Reporters on the Job

• SECURITY SLIPPING: Since last October's bombing in Bali, reporter Dan Murphy says extra security checks have become a part of the Jakarta routine, particularly at shopping malls and hotels favored by foreigners. Cars are stopped and searched for bombs, usually just by popping the trunk but sometimes by using mirrors at the ends of long sticks to look for explosives underneath.

But as time has gone by, such security measures have started to slip. Dan noticed it on Sunday night, when he dropped off a friend who was staying at the Marriott - the same hotel that was bombed Tuesday. "I'd become so used to being stopped, that I really noticed how easily our cab swung into the Marriott,'' says Dan. "I was talking to my friend today, who's fine, and he says he had the same thought."

• LIBERIA'S UNSUNG HEROES: To report Wednesday's story about heroic aid workers in Liberia, Nicole Itano ventured into a neighborhood near the front lines. Until Tuesday, the streets of Monrovia had been deserted, with the exception of these few Liberian volunteers pushing carts of rescued wounded.

"I walked about a kilometer to get to this area that is considered the front line between government and rebel troops. Until now, the fighting has been so intense, no other reporters have been into the neighborhood. So the aid workers were quite excited that someone had taken the trouble to come and see them, and give them a little credit for what they've been doing," says Nicole. "It's quite amazing. This group of about two dozen guys have pulled hundreds of injured people out of the combat area."

David Clark Scott
World editor

Cultural snapshot