Reporters on the Job

INCONGRUOUS MOMENT: Sometimes the strangest things happen during an interview, which distract you from the story at hand. And Middle East correspondent Cameron Barr had one of those odd moments while reporting today's story on suicide bombers during the interview with Ibrahim Abu Shadouf, whose son Nidal killed himself and two Israeli soldiers on July 16.

Cameron and a French journalist were conducting the interview together, and at one point Cameron noticed his colleague's watch. Its face featured an apologetic Snoopy and the phrase, "It's hard to be modest when you're the best."

"Suddenly I remembered that there was a whole other world out there, a world with funny things like Snoopy," he says. "And then I came back to earth, back to the father's struggle and anger and determination."

JUST FOLLOW THE ... KIDS: The schedule in Moscow for US Defense chief Donald Rumsfeld was spelled out clearly in the American Embassy's press release. Honor ceremony at Victory Park, Kremlin wreath laying, even a "boat excursion" with Russia's defense minister - all places to be avoided, unless you like traffic snarls and hulking traffic policemen.

But where did Moscow bureau chief Scott Peterson accidentally come across Mr. Rumsfeld's convoy? Snaking out the US Embassy gates, one black-tinted car after another, as he entered the compound area to watch his children swim.

- Faye Bowers

Deputy world editor

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