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.
-
Donald Trump will take the oath of office five weeks from Friday. He has almost completely filled out his Cabinet and White House staff. His latest pick, David Friedman, is grabbing headlines.
-
President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro achieved what many thought impossible — a warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. What role did Fidel Castro play in that process?
-
A third Iranian-American has received a harsh prison sentence in Iran — in what activists say is an attempt by hardliners to undermine the Iranian president's efforts to reach out to the West.
-
President Obama is delivering his final speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. "Today a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself," he says.
-
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is working to wring commitments out of 55 nations to ratify the Paris Climate Change treaty.
-
As the U.S. and Russia struggle to bring peace to Syria, civilians are paying the toll. A United Nations report documents a surge of violence in recent months and atrocities are mounting.
-
Activists were hoping that the race for the United Nations Secretary General would be more transparent this year and women would be considered. The latest straw polls suggest otherwise.
-
Secretary of State John Kerry visits Saudi Arabia to nudge the key U.S. ally to find a way out of a devastating war in Yemen. The United Nations human rights chief is calling for an international inquiry.
-
Victims of the July 11 attack are coming forward with details. They say the international community is not doing enough to hold South Sudan to account. -
Turkish lawmakers want the U.S. to extradite U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen, who they say backed a failed coup. But the process is far from easy and depends on international politics as much as courts.
