World IN BRIEF : LEBANON : Noted Journalist Kidnaped, Freed

Gunmen kidnaped a prominent journalist in Christian East Beirut and held him for eight hours as fellow journalists protested Christian leader Maj. Gen. Michael Aoun’s restrictions on press freedom. Police said gunmen in civilian garb stormed the apartment of newsman George Hajj, who works for the Christian Falangist newspaper Al Amal, and took him away. He was released unharmed eight hours later and said he had no explanation for his kidnaping. “Here I am free, and no one hurt me,” he told reporters. Meanwhile, Aoun’s soldiers and Syrian troops skirmished in northern Lebanon, interrupting traffic along the highway connecting the northern region with the Christian enclave in Beirut. Police said no casualties were reported.