News In Brief

Court told that Israeli sought 'reaction' after assassination

Time correspondent David Halevy, testifying in Ariel Sharon's $50 million libel suit against the magazine, said Wednesday that a general told him the former Israeli defense minister called for ''reaction of some kind'' after the assassination of Lebanon's president-elect, Bashir Gemayel.

Mr. Halevy refused to identify the Israeli general.

General Sharon's suit contends he was libeled by Halevy's report on an Israeli government investigation of the massacre of Palestinian civilians by Christian Lebanese forces during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Israel's Supreme Court rejected a petition by Time magazine Tuesday to see classified documents and cross-examine four key witnesses in its legal battle against Sharon. Time was denied access to the witnesses and documents on grounds that it might damage state security.