News In Brief

Peru declares emergency to head off general strike

The government declared a nationwide state of emergency and suspended civil rights Wednesday in a last-minute effort to stop a general strike set for today. The presidential decree said the 30-day emergency was necessary to ''guarantee social peace and order.''

The General Workers' Confederation, the largest labor coalition in Peru, claiming more than 1 million members, called the one-day national strike for Thursday to demand higher wages and to pressure the government into suspending payments on its $13 billion foreign debt.