Cable briefs

Press, 12 September 1988, Page 8

Cable briefs

Blind man drives

A blind man completed a charity drive from northern . Scotland to the southernmost tip of England to raise money for the sightless. Peter Wood, aged 45, who lost his sight as a result of diabetes a few years ago, drove a specially designed van with his son and two friends navigating along the 2880 km journey. The trek raised £230,000 ($NZ611,800) for the Royal National Institute for the Blind.—Land’s End. Lee again Singapore announced a new Cabinet on Saturday as the Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, was asked to head the Government for another two years. First Deputy Premier Goh Chok Tong, who announced the new Cabinet with the only key change being in the Foreign Minsaid Mr Lee had accepted his suggestion

that he remain as Prime Minister until a new team was ready to take office in about two years time. — Singapore.

Burmese election Burma’s Parliament yesterday scheduled a multi-party General Election to be held within three months, and President Maung Maung threatened “severe action” against people who defied law and order.— Rangoon:

Diplomat expelled

Britain expelled a Vietnamese diplomat after his embassy said it could not grant a full waiver of immunity to allow his prosecution for allegedly threatening a crowd with a gun. The Foreign Office said in a statement that the Vietnamese third secretary, Khang Than Nhan, will have to leave Britain today. It summoned Vietnamese , Ambassador Tran

to meet Junior Foreign Office Minister Timothy Eggar after police reports that Khang had brandished a gun while confronting demonstrators outside the embassy last Sunday.—London.

Minister dies in crash

Vietnam’s health minister and the Indian Ambassador to Hanoi were among- 75 people killed on Friday when a Vietnamese airliner crashed while approaching Bangkok through a monsoon rainstorm, a Vietnamese diplomat said. The Health Minister, Dang Hoi Xuan, died when the Sovietmade Air Vietnam Tu-134 airliner slammed into a rice field three minutes away from landing at Bangkok’s international airport, a spokesman at the Vietnamese Embassy said. He confirmed that Arun Patwardhan, India’s Ambassador to Hanoi, his wife and 15-year-old son

were among those killed. An Australian, based at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi, was also killed. His name has not yet been released.—Bangkok.

Pope attacks apartheid

Pope John Paul has begun a southern African tour with an attack on apartheid and a plea for all sides in the region’s conflicts to renounce violence. On the plane taking him from Rome to Harare on Saturday for the start of his five-nation tour, the Pontiff called apartheid “a racist vision of human inequality” and said it could not continue. He repeatedly stressed the need for peaceful negotiations, and in a speech to 70 southern African bishops in Harare, he told bishops from South Africa, “Only a negotiated settlement of differences can bring true peace and justice.”—Harare.

Microlight record

A millionaire pilot, Vijay Singhania, aged 49, landed in India to set a record for a flight from Britain in a microlight aircraft. The industrialist completed the journey in 22 days, knocking 12 days off the record set by a British journalist, Brian Milton, last year, a spokesman for the organisers said. Mr Singhania touched down in Ahmadabad in west India’s Gujarat state after a six-hour journey from the Pakistani city of Karachi.— New Delhi. Helicopter crash Fifteen military officers were killed when their helicopter crashed in fog in southern Ethiopia, the official Ethiopian News Agency said. The officers were travelling to a military graduation ceremony when the helicopter crashed into a mountain near Worke in Bale ProAbaba. ~<■