Luke Baker has been a correspondent with Reuters for nearly 20 years, working across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He spent nearly three years in Iraq, from the 2003 invasion until the end of 2005, when the country was rapidly descending into sectarian war. He is now based in Jerusalem as the bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories. 
Luke was born and raised in the UK, spending 10 years at boarding school in Dorset, before winning a scholarship to the United States. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995, with a degree in English and international affairs. His first job after college was as a news writer with the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour in New York. 
He joined Reuters in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1997 and spent three years covering the region, including the civil wars in Angola and Congo and politics and natural disasters in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Swaziland. As well as Johannesburg, he has had long-term postings in Rome, Jerusalem, London and Brussels, and brief stints in bureaux from Cairo to Kabul.
He is married with three daughters.