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LUXEMBOURG -- The leaders of the 12-nation European Community agreed last night to support a British proposal calling for the United Nations to create a "safe haven" in northern Iraq to protect the Kurdish population from the Iraqi army.[The EC also approved $183 million in humanitarian aid to the Kurds and other refugees fleeing Iraqi repression, the Associated Press reported.]British Prime Minister John Major offered his surprise proposal for the haven at a European Community summit meeting here without consulting President Bush, but he said he thought Washington would approve it.The plan, urging quick action to safeguard the lives of Kurdish refugees, is expected to be presented to the U.N. Security Council soon.

BELGRADE -- The European Community unanimously approved a plan yesterday calling for a suspension of sanctions against Serbia in exchange for Serbian territorial concessions to the Bosnian Muslims.The carrot-and-stick approach was seen by some diplomats as a shift away from the policy of total isolation of Serbia. "The ball is now in Milosevic's court," one diplomat said, referring to Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.After yesterday's EC foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg, British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd said the proposals were needed to avert a "humanitarian disaster in Bosnia" with the coming of winter and the predictions of starvation and exposure.

WASHINGTON -- The United States, following the European Community, recalled its ambassador from Belgrade yesterday in light of Serbian aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina, the State Department announced.The action, part of an escalating campaign to isolate Serbia, coincided with a move by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) to block Serbian participation, at least until June 30, in any CSCE decision involving what was formerly Yugoslavia.Both steps were compromises.

AMSTERDAM -- A letter pinned to the wall of the Anne Frank House here, dated April 25, 1939, will remind anyone who wanders through these sad rooms of the enduring misery of the political refugee.It is a misery brought into being when nations set boundaries and control passage across them. It is still a problem.That's why it is a topic certain to generate heat at the European Community summit under way at Maastricht, the little town at the southern tip of this minute country known as a haven for the persecuted since it took in Jews expelled from Spain in 1492.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Trappers in Alaska got news last week that many of them had been dreading: The European Community has approved a long-threatened ban on pelts and fur products that come from countries allowing steel leg-hold traps.Such traps are commonly used across Alaska, Canada and the lower 48 states, and many of the fur sold by trappers in Alaska eventually wind up in the European market.The ban, which takes effect Jan. 1, 1995, essentially gives the rest of the world until then to develop more humane ways of trapping and killing fur-bearing animals.

PARIS -- Settling one of the most bitter trade disputes between the United States and Europe, U.S. officials announced a tentative agreement yesterday limiting government support for the commercial aircraft industry.For several years, Boeing Co. and McDonnell Douglas Corp. have accused Europe's fast-growing Airbus Industrie consortium of stealing business through unfair direct state subsidies.Airbus has countered that U.S. manufacturers are indirectly subsidized by orders from the Pentagon and the space program and are engaged in a thinly veiled attempt to thwart a European upstart in an industry they have long dominated.

LONDON -- The jitters aroused in Europe by fear the Maastricht treaty might be rejected in France in a referendum Sunday have been playing havoc in currency markets across the continent.But the pound, because it is one of the most widely traded currencies, has been a special target of money speculators. Prime Minister John Major and his finance minister, Norman Lamont, had pledged to defend it and stave off devaluation at all costs, despite assertions from some financial experts that the currency was overvalued.

LONDON -- The European Community is expected to dovetail its own last-minute Persian Gulf peace initiative today with President Bush's invitation to Iraq for talks between Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz next week.The U.S. initiative was welcomed yesterday by British Prime Minister John Major -- who also approved the expulsion from Britain of 75 Iraqis -- and by King Hussein of Jordan, who is here at the start of a tour of European capitals.Mr. Major described his talks with King Hussein as "useful and friendly" and said both leaders "welcome very much indeed" the proposal for U.S.-Iraqi talks.

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- With arguments resolved over wheat and corn subsidies, and exports of pig meat and skimmed milk powder, the world trade talks came down to this yesterday: Can the United States tolerate France's determination to go on protecting and subsidizing its movie industry in order to stave off a perceived Hollywood onslaught from the likes of "Jurassic Park" and "Terminator 2"?After almost 23 hours of negotiations with the European Community's chief negotiator Monday and yesterday, the answer from U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor was no.He then left Brussels to explain his views to world trade negotiators in Geneva, before returning to Washington.

CHICAGO -- American and European negotiators failed to achieve a breakthrough last night on an impasse over farm subsidies that has blocked world trade talks, making a trans-Atlantic trade war likely within days.Agriculture Secretary Edward R. Madigan said he would recommend that President Bush impose prohibitive duties on certain European exports. The European Community is likely to retaliate against American exports.The election of Gov. Bill Clinton makes retaliation even more likely, because world trade talks will probably be interrupted for months as Mr. Clinton picks new trade officials and reviews current U.S. negotiating positions.