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 United States was the only country to vote against a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
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Israel wants the United Nations and international community to do more about its evidence of sexual violence by militants in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
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Israeli officials have accused international groups, including the United Nations, of ignoring what it describes as evidence of rape and sexual violence by Hamas fighters during the Oct. 7 attacks.
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The State Department announces visa bans for Israeli settlers who've recently attacked Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians who've attacked Israelis would also be subject to the bans.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel in an effort to further extend the ceasefire and secure the release of more hostages.
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Blinken will make his third trip to the region since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Before that he'll be at NATO headquarters in Brussels to reaffirm support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
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Israel will allow 140,000 liters of fuel into Gaza every two days for the United Nations' use to distribute aid and for telecommunications provider Paltel to keep phone and internet service available.
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The State Department and the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab release new information about Belarus' "complicity in and support for" Russia's abduction of Ukrainian children.
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There's been some dissent in the State Department and among aid workers about the Biden administration's stance on Israel during the war in Gaza.
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President Biden sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken back to Israel as the death toll mounts in Gaza, and international calls for a ceasefire grow.