Reporters on the Job

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Owen Humphreys-pa

Are We Being Watched? Photographer Alfredo Sosa and staff writer Matthew Clark interviewed several women for today's story about Cuban dissidents. But it was only after they were sitting in the humble home of a woman who lived in the countryside east of Havana did they realize the extent of the dangers she faced.

"She started to describe the assaults, including the time she was knifed as she was walking down the street. She showed us her scars, and said her attackers were thugs paid by the government," he says.

When the two arrived, a family friend was in the room. He left after they started the interview. "Since the last attack, she explained to us, there's always a friend around to serve as her protector," says Alfredo. She told them that sometimes her home is watched by Cuban government agents. After hearing that, the two decided to leave before a surveillance team showed up.

A Senator in Sderot: Sen. Barak Obama's visit to the Israeli town of Sderot (pronounced stay-rote) Wednesday was not open to the general public. It was held in the parking lot of the local police station. In fact, none of the places on Senator Obama's Israel and West Bank itinerary were open to the public. Media access was limited too.

But as correspondent Josh Mitnick notes, this little border town has become one of the regular stops for visiting dignitaries, along with the Holocaust Memorial. "Sderot is now the poster child for terrorist attacks," says Josh.

The backdrop for Obama's press conference? A collection of rockets fired at the town by Palestinian militants over the past eight years. "There was even a trophy case of various Russian and Iranian missiles," says Josh. The mayor presented Obama with a "I love Sderot" T-shirt. A Qassam rocket was piercing the heart on the shirt.

David Clark Scott

World editor

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