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Squadrons of Syrian tanks rolled into position around the southern suburbs of Beirut last week, their cannon muzzles pointed menacingly at the 16-sq.-mi. enclave. Two Syrian armored brigades, supported by two battalions of President Hafez Assad's elite Special Forces commandos, crouched behind barricades ringing the Shi'ite Muslim slums. Since May 6, fierce battles between rival militias had raged through the streets and alleys, causing many of the area's 250,000 residents to flee. In bloody hand-to-hand combat, the fanatical, pro- Iranian Hizballah had driven the more moderate, Syrian-backed Amal...
...truce was declared Thursday, at least 188 were dead and hundreds more wounded, making it the worst eruption of violence since Syrian troops moved into West Beirut in early 1987. The hostilities left the surprisingly strong Hizballah fighters in control of 70% of the disputed territory, a 16-sq.-mi. district of crowded slums that is home to 250,000 Shi'ites. Fighting was suspended after telephone consultations between Syrian President Hafez Assad and Iranian President Ali Khamenei. But the next day, the fragile alliance between Damascus and Tehran was taxed as Hizballah fighters broke the truce, drawing Syrian troops...
...feuding was over the right to fish for cod in a 33,170-sq.-mi. triangle of the Atlantic that includes the French-owned islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off Canada's coast. France claims a 200-mile economic zone for the islands, while Ottawa recognizes only a twelve-mile limit. Last fall the Canadians cut off the islanders' limited fishing rights in the disputed zone after talks on the issue fell apart. Late last week the two sides met to discuss the appointment of a mediator...
...plans are even grander at Disney World, where the company owns 47 sq. mi. of land. Earthmovers are clearing the way for Typhoon Lagoon, a 50-acre water park where visitors will be able to slide down a 95-ft. mountain, surf on 6-ft. waves and snorkel in pools filled with tropical fish. Opening this fall is the Pleasure Island night-life park, complete with rollerdrome, comedy warehouse, teen video club and jazz saloon. Eisner hopes customers will not remember too well the Pinocchio story, in which visitors to a place called Pleasure Island were turned into donkeys...
...when the agricultural region of Nagorno-Karabakh, three-quarters of whose population is Armenian Christians, was made part of the largely Muslim Azerbaijan Republic. Claiming that they are discriminated against by the Azerbaijani majority, Nagorno- Karabakh's 120,000 Armenians have long wanted to meld their 1,760-sq.-mi. enclave into the Armenian Republic. Earlier this month officials of the Armenian Republic proposed annexing Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous backwater that produces grapes, tobacco and livestock. Moscow rejected the request...