World Notes UNITED NATIONS

For weeks the 158 member countries of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization had been locked in a battle over choosing a new leader. Senegal's Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow, 66, was seeking his third six- year term as UNESCO director-general, despite complaints that his previous stints were characterized by profligate spending and anti-Western bias. The U.S. angrily withdrew from UNESCO in 1984, and Britain pulled out a year later. Last week the organization's executive board chose a compromise candidate, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, 53, a former Spanish Minister for Education and Science and onetime UNESCO deputy director.

Mayor's victory was assured when the Soviets, longtime backers of M'Bow's, told him it was time to step aside. The U.S. and Britain have no immediate plans to rejoin UNESCO, but they will nonetheless be watching Mayor's actions for signs of reform.