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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Altogether, some 2 billion children worldwide are breathing air that has been deemed a "long term hazard," a report finds. Pollution contributes to around 600,000 deaths annually of kids under age 5. -
Infants should sleep in the same room as their parents for the first six months of their lives, and ideally, the entire first year. That's a key recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics. -
French security forces intend to dismantle the squalid camp that, despite its poor living conditions, has housed thousands of people who fled wars or poverty for a better life in Europe. -
The agency had enough information to see the danger and the authority to intervene earlier, the inspector general's report states. "These situations should generate a greater sense of urgency." -
The company has been under scrutiny from federal regulators over its blood-testing technology. Theranos says it will focus on a testing product called miniLab. -
The powerful storm forced tens of thousands to evacuate their homes. At least four people in Taiwan and one person in mainland China were killed. -
The pollution levels have a staggering impact on health, according to the report, which says: "In 2012, one out of every nine deaths was the result of air pollution-related conditions." -
Museum-goers, prepare for "unprecedented intimacy with a work of art." Starting Friday, visitors will be able to use Maurizio Cattelan's America, a gold-cast, working toilet at the New York museum. -
More than a million Muslims have embarked on the yearly hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, after last year's holy event was marred by a deadly stampede that killed hundreds and stoked regional tensions. -
Alarmed Russians are sharing photos on social media of the red Daldykan River, located above the Arctic Circle. The Russian government thinks a pipeline leak from a local factory could be to blame.
