Public Media for Central Pennsylvania
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

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.

  • Chicago is one of several cities where tens of thousands of migrants have strained resources. The city now is now telling many new arrivals that their stays in shelters will be limited to 60 days.
  • Russia kicks off three days of voting to choose a president. The turmoil in Haiti over the last two weeks reaches new levels. Chicago tells many migrants stays in shelters will be limited to 60 days.
  • Plans for a transitional government in Haiti is tested. EU lawmakers approve the bloc's AI act. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and other candidates, aim to capitalize on third-party presidential bids.
  • A judge has thrown out six counts in the Georgia election interference case involving former President Donald Trump and 14 others.
  • House to vote on a bill to force TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company. Conservatives warn about noncitizens voting myths. The first aid ship is due to arrive soon in Gaza from Cypress.
  • Haiti's prime minister says he'll resign once a transitional council is created. Georgia, key to winning the White House, holds a primary on Tuesday. The Labor Department reports on consumer prices.
  • Michigan faith leader Rev. Kenneth Flowers says President Biden should not take the Black vote for granted.
  • There will be another big shake up in the Republican Party Friday as the 168 members of the RNC are going to elect new leadership. They're expected to pick several Trump loyalists.
  • President Biden made the case for his reelection during the State of the Union address. Donald Trump poised to take control of the Republican National Committee. Haiti extends its state of emergency.
  • President Biden delivers State of the Union address Thursday night. Alabama's governor signs IVF bill giving immunity to patients and providers. Thursday marks five months since Hamas attacked Israel