A Peek Into Reporter’ Diaries for 1995

Teresa Watanabe / Tokyo

Call Foreign Ministry on plans for Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama’s meeting with President Clinton Jan. 11 in Washington. . . . Check out possible Feb. 23 press trip to Iwo Jima for 50th anniversary of the battle. Confirm with U.S. Embassy.

May 1-5: Golden Week. Toei Studio debuts next Power Ranger generation. “King Rangers.” Interview? . . . July: Start booking appointments for Hiroshima story. Confirm hotel and Shinkansen train tickets. Anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb is Aug. 6.

Inquire about credentials and press hotel for APEC summit meeting in Osaka Nov. 16-19. Crown Princess Masako’s 32nd birthday is Dec. 9. Check women’s weeklies for latest palace gossip.

Bob Drogin / Johannesburg

Get vaccinations and visa to check cease-fire in Angola. . . . South Africa’s new Constitutional Court opens Feb. 15. . . . Book flight/hotel for opening of Parliament in Cape Town on Feb. 17. . . . Come back for first South African concert by the Rolling Stones: Feb. 24. . . . Read up on royals: Queen Elizabeth visits March 19-25. . . . Anniversary of election that ended white rule in South Africa: April 27. . . . First local elections in South Africa: October. . . . Check expected elections in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

William Tuohy / London

Keep a close watch on political scene. No national elections required until spring of 1996, but government defeats in the House of Commons could force a premature ballot in 1995. Promises to be a rough political year. . . . Same might be said for Ireland, where a new coalition under Fine Gael has replaced that led by Finna Fail. The three-party troika is shaky and could fall this year, given the grudge-bearing nature of Irish politics. . . . Watch the Royal Family. The younger ones just can’t seem to get it right, and this may be the year when the Prince and Princess of Wales formally announce plans to divorce. Because of her wayward children, Queen Elizabeth II has no intention of stepping aside.

Tyler Marshall / Brussels

Brussels year begins this week with European Union’s enlargement from 12 to 15 countries as Austria, Finland and Sweden officially become members. At same time, the EU’s six-month rotating presidency moves from Germany to France, and with that thoughts of warmer weather and the EU summit June 26-27 in Cannes. . . . Keep eye on NATO. Its plans for covering possible emergency withdrawal of U.N. Protection Force from Bosnia-Herzegovina scheduled for completion early this month. Willy Claes begins the customary visits of an incoming NATO secretary general to capitals of the alliance’s 16 member nations. . . . Jan. 18 marks the end of the remarkable reign of Jacques Delors, whose 10 years as president of the European Commission saw the revival of West European integration and a significant shift of political power from national capitals to Brussels. . . . Feb. 25-26, the G-7 nations hold a ministerial conference in Brussels on the Information Society. . . . March 26, all border controls between nine EU states are scheduled to end as the Schengen Agreement comes into effect allowing individuals to move freely between nine countries--France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece, Spain and Portugal. . . . Check date for September or October. The EU is scheduled to conduct a special conference on Mediterranean affairs in Barcelona, part of the Union’s compensation to its southern members for providing aid and next-entry status to the former Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe.

William D. Montalbano / Rome

Jan. 3: Get shots for Pope’s trip to Asia and take stock of chaotic Italian political situation. Have Berlusconi and his erstwhile friends papered the cracks? Or is it time to begin planning election coverage? . . . Cover opening of the first General Congregation in 15 years of the Jesuits, the largest order of priests in the Roman Catholic Church. Starts Jan. 5. . . . Papal takeoff Jan. 11. Trail Pope through Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Sri Lanka through Jan. 22. . . . February: Date of big Mafia trial supposed to start in Palermo? . . .

March: Visit Athens. Political brouhaha looms with spring parliamentary vote to elect a new president. Will it provoke a general election? Go on to Turkey to see whether Ciller government is reconciling Kurdish and economic unrest. Early election? . . . June: Time here for an updating visit to Portugal? . . . September-October: Pope to U.N./U.S.; possibly also to Africa.

Carol J. Williams / Vienna

‘95 in the Balkans . . . Bring flak jacket, helmet, first-aid kit and rations. The only thingon the calendar for former Yugoslav federation is war and the havoc it is creating for Western alliances. Foreign mediators will retool their proposal for ethnic partitioning of Bosnia-Herzegovina early in the year. The ever-expanding U.N. Protection Force could keep on growing. They can expect to face the same tribulations as the 45,000 or so already deployed in the unraveling Balkans--hostility, humiliation, ingratitude and deadly attacks. . . . Serbs and Croats who fought a seven-month war in 1991 have been sharpening their swords for a more decisive second round. . . . Watch perennially seething Kosovo province, the predominantly Albanian southland of Serbia, which could slip from police state to war zone any time disgruntled Serbian warriors are not sufficiently distracted by battles in Bosnia or Croatia.

Rone Tempest / Beijing

Jan. 31, the Year of the Dog gives way to Year of the Pig. But for fireworks book ticket to Hong Kong,Taipei or San Francisco. Since the first of last year, fireworks have been banned in China. . . . Start looking for tickets for tentative March opening of hottest new musical in Beijing. “The Eastern Wave” is a musical tribute to 90-year-old paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Some of the catchy tunes in the musical at the Great Hall of the People: “Rural Reforms” and “Return of Hong Kong.” . . .

