Organization: Arizona State University
Date: Saturday, 10 Oct 1992 10:59:03 MST
From: <ASRPA@ASUACAD.BITNET>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nepal
Subject:    News from Nepal

                 Copyright 1992 The Economist Newspaper, Ltd.
                                 The Economist

                                October  9, 1992

SECTION: Letters; Pg. 6 (U.K. Edition Pg. 6)

LENGTH: 254 words

HEADLINE: Refugees from Bhutan

BYLINE: JAMES CLAD

DATELINE: Washington, DC

 BODY:
   SIR -- Contrary to what you say in your article on Bhutan (August 29th), the
Bhutanese government does not have a general policy of forced expulsion of
southern Bhutanese people, as the ethnic Nepalese are known in the kingdom.
True, the kingdom alienated the Nepalese minority in the 1980s by attempting to
impose Bhutanese cultural norms on the Hindu Nepalese. It did not, however, ban
the Nepali language, as you suggest, let alone attempt Yugoslav-style "ethnic
cleansing".

   Although the Bhutanese national assembly is appointed, not elected, that does
not make it a rubber-stamp instrument.  More generally, Bhutan's population is
consulted by its peripatetic monarch, a system that, to my mind, may work far
better than  Nepal's  "democratic" government of patronage-hungry politicians
now busily accelerating  Nepal's  already extensive deforestation.
Incidentally, Dzongkha is spoken by considerably more than 20% of Bhutan's
population, while your assertion that just 16% of the population of "original"
Bhutanese is fantastic.

   The black-and-white character of your article ignores the complexity of
Himalayan disputes, in particular demographic pressure by the Nepalese on their
neighbours, not least by the Gurkha Nepalese who demographically overwhelmed the
once-independent kingdom of Sikkim, incorporated into India in 1974.  Bhutanese
anxiety is real and reflects dismay about a changing demographic balance also
apparent in other Himalayan areas in the Indian states of West Bengal, Sikkim
and Assam. 
PAGE    3

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                 Copyright 1992 The Economist Newspaper, Ltd.
                                 The Economist

                                October  9, 1992

SECTION: Letters; Pg. 8 (U.K. Edition Pg. 8)

LENGTH: 322 words

HEADLINE: Refugees from Bhutan

BYLINE: SONAM RABGYE, First secretary, Royal Bhutanese Embassy

DATELINE: Delhi

 BODY:
   SIR -- According to the Bhutan government, you say, the refugees in  Nepal
"are illegal residents and enemies of the nation.  The refugees say their
ancestors have lived in Bhutan for generations." At no time has the government
described the refugees as "enemies of the nation".  It is true that the
government considers many of the refugees as economic migrants who have entered
Bhutan illegally during the past three decades.  It is natural for the refugees
to claim that they have lived in Bhutan for generations in order to bolster
their claim to citizenship.  But the fact is that all Nepalese settlers who
entered Bhutan after January 1st 1959 are illegal residents, and most of the
so-called refugees in  Nepal  fall into this category.

   Your statement that the use of the Nepali language has been banned since
1988, even though it had been used by the king, is false and baseless.  first of
all, the king does not know the Nepali language.  Interpreters are used when he
talks with his ethnic Nepali subjects.  Second, far from the Nepali language
being panned, the official government weekly is published in three languages,
including Nepali, and the government radio station has a daily programme in
Nepali.  The National Assembly of Bhutan not only officially recognizes Nepali
as one of the two languages along with Dzongkha in all its debates, but
simultaneous interpretation in Nepali is provided.  All National Assembly
documents are published in Dzongkha and Nepali.  Your statement that all
candidates for the public service should speak Dzongkha is also erroneous.  In
fact, English is the working language of the administration, except for limited
use of Dzongkha and Nepali in the districts.  You may also be interested to know
that since 1961, when Bhutan opened up to the outside world, English has been
the medium of instruction in all educational institutions in Bhutan, from the
primary stage upwards. 
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                 Copyright 1992 The Economist Newspaper, Ltd.
                                 The Economist

                                October  9, 1992

SECTION: Letters; Pg. 8 (U.K. Edition Pg. 8)

LENGTH: 105 words

HEADLINE: Refugees from Bhutan

BYLINE: DAMBER GURUNG

DATELINE: Clemson, South Carolina

 BODY:
   SIR --  Nepal  has made a genuine humanitarian gesture by giving shelter to
70,000 registered Bhutanese refugees over the past two years. It is obvious that
many more have taken shelter in the homes of relatives in various parts of
northern India and in  Nepal.   When they say their ancestors have inhabited
Bhutan for generations, they are certainly telling the truth.  From  Nepal
myself, I have relatives whose ancestors have been in Bhutan for some two
centuries.

   It is obvious that the rules of Bhutan are systematically attempting to cling
to power, to rule a country which has become one of the poorest in the world. 
PAGE    5

                 12TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.


                    The Xinhua General Overseas News Service

                          Xinhua General News Service

The materials in the Xinhua file were compiled by The Xinhua News Agency. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Xinhua News Agency.

