NATION IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Officials Seek to Free Noriega Accounts

A U.S. delegation was in Europe asking foreign governments to unfreeze Gen. Manuel A. Noriega’s bank accounts to finance the former Panamanian leader’s legal defense. Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Sullivan told a federal judge in Miami that the group consists of State and Justice department officials visiting Austria and Switzerland. Swiss officials expect to hold talks with the delegation next week, a spokesman said. Swiss laws require confiscation if there is evidence that the accounts contain drug money. After Noriega was captured, U.S. authorities asked European governments to freeze about $20 million in his accounts. U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler ordered $6 million unfrozen in June, but prosecutors returned to him last month, saying European governments had stepped in with their own forfeiture proceedings.