Reporters on the Job

• Honey and Crime: In the course of reporting today's story about rising crime in Gaza, staff writer Ilene Prusher was given sweets, but not much information. "The owner of the pastry shop in the story kept pressing pieces of baklava on us. My interpreter, a colleague, and I had a piece each. He wanted to give us more, but I promised we'd come back at some other point."

The crime information was harder to come by. "I was told about crimes people had heard of, but when I tried to track some of them down, we found people who didn't want to talk. Many said they were ashamed of the rising crime rate - and didn't want to have it written about. When I tried to get statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Interior, which oversees the police, the spokesman told my interpreter that it was shameful and refused to make a public comment."

• All-Night Coverage: On Sunday night, the line between working and celebrating was blurred a bit, says correspondent Beth Kampschror. She began the night waiting for the initial results of the Montenegrin election at a party/press conference sponsored by one of the election observer groups. "At around 10 p.m. the fireworks began, followed by street parties, cars honking, and people chanting, dancing, and wearing red shirts and waving the Montenegrin flag. At 5 a.m., as the sun rose, I finally went home," says Beth. But she admits her excuse was partly personal: It's my birthday!

David Clark Scott
World editor