Morocco sought help from Europe and the United States Monday as an oil spill - triple the size of 1989's Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska - headed for its Atlantic coast.
The 37 million-gallon spill - covering 108 square miles - was 12 miles southwest of Casablanca Monday. Morocco is on Africa's northwestern coast.
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Crowds sing, dance, cheer for freedom
Feb. 12, 1990
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Nelson Mandela's first day of freedom in 27 years sparked worldwide jubilation and the hope that this long divided nation can abolish apartheid peacefully.
As darkness fell Sunday, the African National Congress leader appeared here at the Victorian-era City Hall. "I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all."
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Economy in shambles; Leader works for nation's 'salvation'
Feb. 27, 1990
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MANAGUA, Nicaragua - The incoming president of Nicaragua will take over a country devastated by years of dictatorship, revolution and civil war, an earthquake, hurricanes, economic sanctions and discredited, Marxist-style government planning.
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14,000 at Chernobyl to evacuate
Apr. 24, 1990
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Soviet authorities will evacuate 14,000 more people who live near the Chernobyl nuclear plant because of higher fallout estimates.
Cleaning up the radioactive dust pile that has gathered in a 20-mile danger zone around the plant in the Ukrainian republic will take decades, Pravda said Monday.
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'Just one name' says it all; NYC shouts 'Man-del-a'; Tour to help replenish ANC coffers
June 21, 1990
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Nelson Mandela got a delirious welcome Wednesday from New Yorkers wearing T-shirts sporting his face and waving his movement's black, green and gold banners.
The grandfather - once South African political prisoner, now pop icon - is evicting Dick Tracy's image from trendy wardrobes on his 12-day, eight-city USA tour.
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U.S. offers, Iran accepts quake aid
June 22, 1990
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Iran's killer earthquakes Thursday could be the trigger that reopens shuttered relations with the United States.
President Bush extended an olive branch to Iran Thursday, offering condolences and humanitarian aid to Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Iran accepted.
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Marcos verdict: The aftermath; Some see an omen for Noriega trial
July 3, 1990
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NEW YORK - Jurors who acquitted Imelda Marcos said she shouldn't have been held responsible for the acts of her late husband.
"Just because she was married to him doesn't make her guilty," said jury forewoman Catherine Balton, a retired office manager.
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Quake toll reaches 348; U.S., Japan send help
July 18, 1990
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U.S. and Japanese rescue teams joined the search Tuesday for survivors of the Philippine earthquake that authorities say killed at least 348 people.
Many of the dead were children and students crushed in the wreckage of schools and colleges.
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Pakistan's Bhutto faces new crisis
Aug. 7, 1990
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Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, 37, whose life already reads like a Greek tragedy, was plunged into a new drama Monday:
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, citing rampant corruption, dissolved her 20-month-old government, named opposition chief Mustafa Jatoi caretaker leader, called new elections for Oct. 24 - and declared a state of emergency.
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Peace prize paradox; Gorbachev thawed the cold war, but gets cold shoulder at home; Democracy brought prize to his door
Oct. 16, 1990
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MOSCOW - Mikhail Gorbachev won worldwide praise Monday for capturing the Nobel Peace Prize - but only seven seconds of polite applause from his Supreme Soviet at home.
Even as the Nobel committee hailed his "leading role in the peace process," Gorbachev - the first communist or Soviet leader to win the world's most prestigious award - is struggling with an economy on the brink of collapse.
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Ascending to Japan's throne
Nov. 30, 1990
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To ritual cries of "Banzai!" Emperor Akihito ascended the High Throne of Japan on Monday. Akihito is the first in a 2,600-year-old line of Japanese emperors to be enthroned as a national symbol rather than a living god.
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Thatcher: Fighter till the finish; Some speculate Britain hasn't seen last of her
Nov. 23, 1990
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LONDON - The prime minister who once said she wanted to "go on and on" into the 1990s now faces retirement.
But Margaret Thatcher - in the true spirit of her political life - hid her emotions from the public Thursday, emerging from the Georgian splendor of 10 Downing Street with a smile and a Tory blue dress. Just hours before, she told government officials her political end had finally come.
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Walesa wins Polish vote in landslide
Dec. 10, 1990
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WARSAW - Lech Walesa, a shipyard worker who won the Nobel Peace Prize and helped lead Poland to democracy, easily won the country's first popular presidential vote Sunday.
Early returns showed Walesa, a founder of the Solidarity trade union, winning by a 3-1 ratio over emigre millionaire Stanislaw Tyminski.
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PLO's Arafat reflects on past, future
Apr. 19, 1991
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PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat was interviewed for two hours at the PLO's Tunis headquarters by USA TODAY's Lee Michael Katz. Here is some of their conversation:
Q: What don't the people of the USA know about the PLO?
