* Beloved Prize: American author Toni Morrison’s...

* Beloved Prize: American author Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved” won the Chianti Ruffino Antico Fattore international literary prize Sunday in Florence, Italy. Award sponsors praised the novel for “giving a voice to the experience of suffering, survival and life of the black population of America and in giving a voice to the feminine experience within the black population.” Morrison was selected from among winners of other national literary prizes.

* Naval Blockade: The Australian sailors in the Persian Gulf are complaining because they do not receive pornographic videotapes sent to them. Defense Support Minister Gordon Bilney told Parliament Monday in Sydney: “Those Middle East countries have very strict regulations as regards the importation of pornographic material.” Australia has two frigates and a supply ship in the gulf. A spokesman for a Canberra adult video mail order firm said Tuesday naval bases were “some of our best clients.”

* Back Again: Hoover-Ball, a game invented to help President Herbert Hoover stay in shape, is returning to the nation’s capital after a 57-year absence. Sen. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.) is sponsoring a Hoover-Ball Capital Classic on Sept. 29 in Washington, D.C. In the game, two three-player teams heave a 6-pound medicine ball over an 8-foot volleyball net.

* Eat It Up: Mr. Olympia Lee Haney, crowned Saturday in Chicago for the seventh consecutive time, says he stays in shape by eating, eating, eating--the right foods. Haney, 30, estimates he gobbles up 4,000 to 5,000 calories a day, 65 to 70% of them carbohydrates. “But most people have bacon or sausage in the morning, a burger for lunch, and before they know it, they have a lot of body fat,” he said. Haney’s latest crown eclipsed the record of six consecutive titles of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.