SANJAY SURI, Regional Editor

Regional Editor Sanjay Suri, based in London, takes care of the journalistic production from Europe, the Mediterranean region and the Mideast. He handles a group of writers based in places that include Ramallah, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Arbil, Brussels, Beirut, Istanbul, Cairo, Ankara, Casablanca, Paris, Athens, Belgrade, Reykjavik, Prague, Berlin, Bucharest, and many others. He coordinates with the Editor in Chief, and forms part of the IPS editorial team.

Sanjay Suri has been with IPS since May 2002 as both Regional Editor and London Correspondent. Before joining IPS, he was Europe Editor for the Indo-Asian News Service. He covered developments in the United States following September 11, and Asia-related developments during that period in Europe. Earlier he was Political Correspondent, Chief Reporter and Acting Chief Sub-editor with the Indian Express in New Delhi. His assignments included coverage of terrorism, Operation Bluestar, the assassination of then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and several human rights stories such as detention of children in prisons and dowry deaths.

Sanjay holds an M.A. in English literature from the University of Delhi and an M.Sc in social and organisational psychology from the London School of Economics. He did media studies at Stanford University. He is author of ‘Brideless in Wembley - In Search of Indian England’, published in London September 2007.

email: ssuri[at]ipsnews.net

DAHR JAMAIL, Correspondent

Dahr Jamail is the IPS lead writer on Iraq. In that capacity he has covered Iraq directly and extensively on the ground, and at other times organised reporting out of Iraq. Several of his breaking news stories could not be covered by any other media organisations.

Jamail is author of the eye-opening book Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. Besides reporting from within Iraq for eight months, he has been covering the Middle East for five years. A regular correspondent for IPS, Jamail has also contributed to The Independent, The Guardian, The Sunday Herald, and Foreign Policy in Focus, among others. His reporting has been translated into French, Polish, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish.

JACQUES N. COUVAS, Correspondent

Jacques N. Couvas reports from Ankara and Geneva for IPS.

Couvas is an independent political journalist and analyst specialising in Eastern Mediterranean affairs. He has worked for Greek national radio and newspapers Ta Nea and To Vima, weekly Omada, and collaborated with Italian news agency Ansa and Belgian review Dossiers Politiques. He has also held executive and board offices with multinationals in the information and communication technologies sector, and led advocacy programmes at the European Commission and ITU. He teaches international strategy and leadership courses at universities in the Near East. He is quadrilingual, and has published an essay on direct democracy in the EU.

RAVI KANTH DEVARAKONDA, Correspondent

Ravi Kanth Devarakonda writes for IPS from Geneva, covering mainly crucial trade negotiations. He has covered almost all major trade negotiations since the Uruguay Round (1986-1994).

He also writes for the Deccan Herald published in India and for Business Times of Singapore. Besides WTO-related issues, he has also extensively covered the work of the UN Conference on Disarmament, the World Health Organisation, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, and the International Labour Organisation. He has a masters degree in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, and a post-graduate diploma in journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communications.

APOSTOLIS FOTIADIS, Correspondent

Apostolis Fotiadis writes for IPS from Athens. He has been covering political issues, and reporting particularly on migrants’ rights and on ethnic conflict and population movement in the Balkans.

Since 2004, Fotiadis has also written for the national Greek daily Kathimerini, and been published in various other regional newspapers. He received his education in history at Aberdeen University and has an interdisciplinary masters degree in nationalism.

LOWANA VEAL, Correspondent

Lowana Veal reports extensively on environmental and conservation issues from Iceland. She has also been writing for IPS on pioneering development of renewable energy.

Lowana was born in Britain, but wrote her first article on environmental issues for a student newspaper in Australia in 1974 while studying for a biology degree in Melbourne. After returning to the UK, she became involved in various magazine collectives in which she wrote, edited and designed material. She moved to Iceland in 1996. Veal started writing for IPS in 2004. She balances her writing work by taking people out for horseback rides.

SABINA ZACCARO, Correspondent

Sabina Zaccaro is the Italy correspondent for IPS. She also works to strengthen IPS presence and partnerships in Italy. Zaccaro covers a wide range of subjects including women’s rights, death penalty issues, intercultural dialogue, and migration. She covered Italy’s 2006 general elections, and reports on the country’s foreign policy.

