His Way: Gennadi Gerasimov, the former Soviet...

His Way: Gennadi Gerasimov, the former Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman, is known to swing between wry humor and invocations of God. So now he has won the Communicator of the Year award from the National Assn. of Government Communicators. Gerasimov coined the term “Sinatra Doctrine”--as in “I did it my way”--to explain Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies.

Exposed: Stacy Arthur, who posed nude for the January centerfold of Playboy magazine, says the photographs helped expose the feelings of other contestants in the Mrs. America Pageant. “Some of the other girls are very upset about it. I have gotten a lot of flak,” Arthur said. “But the pageant system is not going to stop me from competing . . . . They say it would not hinder my odds (or) my chances of winning,” said Arthur, who was crowned Mrs. Ohio June 17.

Rushdie Reprieve?: Salman Rushdie is asking for a reprieve from his death sentence. The writer came out of hiding and asked on BBC television that hard-line Muslims lift the death sentence that was placed on him by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late Iranian spiritual leader pronounced blasphemous Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses.” “Let’s find a way of putting a stop to it,” Rushdie said.

Defamation Damages: The Duchess of York’s sister, Jane Makim, was awarded $234,000 in damages by a jury in Sydney, Australia, that ruled three newspapers defamed her in 1988. The jurors found that the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph and the Australian implied Makim had an affair with Argentine polo player Horatio Lanusse. Makim, the 33-year-old sister of the former Sarah Ferguson, said: “My reputation has been totally vindicated.”