RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS REMEMBER SLAIN COLLEAGUES.

Russian journalists yesterday held a memorial day for colleagues who lost their lives during the course of their work. Secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists Pavel Gutiontov told a news conference that, over the past five years, 135 Russian journalists and eleven foreign reporters have lost their lives on the territory of the former Soviet Union. Many were murdered, and virtually none of the crimes have been solved. Moscow is the most dangerous beat: 27 journalists have died there in the past five years. Next were Chechnya, Tajikistan and Abkhazia. (Itar-Tass, December 10; Interfax, December 11)

Coalminers’ Union Calls Off Strike; Some Miners Continue Protest.