Today's Story Line

The Serbian Orthodox Church is raising the ante in Yugoslavia. Today, it's hosting a meeting of anti-Milosevic groups. Will the church provide glue needed to bond the opposition forces together (page 1)?

In Russia and Peru, the media is caught in the crossfire of political ambitions. Elections are approaching. And in the effort to control the messages, a number of powerful Russian political and business figures are taking aim at the messengers (this page). Similarly, in Peru, political disinformation seems to lie behind President Fujimori's decision to back out of an international human rights treaty (page 7).

- David Clark Scott, World editor

REPORTERS ON THE JOB

* BETTER THAN BERLITZ?: Reporter Lucian Kim speaks a smattering of Serbo-Croatian but most work is done with a translator. For his story on the Serbian Orthodox Church he relied on a new translator, Alexandra. Lucian found her through a friend of his former translator. She's a Serbian graphic artist who once worked at a weekly news magazine. But "your airstrikes" put her out of a job. She says she holds no grudge, "I like the free time." How did she learn her English: "In school, listening to American music and films. I've seen everything." Her latest English lesson? "The Mummy."

PRESS CLIPPINGS

* SHHH. IT'S SMOGGY: The air quality in Malaysia is now an "official secret," reports the South China Morning Post. The Western media was accused of giving a distorted picture of the country during the 1997 haze crisis. This past week, Law Hieng Ding, the environment minister, said that the government wouldn't disclose air pollution readings so as "not to drive away tourists." An official of one of the parties in the ruling National Front coalition, called on the Government to make the pollution readings public, saying the lack of information could "cause panic." The decision comes as fires in neighboring Indonesia are creating hazy conditions.

CULTURAL SNAPSHOT

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