Repatriation

WASHINGTON - In cavernous storage rooms closed to tourists at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History lie the bones of about 14,700 Native Americans. Despite hopes that they would be quickly returned to tribal lands, most are likely to stay where they are for a long time. Laws passed in 1989 and 1990 require the Smithsonian and other museums to inventory their collections of Native American remains and return them when possible. The National Park Service is charged with overseeing the process.

YULI VORONTSOV, 78 Russian diplomat Yuli Vorontsov, who served the Soviet Union and Russia as ambassador to Afghanistan and the United States in a career spanning the Cold War and the Gulf War, died Wednesday in Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said. He also served as ambassador to the United Nations, France and India, and as the U.N. envoy overseeing the return or repatriation of the remains of Kuwaitis and others missing after the first Gulf War.

YULI VORONTSOV, 78 Russian diplomat Yuli Vorontsov, who served the Soviet Union and Russia as ambassador to Afghanistan and the United States in a career spanning the Cold War and the Gulf War, died Wednesday in Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said. He also served as ambassador to the United Nations, France and India, and as the U.N. envoy overseeing the return or repatriation of the remains of Kuwaitis and others missing after the first Gulf War.

MEDEX at a glance Founded: 1977 in Brighton, England Current headquarters: Towson Employees: 85 (83 in Towson, one in the United Kingdom, one in Beijing) Total network: 43,000 providers (physicians and other experts, hospitals, clinics, transportation providers) Total languages across network: 40 Total clients: 13 million Total clients in Iraq: 9,000 Total annual cases: 25,000 Services offered: Multilingual emergency response, medical evacuation and repatriation, security and political evacuation, international medical insurance and claims administration, travel intelligence and alerts, destination information, pre-travel immunization information and health planning, contingency planning, travel medical kits

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government expects the repatriation of Vietnamese boat people from Hong Kong to be carried out without the use of force, an administration official said yesterday."

ANNAPOLIS -- State officials are scrambling to turn a vacant Anne Arundel County school building into a potential repatriation center to aid U.S. civilians fleeing from the Middle East should the war expand beyond Iraq and Kuwait.U.S. citizens could wind up evacuating the region hurriedly and mayneed help when they return to this country, said Helen Szablya, spokeswoman for the state's Department of Human Resources, which is coordinating the effort in Maryland.The repatriation center would be operated from the former Lindale Junior High School in Ferndale.

MEDEX at a glance Founded: 1977 in Brighton, England Current headquarters: Towson Employees: 85 (83 in Towson, one in the United Kingdom, one in Beijing) Total network: 43,000 providers (physicians and other experts, hospitals, clinics, transportation providers) Total languages across network: 40 Total clients: 13 million Total clients in Iraq: 9,000 Total annual cases: 25,000 Services offered: Multilingual emergency response, medical evacuation and repatriation, security and political evacuation, international medical insurance and claims administration, travel intelligence and alerts, destination information, pre-travel immunization information and health planning, contingency planning, travel medical kits

In eight days, 4,492 passengers arrived on 19 planes. They received 5,784 meals and 3,822 "health and comfort kits," with such items as soap and shaving cream. In addition, 2,995 of them received travel information as they continued on to destinations around the country. Yesterday, state officials declared their mission to help American evacuees from Lebanon accomplished as they closed the repatriation center at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The final flight of evacuees, carrying 197 passengers, arrived at 10:05 a.m. yesterday.

LAST WEEK, 1,363 Mexican migrants who breached the Arizona border were flown to Mexico City by the U.S. government and given a simple warning: Don't come back. If only things were that simple. By transporting the migrants to Mexico's interior, far away from the border and closer to their hometowns, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hopes to dissuade repeat crossings, decrease the number of migrant deaths in the desert and diminish migrant smuggling. Though well-intentioned, this interior repatriation program conducted jointly with the Mexican government is having mixed results.

Robert Cahn, 80, a writer whose devotion to the environment won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for in-depth reporting on national parks, died Friday in Boulder, Colo.Virginia A. "Toni" Carabillo, 71, a founder of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women who wrote on women's issues, died Tuesday in Los Angeles.Dr. William Feinberg, 45, a University of Arizona neurologist renowned for research into stroke and stroke prevention, died Friday in Tucson after a heart attack.

MOSCOW -- Six Russian military officers accused of espionage were allowed to leave Georgia and fly to Moscow yesterday as Georgian authorities sought to defuse a diplomatic crisis with their northern neighbor. But Russia announced a ban on most direct transportation links between the two countries and a suspension of postal service. Russian officials claimed the action was in response to unpaid debts and safety violations rather than retaliation for the arrest last week of four of the men. It appeared those measures would take effect despite Georgia's decision to release the four and to grant the two others safe passage out of the country.

In eight days, 4,492 passengers arrived on 19 planes. They received 5,784 meals and 3,822 "health and comfort kits," with such items as soap and shaving cream. In addition, 2,995 of them received travel information as they continued on to destinations around the country. Yesterday, state officials declared their mission to help American evacuees from Lebanon accomplished as they closed the repatriation center at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The final flight of evacuees, carrying 197 passengers, arrived at 10:05 a.m. yesterday.

"Boogie," says Pat Ash, a Red Cross volunteer, as she points down the terminal for two new arrivals. "[To] the way other end of the airport." Moments later, Hussein Taleb, 32, and his 70-year-old mother Nazmie Taleb, fresh from the Lebanon evacuation, hustled from the international arrival terminal at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to a hoped-for connecting flight. Accompanied by an interpreter and another Red Cross volunteer, Sal Culotta, who pushed Nazmie Taleb in a wheelchair, they raced to the Southwest Airlines ticketing counter at the opposite end of the airport.

Fayad Kazan brought a bouquet of red and pink roses for his wife. He had five stuffed Mickey Mouse dolls and five American flags, one for each of his young children. From 8:30 a.m., he sat in a cordoned-off section of the international arrival terminal. He waited. An additional 454 U.S. citizens returned home from Lebanon yesterday on two flights from Cyprus that touched down at 9:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Kazan's family members were not among them.

WASHINGTON - U.S. military officials will gradually hand over 110 Afghan prisoners to Afghanistan's government in the largest repatriation of detainees from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since it was converted to a military prison for terrorism suspects three years ago, the Pentagon said yesterday. In addition, U.S. authorities plan to turn over 350 Afghans who are in U.S. custody in Afghanistan after prison space is built to accommodate them, officials said. Under a newly signed agreement between the countries, Afghan authorities then will decide which prisoners to detain and which to release, Pentagon officials said.

LAST WEEK, 1,363 Mexican migrants who breached the Arizona border were flown to Mexico City by the U.S. government and given a simple warning: Don't come back. If only things were that simple. By transporting the migrants to Mexico's interior, far away from the border and closer to their hometowns, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hopes to dissuade repeat crossings, decrease the number of migrant deaths in the desert and diminish migrant smuggling. Though well-intentioned, this interior repatriation program conducted jointly with the Mexican government is having mixed results.

Gulf refugee center is needed no longerWith the Persian Gulf war over, the Maryland Department of Human Resources has been told its services to refugees from the gulf region are no longer needed.State and federal personnel and volunteers from 300 agencies, private firms and organizations were mobilized by the department last summer after the Iraqis invaded Kuwait. The workers established a repatriation center at Baltimore-Washington International Airport to offer emergency services to American citizens and their dependents who had fled Iraq or escaped the invaders in Kuwait.

"Boogie," says Pat Ash, a Red Cross volunteer, as she points down the terminal for two new arrivals. "[To] the way other end of the airport." Moments later, Hussein Taleb, 32, and his 70-year-old mother Nazmie Taleb, fresh from the Lebanon evacuation, hustled from the international arrival terminal at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to a hoped-for connecting flight. Accompanied by an interpreter and another Red Cross volunteer, Sal Culotta, who pushed Nazmie Taleb in a wheelchair, they raced to the Southwest Airlines ticketing counter at the opposite end of the airport.

WASHINGTON - In cavernous storage rooms closed to tourists at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History lie the bones of about 14,700 Native Americans. Despite hopes that they would be quickly returned to tribal lands, most are likely to stay where they are for a long time. Laws passed in 1989 and 1990 require the Smithsonian and other museums to inventory their collections of Native American remains and return them when possible. The National Park Service is charged with overseeing the process.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Coast Guard rounded up six Cuban refugees off Tavernier, Fla., yesterday after spending more than two hours trying to persuade two of the men to turn themselves in. The scene was reminiscent of a struggle by four other Cubans who were intercepted off Key Largo last week. After one of those men was taken into custody by the Coast Guard, the other three eluded efforts to apprehend them long enough to swim two miles to shore - giving them the opportunity to become permanent residents of the United States.