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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The unprecedented prospect of a repeat election looms as Merkel and her diverse would-be coalition partners try to surmount differences. "This could be the end of Angela Merkel," warns a commentator. -
German automakers are under fire again, this time from European owners of vehicles linked to the diesel emissions scandal who, unlike American owners, have gotten no compensation.
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Social media companies could be penalized by as much as $58.3 million if they don't remove a malicious post from their platforms soon after it is reported — in some cases within 24 hours. -
Five centuries ago, Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation. The anniversary prompted a recent meeting of his descendants to discuss the legacy Luther left when he nailed his theses on a church door.
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No party won a majority in Austria's national election but Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, 31, is poised to head the government following upcoming coalition government negotiations. -
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would work to win back voters who'd abandoned her party. Meanwhile, internal squabbles erupted among leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
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Preliminary results show German voters gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a mandate for a fourth term, but with far fewer votes than needed for her to govern without forming a coalition. -
A top campaign issue in Germany's election is the deportation of migrants who are considered dangerous or who don't qualify for asylum. Germany's broken deportation system will make that difficult.
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The poster tradition dates back hundreds of years and serves as an equalizer in modern-day German elections. But some of today's messaging has been provocative to the point of causing offense. -
With Germany's emerging importance for European stability, eyes are on the Sept. 24 elections. Frontrunners are clear but third-place finisher may affect whether the government tilts right or left.
