Phones: Reaching Out

KUWAITIS STOOD IN LINE by the hundreds outside a building in Kuwait city TO MAKE PHONE CALLS OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY. AT&T; opened 44 telephone lines wired to a satellite transmitter and let Kuwaitis call anywhere for free. Alnood al Hooli, 18, whose family could not reach relatives for 6 1/2 months, said, “I called my aunt in Cairo. I wanted to tell her everything is all right in Kuwait.” Callers were asked to hurry their calls to let others have a turn. “We are trying to limit the time, but I don’t think we can control it,” said Adel Saleh Aburizq, a government official. It may be months before regular service, cut by Iraqi troops soon after they invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, is fully restored.