News Briefs

June 13, 1996
Web posted at: 10:40 p.m. EDT (0240 GMT)

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Hasina leads as Bangladesh faces hung parliament

DHAKA, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Sheikh Hasina of the centrist Awami League was leading Thursday in the race to be Bangladesh's prime minister. But the election outcome was delayed when repolling was ordered in districts where there was violence.

The repolling decision was announced Thursday night, several hours after the Election Commission released preliminary results showing that the Awami League had won 133 of the 300 Parliament seats being contested.

Hasina was well ahead of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It would be the first time in 12 years that the Awami League assumed power.

But to form a government, Hasina will need the support of the Jatiya Party of former military dictator H.M. Ershad, who is serving a 13-year jail term for corruption.

There was sporadic violence in and around 116 polling centers. Despite that, Wednesday's election was praised by foreign observers. Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party won 104 parliamentary seats, while the Jatiya Party won over 30.

Correspondent Anita Pratap contributed to this story.

• Bangladesh election tests future of young democracy - June 12, 1996

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China to ban sales of non-iodized salt

BEIJING (CNN) -- China plans to ban sales of non-iodized salt, treating it as seriously as sales of fake medicine, an official newspaper said Thursday.

Iodine deficiency has been blamed for 80 percent of China's 10 million cases of mental disability. Lack of iodine has been linked to miscarriages, premature births, deafness, muteness, goiter and inadequate brain development in fetuses and children.

Consumers have been killed or poisoned by low-quality salt, which in some cases was produced from industrial waste, according to a report in the Economic Information Daily.

To help combat the problem, the government has ordered factories to produce only iodized salt. It hopes to eliminate iodine-deficiency diseases by 2000.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related sites:

• International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders
• Iodine deficiency consequences
• Iodine (Biological Data)

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