News Currents
THE GULF Iraq handed 10 allied prisoners of war, including a woman, to the Red Cross in Baghdad Monday. Journalists saw the prisoners arrive at the al-Rashid Hotel in a white minibus with closed curtains.... The UN Security Council has committed itself to expediting humanitarian aid to Iraq, with special attention to critical medical, public health, and nutritional needs, but the US and its allies defeated an attempt to further relax a stringent UN trade embargo.... Iraqi fundamentalists in Basra and two o ther southern Iraqi cities are agitating against President Saddam Hussein and have appealed to American-led armies for help in his overthrow.... Saddam made his first public appearance since the Gulf war ended last week by visiting a national war memorial Monday to pray for Iraq's dead.... Syria said Monday Iraqis and Arabs had the right to punish Iraqi leaders for their invasion of Kuwait and the destruction it caused.... Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called for opening a new chapter in the history of t he Arab nation and said pan-Arab security should stem from the Arab states. He offered a nine-point plan to avert future Arab conflicts and said the Palestinian issue was the key to peace and stability in the Middle East.... Iraq said it was pardoning army deserters, draft dodgers, and soldiers who had gone absent without leave, state radio Baghdad reported Monday, quoting a statement by the Revolution Command Council that they had a week to report to their units.
EUROPE
People in Latvia and Estonia voted overwhelmingly for independence in weekend plebiscites affirming the two Baltic republics' wish to secede from the Soviet Union. In Latvia, around 77 percent of the votes cast had been for independence, and in Estonia, 70 percent.... French President Fran,cois Mitterrand Sunday made what diplomats described as his clearest call yet for a Palestinian state. He also proposed that world leaders meet in the UN Sec urity Council to discuss the future of the Middle East.... The Yugoslav republic of Croatia started pulling its police out of the town of Pakrac Sunday after they clashed with the minority Serbian community. The violence was the most serious for several months amid political quarrels between Serbia and Croatia.... Defense Secretary Tom King said Monday he did not expect Britain to keep ground troops in the Gulf as part of any internatio nal peacekeeping force, but added that some British naval or air forces might stay on.
UNITED STATES
Pilots of two planes that crashed in separate incidents Sunday, killing at least 28, may have deliberately steered their aircraft away from buildings to avoid more injuries, witnesses said. A United Airlines Boeing 737 crashed near Colorado Springs and a small Navy jet crashed near Chicago.... Burroughs Wellcome Company has recalled its Sudafed 12-Hour cold-remedy capsules nationwide after a second person died from cyani de-laced capsules, and another person was reported seriously ill.
