Zagreb

For two weeks, Dana Kollmann has been digging up the dead -- men and women, young and old, all victims of a bitter ethic war who are buried in the woods, along roads and even in the back yards of Croatia.It is a long way from Baltimore County, where Ms. Kollmann, 27, is a forensics services technician gathering evidence from crime scenes and unearthing corpses for the Police Department."This war has devastated families, and there is no shortage of graves," she said in a telephone interview.

A year ago, Igor Milosevic was on the verge of being drafted into the Croatian army to fight in a bloody civil war.Today, the only battles facing the 19-year-old are the contests on the basketball court at the Annapolis Recreation Center in downtown Annapolis. Last September, the 6-foot, 5-inch Mr. Milosevic left his home in Zagreb and came to Maryland on a student visa to pursue his dream of becoming a professional basketball player.His older brother, Vladimir, who plays basketball for the University of Maryland Baltimore County, helped him find a school and a team.

ZAGREB, Yugoslavia -- Yugoslav air force jets attacked and damaged a television transmitter just outside Zagreb yesterday in the first air attack on Croatia's capital since fighting was touched off more than two months ago.Soon after air raid sirens wailed all over the city yesterday evening, government officials said the transmitter, to the north of the city, had been attacked by air force MiG fighters. The jets fired six rockets that damaged emergency generators near the transmitter tower without interrupting television broadcasts throughout Croatia.

ZAGREB, Croatia -- Church bells across Croatia chimed at sundown yesterday to mark the European Community's recognition of its independence.After dark, revelers danced in the streets and fired automatic weaponsinto the air. Croatian flags decked the streets of Zagreb.But Croatia's problems are hardly over. The new country faces crippling economic problems, serious internal political opposition and an unfinished war with Serbia.Above all, recognition is seen as further insurance for Croatia that it can now call on other countries for help if war with the rest of Yugoslavia continues.

ZAGREB, Croatia -- He wears grand imperial uniforms that signify nothing but vanity. Prime ministers who displease him are fired. So are opponents who win elections.His friends get fat deals from the government, while enemies get their phones tapped. Journalists who insult him are charged as criminals. When he needs an ego boost, there's always state television, faithfully comparing him to Winston Churchill.So goes the world according to Franjo Tudjman, the president of Croatia. One might shrug him off as yet another eccentricity of Balkan politics were he not filling two important roles: major U.S. friend in the region, and pedestal for peace in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Serbian gunners continued to pound the Muslim-held town of GORAZDE and step up shelling in SARAJEVO. Fighting between Bosnian Croats and Muslim-led government forces moved closer to the capital. The fighting in the embattled KAKANJ pocket flared again despite a cease-fire.Two vital roads into SARAJEVO, the only lifelines with the outside world for aid to the trapped 380,000 citizens, risked being closed. A United Nations spokesman said Serbian forces put a checkpoint across the airport road and threatened to halt all traffic.