Kat Lonsdorf
Kat Lonsdorf is a Middle East reporter currently based in Tel Aviv.
Originally from a small town in Wisconsin, Kat attended Occidental College in Los Angeles where she majored in Diplomacy and World Affairs. She joined NPR in 2016 after earning her Masters in Journalism from Medill at Northwestern University.
Lonsdorf has produced and reported for NPR around the world, including in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Japan, Kenya, Ukraine, Georgia, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. In 2020, she was NPR's Above the Fray Fellow, reporting out a series of stories looking at clean up and recovery efforts in Fukushima, Japan after the nuclear disaster in 2011. That series made her a finalist for the Livingston Award for international reporting. She's also won both a Gracie and an Edward R Murrow award for her work.
Before she came to NPR, she was a full-time bartender in downtown Los Angeles, and also hosted and produced an education travel video series for kids called Project Explorer where she filmed in 14 countries across five continents. Lonsdorf has lived in both Japan and Jordan, and speaks Japanese and conversational Arabic. She's currently trying to learn Hebrew in the evenings. [Copyright 2025 NPR]
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The ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran ends soon. President Trump says a U.S. delegation is going to Pakistan for talks, but Iran hasn't confirmed their attendance.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the talks were meant to lay out a framework for lasting peace and to bring an end to Hezbollah's influence in the region. -
Since Trump began his second term, his administration's use of the armed forces has left a growing number in the military unsettled, according to NPR interviews with service members and advocates. -
As Operation Epic Fury enters its third week, relentless attacks by cheap Iranian drones are being fended off by multi-million-dollar U.S. interceptors. How long can the math hold up? -
A military assessment suggests a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile was responsible for at least 165 deaths at an Iranian girls' school, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. -
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and Border Patrol, is using a broad web of surveillance tools — purchased as its budget has ballooned under this administration — to monitor, apprehend and intimidate the people it seeks to deport and the U.S. citizens critical of its policies. -
As artificial intelligence becomes more advanced and common, it's hard to know what's real or not, complicating the search for Nancy Guthrie, according to law enforcement. But just how difficult is it? -
A professional airplane enthusiast has been tracking the federally chartered deportation flights out of the Minneapolis airport as DHS sends immigration detainees to other states and, eventually, other countries. -
South Minneapolis has been at the center of multiple tragedies, from the murder of George Floyd to the killing of Renee Macklin Good. Locals say the events have brought them closer and helped them organize. -
Brass Solidarity was formed after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in 2020. Now, the band is playing at protests against federal immigration enforcement, in an effort to bring joy to residents and break potential tension.
