Diplomats

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama, underscoring a commitment to more aggressive U.S. diplomacy, named two Democratic heavyweights yesterday as administration envoys to two of the world's most troubled regions. Obama appointed former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, a Maine Democrat, as special envoy to the Middle East and former U.S. Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke as special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Appearing before an audience of senior diplomats at the State Department, Obama said his administration would "actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace" in the Middle East, though "no one doubts the difficulty of the road ahead."

WASHINGTON -- Time has all but run out for NATO to invade Yugoslavia and fight a ground war before the start of the Balkan winter, robbing the West of its greatest threat to President Slobodan Milosevic, alliance diplomats and military officials said yesterday.Though President Clinton insisted last week that "we will not take any option off the table," the calendar is making the decision for him, requiring the United States and its NATO allies to rely on bombing and diplomacy to drive Serbian forces out of Kosovo and allow the return of ethnic Albanian refugees.

THE accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade shattered the cozy notion that the war in the Balkans is some kind of video game of exploding cross hairs. The sight of a grieving Chinese father bidding farewell to his daughter, one of three killed in the embassy, somberly reminded us of that.Within hours of the bombing, the public was besieged with expert opinions on the deadly error. The usual CIA-bashers found new energy for their theme that the intelligence agency is a bloated collection of incompetents and misfits so out of touch with the real world that they cannot even pull the correct address of the Chinese Embassy off the Internet.

UNITED NATIONS -- While the conflict in Kosovo has played out, diplomats have quietly been trying to address problems in another trouble spot: Iraq.A new proposal making the rounds at the United Nations would allow suspension of some economic sanctions against Iraq if the country opens itself to inspection by a new U.N. agency.The agency, the United Nations Commission on Inspection and Monitoring (UNCIM), would, according to a proposal being circulated by British and Dutch diplomats, take over all "assets, liabilities, staff and archives" of the controversial U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Fears of a military clash between Iran and Afghanistan rose to new levels yesterday as the Afghan Taliban militia announced it had taken control of an opposition stronghold with strong ties to Iran.Mullah Wakil Ahmad, chief spokesman for the Taliban, said its forces had seized Bamian, a town in central Afghanistan that is the capital of the country's Shiite Muslim minority.Afghanistan's Shiite community, which numbers more than 600,000, maintains strong spiritual and political ties with Iran, whose population is predominantly Shiite.

WASHINGTON -- Outlines are emerging of how Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime might return to the international community sooner than expected -- economically stronger and with greater influence in the gulf region and beyond.And possibly with some of its capacity to build weapons of mass destruction still intact.Bit by bit, the United Nations Security Council is loosening the tethers that have impoverished ordinary Iraqis for seven years, allowing Baghdad to import a rising number of goods and to refurbish its once-thriving oil industry.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's foreign policy team is preparing twin diplomatic campaigns in the coming weeks to line up support for possible military action against Iraq and to try to renew stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and others plan trips to Europe and the Mideast in pursuit of the initiatives.But the administration faces a tough selling job on both fronts.Important members of the United Nations Security Council -- France, Russia and China -- oppose the use of air strikes against Iraq to force Saddam Hussein to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.

WASHINGTON -- If Saddam Hussein ever breaks free of the international punishment imposed after his 1990 invasion of Kuwait, he will owe a debt of gratitude to Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Sergei V. Lavrov.Lavrov has choreographed what diplomats say is Russia's sustained challenge to United Nations inspectors whose job it is to find and destroy Iraq's chemical and biological arms and missiles. France, China and Russia, working through Lavrov's skill, have nudged the Security Council to ease pressure on Baghdad.

"Right now we're all feeling pretty good. Proud," says the sailor on the USS Independence, on station in the Persian Gulf. "It seems like we made a difference, definitely. We think we did a good job, knowing everything is working out."He's Stephen Stolte, 24, an aviation electronics technician third class from Catonsville, and one of the Marylanders among the 33,000 U.S. troops playing a tense waiting game in the gulf while diplomats play tug-of-war with Saddam Hussein.Stolte's been assigned to the Independence for four years.

