Alice Fordham
Alice Fordham is an NPR International Correspondent based in Beirut, Lebanon.
In this role, she reports on Lebanon, Syria and many of the countries throughout the Middle East.
Before joining NPR in 2014, Fordham covered the Middle East for five years, reporting for The Washington Post, the Economist, The Times and other publications. She has worked in wars and political turmoil but also amid beauty, resilience and fun.
In 2011, Fordham was a Stern Fellow at the Washington Post. That same year she won the Next Century Foundation's Breakaway award, in part for an investigation into Iraqi prisons.
Fordham graduated from Cambridge University with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics.
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Protests against government corruption and dysfunction in the troubled south of Iraq have brought a threatening reaction from militias and shadowy groups with entrenched interests.
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Women from Iraq's Yazidi minority get together to perform centuries-old sacred songs. They've survived captivity by ISIS and loved ones' deaths. "They are trying to heal," says a Yazidi politician. -
Pope Francis is back at the Vatican after a historic trip to Iraq, the home of a dwindling but determined Christian community.
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The pope spent the third day of his visit in the north of the country, where the Christian population is dwindling. He also prayed for the ethnic minority Yazidis, who were brutally targeted by ISIS. -
On the second day of a landmark trip to Iraq, Pope Francis traveled to the the city of Najaf to meet Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, before visiting what is believed to be the birthplace of Abraham. -
The pontiff arrived at Baghdad International Airport where he was greeted by the prime minister. During his four-day visit, Francis will focus on Iraq's ancient but dwindling Christian community. -
Domestic tourism has been strong in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, but sites in more impoverished, insecure areas tend to be visited less. A few Iraqi tourism companies are trying to change that. -
Many Iraqis — Christian and Muslim — say they are excited about the first papal visit to the country, raising hopes of religious tolerance in the face of extremist violence. -
Pope Francis plans to travel the original home of the patriarch Abraham in the Iraqi desert. His tour will also take him to places where there are almost no Christians — most everyone is Muslim.
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"Iraq's economic situation can probably best be described as being dire," says an International Energy Agency expert. Government revenues have plummeted and its currency has been devalued.
