Reporters on the Job

from the April 30, 2007 edition

• Secular Turkey: How strongly do Turks feel about an "Islamic" president? Two signs jumped out at staff writer Scott Peterson in Istanbul. First, he saw posters of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, the one candidate representing the Islam-embracing ruling party, plastered across one tree after another. The next day, most of the posters had been defaced. Then, at a pro-secular rally on Sunday, Scott climbed high upon an unsteady sports-field light pole, in order to get good photographs of the crowd. While shooting, he looked down and recognized in the huge crowd one of his neighbors, waving a Turkish flag and dancing (see story).

– David Clark Scott

World editor

This week's look ahead

• Monday, April 30:

Ankara, Turkey – Afghan President Hamid Karzai to hold talks with Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf

Northern Ireland – Smoking ban comes into effect.

• Tuesday, May 1:

Shanghai – National Holiday in China. Financial markets closed until May 8Caracas, Venezuela – Venezuela takes control of heavy oil projects in Orinoco River region as President Hugo Chávez completes industry's nationalization.

• Thursday, May 3:

Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt – Five permanent members of UN Security Council plus Germany, Canada, and Japan to attend two-day meeting with ministers of Iraq and its neighbors. Iraqi debt and the war will be among the topics discussed.

• Sunday, May 6:

France – Second-round runoff in presidential election.

– Associated Press, Reuters

Cultural snapshot

A different vision of Iraq: Some 50 state-sponsored artists are painting murals of the Iraqi countryside on the concrete security walls in Baghdad. Each artist is expected to complete murals covering 40 blast walls. Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud/Reuters More cultural snapshots

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