Lin Taylor

I’ve reported from Jordan, Fiji, Vanuatu, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Calais in France, Spain, Serbia, Croatia, and of course, Australia among other places.

‘The Smuggling Game’, a multimedia project on the mechanics of migrant smuggling that I co-produced with a colleague, was a finalist for the ‘Innovation Award’ at the European Press Prize 2018. It was also long-listed for a One World Media award.

My Reuters stories have appeared on The New York Times, The Independent, The Huffington Post, The Irish Times, Mirror UK, Yahoo, MSN, Daily Mail, Christian Science Monitor, AllAfrica, Business Insider, The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age.

In 2018, I was one of 30 journalists selected for fellowship at the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University in New York. I was also awarded a media fellowship in 2018 by rights group CIVICUS to cover climate change in Fiji.

I previously freelanced as a digital journalist with CNN International where I edited the homepage, mobile sites and reported on spot news. Back home in Sydney, I was a multiplatform journalist and editor at SBS Australia, an award-winning national television and radio broadcaster.

I'm always on the lookout for fascinating and creative stories to tell through words, interactives, data, audio, and video.

Finalist for the European Press Prize 2018 ‘Innovation Award’

Long-listed for the One World Media 2018 ‘Refugee Reporting’ Award

Millions of people fleeing conflict and poverty are gambling their futures and life savings with people smugglers – strangers who play with their lives in dangerous cat-and-mouse chases with border authorities known as “The Game”. But who wins and who loses as rising numbers risk everything to reach safety? 

http://news.trust.org/shorthand/the-smuggling-game/

It was the kindness of strangers that propelled single mother Dalya to a new life in London - now the Iraqi refugee wants to help sponsor a fleeing family of her own.

Dalya knows how alien it feels to land in a distant country, knowing nobody, and reckons one good turn deserves another.

"I want to help because I lived a horrible and hard life. I know what it feels like when people first arrive here. If they need a friend, I can be a friend. I can help with anything," the 34-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

It was five years ago that she made the same lonely journey - fleeing war in Iraq for sanctuary in Beirut then peace in Britain - thanks to an innovative community sponsorship scheme aimed at resettling refugees with minimal state involvement.

Apart from being spat on and urinated on when he slept rough in London for over a year, 52-year-old Chabahn had to contend with another daily threat: being abused and attacked for his sexuality.

Chabahn, who is gay but kept it hidden on the streets, said living with HIV was an additional burden that some mainstream shelters did not have the capacity to support him with.

http://news.trust.org/item/20190515103041-7hgor/

It was the sound of children chatting on their way to school that startled Amer on his first morning in England.

For the past eight years, the 30-year-old Syrian, one of the White Helmets rescue workers, had grown more accustomed to seeing children trapped under rubble after a government airstrike than peacefully walking to school with friends.  

Even switching on lights in his home has been a novelty for Amer, who did not have access to reliable power since the war began in 2011. The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced about half of Syria’s pre-war 22 million population.

Every morning, the whirr of an industrial-scale coffee roaster and the sharp hiss of a milk frother can be heard as customers queue to get their caffeine fix at a most unusual spot: inside one of Britain's toughest young offenders prisons.

Staffed by prisoners aged 18 to 21, the Redemption Roasters cafe inside Aylesbury prison, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of London, trains inmates with speciality coffee skills in a bid to help them to find jobs upon release.

The small-scale coffee company is part of a growing number of businesses globally that aim to have a positive social impact while turning a profit.

http://news.trust.org/item/20190303235030-e776a/

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Leading aid agencies received at least 539 reports of sex abuse and harassment last year, an exclusive survey showed on Monday, a 13 percent increase on 2017 which charities said shows abuse victims are more willing to speak up.

The reports have led to the sacking of 91 staff, with many other cases under investigation, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s second annual survey of 22 leading global charities, including the United Nations (U.N.), Oxfam and CARE.  

As Minji Kim sliced spring onions and stirred pots of broth with dumplings in a pop-up kitchen in east London, the North Korean defector beamed with pride knowing that dozens of Britons had come to celebrate Lunar New Year and taste North Korean cuisine.

