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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Israel launches airstrike targeting Hamas in Qatar, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker criticizes Trump's surge of immigration agents in Chicago, administration released plan to improve children's health.
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Salome Zourabichvili says October 2024's parliamentary contest that saw a pro-Russia party win most of the seats was rigged by Moscow. She says she is the legitimate leader of the people of Georgia. -
NPR talks with Majed Al Ansari, adviser to Qatar's prime minister and official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about Israeli strikes on Qatar targeting Hamas officials. -
NPR speaks with Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, about the Trump administration's strategy report on tackling the rise in childhood chronic disease.
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NPR speaks with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., about his bipartisan bill proposing additional sanctions on Russia and new penalties for its trading partners, including China. -
President Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose sanctions against Russia if it doesn't move toward a ceasefire or ending the war with Ukraine. But Russia is escalating its attacks.
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SCOTUS clears way for sweeping immigration operations to resume in L.A., Trump continues to threaten unmoved Russia with sanctions, House committee releases some documents from Epstein's estate.
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In a victory for President Trump, the Supreme Court cleared the way for sweeping immigration operations to resume in Los Angeles.
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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Republican strategist Rina Shah about the release of documents from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, including a birthday book with a lewd letter allegedly signed by Trump.
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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with University of Chicago law professor Craig Futterman about President Trump's plans to send National Guard troops to the Windy City.
