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.
-
With the Trump family "so involved in international business, the logistical issues, costs and security risks are more substantial than we're used to seeing," says an expert in presidential travel. -
There's concern that Canada may get swept up in any disagreement or trade war between the U.S. and Mexico. Canada's ambassador has said Canada needs to avoid becoming "collateral damage." -
Rodrigo Duterte's repeated provocative statements are straining relations with the U.S. And his disparaging remarks about the U.S. president aren't helping Obama's pivot to Asia. -
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is directly sanctioned for the first time for his role in human rights abuses.
-
Boeing has agreed to sell or lease about 100 commercial jets to Iran Air. The deal is seen as a test case for international companies that are skittish about doing business with Iran. -
Russia, China and other emerging market countries have been buying up large quantities of gold, something governments and individuals have done for centuries during uncertain economic times. -
Launched in August, the Maersk McKinney Moller is the first of a new class of megaships. It's 20 stories high and a quarter-mile long. NPR's Jackie Northam hopped on board in Poland. -
The canal is being widened to handle much larger ships. But after five years of building, the project is expected to cost at least $1.6 billion more than planned. The builders and the canal operators both say the other side should pay. -
U.S. and EU officials begin talks Monday on a free-trade deal that could create thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in new trade. But there are deep-seated differences that may make it difficult to reach an accord. Among the most contentious: agriculture and whether genetically modified crops grown in the U.S. will be accepted in Europe. -
In January 2009, the president signed an executive order to close the U.S. prison camp. But four years later, the prison remains open, and critics say the president miscalculated how difficult it would be to close the facility that houses terrorism suspects.
