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QATAR. Throughout the 4,400-sq.-mi. desert peninsula in eastern Arabia, the land does not rise higher than 360 ft. above sea level; the average annual rainfall is a scant 4 in., falling mostly in short cloudbursts in winter. Slowly, with great care, a modern state is being built. Qatar is one of the lesser oil producers in the gulf (411,000 bbl. a day), but the population is also small (250,000, of whom only 60,000 are native Qataris). The country has been found to have vast natural gas reserves, though at current prices development is considered...
Almost anywhere in the , wedge-shaped 400-km² (150 sq. mi.) blast zone stretching north of the mountain, all appears to be devastated, a sea of gray volcanic ash. Geologists and biologists believe it will be decades before life comes back to the mountain's highest slopes. Yet lower down, in what looks like a totally forbidding, colorless world, life, incredibly, is returning. Deer tracks have been spotted on otherwise barren slopes; new growths of ferns and skunk cabbage are poking through the ash. Tree sprouts are "coming up beautifully," says John Allen, 72, geology professor emeritus...
...Phalangists appeared to have had at least two goals: to consolidate their hold over a 400-sq.-mi. Christian-dominated area to the north and east of Beirut, and to merge the various Christian militia units into a Phalangist-run "national guard" consisting of 40,000 men. They reportedly offered Camille Chamoun the titular leadership of the new coalition in return for his cooperation. Dany Chamoun accused the Phalangists of "treachery" and of committing "atrocities." His father said nothing, apparently hoping to protect his followers. Already about 300 members of his defeated militia had taken refuge in areas controlled either...
...mi. West Bank has been in almost constant turmoil since the signing of the Camp David accords in September 1978. In the past two months the bloodshed has intensified. Jewish settlers on the West Bank, who constitute about 2% of the population of the region (excluding East Jerusalem), have stepped up their demands for the support of the Israeli authorities, and the government of Prime Minister Menachem Begin has been eager to oblige. When extremist followers of Rabbi Moshe Levinger, founder of the Greater Israel Movement, illegally attempted to re-establish a Jewish presence in the Arab city of Hebron...
...Mount Tambora on Indonesia's Sumbawa Island exploded, ejecting 25 cu. mi. of volcanic material, the greatest amount since ancient times. Whirlwinds and tidal waves killed 12,000, while dust and ash plunged the island into darkness for three days...