The World - News from Sept. 5, 1988

U.N. mediator Jan Eliasson said that despite intensive efforts, he is still unable to get the two sides in the Iran-Iraq peace talks to meet again for direct negotiations. The Swedish envoy, who has taken over the mediation effort from U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, said indirect talks with delegations led by the foreign ministers of the two countries have been “businesslike and constructive” and that he is not discouraged. In Iraq, meanwhile, prayers of thanks for what is seen in Baghdad as a victory boomed from minarets as the country marked what it regards as the eighth anniversary of the start of the war. Iraq says the war started Sept. 4 with Iranian shelling on the border; Iran says it started 18 days later with an Iraqi invasion.