News In Brief

Iraqi warplanes raided an unfinished nuclear power plant yesterday for the second time in three days, Tehran radio reported. Iraq, however, did not confirm the attack. Elsewhere in the Gulf, Iraq claimed it shot down two Iranian warplanes that penetrated Iraqi airspace and said it bombed three tankers off Iran overnight.

Syrian, Iraqi ministers plan to meet in Jordan

Foreign ministers of Syria and Iraq will meet soon in Amman, Jordan, to prepare for a summit between their leaders, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported yesterday. Al-Qabas said the summit would clinch a reconciliation begun at last week's Arab summit in Amman and result in the restoration of diplomatic ties, cut in 1982.

USSR adds data for US on its midrange missiles

The Soviet Union has given the US some details of its medium-range missile arsenal, administration officials said yesterday, in another step toward completion of a treaty to be signed at next month's summit meeting.

An upsurge is reported in Western Sahara fight

Morocco and the Polisario rebels reported a upsurge in fighting in the Western Sahara ahead of the arrival of a US mission to prepare a cease-fire and referendum in the disputed territory. Morocco's Army said 245 guerrillas and 72 Moroccan troops were killed in the battles Wednesday near Farsia and Oum Dreiga.

The Algerian-backed Polisario is fighting Morocco for independence of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony.

S. African forces seal a section of Soweto

South African security forces sealed off and searched a section of Soweto Wednesday night in what they described as one of their biggest crime prevention operations in the all-black township. Troops moved into Soweto to try to break a rent strike that began when the white-led government imposed a state of emergency 16 months ago. There were no reports of violence.

Four are killed in Nigeria in protest over shootings

Four people were killed and more than 30 injured Wednesday night when Nigerian police opened fire on a group of demonstrators. The group, continuing a rally for the third straight day yesterday, was protesting the shootings of two pedestrians by a policeman Tuesday.

African soldiers selected for test of AIDS vaccine

Scientists have earmarked 1,000 Zairean soldiers for the world's first mass human testing of an AIDS vaccine which, if successful, could prevent the disease from spreading, a British television documentary said yesterday. The documentary was made by the first foreign news team allowed into Zaire to report on its AIDS problem.

Salvadorean rebel leaders plan trip to discuss peace

Two Salvadorean rebel leaders, Guillermo Ungo and Rub'en Zamora, say they will return to their country for about a week to discuss ending the seven-year-old civil war. They credited the Central American peace plan for making the visit possible, but said they did not plan any meetings with government officials.

Sri Lankan party fires 2 in Parliament over vote

Sri Lanka's ruling party yesterday fired two Parliament members who abstained from voting on legislation aimed at giving limited autonomy to the island's Tamil minority. Separately, eighteen Indian soldiers held captive by Tamil Tiger guerrillas in northern Sri Lanka for more than a month were set free yesterday, Indian television said.

Amnesty suggests police killed Muslims in India

Amnesty International charged yesterday that police in India may have killed more than 70 unarmed Muslims during riots in May. The report said, however, that both the Indian and state government denied the charges.

19 charged by Manila in the murder of 3 GIs

Nineteen Filipinos were charged yesterday with murdering the three Americans outside Clark Air Base last month, but 18 of them remain at large, police said yesterday. Also yesterday, US military bases ended a drill to test defenses against guerrilla attacks.

For the record

A Chinese Air Force pilot defected to Taiwan yesterday, the Taiwan Air Force said, becoming the 13th pilot to flee China since 1960. The National Organization for Women yesterday vowed to oppose Anthony Kennedy's Supreme Court nomination, saying the nominee is ``a disaster'' on women's issues.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously voted yesterday to cut off all aid to Panama's government unless reforms are instituted and civilian rule restored.

Mubarak Awad, a Palestinian-American political activist, said Wednesday that Israeli authorities ordered him out of the country.