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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More than two dozen protesters in Iraq have been killed since Wednesday, and the worst violence has been in the country's south. It's a growing display of anger over Iran's role in Iraqi politics.
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The Arctic island has a wealth of rare earth resources that the U.S. has labeled as essential to national defense.
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When Suriya Paprajong arrived in Greenland in 2001, he didn't even have a coat. These days, his eatery in Qaqortoq, population 3,000, is a local favorite, melding Thai flavors with an Arctic twist.
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Warmer weather up north is opening up shipping lanes and new access to natural resources. It's also fueling a military buildup.
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The oil-rich kingdom has poured millions of dollars into a global damage control campaign. While some governments have shunned the country, the Trump administration remains a strong supporter.
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Saudi Arabia had been planning to sell off a slice of its state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, in a massive IPO. But last weekend's aerial attacks on Saudi oil facilities may scare off investors.
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Drone attacks against Saudi oil facilities have caused uncertainty in world oil markets. Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility, but the U.S. is blaming Iran.
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In a break from tradition, the king appointed a prince to run the energy ministry and the head of the Public Investment Fund to chair oil giant Saudi Aramco.
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Sales in the six months through June were just over $58.3 billion. But Huawei Chairman Liang Hua says the company will "face difficulties" in the second half because of U.S. restrictions.
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After a five-month probe of Khashoggi's death, a special U.N. investigator concluded it was "inconceivable that an operation of this scale could be implemented without the Crown Prince being aware."