Kim, who declined to reveal her real name fearing repercussions since her family is still in North Korea, said she was delighted to demonstrate how to make her country's specialities like corn noodle soup at the event.

Kim is one of about 700 North Korean refugees living in New Malden, southwest of London, who have fled the regime accused of widespread human rights abuses including public executions, torture and prison camps where the United Nations estimates up to 120,000 people are held.

Vietnamese villager Tran Thi Ngai was alone in her home when a South Korean soldier forced his way in and raped the then-24-year-old midwife during the Vietnam War.

“I tried to resist but he took my hand, grabbed me inside the room and closed the door and raped me again and again,” said Tran.

“He raped when in full uniform and a gun on his body. I was so terrified of him,” she said through a translator.

Now nearly in her 80s, the softly-spoken Tran said she has yet to receive any formal acknowledgement of what happened to her in Phu Yen province in central Vietnam when two South Korean soldiers sexually abused her for years.

The rape of women in past and present conflicts has increasingly come into the spotlight with high-profile women like Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney working to attain justice for rape victims.

I’ve been fascinated by DNA kits for a while so I did a story on it!

Leading up to Christmas, I know we’re all curious about our ancestry and these home tests have helped millions of people - and even reunited refugee families. But what’s going to happen to our DNA? 

READ THE STORY

For this feature, I interviewed a dozen children to hear their concerns about climate change and why they are protesting and even suing their governments.

READ MORE

Looking for a podcast where Asian women chat about taboos, plus-sized women discuss dating, or Muslim feminists talk politics? Scroll through any list of popular podcasts, and you would be hard-pressed to find one that fits the bill.

Even though a third of people surveyed by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism this year said they listen to a podcast once a month, like many traditional media outlets, most of the voices heard are those of white men.

READ MORE

Cheap, reliable and hard to hijack, the sun could be an ideal energy source in many war zones and disaster areas, prompting aid agencies to consider ditching costly fuel for solar power.

While the technology has not advanced far enough to make a full swap viable, some solar projects are already underway in the field and aid workers expect many more to follow.

Read the full story here

Reaching for the stars will no longer be impossible for girls and young women in Kyrgyzstan, who aim to build and launch the country's first satellite before 2020.

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It took eight years for Olena Globa to accept her son's sexuality, but the battle to overcome her prejudices set her on a new path

Around the world, more than 70 major cities have pledged to end their reliance on fossil fuels and stop pumping out climate-changing emissions by 2050.

But Copenhagen - a city of wind turbines, bicycles and reliable public transportation - thinks it can go even further: It intends to accomplish that shift in just seven years. 

It will require a complete reimagining of how the Danish capital is powered and designed - and a lot of cyclists, officials admit.

“Why are we going for that? People might say what we do in Copenhagen doesn’t really matter on the global stage at all. We are tiny,” said Jørgen Abildgaard, director of the city’s climate program.

But with cities and countries around the world still searching for ways to turn the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change into a reality, “it’s important to show that it’s possible to make this transition” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Scandinavian cities have long been seen as green leaders - and Copenhagen is no exception. 

READ THE FULL STORY ON REUTERS

Kayaking along canals to pick up your groceries, walking a few minutes to the metro station, or cycling down pedestrianized streets to meet the neighbors: if you want to live in Copenhagen’s North Harbour, a car would be obsolete.

That, at least, is the aim of architect Rita Justesen. Since 2007 she has been tasked with transforming the former industrial harbor in Denmark’s capital into a brand-new neighborhood, and ensuring its 3.5 million square meters of residential and commercial floor space is financially viable and climate-smart.

That means cars tucked away, inconveniently, in centralized carparks to discourage driving; more cycle paths; canals and harbor pools clean enough to swim in; and the construction of a well-connected metro station for its projected 40,000 residents and 40,000 workers by 2060.

As nations race to reach ambitious climate goals to lower carbon emissions, many cities have been looking to sustainable urban designs to help residents cut energy use, boost social well-being and cohesion, and cope with rising heat and flooding.

READ THE FULL STORY ON REUTERS