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.
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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. -
They initially thought it was a type of fish known to swim near Santa Barbara. But by collaborating with Australian scientists, they found it was a species never before documented in North America. -
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.
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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. -
The U.K. expelled the residents of the Indian Ocean islands and allowed the U.S. to build a military base. The U.N. Court says it must cede control of the islands "as rapidly as possibly." -
The new publisher and editor of The Democrat-Reporter, Elecia R. Dexter, took the reins on Thursday, after Goodloe Sutton doubled down on his incendiary comments. -
Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks have twin sons, born four minutes apart. The State Department has maintained that one is a U.S. citizen and one is not. A judge sided with the couple. -
The charges are part of a sting on a local spa. Kraft is being charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution, a misdemeanor, tied to two different visits to the spa.
