DIPLOMACY, DECISIONS AND TENSION

Europe: Anti-war protesters marched in cities across the Continent, including Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid and Barcelona. At European airports from London to Rome, added police and security guards checked passengers.

Israel: President Chaim Herzog addressed his apprehensive nation. Israel’s air force commander said his interceptors were flying around the clock against the possibility of attack. In the Israeli-occupied territories, where violence broke out after the assassination of two Palestine Liberation Organization leaders in Tunisia, the army ordered a curfew.

Saudi Arabia: The Pentagon said there are more than 415,000 U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf region. In all, more than 680,000 soldiers make up the multinational force arrayed against Iraq’s estimated 545,000 fighters in southern Iraq and Kuwait.

United Nations: U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar issued a final appeal to Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait after a French peace plan foundered in the Security Council. U.S. officials rejected the plan because it included the promise of a Mideast peace conference on Palestinian issues.

Washington: President Bush huddled with advisers after starting the day with a walk after dawn on the White House grounds. Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said no decision had been made on launching an assault if Iraq ignored the midnight U.N. deadline for an Iraqi pullout.

Iraq: Thousands demonstrated in the streets in a government-orchestrated show of defiance. But many Iraqis fled the capital, where the U.N. deadline expires at 8 a.m. today. Baghdad radio said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein visited his troops in Kuwait.