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 barred companies from supplying computer chips to Chinese telecom giant Huawei, leaving a Taiwanese company caught in the middle of this war for technological superiority.
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There was a rush of commerce after China reopened. But then demand in the West for many goods dropped, with businesses closing and consumers staying home as the pandemic spread. -
The coronavirus has crushed both the U.S. and China economies. Whichever emerges in better shape at the end of the pandemic might shape how global power shifts, perhaps for many decades to come.
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The pandemic caused severe disruptions in global supply chains. Cargo containers full of consumer goods are piling up at ports and warehouses. Shipping companies are trying to alleviate congestion.
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At least 18 very large crude carriers, each carrying 2 million barrels of oil, are headed to the U.S. American shale producers and some lawmakers are worried. -
A flotilla of Saudi tankers loaded with crude oil is heading to the U.S. at a time when the shale industry is teetering. U.S. producers and others are pressuring President Trump to block the tankers.
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About three dozen tankers are anchored from Los Angeles and Long Beach up to San Francisco Bay, turning into floating storage for crude oil that is in short demand because of the coronavirus. -
There are growing calls worldwide to ban so-called wet markets — such as the one in Wuhan, China where it's believed the coronavirus may have started. But enforcing such a ban would be a challenge.
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A growing number of advocacy groups, politicians and officials are calling to ban wet markets worldwide, given concerns about the spread of disease. But enforcing such a ban would be a challenge. -
OPEC holds an emergency meeting Thursday. President Trump is no fan of the oil cartel, but needs to deal with it to reverse low prices threatening the survival of U.S. shale oil companies.