Zaccaro started her career as corporate media-relations officer for a global high-tech company. She then focused her interest on the social impact of globalisation and on human rights, serving for a few years as information officer with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a UN agency headquartered in Rome, and with the Italian Association of NGOs. She was editorial coordinator on sustainable development for a leading Italian news agency before joining IPS in January 2006. She writes for several monthly and weekly publications. Zaccaro holds a university degree in French Literature and in the Psychology of Mass Communications, and a masters degree in Intercultural Mediation.

DAVID CRONIN, Correspondent

David Cronin is the IPS Correspondent in Brussels. He keeps particularly close watch on issues of trade and sanctions that arise between the EU and developing countries. He was born in Dublin in 1971.

Cronin studied history and development studies at University CollegeDublin, followed by journalism at Dublin City University. After writing for a variety of Irish publications, he moved to Brussels in 1995, initially working as a press officer and research assistant in the European Parliament. He was appointed the European Correspondent for The Sunday Tribune, a leading Irish newspaper, in 1998. He then worked from 2001 till 2006 as Political Correspondent for European Voice, a weekly newspaper owned by The Economist. Cronin has also written about rock, jazz and world music for The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Bulletin, the main English-language magazine targeting expatriates living in Belgium.

CLAUDIA CIOBANU, Correspondent

Claudia Ciobanu covers Romania and Bulgaria. She writes on the issues of transition within these countries following their membership in the EU. Based in Bucharest, she has been working also for the national dailies Curierul National and Cotidianul.

ABDERRAHIM EL OUALI, Correspondent

Abderrahim El Ouali writes on political, social and environmental issues from Morocco. He began contributing to the IPS World Service in 2005.

Abderrahim did Arabic and English literature studies at Hassan II University in Casablanca from 1990 to 1993. In 1994 he studied journalism at Educatel private school in Casablanca. The same year he began working for a Moroccan daily newspaper for which he wrote a daily front-page column. He has been writing about political and social issues in Moroccan media for more than 13 years.

REBECCA MURRAY, Correspondent

Rebecca Murray is a writer based in Tyre, south Lebanon, where she is currently researching a book on the world of mine action, and the tremendous effort to remove hundreds of thousands of unexploded cluster munitions from the summer conflict with Israel in 2006. Arriving just weeks after the ceasefire took hold, she has also written extensively about the conflict’s psychological and economic impact on the south.

Rebecca grew up in Kenya and the UK, and calls New York City her permanent home, where she previously worked in studio film production, and completed a Masters in International Affairs from the New School University in 2005.

MONA ALAMI, Correspondent

Mona Alami is a French-Lebanese journalist residing in Lebanon. She graduated from the Lebanese American University with an MBA and writes in both English and French. She specializes in reporting major political and economic developments in Lebanon and across the MENA.

ZOLTÁN DUJISIN, Central-Eastern Europe Correspondent

Zoltán Dujisin is presently based in Prague and covers the post-communist transformation of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine for IPS.

Zoltán introduced himself to IPS in 2004 when he was based in Kiev, Ukraine, covering the country’s ‘Orange Revolution’. Since then he has gradually expanded the region’s coverage, working two years in Budapest, Hungary, and traveling extensively in the region.

A Political Science graduate from the Technical University in Lisbon, Portugal, his studies brought him to the Czech Republic, Belgium and the Ukraine. He recently concluded a Master’s degree in Nationalism Studies at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.

KESTER KENN KLOMEGAH, Correspondent

Kester Kenn Klomegah is the IPS Moscow Correspondent. He covers politics, human rights issues, foreign policy and ethnic minority problems. His research interests include Russian area studies and Russian culture.

Kester has worked for several years with The Moscow Times. He has studied social philosophy and religion, and spent a year at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He has co-authored a book ‘AIDS/HIV and Men: Taking Risk or Taking Responsibility’ published by the London-based Panos Institute. In 2004, he was awarded the Golden Word Prize for excellence in journalism by the Russian Media Union, a non-governmental media organisation in Moscow.