Remember A Day | Become an organ donor and get your Hong Kong driving test earlier: headlines from four decades ago
- A journey back through time to look at significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history
An Italian man suing a television station over an advert for confectionary, and learner drivers in Hong Kong signing up for organ donations in return for earlier tests – these were some of the quirky news stories reported four decades ago this week.
February 18, 1979
● The United States looked likely to impose further restrictions on imports from Hong Kong of textiles and garments following the American government’s agreement to protectionist proposals. The textile trade between the city and the US was already covered by a five-year deal signed in 1977, which was the most restrictive of its kind to be imposed by America and more protectionist than the agreement Hong Kong had with the European Economic Community.
February 19, 1979
● An offended viewer sued the Italian state-run television network for “slander and lying to children”, the Vatican newspaper reported. The paper said the plaintiff, a 29-year-old father, was up in arms over a commercial aired a few weeks earlier claiming that anyone who did not eat a certain brand of sweets was either “a spy or a thief”.