
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.
-
A South Los Angeles hospital has long provided for an underserved community where private insurance is scarce and chronic illnesses can flourish. And then came a devastating coronavirus surge.
-
Members of the U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. police were overpowered by a violent mob storming the Capitol Building. There were also a few officers that appeared to sympathize with the mob.
-
In Stockton, Calif., a controversial site is filling the gap as the local newspaper grapples to survive. Is this a microcosm of what happens to a democracy when local news dies?
-
Black Lives Matter activists point to the difference in how law enforcement dealt with a mob of mostly white insurrectionists and the mostly peaceful protests against racism and police brutality.
-
The spike in COVID-19 cases is battering hospitals, and Los Angeles County is in crisis. The number will likely go up after a weekend of New Year's celebrations despite lockdown rules.
-
Senate leadership rules out sending standalone $2,000 checks to U.S. workers. Arizona grapples with second highest COVID-19 rate in the nation. And, the Census Bureau will miss year-end deadline.
-
A highly contagious COVID-19 strain makes its way to the U.S. Argentina's upper house of Congress votes to legalize abortion. And, with two days left in 2020, Senate rushes to finish end-of-year list.
-
President Trump signs into law the coronavirus relief and spending package. Nashville investigators identify the Christmas Day bomber. Plus, the EU launches its first round of COVID-19 vaccinations.
-
The largest county in the nation is hoping a hotline to report hate will give Los Angeles a better understanding of where discrimination is happening, and how it's impacting residents.
-
Despite anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies, President Trump appears to have gotten more support from American Muslims in the 2020 election than four years ago.
-
The election race in Nevada was tighter than anyone expected. Democrats tried to replicate the "Harry Reid machine" elsewhere in the U.S., but some question how well the model will continue to work.
-
The state was called for Joe Biden on Saturday. But it was a close race there.