Reporters on the Job

• Precautionary Measures: Staff writer Sara Miller Llana met Maria Isabel Miranda in a cafe in Mexico City to talk with her about her battle to find out who kidnapped and killed her son.

When the interview was over, Ms. Miranda insisted that Sara take an authorized taxi home. Miranda offered to take Sara to find one. It was then that the risks that Miranda had taken to fight the silence and corruption surrounding kidnapping became fully apparent.

"We went to her car, a Chevy Suburban, and got in – along with two bodyguards. They were carrying guns and sat in both the front seat and the back," says Sara. "It was very surreal."

If Sara needed any more evidence of the need for caution, she got it after her interview with Mexico's deputy attorney general for special investigations.

"It was at night – and when I left, his spokesperson took me downstairs in a dark elevator. As she fumbled to hit the right button, I asked her why there was no light. She told me the elevator was visible from the outside – something that could spur a kidnapping."

On August 10, 2006, the Monitor reported on a controversy in India surrounding the findings of the environmental group, the Center for Science and Environment, that there were pesticide residues in PepsiCo and Coca-Cola sodas, which are bottled locally ("Pesticides in sodas rekindle Indian ire"). Tuesday, India's Health Ministry dismissed the allegations, saying the data were flawed. But several states said Wednesday that they would continue a ban on the cola giants' sales.

– Amelia Newcomb

Deputy World editor