News From Abroad in Review in The Sunday Times

Among the other international news items covered that week in the News in Review in The Sunday Times:

• Rubble-strewn Manila was preparing for Philippine independence on July 4. The country was facing huge problems including bombed out cities, a huge debt, an industrial infrastructure that had been wrecked by war and a lack of farm equipment. Measures to provide aid were pending in Congress but, as reported in the main news section, many Filipinos saw provisions providing favorable treatment to American businesses as a limitation on Philippine sovereignty.

• The US appeared to be looking to patch up relations with Argentina. Argentina had been accused of supporting the Axis and harboring Nazi war criminals.

• Shortly after General George C. Marshall had worked out a truce between the Communists and Nationalists in China, hostilities were flaring anew. As Russian troops gradually withdraw from Manchuria, the opposing Chinese armies raced to take control of the areas. Marshall was returning as Truman's special envoy. The fear was that a prolonged struggle would severely strain Soviet-US relations. The Stalinists in the US later would attack Marshall's policy of bolstering democracies and containing the spread of Communism in Europe. The Right Wing, led by Senator Joe McCarthy, would attack him as a Commie stooge for "losing China."

• The voter turnout in Japan was heavy. Women, who had been enfranchised by order of General MacArthur, cast one-third of the vote. Preliminary results showed a strong victory for the conservative parties that supported establishing a constitutional monarchy. The Soviet bloc protested the results in which their allies fared poorly; Communists won only 5 seats in the 466 Diet. The Communists accused the US of election manipulation, a ridiculous charge in light of the relative openness of the vote in contrast with the thick veil of secrecy drawn over political affairs in the Soviet-occupied states. The main issues in the Japanese election were food scarcity, unemployment and rebuilding.

• The League of Nations was meeting in Geneva to disband and turn over their affairs to the United Nations.

• The British Labor government voted to terminate the annuities received by the heirs of Lord Nelson. This marked an end to a long British tradition of richly rewarding its military heroes from the upper ranks of society.