News Currents

MIDDLE EAST

The uncompromising Western stance against Libya appears to hand the Arab states a dilemma - they rely economically on good relations with the West, but among their citizens the measures against Libya are very unpopular. Syria has assured Libya of its support in "confronting the dangers" facing it, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported yesterday. And Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has pledged that sanctions against Libya must not be tightened further "at the expense of Egyptians." Meanwhile, Lib ya opened a new sea link with Malta Friday. UNITED STATES

Massachusetts Gov. William Weld apparently erred when he claimed a $77,431 mortgage interest deduction on his income for last year, because he used the mortgage money from a refinancing deal to help pay for his gubernatorial campaign.... Crews in Chicago Saturday night finished plugging the last of three holes in a tunnel that ruptured and flooded downtown Chicago last week with millions of gallons of water from the Chicago River.... Citicorp, the biggest bank issuer of credit cards in the nation, will i ntroduce cards with photographs to cut back on fraud. JUSTICE

A California federal district court judge granted a temporary restraining order Saturday evening to halt the execution tomorrow of convicted killer Robert Alton Harris in San Quentin Prison's gas chamber.... A federal appeals court Friday upheld the six-month sentence of former Washington Mayor Marion Barry on a drug conviction, ruling that remarks the sentencing judge made about the case did not require his disqualification.