WORLD IN BRIEF : COMOROS : Mercenaries Crush Popular Uprising

European mercenaries crushed a popular uprising on the Comoros and tightened their grip on the Indian Ocean island group amid rumors of an imminent French expedition to oust them. Hours after street protests erupted against mercenary control of the islands, foreign journalists were expelled to Kenya. Hundreds of Comorans, blaming French mercenaries for the Nov. 26 killing of President Ahmed Abdallah, had marched in the capital, Moroni, to demand that the Europeans leave. Heavily armed guardsmen brought out bazookas and machine guns and clubbed protesters, among them virtually the entire civil service. No shots were fired.