Freedom Award for Powell:

Former President Ronald Reagan on Tuesday presented his Freedom Award to retired Genera) Colin Powell and both men urged swift passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Reuter reports from Sini Vally.

Powell, who stepped down In September as the 12th chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and is considered a possible future candidate for president, received the award at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in this Los Angles suburb.

UNHCR puts off operation in Lanka:

The United Nation High Commission for Refugees said Wednesday it has suspended all relief operation in the war-torn northern Shri Lanka and pulled out its staff. AP reports from Colombo.

The UN agency, which had two relief centers in northern Shri Lanka accommodating 32,000 people, cited security reasons for evacuating its four representatives on November 9.

The statement noted an anti-UN demonstration by 1,000 people October 30 in front of the Madhu Relief Center for displaced Tamils. The center was not getting adequate supplies of food and basic goods, it said.

Malaysian King in Britain:

Queen Elizabeth 11 welcomed Malaysia's king on Tuesday and declared Britain's determination to work with his country as it develops -into an industrialised nation, AP reports from London.

The queen's daughter Princes Anne and her husband Cmdr Tim Laurence were at Gatwick Airport to meet Sulta'n Azlan Shah and his wife. Tuanku Bainun and traveled with them to London by royal train.

Prime Minister John Major, the queen, and her husband, Prince Philip, met the train at London's Victoria station, and the queen look the visitors to Buckingham Palace in a seven-carriage train. •

Moroccan PM re-appointed:

The current Moroccan Prime Minister, Mohamd Karim Lamranl, was re-appointed to the post Tuesday evening by King Hassan II, an official statement said, AFP reports from Rabat.

Lamrani, 74. who has led an interim administration since August last year pending legislative elections, has been asked to form a new government, the statement said.

The statement said the King had received Lamrani during the day and told him of his decision to appoint him premier, and to name his government as soon aS possible.

Mitterrand S ill:

French President Francois I Mitterrand. 77. cancelled several engagements on Tuesday after suffering a bout of lumbago, officials said, Reuter reports from Paris.

Mitterrand, who suffers from a slow-growth prostate cancer, postponed a meeting with visiting Namibian President Sam ■ Nujoma. .

He also deferred meetings on Tuesday with a trade union leader and the Chilean Senate President.

Former rebel slain in El Salvador:

A former guerilla has been found tortured and shot to death, a leftist group said Tuesday. It brought to 25 the number of ex-rebels killed since El Salvador's civil war ended tn January 1992, AP reports from San Salvador.

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the former rebel movement that has become a political party, says the killings are jeopardising the peace treaty that ended the 12-ycar war.