Today's Story Line

Here is NATO's basic strategy in its bombing of Yugoslavia: Strike at the weak spot of Slobodan Milosevic's power. But is that his military, which so far retains defensive missiles? Or is it the already-weak economy? Early signs show that the bombing of bridges will hurt the key wheat harvest. And factory workers are being made jobless. But will it lead to uprisings? Not likely. Quote of note: "We need to find new jobs for those workers [whose factories were destroyed]."- Mr. Milosevic. Russia, meanwhile, is trucking "humanitarian" aid to Milosevic, while making threats to NATO if troops are sent in. President Yeltsin's motives for the threats may be that he faces impeachment.

A possible trigger for a NATO land invasion of Kosovo would be evidence of genocide by Serb forces. But legally defining genocide is tricky, and President Clinton would need to decide if saving thousands of ethnic Albanians is worth risking American lives.

A flood of ethnic Albanian refugees into Macedonia from Kosovo has the potential to destabilize another Balkan nation. Quote of note: "Do you know what kind of impact even 60,000 people make in a country of only 2 million?" - Ljuben Paunovski, a member of Parliament.

One of America's newest exports are lawyers chasing after victims of terrorism against the US overseas. Kenyans who suffered from the August bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi are quickly learning about the money they might gain from a filing a claim against the US.

Yesterday's election of a new governor of Tokyo can be taken as a message to the US: More Japanese are willing to be assertive. The winner, Shintaro Ishihara, is a well-known America-basher who may raise the political heat to remove the US military bases from Japan.

- Clayton Jones World editor

REPORTERS ON THE JOB *A BRIDGE UNDER TROUBLED SKIES: For most of the time since NATO began airstrikes against Yugoslavia, our Balkans correspondent Justin Brown has been forced to spend much of his time holed up in the Belgrade Hyatt Hotel. By the end of last week, Justin had cabin fever - and was tired of the hotel food - so he headed out to a local restaurant with some colleagues. When he hired a cab to get back to the hotel, though, it was already dark - and nobody in Belgrade wants to drive over a certain bridge on the way to the hotel because it's considered a prime target for a NATO bomb. But Justin found an obliging driver, who decided the best way to beat a bomb is to go fast. So he floored his 1960s Mercedes-type vehicle across the bridge. Justin paid the older gentleman double for the daring effort. The bridge still stands.

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