                            OCTOBER  9, 1992, FRIDAY

LENGTH: 151 words

HEADLINE:  nepal  boosts postal services

DATELINE: kathmandu, october 9; ITEM NO: 1009080

 BODY:
   the nepalese government plans to open an area post office at each of the
3,995 village development committees in the coming five years under a program to
extend postal services to the villages.  on the occasion of the world post
day-1992 today, minister of state for information and communications bijaya
kumar gachhedar said, "we should make the postal services standardized and keep
it abreast of the times in keeping with the aspirations of the clients." the
general post office will be improved and money order and postal savings bank
expanded for the development and promotion of postal services, he said.  he said
that the express mail services existing in 14 municipalities of the kingdom will
be made more competitive and such services will be extended to other areas so
that to pave the way for it to upgrade to the international level.  by july 15,
1992,  nepal  has about 2,270 post offices. 
PAGE    6

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                       Copyright 1992 Reuters, Limited
                           The Reuter Library Report

                      October  8, 1992, Thursday, BC cycle

LENGTH: 503 words

HEADLINE: BRITISH TEAM TRIES TO DECODE ''BLACK BOX'' OF EL AL CRASH PLANE

DATELINE: LONDON, Oct 8

 KEYWORD:
DUTCH-CRASH-CENTRE

 BODY:
   British experts started decoding a ''black box'' on Thursday to find out why
a Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed in Amsterdam, drawing on 70 years of expertise
that has made them among the best at their job in the world.

   The El Al plane's flight data recorder was recovered on Wednesday and flown
to the decoding centre in Farnborough, some 50 miles (80 km) southeast of
London.

   Headed by chief inspector Ken Smart, the 30-strong Air Accidents
Investigation Branch (AAIB) has been involved in solving the mysteries behind
many plane crashes in Britain and abroad.

   Based at Farnborough military airport, the AAIB has a state-of-the-art audio
laboratory which enables it to decode even badly damaged tapes to find out what
happened prior to a crash.

   It was the AAIB that found that a bomb had caused the explosion aboard a Pan
Am Boeing 747 above Lockerbie in Scotland in December 1988, killing 270 people.

   It often offers services to foreign authorities and three of its men were in
 Nepal  helping the investigation into the crash of a Pakistani Airlines Airbus
when the Dutch asked for help after the EL Al jet crashed into two Amsterdam
apartment blocks last Sunday.

   ''The flight data recorder is in Farnborough at the moment and it will take
us two to three days before we can report to the Dutch,'' said David Deas,
spokesman for the Department of Transport, which has overall control of the
AAIB.

   ''The recorder looks damaged from the outside, especially on one end, but
that doesn't say anything about the conditions inside,'' he added.

   So-called ''black boxes'' are orange recorders in a sturdy casing situated
near the tail of a plane, the place which in theory is least damaged in a crash.

   The flight data recorder contains all the instrument readings that enable
investigators to recreate step by step what happened up to the crash, while the
cockpit voice data recorder captures the final words of the crew.

   Two British experts who were prominent in the inquiry into the Lockerbie Pan
Am jumbo crash will go to Amsterdam to help Dutch officials in the aftermath of
the El Al disaster, police said.

   John Orr, Deputy Chief Constable of Scotland's Dumfries and Galloway police,
is going at the request of the mayor of Amsterdam, Ed van Thijn.

   Orr, who headed the criminal inquiry into the Pan Am disaster, will be
advising Dutch police on casualty documentation and identification of bodies.

   A police spokesman said: ''Mr Orr has considerable knowledge of all aspects
of disaster work.''

   The senior pathologist in the Lockerbie inquiry is also going to Amsterdam to
help local medical experts.

   Professor Anthony Busuttil of Edinburgh University led a pathology team in
the aftermath of the Lockerbie disaster.

   Residents of Lockerbie have sent a wreath to the Amsterdam suburb of
Bijlmermeer devastated by the crash of the Israeli cargo plane on Sunday.

   The final death toll from the Amsterdam disaster is still not known but it is
expected to be lower than original estimates of around 250.

 TYPE:
International news, analysis, profiles 
PAGE    8

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            Copyright (c) 1992 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
                          Summary of World Broadcasts

                           October  7, 1992, Wednesday

SECTION: Part 3 The Far East; SOUTH ASIA

PAGE: FE/1505/A1/ 1

LENGTH: 186 words

HEADLINE: Nepalese Communist Party leaders received in China

SOURCE: Text

   Xinhua news agency in English 1103 gmt 5 Oct 92

 BODY:
   Song Ping, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China (CCP), met with Man Mohan Adhikari,
Chairman of the Communist Party of  Nepal  (Unified Marxist- Leninist) and his
party here this afternoon [Beijing, 5th October] . In a friendly atmosphere,
both Song and Adhikari exchanged views on further development of the relations
between the two communist parties and issues of common interest. The two leaders
expressed satisfaction with the development of the relations between the two
parties which had been established in 1952, and they hoped that such
relationship will be further enhanced. During the meeting, Song briefed the
visitors on China's ongoing drive of reform and opening to the outside world and
its economic growth. Adhikari said  Nepal  has attached great importance to
China's development and cherished a great hope on it. Jiang Guanghua, deputy
head of the International Liaison Department of the CCP Central Committee,
attended the meeting. Adhikari arrived here on 3rd October as guest of the
Communist Party of China.

                                                                         PAGE
9

                 30TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.


                 Copyright 1992 International Herald Tribune
                          International Herald Tribune

                                October  6, 1992

SECTION: OPINION

LENGTH: 1294 words

HEADLINE: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

 BODY:
    Bhutanese Refugees

    Regarding "Cleansing: The Agony of Bhutan" (Opinion, Sept. 17):

    Kunda Dixit's article is biased. Allow me to give a brief background.

    Bhutan's population of about 600,000 comprises two broad ethnic groups, the
Drukpas of the North, the original inhabitants, and the Lhotshampas of the
South, who are recent immigrants of Nepali origin.

    The first influx of Nepali immigrants into Bhutan took place in the first
half of the 20th century. In 1958, these immigrants were granted Bhutanese
citizenship for the first time, and as a one-time measure only. Over the past
three decades, a continued influx of illegal economic migrants has raised the
number of ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan to almost a third of the total population.

    Bhutan became aware of this serious threat to its stability and security
when agitation by ethnic Nepalis for a separate state was launched by the Gurkha
National Liberation Front in the mid-1980s in neighboring areas of India.

    A nexus of illegal immigrants and a section of the southern Bhutanese people
with vested interests bitterly opposed the efforts of the government to curb
illegal immigration. This is the crux of the problem in Bhutan today. The tide
of illegal immigration, if left unchecked, will reduce the Bhutanese people to a
minority in their own land.

    Having failed to achieve their objectives through violence and terrorism,
the dissident groups devised a novel strategy: to entice as many ethnic Nepalis
as possible, from Bhutan as well as from other areas, to come to camps in
Nepal  and register as "Bhutanese refugees." Their thinking is that once a
serious humanitarian problem is created, both the Nepalese government and the
international community will apply pressure on Bhutan. They would then be able
to return in triumph and dictate terms to the Bhutanese government.

    It is in response to such propaganda that some of the people in southern
Bhutan have been leaving the country in recent months. They are not being
evicted, as Kunda Dixit claimed in the article you published. Those southern
Bhutanese who refuse to be taken in by this propaganda are threatened and
targeted for terrorist raids. As a result, many of them have sought refuge in
the North. If the Bhutanese government was really evicting ethnic Nepalis, they
would hardly seek shelter in the North.

    There is no "cultural cleansing." There has never been any campaign to
"force all citizens to wear the national dress and speak the Dzongkha language."
The policy of promoting the national dress and language was endorsed by the
southern Bhutanese people in large public meetings.

    As to the claim that "up to 50 truckloads of Bhutanese pour into  Nepal
every day," they do not average more than 30 truckloads a month.

    SONAM T. RABGYE.

    First Secretary (Press).

    Royal Bhutanese Embassy.

    New Delhi.

    -
                       Copyright 1992 McGraw-Hill, Inc.
                       Aviation Week and Space Technology

                                October  5, 1992

SECTION: AIR TRANSPORT; Vol. 137, No. 14; Pg. 36

LENGTH: 500 words

HEADLINE: APPROACH AIDS, RADAR LINKED TO  NEPAL  CRASH

DATELINE: HONG KONG/TOKYO

 BODY:
   Investigations are continuing into last week's fatal crash of a Pakistan
International Airlines' Airbus A300 transport during approach to Kathmandu,
Nepal.

   The accident raises safety concerns about the lack of sophisticated approach
aids and radar at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.

   On July 31, a Thai International Airbus A310 crashed into mountains near
Kathmandu, killing 113 passengers and crew. That aircraft was executing a missed
approach procedure after technical problems interrupted its attempt to land at
Tribhuvan.

   All 155 passsengers and 12 crew aboard PIA Flight 268 were killed. The
transport, tail number AP-BCP, was about 9 naut. mi. (10 stat. mi.) from the
airport when it slammed into the Himalayan foothills.

   Weather was cloudy in the mountains with the airport reporting limited,
though acceptable, visibility. The crash occurred at about 2:30 p.m. local time.

   Accident investigators and military troops were still searching late last
week for the flight data recorder. The cockpit voice recorder was quickly
recovered.

   The aircraft was reported 400 meters (1,312-ft.) below the specified
2,900-meter (9,515-ft.) flight path altitude when it went down. There was no
distress call. Last radio contact with the crew was normal, about 10 minutes
before scheduled touchdown time.

   Kathmandu is a difficult approach, located in an oval-shaped valley only
218-sq. miles in area and surrounded by mountains as high as 9,655 ft. Runway
elevation is 4,313 ft. above sea level. Airways to the airport have an
11,500-ft. minimum altitude requirement.

   Pilots must perform a steep, descent before landing on the 10,007-ft.-long
Runway 02. A nondirectional beacon and Vortac with distance measuring equipment
(DME) are located at the airport, but there is no instrument landing system.

   Accident teams now on-site include representatives from Airbus, PIA and the
civil aviation authorities of  Nepal  and Pakistan.

   The Airbus A-300B4 involved in the accident made its first flight on Mar. 23,
1976. It began operations for PIA on Apr. 22, 1986. Total airframe time was five
minutes short of 39,039 hr. at the end of September with 19,167 landings.

   According to airline maintenance records, no recurring or recent mechanical
problems had been experienced with the transport. The aircraft was powered by
two General Electric CF6-50C2 engines.

   FLYING THE FATED A300 were PIA captains Iftikhar Janjua and Hassan Akhtar.
Both were experienced cockpit crew. Janjua, an instructor captain of 24 years,
had 13,180 flight hours and extensive Boeing B707 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10
experience, according to the airline. Neither pilot had any regulatory
violations or were ever cited on their employment record for disciplinary or
rule violations, the airline said.

   The accident comes at a critical time for PIA. The airline is privatizing and
expanding its fleet and routes. It is newly profitable and planning a $
3-billion fleet modernization through the year 2000. 
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                 41ST STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.


                     Copyright 1992 Agence France Presse
                              Agence France Presse

                                October  5, 1992

SECTION: Financial

LENGTH: 774 words

HEADLINE: Casinos could turn  Nepal  into Asia's Las Vegas

DATELINE: KATHMANDU

 BODY:
     Nepal  plans to widen its network of casinos here to cash in on Asia's
weakness for gambling and to turn this Himalayan city into a watering hole for
well-heeled visitors bored with Western spinning wheels.

    While most tourists come for the spectacular mountain scenery, trekking or
are younger Western low-budget travellers with a mystical bent of mind,  Nepal
is eager to draw rich Asians to gamble on top of the world.

    A Hong Kong-based company and an American roulette mogul will set up two new
casinos by November in two of Kathmandu's four luxury hotels which have yet to
set up tables for clients of the coloured chips, executives said.

    "People don't realise the potential of casinos here. A quarter of the
world's population lives in Asia," said Richard Doyal Tuttle, an American who
arrived in  Nepal  16 years ago to open its first government-backed casinos.

    "We are not even counting China," he pointed out speaking of his
multi-million-dollar rake-in industry that every night draws 3,000 gamblers to
the tables of two of Kathmandu's five-star hotels.

    "We don't even attempt headcounts during the daytime," the 52-year-old U.S.
operator said in the posh Soaltee Oberoi hotel's bustling two-tier casino.

    Tuttle's five casinos closed down along with 17 others last year in Sri
Lanka after the opposition said locals were losing too much, shutting the door
to tens of thousands of Asian gamblers who baulked at travelling to gambling
centres such as Macau or to the tables of the distant West.

    "Kathmandu is now the only place where they can find solace ... and lose
some money," said Tuttle, who opened another casino in the city's de'l Annapurna
hotel last June. He pockets 80 percent of its daily stakes, while the remaining
20 percent goes to the hotel.

    Hong Kong's Continental Resorts Pvt. Ltd. and Tuttle's Cannosa firm have
responded to government tenders to set up casinos in Kathmandu's upscale Yak and
Yeti and Everest Hotels on an annual royalty of 200,000 dollars for each
location to the government.

    Cannosa was allowed to open  Nepal's  first casino in 1976 in the Soaltee on
condition that Nepalese would not be allowed in, and managed it taking only 20
percent of the profits. "The new agreements give us an 80 percent slice," he
said.

     "We had five casinos in Sri Lanka but since it changed laws and allowed
locals to play, we closed down. Our contract here is to shut out the Nepalese,"
Tuttle said.

    Nepalese are banned by the government from visiting the casinos out of fears
they would lose too much money, a move that has upset many would-be local
gamblers.

    "I would not be here if there was no money in it," Tuttle said, refusing to
give details of the total profits, rentals and profit shares to the two hotels
or other "service charges".

    Soaltee and Annapurna officials said the added attraction of in-house
casinos have increased occupancy levels at the two hotels by some 15 percent.

    Soaltee plans to expand its casino premises from 5,000 square feet (square
metres) to 40,000 (square metres) for Tuttle's Casino  Nepal  by May 1993, to
earn more through the present 25-year lease to Tuttle, hotel executives said.

    "The casino will also have a nursery and a ladies' lounge," they said, also
referring to plans to keep the elite sequestered from the thousands of budget
tourists here who upset stakes, dump their chips and run after a fast score.

    Casino  Nepal's  270 slot machines clanked Sunday as scores of people poured
over its eight roulette wheels and other tables where baccarat, black jack,
pantoon, flash and rummy buzzed over the drone of dozens of croupiers.

    Gamblers are required to pay 50 percent of the winnings in taxes to the
Nepalese government, but Tuttle said he never gives out the statutory profit
certificates to save his customers' some money. 
PAGE   15

                 50TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.


