources said. Farsi-based speedboats have in the past mounted hit-and-run attacks on Gulf ships. — Bahrain. 30-year hunt Police have at last arrested India’s legendary con man, popularly known as Natwarlal, who has been on title run since 1957. Natwarlal, real name Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava and dubbed the grandfather of India’s underworld, was caught in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, Utter Pradesh State, ending the 30-year hunt which spanned seven States. The master trickster has escaped from two maximum-security prisons in the past and was sentenced to a total of 113 years of imprisonment by various Indian courts before 1963. Seven States so far have issued warrants for his arrest. — New Delhi. Third Sikh dies A third man shot in an attack on the leader of a mixed Hindu and Sikh congregation on November 11 died in hospital on Saturday, police said. Satwant Singh Panesar, aged 41, was shot in the chest as he tried to shield a religious leader Darshan Das Vasdev, target of the attack, who was killed. — London.

Inmates riot About 150 inmates at a detention centre for aliens set fire to an administration building during rioting apparently sparked by a United States-Cuban immigration accord. The border patrol chief, Jesse Tabor, said the inmates, mostly Cubans arrived in the United States during the 1980 Martel boatlift. — Oakdale, Louisiana. Ramos accusation The Philippine Armed Forces Chief, Fidel Ramos, accused extreme Right-wing groups in the United States of waging a campaign to discredit him and destabilise the Government of President Corazon Aquino. He told a news conference that American opponents to Aquino were actively lobbying in Washington to weaken her administration. — Manila. Sabotage attempt’ An official from Rajiv Gandhi’s ruling Congress Party said the United States Central Intelligence Agency was trying to sabotage a July peace pact between India and Sri Lanka. The party’s general secretary, K. N. Singh, said the C.I.A. was turning Sinhalese against the agreement. — New Delhi. Palestinian forces The Palestine Liberation Organisation’s chief, Yasser Arafat, was quoted as saying in an interview that Palestinian forces are ready to move to the Gulf to assist any Arab State attacked by Iran. “We proposed to Kuwaiti leaders the immediate movement of Palestinian forces to Kuwait,” he was quoted as saying by the daily newspaper, “AlWatan." — Kuwait. Confidence vote The revived five-party coalition Government of Giovanni Goria on Saturday won the first of two Parliamentary confidence votes after the rapid solution of Italy’s latest political crisis. The vote of 170 for and 109 against followed a two-day session in the Senate (Upper House) of Parliament. The debate moves tomorrow to the Chamber of Deputies. The Chamber will then express its confidence in a key final vote expected on Wednesday and formally end a fiveday episode referred to by some newspapers as the "joke” crisis. — Rome.