Diaa Hadid
@diaahadid.bsky.social
NPR's woman in Mumbai, cover South Asia. ex-NYT, ex-AP, former lives: Islamabad, Jerusalem, Gaza, Beirut. Lebanese face, Egyptian hair, Aussie accent. Also on X. Signal: +61403911516 or dhadid@npr.org
What if your microbiome could predict your chances of preterm birth? A study from Pakistan's Agha Khan University produced intriguing results as they ask why Pakistani women have high rates of prematurity. With Shahzaib Wahlah for @npr.org www.npr.org/2026/08/02/g...
Why is the rate of premature births so high in this community?
About 1 in 4 babies in the Pakistani fishing settlement of Rehri Goth are born prematurely. Researchers are trying to figure out how to bring the numbers down.
npr.org
I LOVE @npr.org's books we love, and I always have too many recs. But for this episode, it had to be Mohammad Hanif's Rebel English Academy www.npr.org/2026/08/02/n...
NPR staffers recommend their favorite fiction books of the year so far
NPR's Books We Love is back with some staff recommendations for novels.
npr.org
Postcard pretty alpine Kashmir is split between Pakistan & India. For years, Kashmiri Muslims in India agitated for more autonomy, even separation. Now Pakistan finds itself grappling with a similar crisis, the most serious it's faced in years. Our latest for @npr.org www.npr.org/2026/08/05/n...
Unrest mounts in Kashmir as Pakistani security crackdown stokes reform movement
Pakistani forces blockade Kashmir as protesters demand electoral reforms and -- increasingly -- revolution.
npr.org
Come for Tooty the Parrot, and stay for Dhanushka who hacks tuna with his machete on a dock in Sri Lanka. They tell @NPR how the Mideast war has upturned their lives -- on an island reeling from years of back-to-back crises. With Susitha Fernando. www.npr.org/2026/05/29/n...
War Worsens Economic Pain in Sri Lanka : State of the World from NPR
Sri Lanka was careening from crisis to crisis, then came the Mideast war. People say they've got no buffer left.
npr.org
One of the worst attacks of the Mideast war was thousands of miles from the fighting, when a US submarine sunk an Iranian vessel in the Indian Ocean -- and left Sri Lankans to save the wounded & rescue the dead. Was it a war crime? Do listen. For @NPR www.npr.org/2026/05/31/n...
The terrifying day the U.S.-Iran war reached a sleepy Sri Lankan town
A deadly strike during the first days of the Iran war hit far away in the Indian Ocean, jolting a quiet seaside town and showing how far the conflict's reach extends.
npr.org
If you're in New Delhi, why not ride a HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA rickshaw with Trump's portrait emblazoned on it? Drivers got tea, a soda, an empty plastic bottle as an incentive - and a new roof worth $15 to protect them from the blazing heat. With Omkar Khandekar www.npr.org/2026/05/30/n...
U.S. Embassy in India launches Trump-themed rickshaws to mark America's 250th birthday
Delhi's rickshaws are plying the roads with a new message: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA" emblazoned with Trump's face. Drivers were offered sweeteners to host the signs: tea bags, soda, and an empty plasti...
npr.org
"They're in the war, and they aren't suffering. We are thousands of miles away, and it's nothing to do with us, and we are suffering." Excellent reporting by @diaahadid.bsky.social in #Colombo: As Sri Lanka celebrated its New Year, the war in Iran was felt one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-5785...
🔊 Listen Now: As Sri Lanka celebrated its New Year, the war in Iran was felt
All Things Considered on NPR One | 4:19
one.npr.org
I thought this was satire but it was not. Next on The New Yorker: I Ran Into A Kennedy And Now I've Got 1,000 Words In The New Yorker To Tell You About This Tedious Event www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
My Brief Time in John F. Kennedy, Jr.,’s Orbit
The author Jeffrey Eugenides did not know John F. Kennedy, Jr., for a particularly long or intimate period, but he did experience the gravitational pull of America’s prince.
newyorker.com
"the designation itself seemed to assume some baseline of normalcy in which the present is supposed to unfold – while most of us...are living perpetually on the precipice of disaster" Lina Mounzer for The Equator on strange times www.equator.org/articles/the...
The Disaster Correspondent • EQUATOR
Why I stopped explaining the Middle East to Americans
equator.org
There's an estimated 20,000 civilians trapped in one of the war that America and Israel is waging on Iran: the seafarers stuck in the Persian Gulf. Our latest for @npr.org produced by Shweta Desai. www.npr.org/2026/04/02/n...
UN working to rescue thousands of seafarers trapped in the Strait of Hormuz
Some 20,000 seafarers are trapped in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz; the UN says its trying to extricate them.
npr.org
There are thousands of civilians trapped in one of the most intense theaters of Israel and America's war on Iran: the seafarers stuck in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. Our latest for @npr.org produced by Shweta Desai www.npr.org/2026/04/02/n...
UN working to rescue thousands of seafarers trapped in the Strait of Hormuz
Some 20,000 seafarers are trapped in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz; the UN says its trying to extricate them.
npr.org
Dr. Abiad, Lebanon's former public health minister says Israel is targeting Lebanon, on the Gaza model: journalists, healthcare workers, infrastructure, and warns: Lebanon wont be the last place htis happens. In an interview with @NPR's Leila Fadel. www.npr.org/2026/04/02/n...
