Today's Story Line

Three weeks of airstrikes have yet to give NATO a win in Yugoslavia. Four times, frustrated commanders have requested more weapons. With 1,000 NATO jets soon to be available, the airstrikes will become a 24-hour operation. This escalation of military power makes diplomacy even more difficult - until something cracks on one side or the other. Quote of note: "We have to reduce [Yugoslavia's] fuel supplies and infrastructure and immobilize the Army, and we can do that more quickly with more aircraft. People are more determined than ever." - a European diplomat.

For many observers, NATO's reluctance to use more than airpower may make victory difficult. Quote of note: "[NATO's bombing] has been a painfully slow escalation, whereas in the case of Milosevic, he went in [to Kosovo] full steam. We are fighting a campaign, and he is fighting a war. It's do or die for Milosevic." - a US official.

Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria, is trying to make up for lost time. The president-elect, Olusegun Obasanjo, hopes to overcome decades of military rule and the squandering of oil wealth. Where does he turn? Like many leaders of developing countries, he must win over investors in New York - as well as the many Nigerians living in America who have money to invest in their home country.

The long arm of the law sometimes needs to be very long. A Scottish court will try two Libyan suspects for the 1988 bombing of the Pan Am plane that fell over Scotland. But to accommodate Libya, the trial will be held in the Netherlands on a portion of a US military base declared as Scottish territory. Evidence collected for the trial includes 15,000 statements, 18,000 items of property from the crash site, and 35,000 photographs.

- Clayton Jones World editor

REPORTERS ON THE JOB

*AND THEY SAY LAGOS IS CROWDED: New York-based correspondent Minh Vo got a taste of an experience many journalists have at some point in their careers - the head-of-state interview - when she headed over to the New York Palace Hotel to interview Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's president-elect. After meeting Mr. Obasanjo's aide in the lobby, Minh squeezed into an elevator so packed with bodyguards and assistants that she couldn't move her arms. Up in Obasanjo's suite, the space widened considerably - but it stayed crowded. Amid a general bustle (Obasanjo's son, visiting from Chicago, was lounging around in jeans; across the room a television was blasting), people in the room formed in ever-changing clusters to chat, all the while standing close by, and pausing frequently to listen to what Obasanjo and Minh were discussing.

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