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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Shortly after the attack last August, Patrick Wood Crusius allegedly told police he had driven to the store intending to kill "Mexicans." -
"This has happened, and my intention is to come here every day I can," the conservative talk show host told his listeners on Monday. He said the diagnosis was confirmed by two medical institutions. -
"The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries," said World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. -
The individual had returned to his home in Washington state after a visit to Wuhan, China, where the virus was discovered in December. -
Birds change the shape of their wings far more than planes. The complexities of bird flight have posed a major design challenge for scientists trying to translate the way birds fly into robots. -
Caskets holding the bodies of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and others killed in a U.S. drone strike last week in Iraq were paraded though the streets of Tehran as mourners chanted "death to America." -
The strike against Qassem Soleimani raises thorny legal questions — and experts disagree over whether the U.S. had the legal authority to do it. -
Security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators as President Trump called on Iraq to intervene with force. The protesters are angry about a series of U.S. airstrikes on an Iranian-backed militia. -
He Jiankui announced in November 2018 that he had created the world's first gene-edited babies. Scientists are concerned about unintended side effects that could be passed down to future generations. -
President Trump has signed off on raising the age of sale from 18 to 21 for cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Health advocates worry it guards the industry from further sweeping regulations.
