UKRAINE SHIFTS TO CASH PRIVATIZATION. Volodymir Lanovyi, the acting head of the Ukrainian State Property Fund, said on 24 November that Kyiv will sell for cash, rather than use vouchers, to privatize major industrial firms, Ukrainian media reported. Lanovyi said the new approach will bring in billions of dollars to the cashstarved government. In other economic news, the parliament greeted the announcement that Kyiv and Moscow have agreed to dispense with value-added taxes on each other's exports. And the British government announced it will send some $34 million to Ukraine to retrain some of that country's unemployed coal miners, InterfaxUkraine reported. PG

MEDIA FREEDOM IN DANGER IN SEVEN CIS STATES. A recent report compiled by the international journalists' organization Reporters sans Frontieres lists seven CIS states and two East European countries where journalists' rights and freedoms are seriously threatened. Those countries are Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan as well as Romania and Macedonia, according to INFOTAG on 24 November. The assessment is based on the availability and influence of state-run media, the level of development of the independent media, violence against journalists, and the number of court proceedings against the media initiated by official bodies. Moldova was named as the worst offender owing to its 1994 press law, which makes it very difficult for journalists to defend their rights. All attempts by democraticallyminded Moldovan deputies to revise that law have failed, the report noted. LF

MEDIA FREEDOM IN DANGER IN SEVEN CIS STATES. A recent report compiled by the international journalists' organization Reporters sans Frontieres lists seven CIS states and two East European countries where journalists' rights and freedoms are seriously threatened. Those countries are Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan as well as Romania and Macedonia, according to INFOTAG on 24 November. The assessment is based on the availability and influence of state-run media, the level of development of the independent media, violence against journalists, and the number of court proceedings against the media initiated by official bodies. Moldova was named as the worst offender owing to its 1994 press law, which makes it very difficult for journalists to defend their rights. All attempts by democraticallyminded Moldovan deputies to revise that law have failed, the report noted. LF