
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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VP Kamala Harris accepts the Democratic nomination for president. Former President Trump visits the wall along the southern border in Cochise County, Arizona. The FDA approves new COVID-19 vaccines.
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NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Ali Krieger, former U.S. Women's National Team star, about the new collective bargaining agreement between players and the National Women's Soccer League.
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Democratic Vice President nominee Tim Walz introduced himself to the nation in a primetime address at the convention. Kamala Harris will give the convention's keynote address on Thursday night.
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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks to Rachel Tashjian of "The Washington Post" about fashion choices at the Democratic National Convention.
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Leaders of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are trying to mediate the standoff between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his political opponents as weeks of mass protests and arrests continue.
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Canada's two main railways and unionized employees are at a contract impasse. Thousands of workers have been locked out, and the roughly $1 billion worth of goods that travel each day aren't moving.
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Harris running mate Tim Walz headlined third night of DNC. Kamala Harris' address will outline her vision for the country. Canada's two main railways and unionized employees are at a contract impasse.
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President Biden's Democratic convention speech is expected to build a bridge to Vice President Harris. NPR's Leila Fadel talks to ex-White House chief of staff and Biden confidante Ron Klain.
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Biden to deliver address at DNC's opening. During Democrat's convention, ex-President Trump aims to get his own attention. Ukraine's president states the point of the military incursion into Russia.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying to get a cease-fire agreement for Gaza “across the finish line.” It has been on the table for months, and many are skeptical a deal can be reached.