Official Newspaper

Forget about those rusting steel mills and polyester clothing factories that the East Bloc's communist governments have put up for sale in attempts to bring in hard currency. Hungary is now accepting bids for its official government daily newspaper, Magyar Hirlap. "We want to obtain editorial independence from the government, implement a desk-top computer editing system and turn Magyar Hirlap into a profitable venture," spokesman Pal Bokor said.

The artist would perch himself on a bench in the town square, sketchbook and pencil in hand. In between doodles of his beloved wife and "Miss Kitty" the pet cat, he'd fill page after page with the other subjects that consumed him: the panhandlers who sat under elm trees hungering for pocket change as lovers strolled to dinner and children played on the grass. Happiness and despair competed for space in the picturesque plaza, as well as in the artist's sketchbook and heart.

Deng Xiaoping, hailed at China's Communist Party Congress last week as the grand architect of economic reform, learned his petit bourgeois ethics as the operator of a small restaurant in Paris, an official newspaper reported Friday. Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News said Deng opened the China Beancurd Shop in June, 1922, to finance his studies in France. Zhou Enlai, who eventually became Communist China's prime minister, gave him the idea, it said.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, staggering under the weight of a national sex scandal, published a stunning editorial in its official newspaper Friday that questioned whether priests should remain celibate. Late Friday, Boston's archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, issued a statement contending the editorial was not intended to question the church's position on celibacy.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, staggering under the weight of a national sex scandal, published a stunning editorial in its official newspaper Friday that questioned whether priests should remain celibate. Late Friday, Boston's archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, issued a statement contending the editorial was not intended to question the church's position on celibacy.

Severe drought has paralyzed Nicaragua's grain production, causing losses worth more than $100 million, the official newspaper Barricada said Thursday.

The chief of one of the Soviet Union's top sports organizations has been fired for being drunk at work, an official newspaper reported Saturday. In a brief report, Sovietsky Sport said G. Khromov had been fired as president of the Zenith sports association for "appearing at the working place in an intoxicated state." Zenith, made up of sports clubs attached to the defense industry, is one of the major national bodies run by official trade unions to provide facilities and supervise sports.

Chinese women university graduates are being fired from their officially assigned jobs because of increasing sex discrimination, an official newspaper said on Friday. Most of a group of 50 fresh graduates sent back to Peking's People's University by dissatisfied employers this summer were women, the Guangming Daily said. Companies gave reasons such as a lack of women's accommodation for the dismissals of highly qualified female economists and lawyers, the newspaper said.

Cuba, blaming shortages in Soviet supplies of newsprint and paper pulp, said today that it is sharply cutting back its national state-run press by turning two dailies into weeklies and suspending an armed forces newspaper. The main official newspaper Granma, representing the views of the ruling Cuban Communist Party, will remain as the only national daily from Monday to Friday with a limited Saturday edition for Havana alone.

Barbara Wiedner, a California grandmother who warily joined a demonstration against nuclear weapons in 1981 and wound up leading an international peace group fueled by maternal grit and love, has died. The founder of Grandmothers for Peace International, Wiedner died of pancreatic cancer Sunday at home in Elk Grove, a Sacramento suburb. She was 72.

Deng Xiaoping, hailed at China's Communist Party Congress last week as the grand architect of economic reform, learned his petit bourgeois ethics as the operator of a small restaurant in Paris, an official newspaper reported Friday. Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News said Deng opened the China Beancurd Shop in June, 1922, to finance his studies in France. Zhou Enlai, who eventually became Communist China's prime minister, gave him the idea, it said.

Cuba, blaming shortages in Soviet supplies of newsprint and paper pulp, said today that it is sharply cutting back its national state-run press by turning two dailies into weeklies and suspending an armed forces newspaper. The main official newspaper Granma, representing the views of the ruling Cuban Communist Party, will remain as the only national daily from Monday to Friday with a limited Saturday edition for Havana alone.

Forget about those rusting steel mills and polyester clothing factories that the East Bloc's communist governments have put up for sale in attempts to bring in hard currency. Hungary is now accepting bids for its official government daily newspaper, Magyar Hirlap. "We want to obtain editorial independence from the government, implement a desk-top computer editing system and turn Magyar Hirlap into a profitable venture," spokesman Pal Bokor said.

Severe drought has paralyzed Nicaragua's grain production, causing losses worth more than $100 million, the official newspaper Barricada said Thursday.

Chinese women university graduates are being fired from their officially assigned jobs because of increasing sex discrimination, an official newspaper said on Friday. Most of a group of 50 fresh graduates sent back to Peking's People's University by dissatisfied employers this summer were women, the Guangming Daily said. Companies gave reasons such as a lack of women's accommodation for the dismissals of highly qualified female economists and lawyers, the newspaper said.

The chief of one of the Soviet Union's top sports organizations has been fired for being drunk at work, an official newspaper reported Saturday. In a brief report, Sovietsky Sport said G. Khromov had been fired as president of the Zenith sports association for "appearing at the working place in an intoxicated state." Zenith, made up of sports clubs attached to the defense industry, is one of the major national bodies run by official trade unions to provide facilities and supervise sports.

The artist would perch himself on a bench in the town square, sketchbook and pencil in hand. In between doodles of his beloved wife and "Miss Kitty" the pet cat, he'd fill page after page with the other subjects that consumed him: the panhandlers who sat under elm trees hungering for pocket change as lovers strolled to dinner and children played on the grass. Happiness and despair competed for space in the picturesque plaza, as well as in the artist's sketchbook and heart.

An overcrowded bus with poor brakes tumbled 250 feet down a mountain slope, killing 44 people and injuring 25, an official newspaper reported Saturday.