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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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. -
"It's not about putting military service members in space," one expert said. The new branch will basically reorganize what the military does in space and elevate it to a single chain of command. -
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. -
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. -
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.