UNITED NATIONS -- Armed with spy-plane and satellite photographs never before shown to diplomats, U.N. arms inspectors yesterday gave the Security Council a daylong display of evidence that they have gathered in an attempt to counter Iraq's contentions that it has disarmed and deserves to have sanctions lifted.An unexpected second day of briefings will be held today.U.S. envoy encouragedBill Richardson, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said he was encouraged by the presentation, which began while a small group of American protesters marched outside the U.N. headquarters and called for an end to the embargo imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama, underscoring a commitment to more aggressive U.S. diplomacy, named two Democratic heavyweights yesterday as administration envoys to two of the world's most troubled regions. Obama appointed former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, a Maine Democrat, as special envoy to the Middle East and former U.S. Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke as special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Appearing before an audience of senior diplomats at the State Department, Obama said his administration would "actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace" in the Middle East, though "no one doubts the difficulty of the road ahead."

Racial blood pressure disparity kills 8,000 ATLANTA: The lives of nearly 8,000 black Americans could be saved each year if doctors could bring their average blood pressure down to the average level of whites, a new study indicates. The study, released yesterday in the Annals of Family Medicine, is being called the first to calculate the racial disparities in lives lost to blood pressure control. "We expected it to be big, but it was even larger than we anticipated," said lead author Dr. Kevin Fiscella of the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry.

SALISBURY -- At the Spring Fling lacrosse event two weeks ago in West Palm Beach, Fla., the No. 2 Salisbury women played only one game, but, more importantly, they scouted their top competition - No. 1 Franklin & Marshall. Not that the Sea Gulls had forgotten about Franklin & Marshall. After all, they lost to the Diplomats in last year's Division III national championship. The Sea Gulls just wanted to see what was new. Yesterday, they put what they learned to good use with a strong defensive effort and smart offense down the stretch.

What could be better than winning a national championship? For Franklin & Marshall, looking back on last year's 21-0 Division III championship season, the answer might be having almost everybody back. The No. 1 Diplomats, from Lancaster, Pa., won their first national women's lacrosse title, 11-8, over Salisbury, with seven sophomore and two freshman starters. "We have only one senior, so we still have a really young team. We're just trying to develop more as a team as we go," said Diplomats coach Anne Phillips, whose team has won 27 straight games.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The circumstances of Benazir Bhutto's assassination suggest either that Islamic militants based in Pakistan are able to act with near-total impunity, or that elements within the government of President Pervez Musharraf have been complicit in attacks, or both, analysts and Western diplomats say. The government's version of events surrounding the attack that killed the popular former prime minister Thursday raises many more questions...

Since the Kosovo problem began back in 1912, 1981, 1989 or 1998 (take your pick), no one would - or should - be foolish enough to predict that we are now entering the Kosovo endgame. However, it is clear that one chapter in this tortuous story is closing and a new one opening. Beginning today in the Austrian spa of Baden, Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders are meeting for one last time under the aegis of the Troika of mediators from the U.S., Russia and the European Union. No one expects any significant results.

The complaints by diplomats at the State Department over the possibility of "directed assignments" to Baghdad provides a window into what should be a central debate regarding the future of American foreign policy: Who should be the face of America? The State Department, like the military, is home to many of America's best and brightest. Foreign Service officers swear an oath to the Constitution and commit to a life of national service. Many volunteer to serve in war zones and other hardship posts.

LONDON -- U.S. and European diplomats prepared yesterday to consider possible new sanctions in the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, even as Iran's top nuclear negotiator signaled again that Tehran would be willing to engage in "constructive and logical" negotiations with the U.S. As representatives of the U.N. Security Council nations plus Germany met here in the wake of Iran's latest refusal to halt its uranium-enrichment efforts, there were signs...

The secretary of state commenting last week on talks with Chinese and Russian diplomats about how to punish North Korea for its reported nuclear test. The Americans were pushing for tougher sanctions. ?I think the Chinese clearly understand ? that the North Koreans doing this have made the environment much less stable, much less secure.?

BUSINESS +DOW+6.56 11,304.46 +NASDAQ+2.45 2,137.11 +S&P+3.07 1,296.06 -SUN INDEX-0.74 321.47 MARYLAND Ballot question reworded The Ehrlich administration has revised the General Assembly's suggested wording of a high-profile ballot question restricting state land sales in a way that legislative leaders and environmentalists say appears designed to confuse and mislead voters. The governor's office counters that it is the job of his appointed secretary of state, not the legislature, to draft the wording - and administration officials say the governor wants the referendum to pass.