                    The Xinhua General Overseas News Service

                          Xinhua General News Service

The materials in the Xinhua file were compiled by The Xinhua News Agency. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Xinhua News Agency.

                            OCTOBER  5, 1992, MONDAY

LENGTH: 181 words

HEADLINE: chinese, nepalese communist party leaders meet in beijing

DATELINE: beijing, october 5; ITEM NO: 1005092

 BODY:
   song ping, a standing committee member of the political bureau of the central
committee of the communist party of china (cpc), met with man mohan adhikari,
chairman of the communist party of  nepal  (unified marxist-leninist), and his
party here this afternoon.  in a friendly atmosphere, both song and adhikari
exchanged views on further development of the relations between the two
communist parties and issues of common interest.  the two leaders expressed
satisfaction with the development of the relations between the two parties which
had been established in 1952, and they hoped that such relationship will be
further enhanced.  during the meeting, song briefed the visitors on china's
ongoing drive of reform and opening to the outside world and its economic
growth.  adhikari said  nepal  has attached great importance to china's
development and cherished a great hope on it.  jiang guanghua, deputy head of
the international liaison department of the cpc central committee, attended the
meeting.  adhikari arrived here on october 3 as guest of the communist party of
china. 
PAGE   16

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                     Copyright 1992 Agence France Presse
                              Agence France Presse

                                October  4, 1992

SECTION: News

LENGTH: 294 words

HEADLINE: Jet delayed two days after snake falls into passenger's lap

DATELINE: QUETTA

 BODY:
    A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) jet was delayed here for two days
after a snake fell into a passenger's lap just before takeoff, airport officials
said Sunday.

    They said the A-310 Airbus was taxiing away from the terminal on a scheduled
domestic flight to Karachi on Friday when the snake suddenly fell from a baggage
compartment, causing general panic.

    The flight was postponed, passengers were herded off and a hectic search was
launched for the reptile.

    "The snake jumped from my lap and disappeared under the seats near the
emergency door without harming me," said Ayubullah Khan, an engineer employed by
a private firm.

    Khan and other witnesses said the snake was light brown in colour and
appeared to be more than one foot (30 centimetres) long. It was not known if it
was poisonous.

    The plane was throroughly searched a number of times and fumigation was
carried out but the snake was not found, the officials said.

    The Airbus finally left here Sunday for Karachi with an unspecified number
of passengers, and officials said an inquiry had been ordered to find out how
the snake got aboard.

    While the incident in itself was apparently harmless, its timing -- several
days after a PIA A-300 airbus crashed in  Nepal,  killing 167 people aboard --
was unfortunate for the airline. 
PAGE   17

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                     Copyright 1992 Agence France Presse
                              Agence France Presse

                                October  4, 1992

SECTION: News

LENGTH: 294 words

HEADLINE: Relatives of PIA crash victims hold memorial service in  Nepal

DATELINE: KATHMANDU

 BODY:
    Relatives of many of the 167 victims of the crash of a Pakistan
International Airlines (PIA) jet held a multi-religious service Sunday in memory
of those killed.

    Some 200 relatives from Asian and western countries gathered at the British
embassy as Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu and Moslem clergymen addressed the first
inter-faith memorial held since the tragedy.

    All passengers and crew aboard the PIA A-300 Airbus were killed when it
slammed into a mountain 16 kilometres (10 miles) south of here on Monday.

    Thirty-six Britons were among those killed in the air crash, the second
major air disaster in two months in  Nepal.

    Israeli Ambassador Shlomo Dayan addressed in Hebrew the relatives of several
of the Jewish passengers killed, witnesses said.

    As many relatives broke down and wept openly, clergymen did their best to
console them.

    Fewer than 20 percent of the 153 bodies retrieved from the crash site have
been identified so far.

    An international forensics company hired by PIA to match blood and tissue of
the corpses said it would complete its investigation in four days and then hand
over the bodies.

    An Airbus operated by Thai International Airways crashed here July 31,
killing all 113 people on board. Relatives and officials have so far identified
less than half a dozen of the victims. 
PAGE   18

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                   Copyright 1992 Newspaper Publishing PLC
                                The Independent

                            October  4, 1992, Sunday

SECTION: FOREIGN NEWS PAGE; Page 11

LENGTH: 78 words

HEADLINE: Relatives visit site of crash in  Nepal

 BODY:
    There were tears and prayers as relatives of the 37 British dead in the
 Nepal  air crash witnessed the devastation yesterday, the Press Association
reports. They made their sad pilgrimage to the hillside in a convoy of nine Land
Rovers, then climbed 500ft to the spot. They laid flowers and a wreath among the
debris and lit candles. The 49 relatives and friends are expected back in
Britain this week. About 18 bodies are missing and may never be recovered.

