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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The scorching temperatures are happening during a destructive wildfire season and a brutal drought. The average maximum temperature across the country on Tuesday was 105.6 degrees Fahrenheit. -
Scientists say that for the first time, they've managed to extract an entire ancient human genome from anything other than human bones or teeth. It told them a lot about the person chewing the gum. -
Monday's volcanic eruption killed at least 16 people, many of them tourists visiting White Island. Authorities have been trying to recover two more bodies, even under the threat of another eruption. -
Amid huge protests and a boycott, five candidates with links to the Bouteflika regime squared off and former Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune came out ahead. -
The former players are accused of receiving payouts totaling $3.4 million for medical equipment they allegedly never purchased. The men charged include Clinton Portis, Robert McCune and John Eubanks. -
In a cave in Indonesia, archaeologists have uncovered a stunning ancient painting of a hunting party that is thousands of years older than similar works found in Europe. -
Lauren Bruner died in September and on Saturday, his remains will return to the USS Arizona. He is expected to be the final USS Arizona survivor to be interred on the sunken warship. -
Government officials say anti-vaccination advocates have complicated their efforts to turn the tide on an epidemic that has killed at least 63 people, most of them children. -
The woman says one of the men who attacked her on Thursday is the same man who raped her last year. It's another horrifying incident in a country grappling with high levels of sexual violence. -
Every time the electric eel named Miguel Wattson releases a jolt of electricity, a festively decorated Christmas tree next to his tank at the Tennessee Aquarium flickers and glows.
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The bill, which passed on Tuesday night in a 407-1 vote, condemns Beijing's treatment of the Muslim minority in Western China. It comes days after a measure supporting Hong Kong protesters. -
Pyongyang did not elaborate on the statement, but in 2017, state media referred to North Korea's first test launch of an ICBM as part of a "package of gifts" for the U.S.
