December 8, 1990

The United States has begun a secretive airlift of several hundred Libyan dissidents who oppose the Government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, American diplomats and other officials said tonight. The dissidents are former Libyan soldiers who had been captured by Chadian Government forces and later joined the army of former President Hissen Habre of Chad, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. When the Habre Government fell last week to rebel forces, the Libyan dissidents asked for protection and the United States agreed to help them find refuge elsewhere, the officials said. Diplomats here have said they are convinced that Colonel Qaddafi backed the Chadian rebels.

For those who complain that Japanese exploit Western technology without contributing much basic research in return, here are a few of this week's discoveries from Japan's first manned mission into space:

Rudolph Almaraz's patients came from Kentucky, Connecticut, South Carolina and many other states, seeking the best possible care for the breast cancer that threatened their lives. Now the hundreds of women he treated are calling The Johns Hopkins Hospital each day to find out if the man who performed breast surgery on them might have given them AIDS. "Here I was fighting breast cancer, and it's not breast cancer I've got to worry about now, it's AIDS," said Suzanne Ritmiller, a nurse at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and one of the doctor's former patients. Now, the emphatic admiration she held for Dr. Almaraz's talents as a skillful, caring surgeon is matched by her confusion and her anger that he died without telling her or any of his 1,800 to 2,200 patients that he was infected with the AIDS virus.

The Bush Administration announced today that it would vacate the American Embassy in Kuwait once all Americans wishing to leave that country have been allowed to do so by the Iraqi authorities. The State Department said the decision to remove all personnel from the embassy, which had been maintained as a symbol of defiance against the Iraqi annexation of Kuwait, was prompted by purely technical considerations. On the day that Iraq's National Assembly gave pro forma approval to a decision by President Saddam Hussein to permit all foreigners to leave Iraq and Kuwait, it seemed that all American hostages would choose to leave Kuwait. And with the legitimate Kuwaiti Government having set up temporary home in Taif, Saudi Arabia, the embassy no longer served any purpose, the department said. In Baghdad today, Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz of Iraq said he thought all the foreign hostages prevented from leaving Iraq and Kuwait could receive exit visas and leave the country in a "few days." [ Page A6. ]

Sale Time Already at Sears Before most people have even bought their trees, Sears is starting its after- Christmas sales. Page 33. Harlem Hospital Head Quits The executive director of the troubled Harlem Hospital Center has resigned under pressure. Page 27. Fernandez's New Move New York's Schools Chancellor wants private businesses to run some New York schools. Page 27.