News In Brief

Employees at two small shipyards in Gdansk called off strikes yesterday after Solidarity leader Lech Walesa urged workers to end protests against a government plan to close the Lenin Shipyard. Several hundred workers gave up their strike and took down banners at the Wisla Shipyard, and the Repair Shipyard after appeals by Mr. Walesa.

Lebanon's defense chief fires Army commander

Lebanon's Muslim defense chief yesterday, fired the Army's Christian commander, Gen. Michel Aoun, who heads one of the two competing Cabinets in the country. Defense Minister Adel Osseiran made the announcement, which political sources said would formally split the Army and move Lebanon closer to partition. Mr. Osseiran announced the appointment yesterday of Muslim Maj. Gen. Sami Khatib as acting commander of the Lebanese Army. General Khatib, a Sunni Muslim, commanded a mainly Syrian Arab Deterrence Force in Lebanon in 1976 to try to end the civil war.

Sudanese police squad ends hostage drama

A special Sudanese police squad smashed its way into the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Khartoum yesterday and seized an armed man holding hostages, police said. A police officer said a man armed with a knife holding the ambassador and two others was captured and the hostages freed unharmed.

The agency said it appeared that the man had a grievance over rejection of his request for visas for a group of Sudanese shepherds to work in the UAE.

Gulf prisoner exchange may begin next week

Iran and Iraq are expected to begin exchanging sick and wounded prisoners of war on Nov. 20, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday. The Red Cross said it awaited confirmation from both sides that they had agreed on the dates and procedures.

An Iranian delegation spokesman was quoted by IRNA, the Iranian news agency, as saying Tehran had no objection to the proposed date.

Moscow does not back Estonian complaints

Estonian officials failed to win support in Moscow yesterday for their complaints about draft changes to the Soviet Constitution, Tass news agency reported. Leaders of the Baltic republic, including Estonian President Arnold Ruutel and Communist Party ideology chief Indrek Toome, told a commission of the Soviet parliament that the changes would limit the sovereignty of Soviet republics.

``Their position was listened to attentively but it did not find support with the deputies,'' Tass said in a report on the meeting.

The Supreme Soviet is due to approve the amendments to the Soviet Constitution and electoral law at a meeting on Nov. 29.

Greenpeace slams West for exporting toxic wastes

Western industrialized states exported more than 3,650,000 metric tons of toxic waste to the third world and Eastern Europe in the past two years, the Greenpeace environmental group said Tuesday. In a report that coincided with a UN-sponsored Geneva meeting on an international waste disposal treaty, it said this figure was probably just ``the tip of an iceberg.''

Greenpeace listed 143 companies it said were known to have taken part in such toxic waste exports.

Venezuelan protests continue after shootings

Police and demonstrators clashed in two Venezuelan cities Tuesday as protests continued over the killing of 14 civilians by security forces two weeks ago, witnesses said. Police blocked off the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas in the eighth consecutive day of disturbances in the capital.

The disturbances followed the shooting death on Oct. 29 of 14 civilians near the town of El Amparo, near the Colombian border.

Nigerian leader appeals for calm after riots

Military authorities in Sokoto, scene of violent protests against the new paramount leader of Nigerian Muslims, appealed for peace as an uneasy calm returned to the city yesterday. The military governor, Col. Ahmed Daku, demanded an end to the clashes, which erupted Sunday after Ibrahim Dasuki was appointed the 18th sultan of Sokoto.

Nigerians protested because they wanted Mohammadu Maccido to succeed his late father, Sir Siddiq Abubakar, who died Nov. 1 after a 50-year reign as symbolic head of Islam in Nigeria.

B-1B bomber crashes; all four crewmen safe

An Air Force bomber pilot was hailed as a hero for maneuvering his burning B-1B away from houses and trailer parks and into the cow pasture where it crashed after all four crewmen bailed out. The crash in west Texas Tuesday was the third since B-1 aircraft began flying four years ago. Four crewmen died in the earlier accidents.

For the record

Italy will withdraw its five-ship naval task force from the Gulf by the end of the year, the government announced yesterday. South Korean student radicals fought pitched battles with riot police near the home of former President Chun Doo Hwan in Seoul yesterday as they tried to ``arrest'' South Korea's former strong man.

Typhoon Skip left tens of thousands of people homeless after hitting the Philippines, and the death toll from the storm climbed yesterday to at least 90, officials said.

The Christian Science Monitor will not be published on Friday, Nov. 11, a national holiday in the United States.

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