Newshound’s Diaries

Paula Slier

Paula Slier reports for RT from the Middle East and Balkans.

In her blog she brings her audience into her world and shares her thoughts, funny anecdotes and behind-the-scenes experiences. Her blog is meant to incite reaction – it’s her view, her interpretation and her experiences of the world. From being embedded in Afghanistan to narrowly missing Qassam rockets fired from Gaza, the reader is invited to be a part of the stories shaping our reality.

9 May, 2011, 17:22

Broken promises in the Holy Land

I reported on quite a sad story in Israel – Chinese workers who came to Israel to work in the construction industry. There are an estimated 11,000 Chinese laborers in Israel and most of them fill the gap left behind by Palestinian laborers who escaped Israel during the two Intifadas. Israel considered it unsafe to give work permits to Palestinians, as most of the terrorist activities...

2 comments

4 May, 2011, 12:54

Israeli/Palestinian reaction to Osama’s death

Israeli leaders have welcomed the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. What is interesting though, is that the Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says that half an hour before the operation was carried out, Israel was informed of its existence. Now not a lot has been made of this in either by the Israeli or the international media, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Certainly Lieberman...

1 comment

8 April, 2011, 20:25

The List

A list turned up at dinner two nights back – the names of 26 journalists who had to leave by the next morning. No explanation was given, other than a few mumblings that their visas had expired. But it can't be true because some of the teams had arrived only three days earlier, and it was perhaps just 'bad luck' that all the French were on the list, CNN wasn't, and neither was Russia Today. It...

1 comment

6 April, 2011, 19:18

Freedom Train

I had to laugh. The government is organizing three trips a week from the hotel to the Libyan/Tunisian border for journalists. We call them the "freedom trains". I saw off about 20 journalists this morning – we all looked at them with wonder in our eyes as they journeyed out on their road to freedom! They'll be driven to the border and then in a few hours the van will return with the...

5 April, 2011, 11:52

Midnight press conference that never happened

Well, Seif Al-Islam turned up at our hotel last night, so we know where he is. I got a phone call to come downstairs by one of the nice AP guys at around eleven pm (who then apologized this morning for waking me up – ahem!) but it was true, Seif arrived, and the expectation from all the journalists was that he could make some big announcement. Nothing. He spoke privately with BBC and...

4 comments

4 April, 2011, 17:12

Bathing with the unwanted

I shared a Turkish bath yesterday afternoon with those among us journalists who're fast becoming personae non gratae here in Libya – the French and the Italians! The French teams (there are two TV crews here that I know of) admit that lately they've been keeping quiet when interviewing people on the streets – they simply say they're Belgian TV. I actually think they're right. It...

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2 April, 2011, 20:15

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Today's the day the government promised that two female journalists (one who speaks Arabic and one who speaks English) could meet with Eman al-Obeidy, the Libyan woman who burst into our hotel and said she'd been raped by 15 of Gaddafi's men. Let's wait and see if they keep that promise. Personally I'm not so sure it's going to happen, although the government is going to be hard pressed to...

4 comments

1 April, 2011, 20:29

Fury Friday

A reader commented that I'm sounding bored with what's happening here. Sorry. I don't mean to belittle the situation at all. I think it's just the mood among us journalists in Tripoli. A group of us were talking at breakfast and remembering when we first arrived here some five weeks back (I love the way everyone remembers exactly how many days they've been here – I'm 31 and counting…) and for...

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31 March, 2011, 21:20

Parallel Universes: High-heels and a bullet proof jacket

Was talking with one of the female print journos here, and she made me laugh. Said she’d packed a bulletproof jacket as well as a pair of high-heel shoes to come to Libya. She’s better than me. I forgot the high heels. And I also forgot my swimsuit. Next time I go to a warzone, I must remember to bring a suit just finished a press conference and we’re all so tired and a swim in the indoor...

2 comments

31 March, 2011, 17:52

Daily diet of rice and government propaganda

So, the pizza with the Italian never happened – surprise, surprise. Instead I had dinner with a Frenchman …. in the hotel dining room. Perhaps I should explain what we eat here seeing I'm always complaining about the food.It's actually nice, albeit rice, rice, and more rice. No seriously, sometimes there are small bits of vegetables in the rice, sometimes it comes with white yoghurt, sometimes...

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