                                                                         PAGE
19

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                      Copyright 1992 Kyodo News Service
                            Japan Economic Newswire

                            OCTOBER  4, 1992, SUNDAY

LENGTH: 114 words

HEADLINE: PIA Airbus' Black Box to Be Deciphered in France

DATELINE: KATHMANDU, Oct. 4 Kyodo

 BODY:
   The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of a Pakistani airliner
that crashed in  Nepal  last Monday will be sent to France for laboratory
analysis, according to  Nepal's  Chief Attorney Prem Bahadur Bista.

   Emerging from the first meeting of a investigative panel Saturday, Bista said
a Nepalese technical team will accompany the black box to France.  Bista heads
the high-level investigation panel investigating the cause of the crash.

   All 167 persons on board the airbus were killed in the crash, which was the
second airbus crash in the Nepalese capital in less than two months.

   A Thai airbus crashed in Kathmandu on July 31, killing all 113 people on
board. 
PAGE   20

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                       Copyright 1992 Reuters, Limited
                           The Reuter Library Report

                       October  4, 1992, Sunday, BC cycle

LENGTH: 139 words

HEADLINE: MEMORIAL SERVICE HELD FOR 167  NEPAL  CRASH VICTIMS

DATELINE: KATHMANDU, Oct 4

 KEYWORD:
 NEPAL -PLANE

 BODY:
   An inter-faith memorial service was held in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu
on Sunday for the 167 victims of the crash of a Pakistan International Airlines
Airbus.

   Dozens of relatives, many of them European, were at the service on the lawn
of the British High Commission (embassy). Representatives of several Christian
sects as well as Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Moslems attended.

   The PIA plane hit a hillside on the southern fringe of the Kathmandu valley
as it came into land on Monday, killing everyone aboard.

   The victims were 36 Britons, 30 Spaniards, 30 Nepalis, 14 Dutch, 14 other
Europeans, 11 Pakistanis, four Bangladeshis, three Americans, two Canadians, one
Japanese, one New Zealandeer and two of unknown nationality. All 19 crew members
were Pakistani.

   An official investigation into the crash is under way.

 TYPE:
International news, analysis, profiles 
PAGE   21

                 67TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.


                 Copyright 1992 The Press Association Limited
                           Press Association Newsfile

                            October  4, 1992, Sunday

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 248 words

HEADLINE: SERVICE FOR  NEPAL  AIR CRASH DEAD

BYLINE:  Shenai Raif, Press Association

 KEYWORD:
AIR; Crash

 BODY:
    An inter-denominational service for the victims of the  Nepal  air crash was
being held at the British Embassy in Kathmandu today.  It comes a day after
relatives of the 37 British dead finally came face to face with the devastation.
They made their sad pilgrimage to the hillside and were shocked to see how
little was left of the Pakistan International Airlines Airbus which smashed on
Monday, killing all 167 people on board.  "They were confronted with a scene of
total devastion at the site," said Dr Andrew Hall, charge d'affaires at the
British Embassy which organised yesterday's trek.  "There were tears as the
relatives comforted one another. They then found the strength to comfort staff
and helpers who were deeply moved by the experience.  "It was a dignified and
deeply moving occasion." Mr Tony Evans, whose nephew Hamdi El-Menshawy, 27, and
his girlfriend Sharon Henson, 25, from Selly Oak, Birmingham, died in the
tragedy, was among the relatives who went to the crash site.  He said: "In the
future, we will be able to look back and feel that we did all that was possible.
By coming out we have been able to see things directly for ourselves." The 49
relatives and friends are expected to start arriving back in Britain later this
week after giving details to undertakers trying to identify the dead.  Some 18
bodies are still missing and may never be recovered.  British air accident
investigators are helping a French team investigate the cause of the accident. 
PAGE   22

                 75TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.


                     Copyright 1992 Agence France Presse
                              Agence France Presse

                                October  3, 1992

SECTION: News

LENGTH: 160 words

HEADLINE: Japanese mission to study  Nepal  airport safety: report

DATELINE: TOKYO

 BODY:
    The Japanese government is to dispatch a research team to  Nepal  to study
ways to improve the safety of Kathmandu airport, Kyodo News Service quoted
officials as saying Saturday.

    Japan decided to organize the study group after two recent airplane crashes
near the airport.

    The nine-member mission, expected to leave for  Nepal  in mid-November, is
to include officials from the transport and foreign ministries and the Japan
International Cooperation Agency, the news agency said.

    A Pakistan International Airline Airbus slammed into a hillside Monday on
its approach to the airport, killing all 167 passengers. The crash was the
second civilian air disaster in  Nepal  in less than two months. A Thai
International Airbus crashed into another hill in July killing all 113 people. 
PAGE   23

                 89TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.


                     Copyright 1992 Agence France Presse
                              Agence France Presse

                                October  2, 1992

SECTION: News

LENGTH: 240 words

HEADLINE:  Nepal  orders official probe into PIA disaster

DATELINE: KATHMANDU

 BODY:
     Nepal,  stunned by two major air disasters in less than two months, ordered
an official investigation Friday into the crash of a Pakistan International
Airlines (PIA) Airbus which killed 167 people.

