Rana moussaoui
Rana Moussaoui is the Agence France Presse deputy bureau chief in Beirut. She has spent the past six years essentially covering the war in Syria. This means traveling many times there and co-interviewing Bashar al-Assad twice. It also means permanent contact with AFP journalists and photographers in rebel-held zones. Along with Karam al-Masri in East Aleppo, Rana wrote for the AFP Correspondent blog “Covering Syria through hunger and fear” a behind the scenes, award-winning account of what it was like to hear from each other each day. Rana speaks four languages, has two twitter accounts and one true passion that has nothing to do with war and everything to do with harmony : ballet. More here @ChatAboutBallet.
Wilson fache
Wilson Fache is a freelance journalist. He has just returned from Syrian Kurdistan’s de facto capital, Qamishli. Before that, he lived in Iraqi Kurdistan’s regional capital, Erbil. And he plans to move to the Palestinian Authority’s administrative capital, Ramallah. He covered the battle for Mosul from the first to about the 266th day. No one could have guessed he’d do all this – as a young man in Belgium’s Enghien, he wanted to become a movie critic. Waiting for his big break at Cannes, he freelanced in French and English (especially for the AFP, RTBF, La Libre, L’Orient-Le Jour, Al Monitor and CNN). He’s also written for Belgium’s major investigative magazines, 24h01 and Médor. And he’s only just turned 25.
Simon kuper
Simon Kuper writes a weekend column, Opening Shot, for the Financial Times magazine. He started on staff at the FT fresh out of Oxford and ended writing a daily report on currency markets. He left out of boredom – but then eventually drifted back. A citizen of nowhere, he was born in Uganda to ex-South African parents, and grew up between the Netherlands, Britain, Jamaica, Germany, and the US. He now lives in Paris with his American wife and French children. His latest book (Soccernomics, with Stefan Szymanski) has been translated into more than 20 languages, including Estonian. He spends most of his waking hours obsessing over Brexit (odd days), Trump (even days), and Dutch Football (nights and week-ends). He has attended eight World Cups.
Simon marks
Simon Marks is a reporter for the European edition of Politico (Baseline : “Politics. Policy. Power.” Bam!). He writes about food safety and agriculture and helps out reporting on Brexit. He previously covered the European Commission for the news agency Market News International. Yeah, he’s just another guy from Belfast who moved to Brussels out of love… and speaks fluent Khmer. Indeed, he spent five years as reporter and editor for the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. His investigation for Newsweek article “Sex, Lies and a Slippery Truth” in 2014 brought the New York Times to make a rare apology. He also contributes long-form investigations for The Guardian.
