Kristen Saloomey

Kristen Saloomey's picture
Kristen Saloomey
Correspondent | United States
Biography

Kristen Saloomey, a correspondent based in New York, has more than 15 years of news reporting experience.

Her career highlights include covering the election of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and the trial of the cell known as "the Lackawanna Six". She holds a master's degree from the Columbia University graduate school of journalism.

Latest posts by Kristen Saloomey

By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on January 17th, 2012

One doesn’t usually expect a crowd when the Youngstown, Ohio City Council holds a subcommittee meeting. But then Youngstown doesn’t usually have earthquakes. In fact, prior to 2010 you could go back more than 100 years and not find record of a single one.

In 2011, however, this city of just under 70,000 experienced 11 earthquakes. The most recent and most serious was a 4.0 that struck on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve.

So when the Chair of the Utilities Subcommittee called a public hearing on the earthquakes - and the possibility that they were linked to the controversial gas drilling process known as fracking - the crowd was so large they had to hold the meeting in the local convention centre.

Dorothy and Albert Bobchuck were among the hundreds of local residents who came to listen to a panel of speakers.

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By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on August 1st, 2011
Aspen, Colorado. [Photo: Glenn Gabel]

 All tension with Pakistan aside, the US shows no sign of stopping its use of unmanned drones to kill al-Qaeda members in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

 Top national security officials fled the steamy debt debate in DC to take part in the Aspen Security Forum in cool Colorado last week, but they couldn’t escape the growing controversy.

Cradled amid Aspen’s pine-covered peaks and the Washington elite, with the soothing sounds of the Roaring Fork River as a backdrop, their talk was unusually frank.

Douglas Lute, President Barack Obama’s top advisoe on Pakistan, said his plan was to increase covert action in the tribal areas to take advantage of al-Qaeda’s disarray following the death of Osama Bin Laden.

By Kristen Saloomey in Middle East on June 2nd, 2011
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki has a master plan to expedite Palestinian statehood [Reuters]

With Mideast peace talks at an impasse, Palestinians have been looking for another route to statehood: the United Nations.

“We are taking our destiny in our hands,” the Palestinian’s top UN diplomat told a small group of reporters in New York on Tuesday.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour predicted millions of Palestinians would take to the streets come September, when the UN General Assembly meets, to support the cause. He drew parallels to the peaceful Arab uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

“The battle for our independence is not only the battle of the Palestinian leadership. This is the battle of millions of Palestinians,” Mansour said.

“I believe the Palestinian people are capable and I believe also that they want to engage in this last chapter of the struggle of ending occupation.”

He said work is already underway behind the scenes at the United Nations, as he lobbies countries to recognize a Palestinian state.

By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on April 11th, 2011
Gerard Longuet, left, France's defence minister, briefs media in Paris on the Cote d'Ivoire crisis after Gbagbo's arrest [AFP]

Being sceptical is part of being a journalist.

Especially at the United Nations, where every action - and every failure to act - is influenced by the political interests of countries who sit on the Security Council.

By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on March 22nd, 2011
Photo by Reuters
It was an unusually undiplomatic moment outside the UN security council chamber, and a sign of tension within. 
The Council had just decided not to hold an emergency meeting on Libya.
 
Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin was on his way out the door when he publically chastised the spokesperson of another country for speaking to a group of reporters. (I can't tell you which country because conversations at this stake-out are supposed to be off the record, but Western diplomats routinely brief reporters in this informal setting).
 
"Double check with your ambassador," Churkin shouted at the spokesperson. "It's really impolite and rude.
By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on February 12th, 2011
Photo from GALLO/GETTY

Egyptians were dancing in the streets on Friday, and not just in Cairo.

Hundreds of them flowed into the immigrant neighbourhood of Astoria, in Queens, New York, waving red, white and black Egyptian flags, cheering not only for a free Egypt - but also for Al Jazeera and its role in broadcasting the revolution.

While Egypt dominates the headlines from the Middle East, the story in the United States continues to be this rising news channel.

As a correspondent for Al Jazeera English in New York, the questions follow me wherever I go: Where can I see Al Jazeera? How can I watch it?

Suddenly my inbox is full of college students looking for internships. Several reporters have approached me (me?

By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on December 19th, 2010
Photo by EPA

While the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, fights his legal battles in front of the cameras (or from the palatial estate in Britain where he is under "house arrest") the American soldier accused of releasing secret US government documents to him remains hidden from public view. Army Private Bradley Manning has spent seven months in solitary confinement in a military prison in Virginia, waiting for his day in court.

I recently travelled to Manning's hometown of Crescent Oklahoma, to try to get a sense of who he is and where he came from.

I also spoke by e-mail with David House, who describes himself as a Boston-based computer researcher and friend of Manning. According to House, the conditions of Manning’s confinement are starting to take their toll. He also says a lot of Manning’s supporters are being harassed by the authorities.

By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on November 10th, 2010
Photo from EPA

The New York jury deliberating in the trial of accused embassy bomber Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani has more than the defendant's fate in its hands. A guilty verdict, should there be one, is likely to revive the Obama administration's plans to try other Guantanamo Bay detainees in civilian courts.

The US government contends Ghailani played a key role in the al-Qaeda plot to blow up American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The attacks killed 224 people, the vast majority of whom were in Kenya's capital Nairobi, and injured thousands.

Ghailani was indicted shortly after the bombings, but it wasn't until 2004 – after the September 11th attacks - that US authorities caught up with him in Pakistan.

By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on June 18th, 2010
Photo: Reuters

Israel has engaged in a war of words with the United Nations Correspondents Association which hosted an event during which a passenger on board the Mavi Marmara was allowed to show a video that was shot as Israeli commandoes raided the aid ship.

The Israeli mission to the UN took aim at UNCA in a letter dated June 17.

By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on June 8th, 2010
Photo by AFP

The United States and its allies have agreed upon the wording for a new round of United Nations sanctions against Iran.

They are pushing for a vote in the UN Security Council as soon as Wednesday, but efforts could stall over new demands by Brazil and Turkey, as well as the list of individuals and companies who will be the subjects of an asset freeze and travel ban.

On Tuesday morning, Security Council ambassadors will meet behind closed doors in New York after a request by Brazil and Turkey, who want an open debate on the draft resolution before it is put to a vote. 

Brazil and Turkey have been sitting out negotiations in protest, ever since the West refused to endorse the fuel swap deal they negotiated last month with Iran.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan have said the agreement, while not addressing all of the international community’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme, makes m

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Kristen Saloomey's picture
Kristen Saloomey
Correspondent
Kristen Saloomey is Al Jazeera's correspondent in New York.

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