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AFP / Fabrice Coffrini

Davos: It's good to talk

Richard Carter Tuesday 21 January 2020

"'Don't get too drunk at the champagne receptions,' my colleagues joked as I left to cover my first summit in Davos a few years back," writes Richard Carter, currently deputy bureau chief in Tokyo.

"That's the public perception of the World Economic Forum in the stunning Swiss village: corporate fat cats, politicians and journalists on a ski junket followed by evenings quaffing bubbly."

"Here's the thing: that's not too far from the truth! But for lowly journalists -- especially from news agencies like AFP trying to cover as many events as possible -- it's also one of the toughest assignments you can get."

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  • AFP / Ulises Ruiz

Hola querida Mexico

Patrick Anidjar Wednesday 25 December 2019

"When you’ve been on a few foreign postings, you start to develop a routine of sorts once you get to a new place," writes Patrick Anidjar a few months after becoming bureau chief in Mexico.

"You take your bearings, make your way through the bureaucracy as you apply for residency, soak everything in and see if the stereotypes you’ve heard are true."

"When I arrived in Mexico, in addition to my things, my bike, my guitar, I also had quite a bit of cliches -- Mexico is violent, the air is horrid, the roads deadly, earthquakes too frequent, corruption omnipresent and Mexicans… well, it depends if you’re talking about cartel members or not."

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  • AFP / Johan Ordonez
  • AFP / Johan Ordonez
  • AFP / Johan Ordonez
  • AFP / Johan Ordonez

Travels in Antarctica

Johan Ordonez, Viken Kantarci, Pierre-Henry Deshayes Monday 23 December 2019

Half Moon Island, Antarctica -- It was a reporting mission that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. A trip aboard a luxury cruise to one of the Earth’s most desolate places, Antarctica. A place of stunning beauty and contrasts that can move you to tears. Photographer Johan Ordonez, video journalist Viken Kantarci et text reporter Pierre-Henry Deshayes share their tale.

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AFP / Jewel Samad

Every breath you take

Jewel Samad Monday 9 December 2019

"I grew up in one of the most polluted cities in the world. So I thought that I would easily handle New Delhi’s winter, known as pollution season. I thought I was prepared for it," writes Jewel Samad, photo chief for Southeast Asia based in New Delhi. "Turns out it’s not something that you can prepare for."

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  • AFP / Marco Bertorello
  • AFP / Olivier Morin
  • AFP / Munir Uz Zaman
  • AFP / Olivier Morin
  • AFP / Marco Bertorello
  • AFP / Luis Tato
  • AFP / Peter Parks
  • AFP / Jorge Jara
  • AFP / Josh Edelson
  • AFP / Philippe Huguen

Tales from the (climate) edge

Monday 2 December 2019

As nations huddle in Madrid to try to neutralize the threat of global warming, warnings sound that the Earth is hurtling toward a "point of no return" in the climate crisis, with devastating effects for humanity.

AFP journalists have been on the frontline, documenting climate-related disasters that are becoming deadlier, more frequent and more devastating.

From fires burning out of control in Australia and California, to floods in Africa and Venice. From sinking islands in the US and Asia to orcas going further and further north in search of food. from mingling with scientists at a climate conference to hanging out with Nordic free spirits taking recycling to a new level by chisling a surfboard out of ice so that it melts back into the sea. 

The issue of climate change has gained urgency over the past several years and months -- from sick oceans, to glaciers near collapse, to teenagers leading worldwide movements to save the planet. As it gains urgency, get a glimpse of the journeys our reporters have taken...

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