Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
Special correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is based in Berlin. Her reports can be heard on NPR's award-winning programs, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and read at NPR.org. From 2012 until 2018 Nelson was NPR's bureau chief in Berlin. She won the ICFJ 2017 Excellence in International Reporting Award for her work in Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Nelson was also based in Cairo for NPR and covered the Arab World from the Middle East to North Africa during the Arab Spring. In 2006, Nelson opened NPR's first bureau in Kabul, from where she provided listeners in an in-depth sense of life inside Afghanistan, from the increase in suicide among women in a country that treats them as second class citizens to the growing interference of Iran and Pakistan in Afghan affairs. For her coverage of Afghanistan, she won a Peabody Award, Overseas Press Club Award, and the Gracie in 2010. She received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award from Colby College in 2011 for her coverage in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Nelson spent 20 years as newspaper reporter, including as Knight Ridder's Middle East Bureau Chief. While at the Los Angeles Times, she was sent on extended assignment to Iran and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She spent three years an editor and reporter for Newsday and was part of the team that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for covering the crash of TWA Flight 800.
A graduate of the University of Maryland, Nelson speaks Farsi, Dari and German.
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In Poland, a new law could put the country's Supreme Court under the ruling party's control. Critics fear this will erode their justice system, now protests have erupted.
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Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in more than a hundred cities and towns Thursday to protest what they see as a government attempt to take control of the Polish Supreme Court.
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The Polish government's decision to allow logging in one of Europe's last remaining primeval forests has led to a bitter fight between Warsaw and the European Union.
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The G-20 meeting was marked by many days of violence, with scores of protesters and riot police facing off in the streets. Saturday's march, which was peaceful, was the largest display yet.
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President Trump arrives in Germany ahead of the G-20 summit on Thursday. This president is much less popular than his predecessors, and the people of Hamburg are not looking forward to the protests and disruption likely to mark his visit.
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President Trump will visit Poland on Wednesday. Although Trump is unpopular in much of Europe, he can expect a warm welcome in Warsaw. The White House says Poland is a potential energy partner.
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Germany is building Europe's biggest bicycle autobahn to connect 10 cities — and hopefully remove thousands of cars from German roads.
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The German parliament has voted to impose fines of up to $57 million on social media companies that fail to remove "obviously illegal" hate speech within 24 hours of it being posted.
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European cybersecurity experts have been meeting in Brussels to discuss ways to combat recent attacks, including Tuesday's malware infection of thousands of business computers.
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Security will be tight for next month's Group of 20 summit in Hamburg. Most leaders are bringing their own security detail. But Germany told Turkey's president that his guards aren't welcome.