Reporters on the Job

Get all the Monitor's headlines by e-mail. Subscribe for free.

E-mail this story Write a letter to the Editor Printer-friendly version del.icio.us [ What is this? ] digg [ What is this? ]

Arranging to meet the coauthors turned out to be as simple as buying the book. "Their e-mail address is in the book. I sent them an e-mail, they answered right back, and we met at cafe for the interview. They're both working on their next novels. Orkun Ucar is writing a political thriller about Israel's role in the Middle East. Burak Turna is working on a novel that includes a scenario for World War III."

What did Yigal think of Metal Storm? "Well, to be honest my Turkish isn't good enough to read it all the way through. The authors want to get it translated into English, but haven't lined up a US publisher yet," he says.

• Amazon Highway: Correspondent Andrew Downie took two flights from his home in Rio de Janeiro, followed by a four-hour drive to get to the last town on the paved portion of a Brazilian highway going into the Amazon rain forest ( see story). "On either side of the road were vast stretches of soybean fields. But the difference in the scenery once we got beyond [the town of] Guarantá was striking," he says. "The road turned to dirt and, almost immediately, the forest closed in on either side. The development stopped at the end of the paved road."

The size of the Amazon highway was also brought home by the trip. "You can drive for hours on these little highways and see the deforestation on either side. But when you pull out the map to see how much territory you've covered, you really haven't gone very far."

David Clark Scott
World editor

Cultural snapshot

		LAST HARE HUNT? The Waterloo Cup, held Monday in Altcar, England, was founded in 1836. On Friday, a new British law will ban the use of dogs in all fox, hare, and deer hunting. JON SUPER/AP

Let us hear from you.

Mail to: One Norway Street, Boston, MA 02115 via e-mail: World editor