Reporters on the Job

• At Home in Albania: During the nearly one week correspondent Nicole Itano has spent in Albania reporting for today's stories (see story), she has been greeted with almost universal enthusiasm as soon as people discovered she was American.

Taxi drivers thanked her and told her, without prompting, how much they loved America. Even in the mosque, where she expected to get a chillier greeting, Albanian Muslims were eager to show how happy they were that President Bush was visiting.

"I was taking off my shoes at the entrance of the mosque when a man started speaking to me in Albanian," says Nicole. "At first I thought I was doing something wrong and apologized that I didn't speak any Albanian."

"He said, 'Oh! American! You are welcome, you are welcome!' "

– David Clark Scott
World editor

This week's look ahead

• Monday, June 11: Sofia, Bulgaria – President Bush visits.

• Tuesday, June 12: Bali, Indonesia – Holocaust survivors address conference of liberal Muslim activists in Indonesia.

• Wednesday, June 13: Oxford, England – Winner of Man Booker International Prize (contemporary fiction) announced. Miami – Hearing in torture case against Chuckie Taylor, a son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. The son faces torture charges stemming from his time as head of a security force in Liberia.

• Sunday, June 17: Paris – French parliamentary elections, second and final round.

– Associated Press