WORLD : Ali to Bring 14 Hostages Home

Fourteen American hostages will be allowed to go home with former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, the boxer’s manager said today.

Ali said: “I am happy to be involved, to be in a position to help.”

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein met Ali on Tuesday and said he would not allow him to leave without taking some Americans with him.

Ali’s party is expected to get a list of those being freed Thursday and to return to the United States through Jordan on Saturday.

“The suggested number is 14, but we don’t know who they are,” manager Ali Jaber told reporters in the Iraqi capital.