Cable briefs

Press, 22 January 1988, Page 7

Cable briefs

Fee donation A Hong Kong magazine wwhich has its circulation restricted in Singapore said it would donate the fee from an advertisement paid for by the Singapore Government to a charity in that country. The “Far Eastern Economic Review” said the advertisement is the text of a letter by James Fu Chiao Sian, press secretary to Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, referring to issues now pending in legal action. Mr Lee is suing the “Review,” its editor and one of its journalists for defamation. — Hong Kong. Maid export ban The Philippine Government, concerned over reports of sexual harassment of Filipino maids, said it would bar women from working abroad. A Presidential spokesman, Teodoro Benigno, said a Cabinet meeting had approved a Labour Department suggestion to halt the practice of exporting domestic helpers until corrective measures were taken by host countries. — Manila. Message to hostage The Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, has sent a special radio message to his captive Middle-East envoy, Terry Waite — who was taken hostage in Lebanon a year ago — in the hope that he would hear it. As a day of prayer for Mr Waite began in Britain, Dr Runcie’s message was broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation’s world service. — London. Strad. recovered Tokyo police said they had recovered a stolen Stradivarius violin worth more than $BO,OOO and arrested an American who had been trying to sell it. A police spokesman told Reuters that an international search had been conducted for the violin since it was stolen from a shop in New York last November. He said the arrested American was a dentist named Robert Hwang. — Tokyo. Radio changes Britain plans to licence three new commercial radio stations to break a British Broadcasting Cor-

poration monopoly of national radio, the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, announced. In a radical shakeup of broadcasting, the Government intends also to allow local commercial radio stations to take responsibility for the first time for their transmissions and programming. — London. 75 dead

Rescue workers have recovered 75 bodies from the Niger River, where a boat carrying 150 passengers capsized, a newspaper reported. The “Concord” said the boat capsized and sank shortly after leaving the northern Nigerian port of Yauri. Police officials said 75 other passengers were listed as missing and feared drowned. — Lagos. Writing award A paralysed Irish writer, Christy Nolan, aged 22, awarded one of Britain’s most covered literary prizes, the 1987 Whitbread - Book of the Year, for his acclaimed work, “Under the Eye of the Clock.” Mr Nolan’s thinly-disguised autobiography, typed by means of a “unicorn” stick attached to his forehead, defeated distinguished competition from the winners of four other individual categories, including novelist lan McEwan and poet Seamus Heaney. — London. No more cash Britain’s Conservative Government won an angry parliamentary debate on its health-care record and refused to put more money into the National Health Service, which political opponents say is in crisis. The Government, which holds a 101-seat majority in Parliament, won a vote by 338 to 233 to reject opposition demands for extra money for the 40-year-old State-funded health system. The vote followed the second one-day debate called by the Opposition. — London. Dept head censured The Australian Federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Gerry Hand, censured his department head, Charles Perkins, over recent calls he made for a curb on Souh-East Asian migration to Australia. Mr

Hand said in a statement he ha I emphasised to Mr Perkins that his recent comments on immigration “were totally contrary to Government policy.” — Canberra. Argentinians protest Leftist protesters have charged that concessions granted to' the Armed Forces by the Argentine President, Raul Alfonsin, had led to two military rebellions. Hundreds of demonstrators from Leftist political parties and human rights groups protested outside the Congress building a day after Mr Alfonsin claimed a constitutional victory over the surrender of the renegade, Colonel Aldo Rico, to loyalist forces. — Buenos Aires. Popularity test The Bangladeshi President, Hossain Mohammad Ershad, under mounting Opposition pressure to quit, has said he may call a new Presidential Election to test his popularity. He rejected once again the constant opposition demands that he transfer power to a neutral caretaker Government to ensure honest voting. — Dhaka. ‘Unwise advice’ The Prince of Wales could become a pawn in a power struggle for the throne of Thailand becuse of unwise advice from 10 Downing Street, “Burke’s Peerage” claimed. The Prince and Princess of Wales are to visit Thailand next month, for the King’s 60th birthday celebrations, but according to a Burke’s spokesman, Mr Harold Brooks-Baker, kings in Thailand retire at 60, which means the country must decide on his successor. —London. Pilot’s trial A United States civilian pilot, James Denby, captured by Nicaragua after his plane was forced down last month is to be formally charged at a revolutionary tribunal, a lawyer for the Government said. He declined to specify the charges, but the ruling Left-wing Sandinista Government has previously accused Denby of involvement with United States-backed Nicaraguan Contra rebels. —Managua.