Merrit Kennedy
Merrit Kennedy is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She covers a broad range of issues, from the latest developments out of the Middle East to science research news.
Kennedy joined NPR in Washington, D.C., in December 2015, after seven years living and working in Egypt. She started her journalism career at the beginning of the Egyptian uprising in 2011 and chronicled the ousting of two presidents, eight rounds of elections, and numerous major outbreaks of violence for NPR and other news outlets. She has also worked as a reporter and television producer in Cairo for The Associated Press, covering Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan.
She grew up in Los Angeles, the Middle East, and places in between, and holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from Stanford University and a master's degree in international human rights law from The American University in Cairo.
-
Pentagon sources say that Trump's hopes for a space force produced tensions between Wilson and the White House, who saw her as delaying the process. She plans to go into academia. -
A New Jersey man is basking in the good fortune of a $273 million lottery jackpot win that wouldn't have happened without the kindness of a stranger. He's trying to find that person to reward them. -
It's horrified the racing world and experts say there's no clear answer as to why this is happening, though there are some theories. Santa Anita Park has halted racing to test the track. -
A ship ran aground more than a month ago, and a gash on its side is leaking oil. There's growing outrage that the companies responsible are not taking action to stop the environmental destruction. -
Some of the animals were wrapped in duct tape, some were mixed into luggage items such as clothing, shoes and cookies. A passenger coming from Hong Kong left the animals at the airport. -
It's a major blow to the long-serving prime minister, who faces charges that include bribery. However, he still has a chance to hold off any indictment during a court hearing. -
Last week, a man bought about 120 boxes of cookies so that the children selling them could get out of the cold. The DEA says he is the same man named in a federal indictment.
-
A train locomotive crashed into a barrier at the main train station in Egypt's capital Cairo. Then, authorities say its fuel tank exploded, sending flames through the crowded travel hub. -
"If people who have spoken out — like me — do not take this sort of a stand ... things are very unlikely to change at anything like the pace required to protect my daughter's generation," she wrote. -
"These are people who have been lying at rest for years and years and to have them desecrated in such a sacrilegious way is so distressing and disturbing," the Archbishop of Dublin told local media.
