News In Brief

President Clinton was to meet with House and Senate leaders to discuss the Kosovo conflict and an emergency appropriation to help finance the US share of the military effort. The president is to meet with a larger group of lawmakers on the same subject today. Earlier, he traveled to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., to deliver a message of support to members of the nation's armed forces and their families. The Barksdale base has been sending B-52 and A-10 bombers on missions to Yugoslavia.

US officials said NATO has standby plans to send ground troops into Kosovo, but no intention at this time to implement them. White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, and Defense Secretary William Cohen made comments to this effect on TV talk shows - in apparent response to mounting criticism of US insistence on limiting the NATO offensive to an air war.

US warplanes attacked two surface-to-air missile sites in Iraq's southern no-fly zone after being attacked by antiaircraft artillery, the Defense Department said. Iraqi officials said two people had been killed and nine wounded in the attack. US planes also struck in the zone Saturday and Thursday.

The Justice Department is preparing a critical report on former CIA Director John Deutch - and may revoke his security clearances, Newsweek magazine reported. CIA technicians reportedly found 31 secret files in an unsecured personal computer at Deutch's home shortly after he stepped down as director in December 1996. The Justice Department, investigated for a year before deciding not to file charges, according to the report. During the inquiry, Deutch was reappointed to a panel studying how to combat proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and given top security clearances, Newsweek said.

Two shootings and a stabbing marred the last day of Black College Reunion in Daytona Beach, Fla., but the event was free of the racial conflict some predicted after the city tried to restrict traffic during the gathering. The event drew 100,000 young African-Americans, mostly college students. Last week, a federal judge said the city could not close bridges leading to its oceanfront resort area during Black College Reunion when similar restrictions were not imposed during NASCAR car races and other popular events. Reunion gatherings were largely free of violence until last year, when a shootout ended with a suspect dead and four police officers wounded.

England's Sir Norman Foster was named winner of the annual Pritzker Architecture Prize. Foster, whose creations include Hong Kong's new airport and the Great Court in the British Museum, will receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion June 7 in Berlin. The prestigious award was established by the Hyatt Foundation in 1979.

Spanish golfer Jos Maria Olazabal won the 63rd Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, his second triumph in the event. Olazabal finished at eight under par, two strokes ahead of Davis Love III.

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