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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Germany has banned an interactive doll manufactured by an American company that German regulators charge can spy on children and collect personal data from them and their parents. But some consumer watchdogs say the ban alone is not enough.
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Mike Pence addressed world leaders on his first overseas trip as vice president. But he and other administration officials at the Munich Security Conference didn't completely reassure European allies.
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Vice President Mike Pence and Defense Secretary James Mattis talked at the Munich Security Conference this week. They reinforced the U.S. commitment to NATO and asked other countries to spend more.
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Senior members of the Trump administration will attend the Munich Security Conference on Friday, which is the first chance for many foreign defense and policy officials to hear directly from the new U.S. government.
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An orchestra composed of 30 Afghan women, ages 14 to 20, is defying stereotypes and reviving the country's musical tradition. -
People in many countries rejected the ban on refugees and restrictions on citizens of 7 Muslim-majority countries. The measures added to growing frustration and concern with the new U.S. president.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel talked with President Trump Saturday. The two discussed NATO, Russia and security cooperation during the 45-minute call.
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Frauke Petry's Alternative for Germany party enjoys the most support of any nationalist faction in that country since World War II. Its counterparts in Europe are also seeing surges in support. -
Far-right politicians from across Europe, drawing breath from Brexit and Donald Trump's victory, gathered in Koblenz, Germany, to map strategy for upcoming elections in their countries. -
U.S. tanks have returned to Europe to help defend Poland and Baltic states from possible Russian aggression. The Kremlin sees it as a threat.
