July 25, 1992

OLYMPICS OPEN TODAY The opening ceremonies of the Summer Games in Barcelona will reflect the political and ethnic realities of a new world order in sport. SOCCER GETS EARLY START In the first competition, the U.S. soccer team, without its star player, lost to Italy, 2-1. SportsSaturday, page 29.

Iraq's refusal to disclose records of its weapons programs prompted more calls for military confrontation today. United Nations inspectors left Baghdad empty-handed, and the Bush Administration hinted at a renewed bombing campaign against Iraqi targets. But both the scope of any action and the breadth of international support for it remained in question. Administration officials said they expected to press through the weekend at the United Nations for a consensus on a military response among the world's major powers.

With the flight from Baghdad today of a number of United Nations inspectors, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq has demonstrated to his people that he refused to blink when George Bush and the United Nations sought to face him down in the parking lot outside Iraq's Agriculture Ministry. The Iraqi leader's victory may be short lived, but the definition of any new and impending allied "victory" over Mr. Hussein has also become elusive 18 months after the end of the Persian Gulf war.

Almost two years after George Steinbrenner received a lifetime ban from baseball, Commissioner Fay Vincent said yesterday that the Yankees' owner could return unconditionally to active duty with the club next March 1. Mr. Vincent's announcement would appear to end the seemingly ceaseless Steinbrenner saga, but the owner could still stumble. There have been bizarre twists before. In late July 1990, the commissioner at first imposed a two-year suspension that would have ended next Wednesday, but Mr. Steinbrenner negotiated a lifetime ban, a choice he tied to other interests, including his role as an officer for the United States Olympic Committee.

Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali today proposed a broad expansion of United Nations forces in Somalia, an impoverished nation that he says has been denied its share of world attention as it sinks into lawlessness and famine. Coming only two days after he opposed a decision by the Security Council for new aid to Yugoslavia, and at the end of a week of diplomatic jousting and recriminations over the priorities of the United Nations, the plan appears to be another sign of his determination to shift the way the organization operates.