Reporters on the Job

from the February 14, 2007 edition

• A Prime Minister's View: Correspondent Nicholas Blanford had a rare interview with Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora (see story) inside the Grand Serail, the Lebanese equivalent of the White House.

Mr. Siniora has been sequestered there, along with some of his ministers, since last May, after Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel was assassinated in November.

"It felt a bit like being in a boarding school. The ministers sleep in suites a couple of corridors from their offices. At 3 p.m. they meet in the cafeteria for lunch before going back to work again," says Nick, who joined the prime minister and his cabinet for lunch. "On Saturday, Siniora and I walked over to a window overlooking downtown Beirut where we could clearly see the tents housing the opposition supporters who have been camped out since Dec 1. Siniora said with a hint of satisfaction that he had noticed the numbers of people camping out has steadily declined."

David Clark Scott
World editor

INSTEAD OF A BOX OF CHOCOLATES? The Valentine's Day special at a spa in Hakone, Japan, is a "chocolate" hot- springs bath made with cacao and bath powders. KIYOSHI OTA/REUTERS More cultural snapshots

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