War Update

* Allied ships swept the Gulf's waters for menacing Iraqi mines as the desperate days of diplomacy dwindled down toward an all-out assault on Kuwait.

* Moscow gave Iraq another day or two to accept a secret Soviet peace plan, a plan President Bush was already dismissing as "well short" of U.S. requirements. The terms of the plan-which were not made public-were widely believed to link an Iraq withdrawal from Kuwait to guarantees that President Saddam Hussein's government could remain in power in Iraq.

* A senior Baghdad official told the Iranians that more than 20,000 Iraqis have been killed, a Tehran newspaper reported.