Reporters on the Job

• Touring the Protest: Staff writer Sara Miller Llana notes that as she and her husband were coming into Oaxaca City, Mexico, two tourists from New Zealand saw her husband reading a Mexican newspaper with a picture of the strikers. "They asked what was going on as they did not speak Spanish and had not heard about the strike," Sara says.

This is the week that thousands of people come to experience a festival of indigenous dance, so Sara thought she'd meet a lot of disappointed tourists. "To my surprise, the people I talked to on the streets and in our hotel seemed pretty understanding," she says. "Some graffiti read, 'Tourists go home!' but many strikers reached out to tourists who stopped by their tables to inquire about why they were occupying the square."

Sara notes that there is still a lot to do in the area. "The festival is cel-ebrated in little towns outside Oaxaca City, so many have planned to make trips there. There are the churches to visit, and crafts to buy."

And there's always food to sample. On Wednesday night, Sara's husband dug into a plate of fried grasshoppers, a local specialty. Not Sara: "I could not bring myself to participate in that aspect of the culture here!"

Amelia Newcomb
Deputy world editor

Hot in Europe

Like the United States, Europe is experiencing a heat wave. Some temperatures recorded Wednesday, when Britain recorded its hottest day ever:

London: 96.6 degrees F.
Paris: 97 degrees F.
Berlin: 95 degrees F.
Brussels: 93.9 degrees F.
Utrecht, Netherlands: 95.5 degrees F.

Source: AP