Cable briefs

Press, 9 February 1989, Page 8

Cable briefs

Embassy protest Five Chilean unionist sitting-in at the Australian Embassy in Santiago, Chile, had undertaken to leave the embassy in 10 hours, the first secretary, Susan Pascoe, said yesterday. The union leaders were demanding the reinstatement of about 250 Alan Bond-employed Chilean telephone workers.— Canberra. Bomb report A newspaper reported that the explosive device used to blow up the New York-bound Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in was concealed in a radio-cas-

sette recorder and was traced to Frankfurt’s airport. The "Jerusalem Post” quoted unidentified crash investigators as saying the explosive device was similar, but not identical, to one found earlier in the possession of members of Ahmed Jibril’s extremist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.—Jerusalem. Emergency landing A Pan Am jumbo jet carrying 273 passengers from Los Angeles to New York made an emergency landing, here today after losing parts of a landing gear door and an engine

covering. A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the Boeing 747 had just taken off from Los Angeles International Airport when air traffic controllers observed debris falling from the plane.—Los Angeles. Force defended Israel, defending its use of force to quell unrest, has rejected charges made in a United States Government report of a substantial rise in human rights violations in handling the 14-month Palestinian uprising. The State Department’s 1988 human rights report accused Israel of using excessive

force to counter the uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.— Jerusalem. Shorter ceremony? The Japanese Government may shorten the funeral ceremony for Emperor Hirohito out of consideration for foreign guests not used to cold weather, a Foreign Ministry official said. The funeral ceremony on February 24 may be cut by half from the currently planned three hours, he said, adding, “It may be too much for the guests from, countries with mild, warm weather to be exposed to the cold air for long’hours.”—Tokyo.