Reporters on the Job

GUIDED TOUR: Fred Weir was the only foreigner among a group of journalists invited on a rare visit to the secret Sevmash naval shipyard in northern Russia (page 7). The purpose of the 3-1/2-hour visit was to show the engineering efforts under way to salvage the Kursk, a sunken Russian sub. And Fred's "minders," were clear that there would be no side trips.

"They drove us around in such a way that we couldn't see anything but what they brought us to view," says Fred. "I caught a glimpse of a sub tail and the Admiral Gorshkov, an aircraft carrier they're 'giving' to India. But they wouldn't confirm that's what it was. I just saw the upturned flight deck. But I have to say, otherwise, they treated us with great hospitality," he says.

The trip included a sumptuous lunch, hosted by the director of the shipyard.

SOUNDS OF THE PAST: While Nicholas Blanford was conducting his interviews for today's story (this page) on the bank of the Hasbani River, he could hear the soft thunderclap of exploding artillery rounds carried on the hot breeze. The explosions were an Israeli military exercise in the Golan Heights.

"As I drove up the winding road that leads out of the gorge, I saw a reporter from the Hizbullah television station, Al-Manar. I stopped the car to say hello. He pointed across the Hasbani gorge to the Golan Heights.

" 'You see the shelling?' he asked me. Sure enough, through the haze we could see small puffs of dirty yellow smoke and dust from each exploding round. The Hizbullah reporter used to stay very busy covering Israel's occupation of south Lebanon and Hizbullah's campaign to force the Israeli army to withdraw, which came to a successful conclusion just over a year ago. Seeing the distant explosions on the Golan Heights, the Hizbullah man turned to me with a big grin. 'It's just like the good old days. How I miss them,' he told me."

- David Clark Scott

World Editor

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