
Leila Fadel
Leila Fadel is a national correspondent for NPR based in Los Angeles, covering issues of culture, diversity, and race.
Most recently, she was NPR's international correspondent based in Cairo and covered the wave of revolts in the Middle East and their aftermaths in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and beyond. Her stories brought us to the heart of a state-ordered massacre of pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters in Cairo in 2013 when police shot into crowds of people to clear them and killed between 1,000 and 2,000 people. She told us the tales of a coup in Egypt and what it is like for a country to go through a military overthrow of an elected government. She covered the fall of Mosul to ISIS in 2014 and documented the harrowing tales of the Yazidi women who were kidnapped and enslaved by the group. Her coverage also included stories of human smugglers in Egypt and the Syrian families desperate and willing to pay to risk their lives and cross a turbulent ocean for Europe.
She was awarded the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club for her coverage of the 2013 coup in Egypt and the toll it took on the country and Egyptian families. In 2017 she earned a Gracie award for the story of a single mother in Tunisia whose two eldest daughters were brainwashed and joined ISIS. The mother was fighting to make sure it didn't happen to her younger girls.
Before joining NPR, she covered the Middle East for The Washington Post as the Cairo Bureau Chief. Prior to her position as Cairo Bureau Chief for the Post, she covered the Iraq war for nearly five years with Knight Ridder, McClatchy Newspapers, and later the Washington Post. Her foreign coverage of the devastating human toll of the Iraq war earned her the George. R. Polk award in 2007. In 2016 she was the Council on Foreign Relations Edward R. Murrow fellow.
Leila Fadel is a Lebanese-American journalist who speaks conversational Arabic and was raised in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump is facing a multitude of legal challenges. What's the status of those investigations?
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump is facing a multitude of legal challenges. What's the status of those investigations?
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Waco is near the site of the 1993 Branch Dividian standoff. Trump's campaign dismissed the connection with extremists, saying the site was chosen because it's close to Texas population centers.
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Depeche Mode return with its first album since the death of founding member Andy Fletcher. It focuses a lot, unsurprisingly, on the subject of life.
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President Biden heads to Canada for talks dominated by illegal immigration and Haiti. TikTok's CEO appears before lawmakers. Teams in the men's NCAA basketball tournament are down to the Sweet 16.
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Pakistan's parliament will meet Wednesday to discuss the tense political situation. Local media suggest members will consider outlawing the party headed by former prime minister Imran Khan.
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President Biden brands banking aid as a lifeline for jobs and small businesses, San Joaquin Valley residents assess storm damage and Pakistan's government vows harsh steps against rival Imran Khan.
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China's president Xi Jinping and Russia's president Vladimir Putin begin their second day of a state visit in Moscow. Center stage is what this may — or may not mean — for the war in Ukraine.
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China's president Xi Jinping and Russia's president Vladimir Putin begin their second day of a state visit in Moscow. Center stage is what this may — or may not mean — for the war in Ukraine.
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GOP lawmakers largely back ex-President Trump ahead of his possible arrest. Staff of the Los Angeles Unified School District plan a walkout. Silicon Valley Bank casts a shadow over the Fed meeting.