Tokyo subway demands payback for nerve-gas attack

TOKYO € Tokyo's main subway company demanded yesterday that a cult pay $1.4 million to cover the costs of cleaning up after a nerve gas attack that killed 12 people.

It was the latest in a series of claims against the Aum Shinri Kyo cult, whose leaders have been accused of masterminding the attack last March 20. Commuters fell gasping and bleeding on the subway platforms, and more than 5,500 people were sickened.

Victims of the gassing have sued the cult for damages. The cult's assets and property have been seized by the authorities and are being liquidated. The subway company's claim was filed with the liquidators.

Taiwan's president earns Nobel Peace Prize nomination

OSLO, Norway € Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui has been nominated for the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his pro-democracy drive. He is among 117 nominees on a final list tallied by Nobel officials this week.

In keeping with its tradition of secrecy, the Norwegian Nobel Committee refused yesterday to confirm the nominees' names.

The known nominees include: President Clinton and his emissary Richard Holbrooke, until recently an assistant secretary of state, for their peace efforts in Bosnia

The peace prize, worth $1 million this year, will be announced in mid-October. The award is presented in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, a Swede who invented dynamite and endowed the prize in his 1895 will.

BBC to run radio station in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia € The British Broadcasting Service will become the first English-language broadcaster to operate a radio studio in Cambodia, a government official said yesterday.

The studio will be used to relay broadcasts from London, the BBC's base of operations.

Khieu Kanharith of the Ministry of Information said Cambodia signed the agreement with the BBC last month. A program schedule has not yet been released.