Today's Story Line

Yemen's leader meets with President Clinton on Monday. Surely, the topic of terrorism will come up. A columnist in Lebanon asks why Syria, as well as Israel, doesn't pull out troops. US officials warn China to tone down its Taiwan rhetoric. Foreign investors look for signs that President Putin will revive Russia's dismal economy.

Faye Bowers Deputy world editor

REPORTERS ON THE JOB

* ALL IN A DAY'S WORK: "Whatever you do, don't go to Abyan!" a Western diplomat warned Mideast correspondent Scott Peterson. Scores of tourists have been kidnapped in this notorious province of Yemen. But once in Aden, Peterson contacted a farmer who invited him out to his farm - in Abyan, of course. "Are you sure it is safe?" Scott asked. "I'll send my own vehicle to pick you up," the farmer replied. "Don't worry - it's safe enough." It was, but an armed soldier didn't let Scott out of his sight.

*WHAT A DIFFERENCE: Kathie Klarreich recently returned to Haiti, where she had lived for 10 years, for the current series. She found quite an improvement in transportation to a lovely little bed and breakfast getaway, which is now about a two-hour drive from Port-au-Prince - on good roads. When she visited the hamlet in 1993, she had to take a route well-traveled by market women - a one-day hike over lushly grown mountain passes. Kathie says that while she was huffing away, barefoot women with 50-pound baskets of carrots on their heads easily marched along. "My, what a difference a few years makes," Kathie says.

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