Correspondent
Languages

Hillary and the 'snakes' on her plane

Michael Mathes Thursday 29 September 2016

"The news wires, television networks and major newspapers who comprise the text and video pools that follow presidential hopefuls are adamant about keeping the candidates within eyesight at all events," writes AFP's politics and Congress correspondent, Michael Mathes.

"Usually such coverage feels mundane to reporters, as they follow the candidate through his or her routine. But Clinton's has been fraught with press-related hiccups."

Read more
A woman covers her face as she walks past piles of garbage, along the Jdeideh highway, northeast of the Lebanese capital Beirut on September 23, 2016, as the garbage crisis in the country re-emerges.

Drowning in garbage

Joseph Eid Wednesday 28 September 2016

"'Good morning! I'm an AFP photographer. Would it be alright to use your roof to take pictures of the garbage mountain in front of your building?'

"'Welcome, welcome my dear, come in. Would you like some coffee? I can give you a full interview if you want. Will your pictures show how bad the smell is?'"

"Since Lebanon's trash crisis began last July, I have asked this question dozens -- perhaps hundreds -- of times," writes Joseph Eid, a photographer based in Lebanon. "I am greeted with the same enthusiasm each time, with residents eagerly ushering me onto their rooftops or near their windows to snap pictures of the piles of rubbish lining Lebanon's roads."

Read more

Covering Syria through hunger and fear

Karam Al-Masri, Rana Moussaoui Monday 26 September 2016

For Karam al-Masri, AFP's reporter, photographer and videojournalist in rebel-held Aleppo, the past five years have been a series of tragedies: detention by the regime, and then the Islamic State group, the death of his parents in an air strike, the siege of his hometown, hunger and bombardment. Though it all, he has continued to report, with unwavering courage, the story of his ravaged city. 

Herewith his story, in his own words and those by Rana Moussaoui, his colleague in Beirut who works with him daily.

 

Read more
  • AFP / Stephane De Sakutin
  • AFP / Jewel Samad
  • AFP / Stephane De Sakutin

The UN, Brangelina and me

Carole Landry Friday 23 September 2016

"The madness begins in the weeks leading up to the UN General Assembly when my email inbox is suddenly disgorging invitations to cover "high-level events"  on everything from anti-microbial resistance to climate change," writes AFP's UN correspondent Carole Landry.

"NGOs are offering up  experts to discuss the refugee crisis and a PR firm asks  if we would like to interview the foreign minister of Kazakhstan.  Recep Tayyip Erdogan's wife is inviting reporters to talk about 'the advancement of the Turkish economy and democracy.'  Everyone is in town for UNGA."

Read more