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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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 holds an emergency session on the situation on the Middle East. The UN Secretary General is urging all sides to accept a diplomatic solution as "time is running out."
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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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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to the UN as the various sides consider the U.S.-French ceasefire proposal for Israel and Hezbollah.
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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.
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Conflicts are escalating across the Middle East, Europe and Africa as world leaders gather in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly high level debate.
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The deadly pager and electronic device blasts in Lebanon are complicating U.S. efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire.
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In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, writing about the war in Ukraine, the church or LGBTQ+ life could land you in jail. A new organization helps authors publish books in Russian they couldn't back home.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British counterpart David Lammy are raising alarms about Iranian ballistic missiles in Russia that threaten Ukraine.