Behind the scenes stories from a Canadian Journalist overseas
Our London-based CBC Newsgathering team is just back from the Middle East, after staying for a couple of weeks in Israel and the occupied West Bank to report on the implementation of the ceasefire. We were in Ramallah, Sderot, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem. Our local producer Joey Kuzar took some interesting black and white photos…
We are preparing for yet another trip to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories, hopefully this time as a ceasefire sets in. We spent several weeks there in January, with much of our files done from the West Bank. We met a family who’s (unarmed) 17 year old son was shot to death by Israeli…
This has been a difficult few weeks. On October 7th, Hamas terrorists invaded Israeli settlements near Gaza and committed atrocities that we are still trying to process. My team from London was dispatched to Jerusalem within a few hours and we spent two weeks in Israel and the West Bank trying to convey the enormity…
We spent a difficult, intense week in South Sudan, a country deeply mired in conflict that is now serving as a sanctuary for tens of thousands escaping from a new war. We made it to Renk, one of the hardest-to-get-to places I’ve ever been, which is eight hours south of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, and the…
The new King and Queen are on their thrones and the Coronation already seems like a distant memory. Britain knows how to throw a party and after a Platinum Jubilee, a Queen’s funeral, and now a King’s Coronation, the royal planners have had their triple crown. Does Britain need the Royals ? Not for me…
We’ve been back from the Middle East for a few weeks now, with an opportunity to reflect on all we experienced. My main takeaways: Israelis are on the brink of a civil war over the meaning of their democracy, while Palestinians shrug. For them, the occupation has deprived generations of hope and futures. The most…
Dubai isn’t for everyone’s taste but it is clearly heaven for many Russians. Denied entry into Europe, the United Arab Emirates is instead capitalizing with enormous numbers of visitors from RU. Some fled at the start of Putin’s war on Ukraine; others came after the mass mobilization call up; and yet others simply arrive for…
We went to Egypt to cover the UN’s big climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh. Some good stuff got done – loss and damage fund – but some unfinished business was left unfinished. The path to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees is practically non-existent as there were no new agreements on reductions. But while…
The Danish capital of Copenhagen has much to rave about, but the bicycle culture must really be seen to be believed. People go everywhere on two-wheels; they wear their work clothes; they ride in the rain, sleet and snow; and the entire downtown has tricked out with bicycle paths, bridges and special lanes to handle…
We were in southeast Poland last week covering the story of the errant Ukrainian missiles that sadly killed two Poles in a border village and we decided to try to pop across the border to Lviv. Usually trips to Ukraine involve meticulous planning and intensive safety preparations, none of which we had time to do….