Reporters on the Job

• Discount Airlines: Steve Miller, CEO of Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, told correspondent Simon Montlake about how his budget airline makes a profit in Asia ( see story).

"He told me that an affordable business class is key as it allows self-employed and noncorporate business travelers the leeway to spend a little extra on a comfy seat. That way, they arrive ready for meetings at the other end. He told me it should be the right of these hard-working folk to travel business class. Then, he hastily added the same should hold true for journalists. Now I just need to test his theory on the Monitor bean counters," says Simon, who normally travels economy class.

• Poverty and Gratitude: The Shiites of southern Lebanon have been marginalized for decades, but staff writer Scott Peterson was surprised at the poverty of the family which had been hit with a cluster bomb ( see story).

The father, Mohammed, worked as a farmhand. Even the coffee and cups – and the plastic table to set them on – were borrowed from the house next door.

"There was nothing on the interior walls – just some purple crayon markings from the children, and a few portraits of deceased family members," says Scott.

On the exterior of the cementblock house, the only décor was the deliberate graffiti of gratitude: "Gift from my God."

David Clark Scott
World editor