Former minister of public health talks about Israel's invasion of Lebanon
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Dr. Firass Abiad, Lebanon's former Minister of Public Health, about Israel's invasion of his country.
npr.org
Utterly decent and excellent WashPo journalists were fired on the whim of a multi-multi billionaire and their colleagues are fundraising for them on gofundme to ensure a graceful and dignified exit.
In an interview on NPR's Wild Card podcast, Melinda French Gates reacts to her ex-husband, Bill Gates, being mentioned in the most recent release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. See the clip.
Melinda French Gates reacts to new details about Bill Gates in the Epstein files
In an interview on NPR's Wild Card podcast, Melinda French Gates reacts to her ex-husband, Bill Gates, being mentioned in the most recent release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
n.pr
I find it baffling that a household can be an employer but a court says they have no responsibilities as an employer, while a domestic worker, among the most vulnerable cohorts in India, is denied a basic wage because it might harm her employers and therefore harm her? scroll.in/latest/10903...
SC refuses to entertain plea seeking minimum wages for domestic workers as fundamental right
The court expressed concerns that a mandatory amount could result in trade unions dragging every household into litigation.
scroll.in
It's heartbreaking to hear that @washingtonpost.com might be winding down its award-winning New Delhi bureau, which has done so much to hold South Asian governments to account. I heard an institution say that democracy dies in darkness, so why is it flicking off the lights?
Shweta Desai and I on the underbelly of India's fertility industry, the women who provide the biomaterial that keep it going, largely poor, exploited and who live in the shadows. For @npr.org www.npr.org/2026/01/20/n...
I've ran up and down the Himalayas for stories and hand on heart I don't think people understand how fragile mountains are. If Aravalli Is Lost, Can North India Survive? www.thequint.com/climate-chan...
If Aravalli Is Lost, Can North India Survive?
Aravalli Ranges: North India's survival hinges on protecting this ancient mountain range from degradation and climate threats. Here's why it matters to the ecosystem in and around it.
thequint.com
“Don’t kid yourself it can’t happen here.” www.theguardian.com/media/commen...
Kerry O’Brien sounds the alarm for Australian media in thunderous Walkleys address | The Weekly Beast
Former 7.30 host takes Labor government to task for record on press freedom and pays tribute to Palestinian journalists. Plus: a roo in the news
theguardian.com
This is about the best breakdown on the restrictions of foreign reporters into Gaza, and how outlets like NPR report the conflict: with the excellent, tireless work of our Palestinian reporter, Anas Baba. www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
Barred from Gaza for 2 years, international journalists are still fighting for access
Israel's Supreme Court has again pressed the government to explain why, more than two years into the war, it still bars independent journalists from entering Gaza.
npr.org
"Hezbollah wants to be feared when it is strong and pitied when it is cornered. It wants total freedom to act and total forgiveness when the consequences arrive. It wants to decide the war and outsource the suffering." ginoraidy.substack.com/p/hezbollahs...
Hezbollah’s Horrifying Demand: Your Fear and Your Empathy
There is an ugly little theatre trick Hezbollah has been playing for years.
ginoraidy.substack.com
Report for America is recruiting, so young journalists, dazzle them: www.reportforamerica.org
Home Page - Report for America
Report for America is a national service program that places emerging journalists into local newsrooms across the country to report on under-covered issues.
reportforamerica.org
Scientists have long known that plastic waste is bad for marine animals. A new study quantifies how little ingested plastic it takes to be a lethal dose. n.pr/3XEhzsB
Eating just a handful of plastic can be fatal for marine animals, a study finds
Scientists have long known that plastic waste is bad for marine animals. A new study quantifies how little ingested plastic it takes to be a lethal dose.
n.pr
"For seabirds, ingesting just six tiny pieces of rubber, each smaller than about the size of a pea, can result in a 90 percent chance of death," Baechler said. www.npr.org/2025/11/20/n...
Eating just a handful of plastic can be fatal for marine animals, a study finds
Scientists have long known that plastic waste is bad for marine animals. A new study quantifies how little ingested plastic it takes to be a lethal dose.
npr.org
a rare, good news story: In India, populations of the globally-threatened Olive Ridley sea turtles are rebounding after decades of patchwork efforts to protect them. One effort: inviting tourists to watch hatchlings lurch into the sea. (Of course there's caveats.) www.npr.org/2025/11/18/n...
These sea turtles in India have rebounded after years of patchwork efforts
Olive ridley turtle populations appear to have rebounded in India after years of patchwork efforts to stem their decline. Can it last?
npr.org
I cannot reiterate hard enough how shocking this would still look if it happened in any of the undemocratic places where I have worked: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-q...
Immigration authorities detain man having apparent seizure, holding toddler in car in Fitchburg
YouTube video by The Boston Globe
youtube.com
All of this: "People who have dedicated their lives to studying one very specific thing share what is meaningful about that thing with others. In return, those of us listening experience the joy of learning something new" www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/m...
The Soothing British Radio Show That Blew My Mind — and Put Me Right to Sleep
nytimes.com
