The World - News from Nov. 1, 1987

Syrian President Hafez Assad has accepted the resignation of Premier Abdel-Raouf Kasm, who had headed the government for almost eight years, and has asked parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud Zubi to form a new government, presidential spokesman Jubran Kuriyeh said. Kasm resigned after Parliament forced out of office four ministers accused of mismanagement in the past four months. Kuriyeh said that Assad appointed Kasm head of the National Security Bureau, a liaison between the leadership of the ruling Baath Party and Syrian security services.