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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As much as 40% of Europe's natural gas supply comes from Russia, a reliance that puts U.S. allies like Germany in a jam when it comes to sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. -
The Taliban released a list of interim ministers of a new acting government at a press conference in Kabul. The list included many who are under U.N. and/or U.S. sanctions.
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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. -
An enormous cargo ship is stuck in the Suez Canal in Egypt, blocking one of the world's key shipping routes.
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Trials in China for two Canadians charged with espionage are seen as retaliation after Canada arrested a Chinese executive at request of the U.S. Washington wants that exec extradited to the U.S.
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President Biden wants to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal that his predecessor pulled out of. It's at a standstill, but analysts say the Biden administration can make gestures to bring Iran to the table. -
The tough sanctions that former president Trump slapped on Iran are still in place and President Biden has a few options to use them to bring Iran back to the nuclear deal.
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The gene-editing technology is at the center of an ethical debate. Isaacson examines it through the life of Jennifer Doudna, co-recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for CRISPR's discovery. -
By releasing intelligence tying Saudi Arabia's crown prince to the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Biden is toughening U.S. posture toward the kingdom.
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He was Saudi Arabia's oil minister for nearly 25 years, rising to fame for engineering the 1973 oil embargo and negotiating Saudi control of Aramco from U.S. fuel giants.
