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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John Kerry's first trip as secretary of state took him to Europe 鈥� where he spent time growing up as the son of a diplomat. Kerry, who also had stops in the Middle East, says he can't speak as freely now as when he was a senator. -
Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with the Egyptian president and opposition leaders to help forge a path through the country's turmoil. Kerry says it is "paramount" that leaders come together to tackle Egypt's financial woes. -
One dominant theme of the trip will be how to resolve the crisis in Syria, where an estimated 70,000 people have been killed over the past two years. Kerry is portraying his first trip as secretary of state as a listening tour, and he certainly expects to hear a lot about Syria. -
The attack at a Black Sea resort town last July killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian citizen. In response, the White House called Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, a "real and growing threat not only to Europe, but to the rest of the world."
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She is about to step aside as secretary of state and "step off this incredibly high wire." She generally gets high praise, though some critics say her role was limited on the major foreign policy questions of the past four years. -
The Massachusetts senator has already carried out sensitive diplomatic efforts on behalf of President Obama, with a strong focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years. -
President Obama is expected Friday to nominate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as his next secretary of state. Kerry would replace Hillary Clinton, who's planning to leave the post after four years as the president's globetrotting emissary.
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Under fire from Republicans, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice took herself out of the running to become the next secretary of State. Rice told President Obama that if she were to be nominated, the confirmation process would be "lengthy, disruptive and costly."
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The Americans and the Russians have been at odds over Syria since the fighting began 20 months ago. But there's a sense of urgency now as the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad looks increasingly unstable. -
President Obama hasn't even named his choice to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who plans to step down at the end of this term. But there's already been a lot of heated rhetoric this week over one of the front-runners, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.