    A 10-member committee has been named to investigate Monday's crash of PIA
flight PK268 from Karachi to Kathmandu, Radio  Nepal  announced after experts
found the plane's key black box earlier in the day.

    The Nepalese committee is headed by Prem Bahadur Bista,  Nepal's  deputy
attorney general who supervised a similar probe into the July 31 crash here of a
Thai International Airbus that killed all 113 people on board.

    The PIA A-300 slammed head-on into a mountain 16 kilometres (10 miles) south
of Kathmandu while lining up for a landing at Tribhuvan International Airport.

    Experts from Aerospatiale, one of the partners of the French-led European
Airbus consortium, government officials from Paris and the PIA have launched
separate investigations into the accident.

    The government in a separate statement said the investigation would have
three months within which to report, adding all government departments had been
ordered to help the 10-member commission. 
PAGE   24

                 91ST STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.


                      Copyright 1992 Kyodo News Service
                            Japan Economic Newswire

                            OCTOBER  2, 1992, FRIDAY

LENGTH: 234 words

HEADLINE: Nepalese Gov't Appoints Inquiry Commission on Crash

DATELINE: KATHMANDU, Oct. 2 Kyodo

 BODY:
   The Nepalese government Friday created a 10-member commission to investigate
into last Monday's crash of a Pakistan International Airbus.

   According to the Nepalese Tourism Ministry, the commission will be headed by
Chief Attorney Prem Bahadur Bista.

   Director General of the Nepalese Civil Aviation Department Lalit Bickram Shah
has been designated the secretary of the commission, which has been given a
three-month term.

   The commission is authorized to appoint various technical committees under it
and to make use of the services of international experts, the ministry said.

   PIA's Flight PK 268, bound to Kathmandu from Karachi, crashed at Bhattedanda,
south of the capital, killing all 167 people aboard.

   The Nepalese government also has extended the term of the commission
investigating into the crash of a Thai Airbus A 310-300 on July 31, the ministry
said.

   The nine-member commission appointed August 3 initially was to operate for
two months.

   The ministry gave no reason for extending that commission.

   Newspaper reports, however, said the commission was sending its reports to
Thai Airways and makers of the aircraft for their comments, and the comments
would not arrive for two months.

   Flight TG 311 of Thai International with 99 passengers and a crew of 14
crashed at Gyangfedi, north of Kathmandu, killing all aboard.

   The victims included 21 Japanese nationals.                       Copyright
1992 The Jerusalem Post
                               The Jerusalem Post

                            October  2, 1992, Friday

HEADLINE: Experts slam report claiming local airports are unsafe

BYLINE: HAIM SHAPIRO

KEYWORD: Aviation, Structure, Safety, Report, Ben-Gurion Airport

 HIGHLIGHT:
The International Pilots Association has declared three of the country's
airports unsafe, but experts here say the report is outdated.  The report,
quoted by the British newspaper Today, said that Ben-Gurion Airport and those at
Eilat and Uvda in the Arava, are among 140 airports around the world listed as
having safety problems.  The report had been cited by the British Pilots
Association in the wake of the two recent crashes in  Nepal.   That airport,
which does not have radar, was not on the list.

 BODY:
    The International Pilots Association has declared three of the country's
airports unsafe, but experts here say the report is outdated.

   The report, quoted by the British newspaper Today, said that Ben-Gurion
Airport and those at Eilat and Uvda in the Arava, are among 140 airports around
the world listed as having safety problems. The report had been cited by the
British Pilots Association in the wake of the two recent crashes in  Nepal.
That airport, which does not have radar, was not on the list.

   The list also included dozens of European airports, including all of the
airports in Italy, Ireland and Norway, as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco
in the US.

   According to the association, the list is compiled on the basis of reports
from pilots.  Sometimes listing can be the result of a number of relatively
insignificant mishaps, such as a missing landing light.

   Israeli experts immediately dismissed the report as inaccurate.  Gideon Dror,
chairman of the Israel Pilots Association, said that a British journalist took
outdated information from the British Pilots Association without its permission.
He said that the association has since changed its ratings and that Israel has
improved safety at all of its facilities.

   "We are in constant touch with them (civil aviation authorities) and we are
working on improving things," he told Israel Radio.

   Officials said they were unaware of the report.  Acting Airports Authority
spokesman Sara Erez expressed surprise at the accusations, saying the country's
airports had a reputation of being among the safest and the most concerned with
the security of passengers.                        Copyright 1992 Reuters,
Limited
                           The Reuter Library Report
                       October  2, 1992, Friday, BC cycle

   Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci flew to the remote Himalayan
kingdom of Bhutan on Friday along with his film crew and actors to film scenes
for his new movie about Buddha, his spokeswoman said.

   The film has already sparked controversy in Hindu  Nepal,  which has a
substantial population of mostly Tibetan Buddhists.  Buddhist organisations have
objected to the working title of the movie,  ''Little Buddha,'' saying the word
'little' demeans the founder of one of the  world's great religions.

