Today's Story Line

Despite pleas for help in Sierra Leone, the bitter losses of Western nations in Somalia and Rwanda make them loathe to commit troops. At press time, there were reports that UN troops were engaging rebel forces advancing toward the capital of Freetown.

In Zimbabwe, the political violence directed at white farm owners is now turning to other opposition party supporters: school teachers.

In Indonesia, a tobacco company is promoting discussions about the health risks of smoking. Why? It helps sales.

If at first you don't succeed.... A meeting in Montreal pledges to breathe new life into sovereignty efforts in Quebec.

David Clark Scott World editor

REPORTERS ON THE JOB..

LOST AND FOUND: Reporter Ross Herbert is finding that people, fearful of the government, are turning to journalists for help. Someone left a handwritten note for Ross at his hotel saying that a farm worker named Lovemore Mhembere had been abducted. Ross was able to track him down by networking his sources from other stories. But getting to Mr. Mhembere, an opposition party supporter, wasn't easy. None of the other journalists he knew wanted to go into the countryside with him. Most journalists were unwilling because of the danger, and TV crews were unwilling to go, because the action (the abduction and beating) was over. Nothing to film. When Ross reached him, Mhembere said that he had been abducted by nine men who said they were war veterans. He was bruised, but willing to talk.

PRESS CLIPPING..

SAFE IN SINGAPORE: Singapore is the only country that has not reported any gun-related killings in recent years, according to a survey by the UN Centre of International Crime Prevention published in The Straits Times of Singapore. Murders and rapes are also lower there than in such nations as Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland. The UN report attributed the result to lack of availability of guns for criminals, and said police seldom need to use weapons when making arrests.

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