Correspondent
Languages

Primary tabs

  • AFP / Roberto Schmidt
  • AFP / Roberto Schmidt

Namaste Nepal

Ammu Kannampilly Wednesday 17 August 2016

"I didn't expect to cover so much tragedy when I began my posting in Nepal," writes Kathmandu bureau chief Ammu Kannampilly as she prepares to bid good-bye to the country.

"My three-year tenure was punctuated by natural disasters, deadly protests and a months-long blockade along the Nepal-India border that choked off essential supplies to a country already reeling from its worst earthquake in 80 years."

"Along the way, I travelled to some of the world's most inaccessible and stunning spots -- often on foot -- and met some extraordinary people."

Read more
  • AFP / Bulent Kilic
  • AFP / Stefan Heunis

Covering the refugee crisis

Yana Dlugy Tuesday 16 August 2016

From the Greek island of Lesbos, to the sea between Thailand and Malaysia. From train tracks in Mexico to dusty camps in South Sudan and northern Nigeria.

Over the past year and a half, AFP has published scores of blogs on the refugee crisis all over the world, in which the agency's journalists recount covering the tragedy.

Read more
  • AFP / Timothy A. Clary
  • AFP / Timothy A. Clary
  • AFP / Timothy A. Clary

Where even the rain is timed

Timothy A. Clary Friday 12 August 2016

"At 10 minutes to 2:00 pm, I was alone backstage, wondering what was going on," writes New York-based photographer Timothy A. Clary. "Radio City’s summer Rockettes show 'New York Spectacular' was to start at 2:00 pm. I could hear the audience on the other side of the curtain, settling in. But with 10 minutes to go there were still no dancers."

"And then five minutes later, they came. Perfectly coiffed, dressed to a tee, the Rockettes dancers came up in the elevator and took up their positions on stage, and then the curtain lifted and it was non stop from then on."

Read more
  • AFP / Jon Super
  • AFP / Jon Super
  • AFP / Jon Super

3,200 naked blue people

Jon Super Wednesday 10 August 2016

Kingston-upon-Hull - I guess one of the strangest things was when naked blue people started to emerge from behind the trees, just as it was beginning to get light out, around 5:00 am. They just kept coming and coming. 3,200 people, in the dawn light. All naked. And all painted blue.

Although I knew the nakedness was coming, it still made quite an impression.

Read more
  • AFP / Noel Celis
  • AFP / Noel Celis
  • AFP / Noel Celis

Dead bodies and hellish prisons on the Philippines police graveyard shift

Noel Celis Friday 5 August 2016

"Sometimes it takes the whole night, other times the dead bodies turn up early. What's certain is that the Manila Police's graveyard shift is now worthy of its sinister name".

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was elected by a landslide in May, largely on a pledge to clean up the streets by killing tens of thousands of criminals. 

His campaign threats were backed by his record in southern Davao city, which he ruled for two decades according to his ruthless law-and-order policies. He was accused of running or tolerating death squads that killed more than 1,000 suspects.

Police say 402 drug suspects have been gunned down in the past month, and rights groups claim hundreds more have been killed by vigilantes. Thousands of people have also been detained, doomed for lengthy stints in underfunded and overwhelmed jails.

Read more