Reporters on the Job
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Long Memories: To report Thursday's story about a Muslim school principal's visit to the US (
see story), staff writer Scott Baldauf had to persuade a motorized rickshaw driver to take him to the school in Old Delhi. But most simply refused.
"Finally, I found a friendly Sikh driver who was willing to take an Indian journalist and me. But when I told him the address "Fatehpuri Mosque," he replied, "No way." But my quick-thinking colleague asked him to take us to the Sikh temple near the mosque. "I am at your service," the driver replied.
"Later, my friend explained that this behavior was based on history. No righteous Sikh would ever go near that particular mosque, because it had been built by Muslim rulers who had killed one of the Sikh religion's main gurus. For some wounds, 400 years is not enough time to heal," says Scott.
David Clark Scott
World editor
Follow-up on a Monitor story
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No Dutch Welcome Mat: The Dutch parliament approved a measure Tuesday to expel 26,000 people who unsuccessfully sought political asylum, despite objections from left-leaning political parties and human rights groups. As reported on Dec. 19, 2003 - "Liberal Netherlands grows less so on immigration" - residents are increasingly questioning the numbers of foreigners and the social-welfare costs of integrating them. A report from the Dutch government research bureau recently forecast that, by 2017, almost 60 percent of Rotterdam's 600,000 population will be nonnative. Currently, almost half of the population in the city - the nation's second-largest - was born outside Holland.
Original story.
Cultural snapshot
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RETURN OF THE SUMO:
South Korean boys push Japanese wrestler Tosano Umi during an exhibition match Saturday. It was part of the first sumo event held in South Korea since the end of Japanese colonization in 1945.
KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS
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