Jackie Northam
Jackie Northam is NPR's International Affairs Correspondent. She is a veteran journalist who has spent three decades reporting on conflict, geopolitics, and life across the globe - from the mountains of Afghanistan and the desert sands of Saudi Arabia, to the gritty prison camp at Guantanamo Bay and the pristine beauty of the Arctic.
Northam spent more than a dozen years as an international correspondent living in London, Budapest, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, and Nairobi. She charted the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, reported from Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and the rise of Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. She was in Islamabad to cover the Taliban recapturing Afghanistan
Her work has taken her to conflict zones around the world. Northam covered the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, arriving in the country just four days after Hutu extremists began slaughtering ethnic Tutsis. In Afghanistan, she accompanied Green Berets on a precarious mission to take a Taliban base. In Cambodia, she reported from Khmer Rouge strongholds.
Throughout her career, Northam has revealed the human experience behind the headlines, from the courage of Afghan villagers defying militant death threats to cast their vote in a national election, or exhausted rescue workers desperately searching for survivors following a massive earthquake in Haiti.
Northam joined NPR in 2000 as National Security Correspondent, covering defense and intelligence policies at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She led the network's coverage of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal and the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Her present beat focuses on the complex relationship between geopolitics and the global economy, including efforts to counter China's rising power.
Northam has received multiple journalism awards, including Associated Press and Edward R. Murrow awards, and was part of the NPR team that won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for "The DNA Files," a series about the science of genetics.
Originally from Canada, Northam spends her time off crewing in the summer, on the ski hills in the winter, and on long walks year-round with her beloved beagle, Tara.
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The Trump administration has placed layers of harsh economic sanctions on Iran. But some countries and companies continue to do business with Iran, as they expect change from the Biden administration.
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The activist's sister tells NPR her parents "saw a very weak, tired, exhausted Loujain" at her court appearance: "They said that her body was shaking, that she could barely hold the papers." -
When a coronavirus vaccine is ready, it'll take drugmakers a massive logistical effort of hundreds of planes and ships to get billions of doses around the world.
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Saudi Arabia Will Host Virtual G20 Summit This WeekendLeaders of the world's biggest economies will meet virtually — depriving Saudi leaders the chance to show off their country. It also might help them avoid attention on human rights violations.
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China-Canada relations are getting increasingly tense, with both sides hurling insults and threats. The feud ignited after Canada agreed to a U.S. request to extradite a Huawei executive.
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A lawsuit filed in a U.S. court charges that Saudi Arabia's crown prince directed the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and names two dozen others allegedly involved.
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Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman cultivated a close relationship with the Trump administration. How would that change under a Biden administration?
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The Saudi government is accused of continuing to track down and threaten dissidents and other rivals who are living as far away as Canada and the United States. -
President Trump is not the only world leader to contract the coronavirus. The examples of the U.K.'s Boris Johnson and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro may have lessons for the U.S. at this moment.
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President Trump's battle with the coronavirus could create an opportunity for Iran, China, Russia or North Korea to take advantage of America's seeming leadership vacuum.
