News In Brief

RESERVE YOUR SEAT NOW NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia may unintentionally have opened up a whole new way for the tourism industry to make money. A travel agency in neighboring Hungary - as a gag - promoted week-long tours to cities that have been hit frequently, intending only to underscore how the air war has affected business. What it didn't count on was that customers - lots of them - were looking for just such an opportunity. Or that a bus company would come forward, offering to provide transportation. Now, says the man who came up with the idea, such trips may actually have to take place.

THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY Speaking of military affairs, published reports from New Zealand say that country's armed forces aren't especially worried about Y2K problems when 12:01 a.m. rolls around Jan. 1. Reason: Most of their equipment is too old to have computer-driven parts.

Berkeley freshmen are asked to read 'Winnie the Pooh'

A reading list for freshmen heading to the University of California-Berkeley - compiled by the faculty - includes the A.A. Milne children's classic "Winnie the Pooh: Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh." It was the selection of biology Prof. Marian Diamond, who praises it as "simple" and "elegant." Such reading lists have been prepared for Berkeley freshmen for more than a decade. Other titles for this year:

"Contact" Carl Sagan "Crooked Little Heart" Anne LaMott "Crows Over a Wheatfield" Paula Sharp "Dead Certainties: (Unwarranted Speculations)" Simon Schama "Einstein's Dreams" Alan Lightman "Ellen Foster" Kaye Gibbons Genesis and Exodus books of the Bible, King James Version "Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" Jared Diamond "Into Thin Air" Jon Krakauer "Sacred Hunger" Barry Unsworth "Savage Inequalities" Jonathan Kozol - Reuters

Compiled by Robert Kilborn and Lance Carden