Karl Wilson

Published on Jan 1, 2008 by Luke Hunt

Karl Wilson has been a journalist for more than 35 years.  He began his career on the The Australian in 1972. In 1976 was posted to London where he covered assignments in Northern Ireland, Europe and Africa. For the last 20 years he was based in Asia where he was foreign editor of the South China Morning Post, editor of the Sunday Standard, foreign editor of the Eastern Expressand editor of The Standard in Hong Kong.From 2004 till August 2009 he was bureau chief in Manila for Agence France-Presse. From September 2009 to December 2010 he was the Philippine correspondent for The National in Abu Dhabi. He returned to Australia in 2011 and was appointed Australia/South East Asian correspondent for....

Max Kolbe

Published on Jan 1, 2008 by Luke Hunt

Pages From The CorrespondentSTILETTO Max Kolbe (stí-létó ) n. pl. sti·let·tos or sti·let·toes A small dagger with a slender, tapering blade. Something shaped like such as a dagger.Old Favourites Find Form — February, 2011Pakistan Tops the Killing Fields — December, 2010The Kinder, The Detained, The Self-Medicated — October, 2010Death Rate Rises as Talibs Establish a Media Centre — July 2010Thailand Goes Bloody — May, 2010Clan Ampatuan & the Munganao Flaks — March, 2010Journo Deaths Strike a Record High in 2009 — January, 2010Mexican Mayhem Flavored with a Singapore Sling — November, 2009Counting the Cost of Freedom — September, 2009Courting the Law and Silencing Critics — July, 2009Why Shoot? Just Legislate and Jail — May, 2009Minor Miracles & Dirty Cops —....

Dominic Whiting

Published on Jan 1, 2008 by Luke Hunt

Dominic Whiting has worked in journalsim for more than 10 years covering a broad range of subjects that included East Asian politics and economics. Many of those years were spent with Reuters, based out of bureaux in Bangkok and Hong Kong. Born in Thailand and raised in England, Whiting was the first Western journalist into Burma following the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.News & FeaturesIts Hilal Not Kosher — Islam Bank  — February 11th, 2010Why it’s Time to Invest in Vietnam — asianone — April 8th, 2008Thailand’s Thaksin Comes Home — el Economista — February 28th, 2008Vietnam rebels in focus as Laos jails reporters —Talk Talk — July 3rd, 2003Suu Kyi spends 58th birthday in detention — rediff-....

Dan Boylan

Published on Jan 1, 2008 by Luke Hunt

Dan Boylan worked on his first political campaign at the age of 11 and by 18 witnessed the protests in Tiananmen Square.Boylan’s journalism career began soon after in his native Boston before he covered Asia as a freelance correspondent during the Hong Kong Handover and Asian Economic Crisis of 1998.Boylan worked as an International News Editor at Associated Press HQ in New York City, won a Fulbright Fellowship for research in Jakarta, then completed a Journalism Professorship in Shanghai and wrote for The Washington Times.Across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia post 9/11, Boylan served as a public affairs advisor to the US Military and other foreign governments. He currently writes essays on politics, literature, language and culture, and....

Stiletto by Max Kolbe – July, 2007

Published on Jul 15, 2007 by Luke Hunt

War Crime Call as Tim Page Notches-Up a Birthday Thirty-two years after the killing of five journalists in East Timor, an inquest into their deaths has been finalised with a call for war crimes charges to be laid. Lawyer Mark Tedeschi argued against the official line that British, Australian and New Zealand journalists working for Australian television stations died in crossfire in a skirmish in the border town of Balibo on October 16, 1975. Also at point is whether governments covered up the fact the alleged murders of “Balibo Five” by Indonesian troops ahead of the 1975 invasion of the then-Portuguese territory. Tedeschi in summing up said the journalists had been killed in cold blood by Indonesian troops as they....

Stiletto by Max Kolbe – January, 2007

Published on Jan 15, 2007 by Luke Hunt

A Gong for Beijing & Pyongyang as a Friend Passes Away Stiletto by Max Kolbe – January, 2007 First up a hearty congratulations to dear leader Kim Jong Il who has been awarded the titles of honorary professor and “Master of Journalists” and the education merit medal from Guayaquil University of Ecuador on the occasion of his birthday. The Korean Central Newsagency reports carved in the medal are words reading “To the great leader Kim Jong Il” and “In high praise of feats performed for university education. January 15, 2007.” An awarding ceremony took place on the spot on January 15. Present were Salomon Quintero, vice-president of the university, Hector Chavez, dean of the Social Communication Faculty, Alba Chavez, secretary....

Stiletto by Max Kolbe – September, 2006

Published on Sep 15, 2006 by Luke Hunt

Amid the Blackmail, Mayhem and Death, Spare a Thought for Wa Wa In Vietnam police arrested a journalist after he apparently blackmailed a company for 10,000 dollars in return for not to exposing alleged corruption. Nguyen Hung Son, 37, a reporter at Dien Dan Doanh Nghiep was detained after being caught receiving 10,000 dollars in cash from the company’s director in a Hanoi cafe. The journalist had previously visited the headquarters of the private-owned Hai Van transport company, based in northern Hai Duong province, and claimed he had evidence that proved corruption involving the sales of vehicles. He then asked for money to keep silent. State-controlled daily An Ninh Thu Do said Son, who was denounced by the company, admitted....

Stiletto by Max Kolbe – July 2006

Published on Jul 15, 2006 by Luke Hunt

It’s Official, Iraq Really is that Dangerous The International Press Institute (IPI) has again called for the killers of the so-called “Balibo Five” — Australian-based journalists murdered in East Timor in 1975, to be brought to justice. This issue will not go away and has dogged the Indonesian authorities as perhaps the last outstanding blot to be cleaned out of their annexation and occupation of the former Portuguese colony. Press chiefs pushed Australia, East Timor, Indonesia, Britain and the United Nations “to undertake all necessary measures” to find who killers Gary Cunningham, Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart of Melbourne’s Channel Seven network, and Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie of Sydney-based Channel Nine network. “Despite numerous attempts by relatives and concerned organisations....

Furtive Franks Misses Out on Kebabs in Palestine Hotel

Published on Apr 21, 2003 by Luke Hunt

Editor’s note: The Posts’s energetic and slightly wary senior Iraq correspondent, Sheikh Ya’erbuti writes in his final missive from Iraq about the post-war preparations, Palestine Airways and Waqil, who has resurfaced after several weeks in the desert. He filed this piece on April 21. BAGHDAD: In one corner, combatants of the self-styled milita known as the Free Iraqi Forces are holding court. A muslim cleric and his entourage sweep past soldiers in full battledress while a middle-aged man hustles whisky out of a plastic bag. A marine yells: “Clear a path” as General James Mattis tries to leave. But the order is ignored by the hundreds who fill the hotel lobby. His bodyguards deploy the butts of their M-16 assault....

Baghdad: The Palestine Hotel

Published on Apr 17, 2003 by Luke Hunt

Shortly after the US Marines entered Baghdad, Luke Hunt filed the following dispatch for Agence France-Press. BAGHDAD, April 17 (AFP) – In one corner combatants of the self-styled Free Iraq Forces hold court, a Muslim cleric and his entourage sweep past marines in full battle dress while a middle-aged man hustles whisky out of a plastic bag. A marine yells: “Clear a path”, as General James Mattis tries to leave. But the order is ignored by the hundreds who fill the hotel’s lobby and bodyguards deploy the butts of their M-16 assault rifles to force an exit. Cameras flash and journalists shove microphones under the noses of military officers in the hope of an elusive quote. Marines remain unsure whether....