News In Brief

Iran warned that radioactive material might be escaping from an unfinished atomic plant damaged in Iraqi air raids Tuesday and asked for radiation experts to be rushed to the area. A senior US official said, however, that only natural uranium was present at the Iranian reactor site, and there is no evidence that radioactive material was released.

Deputy Prime Minister Reza Amrollahi sent an urgent protest note to the International Atomic Energy Agency, describing Iraq's raids as ``a clear violation'' of the UN Charter, international law, and the agency's statute.

Walsh says Iran-contra probe requires time

Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh said yesterday he expects to complete his investigation of the Iran-contra affair soon but not before new documents detailing the arms deals are thoroughly examined. Mr. Walsh declined to discuss what, if any, criminal charges would be brought in the case, and said his investigation ``has its own momentum now,'' independent of what the congressional committees did.

Studying the more than 2,000 pages of Swiss bank records of the arms deals will take additional time, Walsh said.

$30 billion housing bill is turned down by Senate

The Senate followed the leadership of conservative Republicans and rejected Tuesday a compromise $30.6 billion, two-year authorization for housing and urban development programs that President Reagan had threatened to veto as too expensive. The measure, which would have been the first major housing bill in seven years, was taken off the floor by Senate majority leader Robert Byrd (D) of West Virginia after the Senate defeated, 57 to 43, a motion to overcome a procedural objection raised last week by some Republican senators.

Ortega backs Honduras on closing contra bases

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said Tuesday he has agreed to a Honduran plan for dismantling contra bases in that country and will let the rebels run for political office. Speaking after his trip to the US last week, when he proposed a month-long cease-fire, President Ortega stopped off in Mexico City Tuesday and charged that President Reagan's administration did not want to cooperate in Central American peace efforts.

He also told Mexican journalists before returning to Managua that he will demilitarize the border between Honduras and Mexico.

Ousted Soviet party boss gets a ministerial post

Boris Yeltsin, who was ousted a week ago as head of the Moscow Communist Party organization, has been given a top government job with the rank of minister, Tass reported yesterday. Mr. Yeltsin has been appointed first deputy chairman of the newly reorganized Soviet State Committee for Construction, Tass said.

The appointment restores a degree of prestige to Yeltsin, who was ousted from his party post for allegedly putting personal ambitions ahead of the needs of the party and the Soviet people.

US bases in Philippines stage full antiterror drill

American military bases throughout the Philippines were sealed off yesterday and troops rushed to their units in full battle gear in what US officials described as an antiterrorist drill to test security. In other developments, suspected communist rebels killed a Filipino policeman and a Filipino paramilitary officer in separate ambushes.

Korean police disperse protest against Roh

Riot police in South Korea fired tear gas yesterday to disperse about 1,500 students demonstrating against government presidential candidate Roh Tae Woo. Witnesses said about 500 riot police and plainclothesmen stormed Konkuk University in southeastern Seoul, where the protesters held a rally calling for Mr. Roh to quit the country's first free presidential contest in 16 years.

Soweto officials backed by South African forces

South African security forces moved into Johannesburg's Soweto black township yesterday to protect municipal officials trying to break a crippling rent boycott. Officials warned defaulters to pay overdue rents by Friday or face eviction.

Separately, in Johannesburg a court Tuesday rejected an appeal by Zwelakhe Sisulu, a journalist and anti-apartheid activist who was seeking to be released after 11 months in detention without charge.

Greeks fighting US bases in row at Athens embassy

Demonstrators hurling fire bombs and stones clashed with police at the US Embassy in Athens Tuesday and at least 23 people were injured, 18 of them policemen, eyewitnesses said. Disturbances erupted during a march by thousands of workers and students to mark the 14th anniversary of a student uprising that helped bring down the former military dictatorship in Greece.

Many demonstrators chanted anti-American slogans and called for the removal of US bases from Greece. They also demanded Greece's withdrawal from NATO.

President of Djibouti dissolved government

Djibouti's President Hassan Gouled Aptidon dissolved his government Tuesday, a presidential statement said yesterday. The current ministers will continue to run the Horn of Africa country until a new government is formed, the statement said, but it gave no reason for the dissolution and did not indicate whether Mr. Gouled had asked former Prime Minister Barkat Gourad Hamadou to reorganize the government, which had ruled since October 1986.

Algerian Cabinet shift reduces state control

President Benjedid Chadli reorganized his Cabinet Tuesday and announced he was getting rid of the Planning Ministry, which had long supervised the country's economy. The abolition of the Planning Ministry was part of Mr. Benjedid's program to reduce state control of industry and gradually dismantle the ``socialist revolution,'' which guided state policy under his predecessor, the late Houari Boumedienne.

Court seeking settlement on Bhopal takes timeout

An Indian court adjourned hearings yesterday on a settlement with Union Carbide Corporation for the world's worst industrial accident three years ago, which killed 2,400 people. Lawyers, journalists, and families of victims crowded the courthouse in Bhopal where Judge M.W. Deo expressed disappointment at the failure of Union Carbide and the Indian government to reach a settlement.

For the record The Kenyan government yesterday ordered eight American missionaries and one Canadian out of Kenya in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

South African President Botha was quoted yesterday as saying that Pretoria was planning to build its own submarines for the first time, as part of an upgrading of its Navy.

The UN General Assembly, ignoring British objections, issued a new call Tuesday for Anglo-Argentine negotiations on the future of the Falkland Islands.