   Buddhist groups met Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas and  Nepal's  Minister
of Communications Vijay Kumar Gachchadar last week to demand a change of title.
''The whole title thing is still under consideration,'' said the spokeswoman,
Dominique Green.

   Bertolucci began filming the story, which is only partly about the life of
the man who founded Buddhism around 2,500 BC, in  Nepal  about two weeks ago.

   Bhutan,  Nepal's  neighbour in the Himalayas, is a mostly Buddhist country
known to its 1.3 million inhabitants as the ''Land of the Thunder Dragon.''
Visitors say the ruggedly beautiful country is only just beginning to emerge
from the middle ages in technological terms.

   Green said the film company would be in Bhutan for three weeks.

   Bertolucci, who directed the 1972 hit ''Last Tango in Paris'' and ''The Last
Emperor'' which won nine academy awards, has declined to comment about the row
over the title.

   The film, which has a budget of around $30 million, stars American Keanu
Reeves in the title role. Reeves is featured in Francis Ford Coppolla's new film
about Dracula and his previous screen credits include ''Dangerous Liaisons'' and
''Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.''

   The film also stars rock star Chris Isaak, who made his film debut with a
minor role in ''Silence of the Lambs.''

   The script has been kept carefully under wraps, possibly because of the
controversy generated just by the title.

   But a knowledgeable source in the production says the plot involves a
reincarnation of an important lama, or Tibetan monastary head, in an American
city. A monk brings the young boy back to the subcontinent to teach him about
Buddhism.

   The film also flashes back to Buddha as the young Prince Siddartha in the
kingdom of Kapilavastu, the source said.

   The film will be wrapped up by the end of this year and is due for release in
December 1993, Green said.  
PAGE   28

                 99TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.


                    Copyright 1992 The Daily Telegraph plc
                              The Daily Telegraph

                            October  2, 1992, Friday

SECTION: INTERNATIONAL; Pg. 13

LENGTH: 561 words

HEADLINE: Tears and fury as air crash families fly in

BYLINE: By Hugo Gurdon in Kathmandu

 BODY:
   FAMILIES of the 38 Britons killed in Monday's Himalayan air crash wept
yesterday as they arrived at Kathmandu airport. Still in shock and exhausted
after a 24-hour journey to the Nepali capital, the 48 grieving relatives were
met by British Embassy staff, who hugged them and cried with them. There was
anger as well as tears. One man grabbed hold of a press photographer and yelled:
"I'll kill you!" Some relatives had children with them. One little girl clutched
a ragged bunch of flowers.

    The Rev Trevor Edworthy, of the International Protestant Congregation of
Kathmandu, said: "I was there to absorb some of their anger and grief, to
support them and pray with them if they wanted. I wanted to befriend them and
show concern and Christian compassion."

   He will conduct a memorial service for all 167 crash victims on Sunday.
British relatives are due to fly home on Monday. A 38th British victim of the
crash was named yesterday as Cathy Statham, 25, a trainee solicitor from Maunby,
North Yorkshire. In addition to counselling and spiritual help, family members
are being offered an escape from the ordeal of identifying the charred and
mutilated remains, which, in accordance with Nepali custom, have been laid out
for public view. Unless the Britons insist on seeing the bodies, Kenyon
Emergency Services, a British company specialising in identifying disaster
victims, will tackle the task instead, matching jewellery, clothing, blood
groups, skin markings or dental records. For two days, the makeshift mortuary at
the airport has been a grotesque show, attracting not only grieving Nepali
relatives but also the idly curious. Mr Archie Hamilton, Minister of State for
the Armed Forces, who is visiting  Nepal,  said yesterday: "We have pointed out
that this cuts across western sensitivities, but it is their way."

    The victims died when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus crashed into
a mountain on its approach to Kathmandu on a flight from Karachi.

   The search continued yesterday for the black box flight recorder. Nepali
officials have blamed pilot error for the crash, while PIA has criticised the
lack of radar-guidance equipment at Kathmandu airport.

    Diplomats persuaded PIA to hire Kenyon Services, and the airline will pass
on the costs to its insurers. Kenyon was already working in Kathmandu after the
Thai Airbus crash in  Nepal  two months ago.

    At a counselling session yesterday, Kenyon's chief executive, Mr Philip
Lewis, warned relatives that the sight of the smashed bodies could be "an
extremely traumatic experience".

    There have been reports of people fainting in the mortuary. By last night,
only one Briton had insisted on seeing the remains. In coming days, Kenyon will
interview all the 48 British relatives in  Nepal.  "Often the interview is a
turning point for relatives," Mr Lewis said. "It seems to make them feel their
journey has been worthwhile."

   Every relative of the Thai crash victims left Kathmandu within days of their
Kenyon interview, having previously wanted to stay, without really knowing why.
Many British victims of this week's crash are expected to be cremated in
Kathmandu, so relatives can carry their ashes home. Some families want to fly
the bodies home for burial if they can be identified.  Nepal  has set aside land
for a mass burial of the bodies disfigured beyond all recognition.