Jackie Northam
Jackie Northam is NPR's International Affairs Correspondent. She is a veteran journalist who has spent three decades reporting on conflict, politics, 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 collapse of communism, covered the first Gulf War from Saudi Arabia, counter-terrorism efforts in Pakistan, and reported from Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
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 put a human face on her reporting, whether it be the courage of villagers walking miles to cast their vote in an Afghan election despite death threats from militants, or the face of a rescue worker as he desperately listens for any sound of life beneath the rubble of a collapsed elementary school in Haiti.
Northam joined NPR in 2000 as National Security Correspondent, covering US defense and intelligence policies. She led the network's coverage of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal and the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Her present beat focuses on the complex relationship between international business and geopolitics, including how the lifting of nuclear sanctions has opened Iran for business, the impact of China's efforts to buy up businesses and real estate around the world, and whether President Trump's overseas business interests are affecting US policy.
Northam has received multiple journalism awards during her career, including Associated Press awards and regional Edward R. Murrow awards, and was part of an NPR team of journalists who won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for "The DNA Files," a series about the science of genetics.
A native of 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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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.
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Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin are at the center of the devastating oil price war. President Trump has inserted himself into the fray.
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Iran is dealing with one of the worst outbreaks of the coronavirus in the world. But getting help into the country is hindered both by a truculent Iranian leadership and strong U.S. sanctions. -
The U.S. is temporarily stopping visa services at its embassies and consulates due to the coronavirus, as it urges U.S. citizens overseas to return home or be prepared to shelter in place.
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"Right now, the U.S.-China relationship is suffering from a deep deficit of trust," says Evan Medeiros, a former National Security Council chief adviser for Asia. -
Fear of the respiratory virus, which has infected more than 28,000 people in over two dozen countries, has brought the normally lucrative business to a screeching halt. -
The U.S. killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani has boosted Saudi fears about becoming embroiled in escalating U.S.-Iran tensions. -
Although the country has been hit hard, Iranians have managed to live under sanctions for four decades. -
Melting ice means ships are plowing along polar lanes, so Rune Rafaelsen wants Chinese investors to help turn the small town of Kirkenes into a major logistics hub. But doubters abound. -
The strike against Qassem Soleimani raises thorny legal questions — and experts disagree over whether the U.S. had the legal authority to do it.
