Merrit Kennedy

Merrit Kennedy appears in the following:

Tiny Marshall Islands Taking On 3 World Nuclear Powers In Court

Monday, March 07, 2016

The Marshall Islands is on an unlikely mission — trying to press India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom to curb their nuclear programs.

The Pacific archipelago, which was the site of dozens of U.S. nuclear tests in the '40s and '50s, is suing the three countries in the U.N.'s International ...

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EU Leaders, Turkey Near Agreement On Migration Route To Northern Europe

Monday, March 07, 2016

European Union leaders and Turkey's prime minister have ended talks aimed at resolving the flood of migrants into Europe, signaling their leaders are closer to an agreement.

The Associated Press reports, "Luxembourg's prime minister says that European Union and Turkish leaders have ended talks ... but that more work is ...

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2 Men Linked To Drowning Death Of Syrian Toddler Are Convicted Of Trafficking

Friday, March 04, 2016

A Turkish court has sentenced two Syrian nationals to four years in prison each in a case tied to the drowning death of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi and four others.

Photos of 3-year-old Alan's body lying facedown on a Turkish beach in September 2015 produced a groundswell of global ...

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'Everybody Stretches' Without Gravity: Mark Kelly Talks About NASA's Twins Study

Friday, March 04, 2016

Kelly says his twin brother, Scott Kelly, who just returned to Earth after 340 days in space, was temporarily 2 inches taller. NASA is studying the pair to explore what spaceflight does to the body.

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New York Mayor To March In St. Patrick's Day Parade After 2-Year Boycott

Thursday, March 03, 2016

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says he will march in the city's St. Patrick's Day parade, ending his two-year boycott over a ban on LGBT groups.

NPR's Hansi Lo Wang tells our Newscast unit that the mayor's decision comes after organizers allowed a new group to march in the ...

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A Team Of Refugees Will Compete At The Olympic Games In Rio

Thursday, March 03, 2016

A team of refugees will compete alongside athletes representing their home countries at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the International Olympic Committee has announced.

Previously, athletes who did not represent a country were not allowed to compete.

The team will likely number between five and 10 athletes,

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A Collector's Dream: 7 Rare Ty Cobb Baseball Cards Discovered

Thursday, March 03, 2016

The crumpled brown paper bag looked like trash.

But luckily for baseball card enthusiasts, a family in a rural Southern town that was sifting through its great-grandparent's possessions took a closer look.

The family, who wishes to remain anonymous, found seven identical baseball cards of famed Detroit Tigers outfielder ...

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Head Start Program Expanded In Flint To Help Kids Exposed To Lead

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

The Department of Health and Human Services says it is expanding its Head Start program in Flint, Mich., with $3.6 million in one-time funding.

It's an effort to combat the developmental effects on kids from the city's lead-laced water.

The effects of lead exposure are lifelong and can cause ...

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No, You Can't Vape On Commercial Flights, Transportation Department Says

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Removing any doubt about whether you're allowed to puff away on an electronic cigarette while airborne, the Department of Transportation has explicitly banned vaping on commercial flights.

The department had previously said that it understood its "ban on smoking of tobacco to be sufficiently broad to include the ...

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Chinese Newspaper Editor Fired Over 'Hidden' Headline Message

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

At first glance, the front-page headlines in China's Southern Metropolis Daily on Feb. 20 looked like normal fare: coverage of a speech by President Xi Jinping and a politician's funeral.

But read vertically, and there's a message that seems to criticize a government crackdown on the media.

NPR's Anthony Kuhn ...

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Rolling Stones Announce Landmark Concert In Cuba

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Havana will meet the Rolling Stones later this month.

The band has announced they'll play a free open-air concert in the Cuban capital on March 25.

That will make them "the most famous act to play Cuba since its 1959 revolution," the Associated Press reports.

"We have performed in many ...

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Canada Says It Has Met Its Goal Of Resettling 25,000 Syrian Refugees

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Less than four months after it started accepting Syrian refugees, Canada says it has reached its goal of bringing in 25,000 people who have fled the raging civil war.

The initiative was a campaign promise by newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He personally welcomed the first group of ...

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Thousands Of Migrants Stuck In Bottleneck At Greece-Macedonia Border

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

As thousands of migrants wait to cross the border from Greece into Macedonia, the U.N. warns that Europe is "on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis."

Macedonian authorities closed the Idomeni border crossing Monday, sparking clashes with the frustrated migrants who want to continue their journey north. Guards ...

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Advertising Company Will Use Its Billboards To Track Passing Cellphones

Monday, February 29, 2016

Clear Channel Outdoor — one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in the U.S. — is starting a new program called Radar that will use billboards to map real-world habits and behaviors from nearby consumers.

The technology is sure to help advertisers better target their ads. But privacy advocates argue ...

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On Day 3, Syria's Cessation Of Hostilities Still Largely Holding

Monday, February 29, 2016

Syria's cessation of hostilities is largely holding on its third day, even as the main opposition umbrella group accuses the Syrian regime of violations.

Riad Hijab, the opposition's general coordinator, wrote a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General detailing the alleged breaches of the truce, which was brokered by the U.S. ...

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Iranian Moderates Make Big Gains In Parliamentary Elections

Monday, February 29, 2016

Final results are beginning to trickle in from Iran's parliamentary elections, and these returns show major gains for the country's moderate camp.

It's a stunning blow to Iran's hardliners in the first election since last year's historic nuclear deal with world powers.

NPR's Peter Kenyon says reformist parliamentary candidates swept ...

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Cleveland Clinic Performs First Successful Uterus Transplant In The U.S.

Friday, February 26, 2016

The Cleveland Clinic says it has performed the first uterus transplant in the United States.

This opens up another possible path to parenthood besides surrogacy or adoption for U.S. women who do not have a uterus, or who have a uterus that does not function.

The transplant happened during ...

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'Cessation Of Hostilities' Scheduled To Begin In Syria

Friday, February 26, 2016

A "cessation of hostilities" has come into effect in Syria at midnight local time (5 p.m. EST).

The temporary pause in fighting was brokered by the U.S. and Russia, and is meant to be a confidence-building measure to jump-start peace talks between the warring parties. It includes the Syrian government ...

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Report: More Pollinator Species In Jeopardy, Threatening World Food Supply

Friday, February 26, 2016

A major global assessment of pollinators is raising concerns about the future of the planet's food supply.

A U.N.-sponsored report drawing on about 3,000 scientific papers concludes that about 40 percent of invertebrate pollinator species (such as bees and butterflies) are facing extinction. Vertebrate pollinators (such as bats and birds) ...

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Death Valley's Harsh Desert Blanketed With Wildflower 'Super Bloom'

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Death Valley, Calif., one of the hottest places in the world, is in bloom with more than 20 species of colorful desert wildflowers.

In a statement, the National Park Service says that after unusually strong storms and flash floods last October, "the current flower display is the best ...

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