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Jake Sturmer
Jake Sturmer is ABC News WA's Content Producer. As a former foreign correspondent for the ABC, he ran the organisation's Tokyo bureau and reported from around the region.
Domestically, Jake was a national news correspondent based in Sydney and led the ABC's effort in mobile journalism. An award-winning journalist, he has won a Walkley, several WA Media Awards and the European Union Journalism Award.
Latest by Jake Sturmer
‘Send every crew you’ve got’: Residents flee blaze amid unseasonal spring heatwave
By James Carmody, Jake Sturmer and staff
Firefighters are responding to bushfires in Perth's north and south that are threatening lives and homes on a sweltering spring day.
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'A necessary evil': Asking the WA government the hardest questions on youth detention
By WA state political reporter Keane Bourke and Jake Sturmer
Advocates say WA's juvenile detention system is broken, and the government continues to fall back on empty rhetoric and platitudes. These are the questions they want it to answer.
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Residents in shock after 'little tornado' sends flying debris through suburbs, severe weather lashes WA
By Andrea Mayes, Rebecca Trigger, and Jake Sturmer
Severe weather lashes large parts of Western Australia, as strong winds and heavy rain cause havoc across Perth and the south west of the state.
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Gunman dead following fatal workplace shooting and police stand-off
A siege that followed a fatal shooting in WA's Wheatbelt has ended with the 25-year-old gunman turning the weapon on himself.
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Police find baby who went missing with 17-year-old father south of Perth
By Jake Sturmer
A five-week-old baby who went missing with its young father is found following an urgent search.
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What will — and won't — change after the WA government sensationally backflipped on its cultural heritage laws
By Jake Sturmer
Now the WA government has confirmed it's repealing the controversial Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, Jake Sturmer explains everything you need to know.
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'Systemic failure': WA youth detainees 'unlawfully confined' during lockdowns, court finds
By Daryna Zadvirna and Jake Sturmer
The Supreme Court of Western Australia finds three young detainees were subjected to "solitary confinement on a frequent basis" and were unlawfully locked in their cells at Banksia Hill Detention Centre and Unit 18 for prolonged periods.
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'Exhausted' WA Premier Mark McGowan resigns, citing relentless pressure of job
By Cason Ho and Jake Sturmer
WA Premier Mark McGowan abruptly resigns from politics in an unexpected announcement at a press conference, saying the job has left him "extremely tired".
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'Untold, unimaginable fear': How 11 fishermen survived the power of Cyclone Ilsa and six days stranded on an island
By Jake Sturmer, Zathia Bazeer, and Anne Barker
Battered by Tropical Cyclone Ilsa, 11 Indonesian fishermen were left shipwrecked on an island, hundreds of kilometres from civilisation and without food, water or communications. This is how they were saved.
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Radio tunes and space junk collide in surprise discovery that raises defence force eyebrows
A radio telescope used to look back 13 billion years stumbled over signals that may change the way ever-increasing space junk can be safely managed.
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'Big bang' moment of evolution unveiled in 380-million-year-old fish heart
By Jake Sturmer
The heart fossil from a big-headed fish species found in WA's Kimberley region reveals stunning new clues about the leaps of evolution.
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The nation where a million people have gone into their bedrooms and refuse to come out
Seiko Goto stood by her son's bed with a knife: She feared she had raised a person who was of no use to the world.
Sara and her mum both have coronavirus. The 15-month-old will spend a week, scared and alone, in hospital
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer and Yumi Asada in St Marianna Hospital, Kanagawa
Sara is 15 months old, separated from her parents and sick with COVID-19. She has no idea what's happening or why her masked nurses can only spend short periods of time with her.
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'Most cities will never say yes to the Olympics again': Why the Games may be at risk of extinction
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer, Rebecca Armitage and Lucia Stein
Olympic hosts have big dreams of attracting tourists, advertisers and the eyes of the world. But in recent years they have usually been a poisoned chalice, leaving cities littered with white elephants.
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Like Australia, Japan has a sluggish vaccine rollout. Doctors hope this tiny stick could set Tokyo free
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer and Yumi Asada in Tokyo
With just 32 per cent of Japan's population vaccinated, doctors in Tokyo are experimenting with a test that may allow people to safely enter bars, restaurants and hotels — even if they haven't had the jab.
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Simon was the only one on his Olympic team to catch COVID-19. He has a theory on how it happened
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer in Tokyo
Simon was getting ready for the race of a lifetime when he found out he had somehow contracted COVID-19. This is what happens when an athlete's Olympic dream turns into a viral nightmare.
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This Tokyo doctor hopes he never has to use this room. But Delta's rampage might leave him no choice
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer and Yumi Asada in Tokyo's Asoka-Hakuokai Hospital
In the shadow of the Tokyo Olympics, COVID-19 infections are increasing to records never before seen in the Japanese capital, and doctors are terrified of what happens next.
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The list of those avoiding the opening ceremony tells you a lot about how Japan feels about the Olympics
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer and Yumi Asada in Tokyo
After years of planning and setbacks, the Tokyo Olympics officially starts today with the opening ceremony, but it all feels very remote to the people who live here.
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Analysis
analysis:The stakes for the Olympics couldn't be higher, but what I saw when athletes arrived at the airport made me nervous
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer and Yumi Asada in Tokyo
Olympic officials admit it's impossible to keep COVID-19 entirely out of the athletes village. And now the highly infectious Delta strain has left organisers scrambling to shift their protocols almost daily to stay ahead of the virus, writes Jake Sturmer.
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Five days out from the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, the host city is in big trouble
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer and Yumi Asada in Tokyo
Just days before the opening ceremony, Tokyo has reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in almost six months and experts warn it could get much worse from here.
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The Olympic Torch relay reaches Tokyo but lacks usual fanfare amid COVID-19 restrictions
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer in Tokyo and wires
The Olympic Torch relay is one of the most symbolic events of the games, but with COVID-19 cases surging in Japan, it arrives in metropolitan Tokyo today without the usual fanfare.
Olympics to be held without spectators after Japan declares state of emergency
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer and Yumi Asada in Tokyo
Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have agreed to hold the Games without spectators, after the Japanese government declared a state of emergency amid rising COVID-19 infections.
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Olympic village workers test positive to COVID-19
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer
Olympic organisers say two staff working at the athletes' village have tested positive for COVID-19, with just 16 days until the opening ceremony.
We went inside the Olympic Village that organisers insist can be COVID-safe. Here's what we saw
By North Asia correspondent Jake Sturmer and Yumi Asada in Tokyo
Olympics organisers in Tokyo have shown off the little city where athletes will live, eat, sleep and relax between competitions. But some public health experts say that beneath the sleek surfaces and modern architecture, the risk of viral spread remains.
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