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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NPR speaks with Ramzi Kassem, a member of the legal team for Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk, about her detention and arguments in her immigration hearing. -
NPR's Leila Fadel visits Pooja Bavishi, the author of Malai, a South Asian-inspired frozen desserts cookbook, at her D.C. shop where they sample ice cream and make their own treat. -
Morning Edition's First Amendment series looks at the cost of speaking out or staying silent in the scientific community, amid pressure from colleagues or officials in Washington. -
In the new Apple TV+ show "Your Friends & Neighbors," Jon Hamm plays a hedge fund manager who loses his job, then burglarizes his wealthy friends to make up for lost income.
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Is academic freedom fading on U.S. campuses? A Republican student group credits Trump's election with expanding their ability to speak out, while others discuss how his policies are reshaping campus life and academic fields. -
Facing pressure from world markets, President Trump stepped back from his plans to slap steep tariffs on a broad range of countries — except for China.
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An Idaho teacher was told by her principal to take down an "Everyone is welcome here" poster in her classroom. It's a symptom of President Trump's crackdown on discussions of inclusivity in schools. -
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., says a bill that would require Congressional approval for tariffs has bipartisan support because they are an "economic nightmare." -
The Trump administration has targeted students — both those with visas and those with permanent legal status — who protested the war in Gaza. Free speech advocates warn that these are test cases. -
American Giant sources and makes most of its products in the U.S. Its CEO says tariffs on China were overdue, but he worries the wide range will cause confusion about the global textile supply chain.
