Reporters on the Job
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Refuge From Refugees: Tensions are running high among the Sudanese refugees in Cairo, as staff writer Dan Murphy found out when he went to visit a Catholic church that's serving as their latest place of refuge
(see story). On Friday, at least 30 Sudanese refugees died in an encounter with Egyptian riot police.
When Dan and his Egyptian interpreter walked in, they were accosted by an anxious Egyptian policemen - the only other Egyptian in sight amid at least 1,000 milling Sudanese. Dan and his interpreter are used to the low-level harassment journalists are given by Egyptian cops, so they didn't pay him much heed. They kept making their way into the crowd. But he scooted in front of them, and said, "Look. They really don't like Egyptians here today."
"At that point, a belligerent young Sudanese women came over and underscored the point for him," says Dan. "She told us: 'We don't want Egyptians here. Get out.' "
The policeman said a group of Egyptian journalists that had arrived to talk to the refugees earlier in the day had barely escaped a beating.
But Dan didn't want to leave without a story. Before leaving, he managed to persuade a few of the refugees to meet him around the corner at a coffee shop.
David Clark Scott
World editor
Cultural snapshot
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HAPPY NEW YEAR:
In Tokyo, shoppers celebrated with the traditional rush to buy sealed 10,000 yen ($85) "lucky bags" containing unknown department store items sold at a discounted price.
KIMIMASA MAYAMA/REUTERS
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