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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The State Department is slashing hundreds of jobs in what's being called its biggest shake-up in decades — drawing sharp criticism from former diplomats who say the cuts risk gutting America's diplomatic muscle. -
Hundreds of State Department staff are bracing for layoffs after a Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for sweeping federal cuts — and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slashing deep.
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Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have signed what President Trump is calling a peace deal. But the text leaves lots of questions in a complicated war in a mineral rich region of Africa.
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President Trump says U.S. and Israeli forces destroyed Iran's nuclear program. Analysts say Iran may have moved its uranium stockpiles. There's little trust, by all sides, in diplomacy.
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European diplomats are working to revive nuclear negotiations with Iran to find a peaceful end to a war that President Trump has said the U.S. could join to support Israel against Iran.
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The Trump administration has cut international aid with little push back from the GOP-led Senate. So on Thursday, two Democratic senators are holding their own hearing on how it's affecting farmers.
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The U.N. Security Council meets on Gaza, as the U.S. backs a new aid group and dismisses concerns by the U.N. that aid is being "politicized."
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio faces another grilling on Capitol Hill, a day after his testy exchanges with his former colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio had some testy exchanges with Democrats in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He defended big cuts and the Trump administration's decision to dismantle USAID.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio had some testy exchanges with Democratic senators, who questioned him on Trump administration policies ranging from diplomacy with Russia to aid cuts and refugees.
