
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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Famine has been officially declared in northern Gaza, a U.N.-backed group warns — marking the first such confirmation in the Middle East.
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We look at international reaction to President Trump's latest round of tariffs.
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After the 12-day war in June, the issue of who will succeed Iran's longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has become more urgent.
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Trade talks between the U.S. and China are entering the third day in London. At the heart of the negotiations are rare earth elements, which are used in many pieces of sophisticated technology.
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Mark Carney wins Canada's election, seizing on strong public sentiment against President Trump. But it's still not clear if his Liberal Party has won an outright majority in Parliament.
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Canada's snap election has been dominated by one politician — who's not even in the race: President Trump.
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The Trump administration slapped 25% tariffs on America's two biggest trading partners, Mexico and Canada. Canada hit back with retaliatory tariffs and Mexico promised to follow suit.
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The singer of such hits as "Walking on the Sun" and "All Star" died of acute liver failure in his home in Boise, Idaho.
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Under a new target announced by the British government on Sunday, adults would be vaccinated one month earlier than initially planned.
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Once the pandemic began, many countries prevented crew members from leaving ships. Some ended up trapped at sea for more than a year. Maritime organizations are pushing for more seafarer protections.