Block out calendar for U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing starting Sept. 30. Chinese wanted Bill Clinton to visit this year, which would enhance the stature of President Jiang Zemin. But looks like they’re going to have to settle for Hillary, who is likely to attend the women’s conference.

Dean E. Murphy / Warsaw

Clean out dresser drawers and the office cash box of Polish zloty next week and exchange them at the bank for new zloty. The new zloty lose four zeros--meaning 20,000 old zloty, about $1, become two new zloty. . . . Book a room in Krakow for ceremonies Jan. 26-27 marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of nearby Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Red Army. . . . Week of Aug. 29: Travel to Gdansk for the 15th anniversary of the 1980 August Agreement that legitimized the trade union Solidarity and marked the beginning of the end of communism in Poland. . . .

Check with political observers around Sept. 3 on the timing of Polish presidential elections, which must be called sometime between then and the end of the year. President Lech Walesa is vulnerable. . . . Book tickets for the Oct. 1-21 Chopin Piano Competition, a world-renowned event every five years in Warsaw, the composer’s birthplace.

Kim Murphy / Cairo

Watch Algeria developments. President Liamine Zeroual has pledged to hold presidential elections, a key demand of the opposition, by the end of 1995. But when? . . . Home base. First round of Egyptian parliamentary elections set for April. None since 1991, two aborted by court decisions. Opposition sees this as a test of free and fair elections in what is nominally the Arab world’s only democracy. . . . March 1, saddle up for annual camel race in Dubai. The sheik says it will be a weekend in March or April, but he’s waiting to chec+ the weather. Mild temperatures mean hundreds of camels racing across the dunes. Too hot? Wait till next year.

Mary Williams Walsh / Berlin

A touch of home. Berlin International Film Festival, Feb. 9-20, featuring a retrospective of Buster Keaton’s work. . . . German President Roman Herzog goes to Dresden for speech marking 50th anniversary of the Allied firebombing. . . . Berlin, March 28-April 7, World Climate Summit (Rio follow-up). . . .

Watch breaking developments: April 30 is 50th anniversary of Hitler’s death. . . . June 23: TheReichstag in Berlin will be “wrapped” by the artist Christo. Same day, German Grand Prix auto race. . . . September (exact date uncertain): selection of the architect(s) to design the new U.S. Embassy that will stand in Berlin when the seat of government returns here. . . .

Craig Turner / Toronto

Look for a possible visit late this winter by President Clinton to Ottawa for a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. The two could sign a new “open skies” agreement giving U.S. and Canadian airlines increased access to airports in both countries. . . .

Book for Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 16-18 for the annual summit of the leaders of the world’s seven largest economies, including Clinton. Halifax, a maritime city with a lively night life, should keep the officials (and the press) entertained. . . .

Fly to Montreal June 24 for St. Jean Baptiste Day, the annual nationalist holiday in Quebec. A trip immediately afterward to the provincial capital, Quebec City, may be in order. Some bet that the long-awaited but still unscheduled referendum on Quebec independence will be held June 26.

Michael Parks / Jerusalem

Watch the Palestinian story. Israel and the PLO hope to reach an agreement soon on Palestinian elections and an Israeli pullback in the West Bank, but those negotiations are hard work. . . . Keep an eye on current Israeli and Syrian talks now under way in Washington that have brought top generals into the negotiations, but there are no target dates. . . . No Israeli elections due before October, 1996.

Scott Kraft / Paris

Presidential elections this year, and the tone is conservative. Prime Minister Edouard Balladur and Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac, both members of the right-wing Rally for the Republic Party, are top contenders in April 23 first-round voting to replace outgoing President Francois Mitterrand, a Socialist. The Socialists’ best hope, Jacques Delors, has decided not to run.

Book for the Riviera in May. It’s the annual Cannes Film Festival, where “Pulp Fiction” won honors last year.

Marjorie Miller / Bonn

Jan. 1-5 “baby-sitting” the Bosnia story from Zagreb. On the verge of war again in Croatia? . . . Back on the 6th. Call U.S. Army Europe for schedule of troops in Germany training in event of pullout of peacekeepers from Bosnia. Set date to go down to Heidelberg. . . . Reserve a room April 11 at the Hotel Elephant. 50th Anniversary of Buchenwald liberation. . . . A little light music? Book a room for Salzburg Festival July 21-Aug. 31.

John-Thor Dahlbur / New Delhi

On Jan. 29, catch overnight train (air-conditioned sleeper if available) to Allahabad on the Ganges to attend one of those mind-boggling spectacles that only happen in Mother India. Authorities expect no fewer than 17.5 million Hindu pilgrims to take a dip in the sacred river on the 30th to mark the height of Ardh Kumbh festival, the last to be held in this century. This should be the biggest crowd to assemble anywhere on Planet Earth in 1995. . . .

William R. Long / Buenos Aires

Watch for major announcements this week by new Brazilian president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and try to sell desk on feature about pre-Lenten Carnaval fun in Rio de Janeiro, Feb. 24-28. Good photo opportunities. . . . Request press credentials to cover Peruvian presidential elections, April 19. Prepare background story on President Alberto Fujimori and his bid for second term. . . . One year later, check on progress in investigation of terrorist bomb that destroyed Jewish community center in Buenos Aires and killed 87 people last July 18. If any news, offer story for anniversary. . . . Be alert for repeat of political violence in Chile on Sept. 11, anniversary of 1973 military coup.