Radio stations to close

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton plans to close Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, which broadcast to the Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, within two years.

An internal Voice of America document said the two stations, which cost dollars 207m ( pounds 147m) last year, would be phased out as part of Mr Clinton's cost-cutting. According to the VOA memo, Mr Clinton will retain TV Marti, which transmits to Cuba but is largely ineffective because of Cuban jamming. But Mr Clinton will not launch a Radio Free Asia - which was to have been beamed at China and other Asian countries that do not have Western-style democracies - even though such a service was proposed by the Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, during his confirmation hearings.