Cable briefs

Press, 1 February 1988, Page 8

Cable briefs

Women killed

Guerrillas of the Muslim Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) had executed nine Christian women in the southern Phillipines, near Dipolog, Philippine Information Agency (PIA) said. The nine had been executed at the town of Sumisip, in southern Mindanao Island, in retaliation for the death of an MNLF chieftain, his wife and 14-year-old son in a skirmish with the military on January 23, in the nearby province of Sulu, the PIA quoted military sources as saying. — Dipolog. S.A. violence

Six black policemen and one civilian were wounded in the black township of Soweto, near Johannesburg, when "unknown gunmen” opened fire on their vehicles, South African police said. And in the ongoing feud between rival black political groups in settlements near the Natal provincial captial of Pietermaritzburg another two people had been killed, the police said. — Pretoria. Punjab deaths . Sikh militants killed at least four people in a shootout, pushing up the death - toll in separatist linked violence in Punjab this year to 168. The Press Trust of India (PTI) said Sikh gunmen fired indiscriminately m Wadala village in the border district of Amritsar, killing at least four people instantly. The police said about 10 militants shot dead a paramilitary trooper and wounded another during an ambush in Batala arrea of the border district of Gurdaspur. — New Delhi.

Direct rule

The Indian Government sacked the widow of screen idol M. G. Ramachandran as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and imposed ■ direct rule from New Delhi in India’s southernmost state. The decision throws wide open a battle for supremacy between Janaki Ramachandran and her late husband’s former leading lady and close associate, Jayalalitha. President Ramaswamy Venkataraman said he had agreed to a central Government request to impose president’s rule and dissolve the Tamil Nadu assembly following “the breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state.” — New Delhi. Papal audience The Yugoslav Prime Minister, Branko Mikulic, met Pope John Paul for a private audience at the Vatican on Saturday. As is customary with private audiences, the Vatican did not disclose what was discussed at the 30-minute meeting. One Vatican source described the .atmosphere as “very official.” — Vatican City. Refusedniks protest Soviet Jews seeking visas allowing them to emigrate held their largest demonstration in memory, when more than 100 “refusedniks” unfurled banners near the Kremlin wall. Uniformed militiamen and plainclothes KGB agents did not interfere with the demonstration as a member of an international human rights group watched the gathering, held on the plaza in front of the Lenin library. — Moscow.

‘Political ploy’ The French Government was accused of pulling “a political ploy” in nominating April 24 for the next regional election in New Caledonia. It is the same day as the first round of voting in the French Presidential Election. The opposition Socialist Party, which supports President Francois Mitterrand, said the sameday elections would inevitably tie the next President — whoever wins — to adhering to the latest Statute of Autonomy on New Caledonia passed in the French Parliament last month. —Paris. Mine deaths

The death toll in a mining accident in northern Mexico was reduced to 37 as two minders presumed dead turned up to join in a grisly clean-up operation. A spokesman for the mine’s owner, the Government-run Sidermex steel firm, said the toll was cut from an earlier 39 when two miners thought to be trapped about 3.2 km inside the mine were located among the workers still clearing it of debris and trapped victims’ corpses—Monclova, Mexico. ‘Moral decay’ South Africa’s biggest Afrikaner Church has accused jet-setting heart surgeon, Dr Christian Barnard, aged 65, of “moral decay” because of the publicity surrounding his marriage recently to a 24-year-old model. It was his third marriage. The latest edition of the Dutch Reformed Church magazine “Kerkbobe” (Church Message), carried a scathing criticism of his marriage to Karen Setzkorn in Cape Town. — Johannesburg.

Refugee camp fire A woman died and 930 people were left homeless after a fire swept through a camp for Laotian refugees in north-eastern Thailand. The victim was asleep in a medical centre when the fire broke out after midnight in the Ban Napho camp in Nakhon Phanom province. — Bangkok. Abortion change The Supreme Court has struck down Canada’s restrictive abortion law, saying it unconstitutionally interfered with a woman’s right to control her own body. The Justice Minister, Ray Hnatyshyn, said the 5-2 decision was “far reaching” and would affect health care and costs in every province. Antiabortionists promised to fight on by urging Parliament to rewrite the law. — Ottawa. Marcos sale Furniture and antiques from a Manhattan apartment once owned by the former Philippine President, Ferdinand Marcos, were auctioned for almost SUS6OO,OOO ($906,000), much more than expected. Christie’s auction house, which conducted the auction for the Philippine Government, said the 83 items sold for $U5587,180 ($886,640), compared with a preauction estimate of $U5367,100 ($554,321). — New York. Blow-up Turkish family planning officials say free condoms they distributed in the rural south-east were being used as balloons instead of contraceptives. — Ankara.