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 U.S. spent billions to support reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan over the past two decades. The results have been mixed. American experts are assessing some of the lessons learned.
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Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has been arresting his political opponents who are disappearing into prisons. Two of their wives are appealing to the U.S. to help.
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The Department of Justice say Iranian intelligence officials were planning to lure an Iranian-American author, activist and journalist from New York to another country. An indictment came out Tuesday.
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The Biden administration announced measures to eliminate goods made by forced labor in China's Xinjiang region from supply chains used by U.S. companies.
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The owners of the container ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal in March have reached a compensation deal with Egyptian authorities. Jammed for nearly a week, the blockage disrupted global shipping.
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U.S. and EU officials reached a truce in a protracted dispute over Boeing and Airbus. They are putting aside their differences to counter an upcoming competitor in the airline industry: China.
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Israeli lawmakers opposed to Prime Minister Netanyahu say they've formed a coalition to oust him from power. Netanyahu has been in office a record 12 years and is expected to fight the move.
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After shrapnel struck where his young son plays, a father in the Gaza Strip says his neighbors are traumatized by the violence: "We just don't want to die under the rubble of our houses."
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While pressure builds for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, strikes from both sides continue and the death toll mounts. Pressure builds on President Biden to get more involved.
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As the battle between Israel and Hamas enters its 10th day, President Biden pressed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to de-escalate the fighting "on the path to a ceasefire," the White House says.