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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U.S. Rep. Greg Casar's job is threatened by Republicans' new redistricting plan. He says the map was drawn by Trump's administration and threatens "millions of Texans voting rights." -
As ceasefire talks stall Israel's government weighs a full occupation of Gaza, Texas Republicans threaten to arrest Democratic lawmakers unless they return to the State House, why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose.
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From climate data, to budget forecasts, to intelligence reports, President Trump has challenged sources of data within his administration. NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Peter Baker of the New York Times.
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President Trump has positioned nuclear submarines close to Russia. What pressure, if any, is this bringing on Russian President Vladimir Putin? NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Sergey Radchenko, a professor at Johns Hopkins University.
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Hundreds of former Israeli military officials are urging President Trump to help end to the war in Gaza. NPR's Leila Fadel speaks to retired Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin who supports ending the war.
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Tesla's board has approved another huge compensation package for Elon Musk – but only if he sticks around to lead the company for at least two more years.
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New and higher tariffs are set to take effect this week, amid signs the president's economic policies are resulting in higher prices and slower economic growth.
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Will the president's economic policies slow down the economy?, businesses along the U.S.-Mexico border feel the uncertainty of tariffs negotiations, the U.S. envoy to the Middle East met with Israeli hostages' families over the weekend.
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President Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, met over the weekend with hostages' families in Israel, a week after ceasefire talks fell apart. This as many continue to express outrage over hunger in Gaza.
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This week, HEAL Palestine, a non-profit organization, will carry out the largest known evacuation of wounded children from Gaza to the United States. Co-founder Zeena Salman shares some of the children's stories.
