Reporters on the Job

• Freer Speech in Hong Kong: Staff writer Peter Ford says he enjoyed his week in Hong Kong covering the election of a new chief executive (see story). It was his first visit, and in stark contrast to Beijing, where he lives, people in the port city agreed to talk to him and speak about as truthfully as they do anywhere. "The atmosphere here is completely different from Beijing," he says.

But Peter was disappointed to leave without having seen any of the famously breathtaking vistas. He was always in too much of a hurry to take the ferry that would have afforded him the view of Hong Kong harbor with the forested Peak behind it. When he did take the time to go up to The Peak to get a view, he ran into another problem: the pollution (from the Pearl River industrial zone) was so thick he could hardly see the other side of the bay.

David Clark Scott
World editor

• Monday, March 26:
Belfast, Northern Ireland – Deadline for Northern Ireland's newly elected Assembly to form joint Catholic-Protestant administration.
Tecpan, Guatemala – Third Continental Summit of Indigenous Nations and Nationalities.

• Tuesday, March 27:
Seoul, South Korea – South Korea to resume fertilizer aid to North Korea.
Rome – Italy's Senate expected to vote on new funds for the military mission in Afghanistan.

• Wednesday, March 28:
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Arab leaders to discuss reviving Saudi Arabia's initiative for comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and Arab world.

– Associated Press, Reuters