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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There's a type of spider that can slowly stretch its web taut and then release it, causing the web to catapult forward and entangle unsuspecting prey in its strands. -
The FBI and local law enforcement had warned of an "armed and dangerous" 18-year-old woman who had an "infatuation" with the mass school shooting. Area schools had closed for the day as a precaution. -
The building burned for hours on Monday, with smoke billowing into the sky. The cause of the cathedral's blaze was not immediately known, but the initial investigation points to an accident. -
Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are among 33 parents who paid large sums of money to cheat admissions standards at prestigious schools, federal prosecutors say. -
The country has been hobbled by a blackout since Thursday. People wait in long lines for gas and water and increasingly are having difficulty communicating by phone or Internet. -
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 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. -
Officials blame "challenges." In Africa's most populous country, President Muhammadu Buhari is trying to hold on to his position, and opposition leader Atiku Abubakar is his fiercest challenger. -
The transfer is part of a deal between Australia and the U.S., under the Obama administration, in which the U.S. agreed to accept some 1,250 refugees. President Trump has called it a "dumb deal." -
U.S. authorities have identified at least six suspicious packages that were mailed to leading Democratic figures and CNN since Monday. Some of them appear to be similar.
