Anthony Kuhn

International Correspondent Anthony Kuhn is currently based in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he opened NPR's first bureau in that country in 2010. From there, he covers Southeast Asia, and the gamut of natural and human diversity stretching from Myanmar to Fiji and Vietnam to Tasmania.

Prior to Jakarta, Kuhn spent five years based in Beijing as a NPR foreign correspondent reporting on China and Northeast Asia. In that time Kuhn covered stories including the affect of China's resurgence on rest of the world, diplomacy and the environment, the ancient cultural traditions that still exert a profound influence in today's China, and the people's quest for social justice in a period of rapid modernization and uneven development. His beat also included such diverse topics as popular theater in Japan and the New York Philharmonic's 2008 musical diplomacy tour to Pyongyang, North Korea.

In 2004-2005, Kuhn was based in London for NPR. He covered stories ranging from the 2005 terrorist attacks on London's transport system to the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. In the spring of 2005, he reported from Iraq on the formation of the post-election interim government.

Kuhn began contributing reports to NPR from China in 1996. During that time, he also worked as an accredited freelance reporter with the Los Angeles Times, and as Beijing correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review.

In what felt to him a previous incarnation, Kuhn once lived on Manhattan's Lower East Side and walked down Broadway to work in Chinatown as a social worker. He majored in French literature at Washington University in St. Louis. He gravitated to China in the early 1980s, studying first at the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute and later at the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing.

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Middle East
4:48 pm
Thu November 22, 2012

Gaza Holds Funerals For Those Killed In Air Raids

Credit Anthony Kuhn / NPR
Osama Qurtom and his son Mahmoud at their home in Gaza.

Originally published on Thu November 22, 2012 8:18 pm

Mahmoud Qurtom, 7, can often be found playing with his brothers and sisters, barefoot in the sand by his home's doorway in Gaza. He speaks only a word or two at a time, but smiles a lot. He explains why his right arm is in a sling.

"I was playing in the doorway," he says, "And then I ran away from the rockets."

Mahmoud's sisters brought him to their father, Osama Qurtom, who looked at him and saw nothing wrong. Then he noticed blood coming from a wound under the boy's arm, where a piece of rocket shrapnel had entered, fractured a rib and then lodged in his lung.

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Middle East
5:07 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

Gaza Conflict Unites Some Palestinians Behind Hamas

Originally published on Sun November 25, 2012 10:01 am

Transcript

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: I'm Anthony Kuhn in Gaza City. Just before the cease fire took effect, the streets were silent and deserted. War-weary Gazans know that this is the time the combatants take their parting shots just before they let their guns go silent. At the Al-Sheefa Hospital(ph), Dr. Ashraf al-Kidrah(ph), a health ministry spokesman, says that the news of the cease fire brings forth mixed emotions.

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Middle East
5:23 am
Tue November 20, 2012

Gaza Crisis Unites Palestinian Factions

Originally published on Sun November 25, 2012 9:52 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

For more on the politics within the Palestinian territories, we turn now to NPR's Anthony Kuhn in Gaza. He reports that the current conflict has helped unite Palestine's various factions and strengthened Hamas' domestic political position.

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: A video on the Internet shows a concealed metal trapdoor in the ground opening automatically. On the underside of the door are missile tubes and the flag of the Islamic Jihad movement.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCKETS LAUNCHING)

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Middle East
4:49 am
Mon November 19, 2012

Violence In Gaza Strip Intensifies

Originally published on Sun November 25, 2012 9:48 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

The day had started with more intense air attacks between Israel and the militant Hamas rulers of Gaza. Overnight air raids pushed the Palestinian death toll to more than 90, with more than 700 wounded. The numbers on the Israeli side are dramatically lower, with three dead so far.

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Israeli-Palestinian Coverage
4:54 pm
Thu November 15, 2012

Israel, Hamas Escalate Tit-For-Tat Strikes

Originally published on Fri November 16, 2012 11:55 am

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

I'm Melissa Block. And we begin this hour with new fighting in an old conflict. Israeli war planes struck targets across the Gaza Strip today, while Hamas militants and their allies fired rockets at several Israeli towns. One rocket landed on the southern outskirts of Tel Aviv. Three Israeli civilians were killed in one attack and at least 19 Palestinians are known to have been killed in Gaza, with many more injured.

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Middle East
5:13 am
Thu November 15, 2012

Deadly Violence Escalates In Gaza Strip

Originally published on Sun November 18, 2012 9:21 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Early today, Israel resumed its attacks on Gaza. The Israeli action is in response to rocket strikes by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

WERTHEIMER: Yesterday, the top military commander of Hamas was killed in an airstrike by Israel's defense forces. This is the heaviest fighting in the Palestinian territory, in years. Joining us now, from Gaza City, is NPR's Anthony Kuhn. Good morning, Anthony.

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Israeli-Palestinian Coverage
5:01 pm
Wed November 14, 2012

Israeli Forces Kill Hamas Leader In Gaza Attack

Originally published on Wed November 14, 2012 6:15 pm

Israel launched a new wave of air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The commander of Hamas' military wing was among the first casualties.

Middle East
4:31 pm
Mon November 12, 2012

Syria's Civil Conflict Could Soon Involve Israel

Originally published on Sun November 18, 2012 9:12 am

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish.

We begin this hour with the conflict in Syria. There are both military and diplomatic developments to report. First, cross-border fire between Syrian and Israeli forces. Israel's military says it hit back today at a Syrian army mortar unit that had launched a round into Israeli-held territory in the Golan Heights. And Israel says it's ready to escalate its response if necessary.

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Middle East
7:47 am
Wed November 7, 2012

Israeli Prime Minister Congratulates Obama

Originally published on Sun November 11, 2012 8:33 am

Israel is the United State's closest ally in the Middle East, and home to a large number of overseas American voters. Israelis have been debating which candidate, Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, would do more to ensure their country's security.

Asia
5:57 pm
Fri October 26, 2012

Muslim And Buddhist Fighting In Myanmar Kills 67

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has won praise for its unexpected transformation from military dictatorship to civilian rule. But that progress has been overshadowed this week. Fighting among Muslims and Buddhists in the west of the country has killed at least 67 people.

NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports.

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