News In Brief
| Jerusalem
New pledges for Shamir on forming new cabinet
Israeli Prime Minister-designate Yitzhak Shamir appeared set Tuesday to win a narrow victory in a vote of confidence next Monday after securing fresh pledges of support from seven members of parliament.
Mr. Shamir announced he had postponed forming a new Israeli government until next week. He had intended to call for a parliamentary confidence vote Thursday but backed down when 10 of his coalition members withdrew their support. Official sources said that after eight hours of talks with Shamir Tuesday, the four members of the ultrareligious Agudat Israel Party had agreed to support him after being told he would back their demands for tougher religious laws.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, meanwhile, reported that Maj. Saad Haddad is critically ill in an Israeli hospital. The Lebanese major heads an Israeli-backed militia in south Lebanon.
