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.
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Russian dissidents, who were exchanged in a prisoner swap, are trying to stay relevant abroad, planning a protest in Berlin and advocating for a US policy that ensures that Russia loses the war against Ukraine.
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The Biden administration says it is tracking thousands of North Korean troops in Russia and, according to U.S. intelligence reports, those troops could be involved in combat with Ukrainians soon.
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Israeli forces killed the Hamas leader in Gaza last week and they’ve been pressing their offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon too. Israel is also poised to strike Iran.
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Israel has allowed a “trickle” of aid into Gaza this week. But the U.S. says it is just not enough. The Biden administration is threatening to withhold some military aid to Israel unless that changes.
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There are around 10,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon. The U.N. says they will remain at their posts in southern Lebanon -- even as Israel conducts ground operations against Hezbollah.
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On Oct. 4, 2023, thousands of Palestinian and Israeli women marched for peace. After a year of conflict and casualties, the groups are still working together to call for peace.
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The UN Security Council has renewed a mandate of a Kenyan-led force in Haiti. But, the mission has had a slow start the U.S. hoped to make it a formal peacekeeping operation so the UN would fund it.
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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before the U.N. General Assembly Friday morning as he continues to reject a U.S. backed Lebanon cease-fire proposal.
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Ukraine's President Volodmyr Zelensky tries to rally support at a UN distracted by the Middle East and warns Russia may be planning to attack his country's nuclear power plants.
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The conflict in the Middle East dominates day one of the annual UN general assembly — as the UN secretary general warns of a "powder keg" of global conflicts that risk engulfing the world.