News In Brief

American authorities will question three Israelis about their involvement with US Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan J. Pollard, accused of spying for Israel, and the head of the espionage unit will likely be retired, Israeli sources said yesterday. The Americans will question Rafael Eytan, former head of Israeli foreign intelligence operations, and the two diplomats recalled to Israel after Mr. Pollard was arrested Nov. 21. They are Yosef Yagur, the scientific attach'e in the New York consulate, and Ilan Ravid, the deputy scientific attach'e in Washington, the sources said.

American officials said no date had been set for the questioning.

Furloughed Bhopal workers get Union Carbide package

Union Carbide's Indian subsidiary settled claims yesterday by workers furloughed after the poison gas leak that killed several thousand people in the world's worst industrial disaster. A statement said the 627 workers would get a total of $1.8 million for pay, wages, and gratuities due them since authorities officially shut the plant July 11. Compensation for loss of jobs came to about $1,000 per worker.

The Indian general secretary of the Union Carbide Union of Employees said the workers reserved their right to claim further compensation from the American parent company.

Defying gag, Mrs. Mandela speaks at S. African funeral

Banned black nationalist Winnie Mandela defied South Africa's gag order yesterday by appearing and speaking at the mass funeral of 12 blacks killed in a police clash. Mrs. Mandela, wife of jailed guerrilla leader Nelson Mandela, spoke unexpectedly at the graveside after Western diplomats from 11 countries, senior officials of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, and opposition politicians joined an estimated 50,000 mourners in this black township near Pretoria.

No violence at the funeral was reported.

And in Johannesburg, President P. W. Botha lifted the 19-week-old state of emergency in eight of the 38 townships yesterday.

Greek in EgyptAir hijacking is called an unwilling aide

The four terrorists who hijacked the EgyptAir jetliner to Malta forced a Greek passenger at gunpoint to serve food and collect passports, apparently causing the pilot to think there was an additional hijacker, a Malta government spokesman said. The Greek was not identified. Meanwhile, American passenger Jackie Nink Pflug, shot in the head by one of the hijackers, is in good condition and might go home within a week, a US military doctor said from Landstuhl, West Germany.

Leading economic indicators were up again in October

The Commerce Department's index of leading economic indicators, designed to predict the direction of the US economy, reported a rise for the sixth month in a row in October, the department said yesterday. The index rose 0.3 percent in October after gains of 0.4 percent in September and 0.8 percent in August. Government economists said that at least three consecutive gains are generally solid indicators of economic behavior, suggesting that the overall economy will continue to expand.

Israeli troops in Lebanon kill 5 Palestinian rebels

Israeli troops directly supervised by the Army chief of staff killed five Palestinian guerrillas in southern Lebanon yesterday in the Israelis' deepest assault in the area since formally withdrawing last summer. The Israeli force, acting north of a self-declared security zone within southern Lebanon, captured several guerrillas and seized weapons, saying the guerrillas were preparing attacks on Israel, an Army spokesman said.

3 arrested in alleged plot to smuggle US gear to Iran

Retired Turkish Air Force officer Gungor Yengin and two other men have been arrested in what authorities call a plot to smuggle more than $10 million in electronics equipment to Iran for its war against Iraq. The three were arrested Monday night at Port Newark after agreeing to pay US undercover agents $48,000 apiece for 11 Twystron tubes, a critical element of a mobile radar unit the Iranians use to defend their capital, Tehran, from air attacks by neighboring Iraq, a US Customs agent said.

Safety agency asks standard on formaldehyde exposure

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, under pressure from a District of Columbia court, is proposing a new regulation that could result in lowering worker exposure limits to formaldehyde, Labor Department sources said yesterday.

Shultz asks Latin support for US proposal on growth

US Secretary of State George Shultz, speaking at the opening of the Organization of American States' annual assembly yesterday, appealed for Latin America to back a US plan to restore economic growth and stability to heavily indebted nations. Delegates from 31 nations, whose members owe some $360 billion in foreign debt, heard Mr. Shultz elaborate on the plan, which requires wide-ranging economic reforms by debtor nations, including moves to boost the private sector and liberalize restrictions on foreign investment.

Former Teamster chief is ordered to prison

A federal judge ordered Roy Williams, former Teamsters union president, to begin serving a 10-year prison sentence yesterday which his lawyers say he is too ill to serve. Williams was convicted with four others in December 1982 of conspiracy to bribe then-Sen. Howard Cannon (D) of Nevada in an attempt to block legislation opposed by the Teamsters. The judge has refused to reduce the sentence.

Farm income may slip 10% next year, USDA parley told

US Department of Agriculture economists said net farm income could drop 10 percent more in 1986, in a projection released during the department's annual Agricultural Outlook Conference, which continues today. The USDA said net income was expected to be in the range of $25 billion to $29 billion, falling sharply from 1984's $34 billion. It added that US farm exports would continue to drop as large crops in countries such as the Soviet Union and China enter the world market.

2 GE officials acquitted in Pentagon fraud case

Forest Yocum, a top General Electric official, and Thomas Shaw, former high-ranking GE manager of programs engineering, have been acquitted of charges of defrauding the Pentagon of $800,000 on a nuclear warhead contract. The indictment charged the two with conspiring to forge employee time cards and to juggle financial figures to recoup the overruns. systems.

NATO criticizes the Dutch for cutting nuclear support

NATO defense ministers criticized yesterday a unilateral decision by the Netherlands to reduce the nuclear roles of its armed forces and appealed to the Dutch to reconsider, officials said. The ministers accused the Dutch of bowing to antinuclear protest groups in their decision to eliminate two wartime nuclear tasks assigned to its Air Force when US cruise missiles are deployed in the Netherlands in 1988.