Today's Story Line

Peru's Alberto Fujimori is campaigning for an unprecedented (some say, illegal) third term as president. But voters on April 9 will have another option: "El Cholo," an economist who is gaining in the polls.

The latest tension in Kashmir may have more to do with Indian Army reprisals than Islamic militants.

The Mir space station is Russia's symbol of duct-tape perseverance.

David Clark Scott World editor

REPORTERS ON THE JOB

*YOU'RE ON, HOWARD: Latin America correspondent Howard LaFranchi is not accustomed to becoming part of the story he's covering. But Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori didn't give him much choice. During one campaign stop Mr. Fujimori was expounding on what democracy means in Peru, and as he looked around he boomed, "Today we have a journalist with us from the States," saying "the States" in English and pointing at Howard. "Obviously enjoying himself, Fujimori told the crowd I had asked him why he had decided he had to run for what many considered was an unconstitutional third term. And then he asked me to tell the crowd what I thought of the 'democracy' I saw in the form of the crowd around me," says Howard. Turning red, Howard politely waved him off and looked down. But Fujimori was undeterred: "We are showing our journalist friends that this is the real democracy, the democracy of the people!"

*FOREVER MIR: Reporter Fred Weir arrived in Moscow in 1986, the same year that Mir was launched. And covering the Russian space station, particularly its demise, has long been a staple. "I've written the 'Mir is dead' story at least three times. In fact, almost as many times as the 'demise of Boris Yeltsin' story," says Fred. Yet, both continue to defy assumptions about their longevity. Paraphrasing a Yeltsin joke, Fred laughs, "I think Mir will still be blinking overhead at my funeral."

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