Today's Story Line

The world continues to watch as Russia attempts to rescue 116 crew members from its stranded submarine. However the rescue effort pans out, Russia's President Vladimir Putin will likely use the exercise to underscore his No. 1 message: the former superpower needs drastic military reforms.

Korean families are reunitingfor the first time in 50 years, with heart-rending stories and images reminiscent of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Faye Bowers Deputy world editor

REPORTERS ON THE JOB..

*ALEX FLIES THE FRIENDLY SKIES: Monitor correspondent Alexander MacLeod once rode aboard the Concorde. In the 1970s, soon after it went into commercial service, he attended a flying press conference for the launch of a new safety razor that incorporated a then-novel blade head that, according to a public relations spokesman, "moved up and down like the nose of Concorde."

"We flew from Heathrow out toward Spain across the Bay of Biscay and back," Alex recalls, "in a flight that took about an hour. It was "a rather cramped plane with narrow seats and not enough leg room for someone like me, over six feet. We felt a slight lurch when we went through the sound barrier, which was a bit of a thrill. A speedily served lunch was better than British Airways' subsonic fare, but I wouldn't have rated the food a star in the Michelin guide," Alex says.

Ever since, the Concorde has flown over his London house, which is near the glide-path to Heathrow Airport, at least twice a day. "The sight of that great white bird in the sky was superb, but the noise was deafening, and worried the family cat until Fergus got used to it," Alex says. "No doubt it's sad if it's the end of Concorde, but I do have one tiny consolation: My droopy-nosed razor is still in service."

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