Tests show American journalist was drunk at time of death

Preliminary blood tests have shown that an American journalist whose body was found in Beirut Sunday was drunk at the time he took the fatal fall from a high walkway on Beirut's Raoushe district.

The National News Agency said on Tuesday that initial blood tests showed John Michael Hall had a 0.56 alcohol level in his blood at the time of his death and a drug level of 0.6.

Hall, 48, was found dead by a fisherman on the Raoushe shore with a broken skull and legs. He had been dead for at least six hours.

The agency quoted unnamed judicial sources as saying there was no evidence of a crime and that Hall either fell by accident or committed suicide. It added investigations were still underway and would take some time. Official autopsy results have yet to be released.

Hall had worked for the English-language Daily Star newspaper in 1983-84 before it closed down. He returned to Beirut from San Francisco two weeks ago and had been working on trial basis at the daily, which resumed publication last year.