Reporters on the Job

• Clothes Make the Man: After she had made requests all day, at about 9 p.m. the office of the new police chief in Nuevo Laredo called staff writer Danna Harman and said that she could interview him before he went home. So Danna and her assistant rushed over. "I thought I would find him intimidating, or have little in common with him, but instead I thought he was wonderful," says Danna. "He is personable and funny. I was impressed that he would take the time on such an enormous day to talk to us."

During his swearing in that morning, Danna says he was in a gray suit. "But later, when we talked to him at night, he was wearing a really bright and flash new shirt. Here is a man, whom people talk about as a walking death target, and he is showing us all how to look good and put on the glitz. I always am amazed with people with such courage."

• A Hot Election: As Kyrgyzstan voters prepare for a presidential election on Sunday, they're dealing with a heat wave. "It's 104 degrees here," says correspondent Fred Weir. "The only place you see any signs of life is under the trees, next to small canals called aryks that irrigate the trees in this arid area."

At night, more people ventured out. "I don't know what the standard idea of a revolutionary situation is, but here, it's total confusion, even apathy. People have a lot of grievances that have not been addressed," Fred says.

- Amelia Newcomb

Deputy World editor