Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.inter From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: inter Thu, Mar 12 1992 Date: Thu, 12 Mar 92 05:46:03 EST Message-ID: 03-12 0000 DECISIONLINE: International News USA TODAY Update March 12, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network IRAQ RISKS `ANOTHER TRAGEDY': Iraqi envoys face more stern questioning Thursday after Western nations Wednesday threatened military strikes over Baghdad's game of "cheat and retreat" in its weapons' destruction. By failing to comply with United Nations resolutions following the gulf war, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering said "Iraq risks making ... another tragic and fateful miscalculation." SADDAM MAY BE PLANNING REVENGE: Iraq's Saddam Hussein is using Palestinian terrorist groups to plot revenge attacks on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to former CIA counterterrorism chief Vincent Cannistraro. He says Saddam is "cornered." Attacks are being planned "now," even as Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz meets in New York with the United Nations to seek relief from economic sanctions, he says. USA TO WARN IRAN ON WEAPONS: Secretary of State James Baker, one day after a North Korean ship believed carrying Scud missiles docked in Iran, said Wednesday the USA will soon warn Iran not to move or sell the weapons. "I rather suspect we will pass a message through (the Swiss government) with regard to ballistic missile transfers into the Middle East, letting them know of our concern," Baker said. HOAR TAKES HEAT FOR SCUD SLIP: Marine Corps Gen. J.P. Hoar, head of the Central Command, Wednesday took the blame for the Navy losing track of a North Korean freighter, the Dae Hung Ho, which is thought to have delivered Scud missiles to Iran. "If you are looking for the guy that's responsible for letting the Ho go through ... you're looking at him," Hoar told the House Armed Services Committee. HOUSE OVERRIDES VETO: The House Wednesday voted 357-61 to override President Bush's veto of a bill setting conditions on China's most-favored-nation trade status. Although the vote was in excess of the two-thirds majority needed to override, Bush is virtually certain to win in the Senate, which sent him the bill last month short of the two-thirds needed. FOSSIL FOUND IN NAMIBIA: The discovery of a 13-million-year-old fossil in southern Africa promises to open a new area of Africa for exploring the origin of the human species. Until now, the earliest pre-human fossils have been found in East Africa. The new find, reported in Thursday's Nature, means evolution occurred over a much broader area. MAJOR CALLS FOR APRIL ELECTION: British Prime Minister John Major Wednesday called a general election for April 9, hoping his Conservative Party can win a fourth consecutive term despite being mired in the longest recession in 60 years. The Tories had a discouraging start to the campaign, with financial markets reacting badly to Tuesday's budget plan which included tax cuts but increased government borrowing. 50% CHANCE OF WAR: Azerbaijani Prime Minister Hasan Hasanov predicted Wednesday there was only a 50% chance of avoiding a full-scale war with Armenia over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian Vice President Alexander Rutskoi said weapons from the big Soviet nuclear arsenal remained on the territory of both Azerbaijan and Armenia. MORE BLACKS DIE IN S. AFRICA: Fifteen blacks died in scattered violence near Johannesburg, police said Wednesday, raising the death toll in five days of unrest to 51. The violence, confined to black areas, comes as apprehensive whites prepare for a referendum on Tuesday that asks if they want to end apartheid and share power with the black majority. HONECKER MIGHT GO HOME: Germany and Chile hinted that East German leader Erich Honecker, 79, who has sought shelter in the Chilean Embassy in Moscow to avoid trial in Germany, might finally be sent home. Honecker is accused of issuing shoot-to-kill orders to border guards to stop East Germans from fleeing to the West when his hard-line communist government was still in power. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Thursday at 3208.63, after closing down 22.36 Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 223.55, down 1.47. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 405.85, down 2.69. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 617.14, down 6.32. DOLLAR OPENS MIXED OVERSEAS: The dollar opens mixed on foreign markets Thursday. It opens at 0.5809 British pounds, down from 0.5830; 5.6740 French francs, up from 5.6470; 133.78 Japanese yen, up from 132.92; and 1.6662 German marks, down from 1.6725. (As of 3 p.m. Wednesday. Source: First American Bank of New York.) International News Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM