Meast

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in a speech commemorating the ninth anniversary of the start of the Gulf War, said Iraqis will have to continue to sacrifice but will achieve victory. The taped speech was broadcast Monday in Iraq.

Israel's price for making peace with Syria could mean obtaining some of the most sophisticated weaponry in the United States arsenal.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan struggled through the weekend to get Security Council approval for the head of a new United Nations weapons inspection commission for Iraq but missed a Sunday night deadline, diplomats said.

January 27, 2000

January 27, 2000

Negotiators from Israel and Syria, two Middle East neighbors who have been technically at war for the last half-century, gathered at a secluded conference center in West Virginia on Monday to try to hammer out a framework for a permanent peace between their countries.

Israeli President Ezer Weizman said on Sunday he had no intention of resigning or taking a leave of absence in the wake of a criminal investigation into his alleged involvement in a money scandal.

Israel and the Palestinians reached agreement Tuesday on an Israeli troop pullback from 5 percent of the West Bank, ending seven weeks of deadlock.

Negotiators from Israel and Syria, two Middle East neighbors who have been technically at war for the last half-century, gathered at a secluded conference center in West Virginia on Monday to try to hammer out a framework for a permanent peace between their countries.

Israel decided Saturday to postpone a withdrawal from the West Bank for at least two weeks over a dispute with the Palestinians on the land to be included in the pullout.

State Department spokesman James Rubin described Syria on Wednesday as having a government that is

Negotiators from Israel and Syria, two Middle East neighbors who have been technically at war for the last half-century, gathered at a secluded conference center in West Virginia on Monday to try to hammer out a framework for a permanent peace between their countries.