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Mandela guilty of kidnapping
Sept. 14, 1991
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Winnie Mandela, wife of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, was found guilty Monday of kidnapping four anti-apartheid activists and being an accessory to their assault at her Soweto home.
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God must be 'very angry'; Cyclone one more burden for nation
May 16, 1991
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CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh - Ulma Khatoon huddles under battered, corrugated tin sheets she jury-rigged into a leaky tent, her sole shelter.
The monster cyclone that devastated Bangladesh April 29 rammed Khatoon's tiny seaside farming neighborhood with a 20-foot wall of water.
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Gandhi slain in bombing; Elections on hold; more violence expected
May 22, 1991
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Security forces clamped a "red alert" on India today after a bomb killed former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi as he campaigned in an election he hoped would sweep him back to power.
Officials also postponed the two final phases of the general elections until next month.
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In South Africa; 'Now true apartheid is in the mind, not the law books'; The spirit of segregation still lives on
July 11, 1991
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Apartheid has been all but erased from this country's statute books, but entrenched discrimination still casts a long shadow - and will for years to come.
The Bush administration - like other governments around the world - has begun lifting sanctions to reward President F.W. de Klerk for ending legislative apartheid. But reformers say the real battle against apartheid has yet to be fought in South Africa.
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U.S. weighs 'options' on Libya; Lockerbie indictments hint at Gadhafi role
Nov. 15, 1991
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President Bush is preparing action against Libya - possibly even a military strike - following indictments announced Thursday in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
"We don't rule out any options," says White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater.
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Fleeing Haitians caught in political net; Refugees escaping 'dangers'
Nov. 21, 1991
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MIAMI - Jean Henry Yacinthe was targeted a supporter of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. That made him targeted for death.
Yacinthe, 19, saw one way out: leave for the USA on a boat. He arrived in Miami this week, trading terror for hope. "I am not afraid," he says. "I am going to have freedom."
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Perez de Cuellar leaves a legacy of peacemaking
Jan. 2, 1992
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When he took office 10 years ago as the fifth U.N. secretary-general, Peruvian diplomat Javier Perez de Cuellar lacked a portfolio of great expectations.
The United Nations was ignored by President Reagan and immobilized by a tug of war between the big powers of the Security Council and the Third World majority in the General Assembly.
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Return of Haitians cost $24M
Feb. 18. 1992
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Reports Monday the government has spent $24 million to pick up, house and return fleeing Haitians raised the ire of human interest groups.
The Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., reported that since October the Coast Guard has spent about $4.8 million, and a joint military task force has spent at least $19 million, on illegal Haitian immigrants.
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S. Africa to vote on apartheid
Feb. 21, 1992
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa - President F.W. de Klerk vowed Thursday to resign if white voters reject ending apartheid in a referendum to be held by the end of March.
De Klerk announced the all-or-nothing referendum gamble after a loss by his ruling National Party to the pro-apartheid Conservative Party in a special election Wednesday.
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Last 'whites-only' vote; Backing reforms, S. Africans at 'turning point'; 'We closed the book on apartheid'
March 19, 1992
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa - The world joined white South Africans in breathing a sigh of relief Wednesday, convinced the politics of apartheid has been buried.
As congratulations poured in to President F.W. de Klerk, the mood here was buoyant. The South African president called for the special referendum three weeks ago to test white support for continuing his apartheid reforms - and 68.7% of whites voted their approval Tuesday.
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Haitian policy called 'immoral'; Telling people to seek visas 'surrealistic'
May 27, 1992
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - On the U.S. Consulate building, behind a high wall and iron gates, hangs a hand-printed notice: "Closed for all services except for American citizens. No immigrant visa services are available."
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Bush defends environmental policies; Firestorm in Rio; Bush stands tough, but alone, in Rio
June 12, 1992
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President Bush is taking a bold risk by standing firm as the lonely spoiler at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero.
He's gambling that U.S. voters buy his argument that keeping jobs is public interest No. 1, more important than new environmental protections.
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Yeltsin: Let's make deal on debt
July 9, 1992
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MUNICH, Germany - Russian President Boris Yeltsin stunned Economic Summit leaders Wednesday by offering to swap land, minerals and property to reduce his debt.
His deal came after leaders of seven industrial nations said they would support deferring payments on Russia's $70 billion international debt.
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Breaking trade barriers; Debate rages over trade pact
Aug. 10, 1992
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Critics say the North American Free Trade Agreement expected this week will cost hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs as greedy corporations send work to Mexico.
Meanwhile, proponents paint a picture of the U.S. economy quickly flourishing as a burst of trade among Canada, Mexico and the United States boosts demand for U.S. goods and services and creates U.S. jobs.
