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 United States is the first government to publicly take action with respect to the most senior leadership of the Burmese military," the U.S. State Department said Tuesday. -
The mandatory move imposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on most of the workers at two vital research agencies has been criticized as a "blatant attack on science." -
The town of Harlech in Wales has ousted Dunedin, New Zealand, for the title of world's steepest street. Residents are elated about the title, which required a lengthy verification process. -
The show is centered on the suicide of a teenage girl, and the first season's finale shows her taking her own life. Several organizations raised concerns that it could romanticize suicide.
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The Majestic Yosemite Hotel is back to its original name, The Ahwahnee. And a set of cabins that was temporarily called Half Dome Village now carries its historic name, Camp Curry. -
After a blast rocked the chicken restaurant in Eden, N.C., smoke and flames erupted from the ruined building and debris and sparks fell from the sky. The moment was captured on surveillance footage. -
NASA has mapped changes in the ground's position caused by the recent earthquakes — and it happens to look like beautiful, psychedelic art. -
Six-player Texas Hold 'em has been too tough for a machine to master — until now. A bot named Pluribus crushed some of the world's best poker players using brash and unorthodox strategies. -
Hundreds of people died when a ruptured dam unleashed a wave of mining waste in the town of Brumadinho in January. Mining giant Vale said it is committed to fixing the damage. -
"In business and in life, Ross was a man of integrity and action," his family said in a statement. Perot, who had battled leukemia, died Tuesday at his home in Dallas.
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London police suspect the person had been hiding in the landing gear of a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to Heathrow Airport. The body fell into the Clapham area of the city, shocking neighbors. -
The ACLU says the new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis creates "two classes of returning citizens: those who are wealthy enough to vote and those who cannot afford to."
