World
from the January 08, 2007 edition

Reporters on the Job

Stalking the Archbishop: Nigeria's Archbishop Peter Akinola is a busy man (see story). When Sarah Simpson couldn't set up an interview by phone, she staked out his office. "I settled down with a book in the reception area and decided to wait," she says. "A few chapters later, the door opened and in he stepped. But in his Yoruba traditional dress, I barely recognized him until he had bounded athletically up nearly two flights of steps.

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"'Archbishop! Archbishop!' I squawked, dashing after him, only to trip and fall inelegantly on the bottom step."

He stopped to see if Sarah was all right, and she delivered a plea for an interview. She got it. "I don't know whether it was the fall or if Akinola is always this friendly to journalists, but I left his office with a handful of butter cookies and a mint candy," she says.

David Clark Scott
World editor

This week's look ahead

Monday, Jan. 8:
London - Human rights activists begin week of protests on fifth anniversary of opening of prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Beijing - Andrew Natsios, the US special envoy to Sudan, travels to Beijing to consult on paths to peace in Darfur.

Wednesday, Jan. 10:
Caracas, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez inaugurated. He plans to visit Nicaragua for inauguration of fellow leftist Daniel Ortega.
Athens - Work stoppages and protests against Greece's plans to introduce private universities after 2008.

Friday, Jan. 12:
Taipei, Taiwan - Latest session of embezzlement trial against President Chen Shui-bian's wife, Wu Shu-chen.

Cultural snapshot
(Photograph)
FISH CLEANING: A man sits in hot spring in Chongqing, China, while toothless fish nibble away his dead skin. At any given time, dozens of people sit in large pools with the fish.
REUTERS

More cultural snapshots

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