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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The money that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, claims to be saving comes at a huge cost to the workers they're firing. NPR sat down with one federal employee fired on Presidents Day.
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Measles cases are spiking in West Texas, how China is responding as the U.S. ends funding for pro-democracy groups, and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro faces charges over alleged coup plot.
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The Department of Education told schools to stop DEI efforts or risk losing federal dollars. The president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation warns it won't be quick and easy. -
President Trump has called for sweeping efforts to detain and deport migrants in the U.S. without legal status. Arrests are up, but the crackdown is also running into challenges.
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When the first spring training games begin this week, something new will be in use: an automated ball-strike umpiring system. After years of trials in the minor leagues, it gets a major league test.
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U.S. and Russia to hold talks on ending war in Ukraine, health agencies lose staff in key areas as Trump firings set in, aides to NYC Mayor Adams resign after DOJ moves to dismiss corruption charges.
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NPR's Leila Fadel meets a mother preparing for the possibility of deportation by making sure someone will be able to look after her children.
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U.S. and Russian officials are scheduled to meet in Saudi Arabia for talks on negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine.
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Four of New York City Mayor Eric Adams' top aides, including the city's first deputy mayor, announced they're resigning days after the Justice Department moved to drop corruption charges against him.
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Foreign relations expert Richard Haass says the United States' advantage over China and Russia is that it has an enormous pool of allies willing to collaborate. President Trump's approach could change that.
