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Michele Kelemen

Michele Kelemen has been with NPR for two decades, starting as NPR's Moscow bureau chief and now covering the State Department and Washington's diplomatic corps. Her reports can be heard on all NPR News programs, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

As Diplomatic Correspondent, Kelemen has traveled with Secretaries of State from Colin Powell to Mike Pompeo and everyone in between. She reports on the Trump administration's "America First" foreign policy and before that the Obama and Bush administration's diplomatic agendas. She was part of the NPR team that won the 2007 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for coverage of the war in Iraq.

As NPR's Moscow bureau chief, Kelemen chronicled the end of the Yeltsin era and Vladimir Putin's consolidation of power. She recounted the terrible toll of the latest war in Chechnya, while also reporting on a lighter side of Russia, with stories about modern day Russian literature and sports.

Kelemen came to NPR in September 1998, after eight years working for the Voice of America. There, she learned the ropes as a news writer, newscaster and show host.

Michele earned her Bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Russian and East European Affairs and International Economics.

  • Officials from more than 40 nations gather in Annapolis, Md., for the start of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The summit is the Bush administration's first initiative in seven years. Analysts urge President Bush to use his full influence to help bring about peace.
  • President Bush is due to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the White House. Afterward, he hopes they'll make progress talking with each other. This week might mark President Bush's deepest involvement in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
  • The Bush administration is reviewing its aid to Pakistan, in the wake of President Pervez Musharraf's decision to impose emergency rule. But options are limited. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte testifies before a House committee about U.S. aid to Pakistan.
  • President Bush met Monday with the Turkish prime minister — in hopes of defusing a conflict at the Iraqi border between Turkey and Kurdish militants. The president also spoke about the crisis in Pakistan, where President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule Saturday.
  • President Bush hosts Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is expected to press for help in stopping Kurds in northern Iraq from further cross border attacks. The Turks have threatened to send in troops. But so far, Ankara has heeded U.S. calls for restraint.
  • Turkey has gathered forces and heavy weapons on its border with Iraq after an attack Sunday by Kurdish rebels on Turkish troops left eight Turkish soldiers missing and 12 dead. Meantime, there has been a lot of diplomatic traffic. The U.S. fears that unilateral action by Turkey could destabilize the most stable part of Iraq.
  • Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with Palestinian leaders, pushing ahead with preparations for a November peace conference in the U.S.
  • In a speech to the U.N., Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defends his country's right to "a peaceful" nuclear program. He calls the U.S. a bullying, arrogant power that is misusing the Security Council.
  • Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's engages in a tense exchange with students and faculty at Columbia University after an address that included nuclear ambitions, Israel, and terrorism.
  • President Bush said Monday that, with the right intelligence, the U.S. and Pakistani governments could take out al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan. Bush is at Camp David, where he is meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai.