Beyond the Headlines

This week, Jordan and Syria opened their border for the first time in three years. The move promises to restore the possibility for movement of both goods and people between the two countries. Jordan plays host to a large number of Syrian refugees and migrants, many of whom fled the carnage when the war broke out 7 years ago. Others have worked for decades between the two borders, trading produce,...

The world’s leading climate change scientists warned governments to act on climate change today or face a catastrophic future. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is seen as the final warning. It says that if governments fail to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees by 2050, the world will witness significantly more violent drought, floods and extreme heat. And the Middle Ea...

Hundreds of men, women and children are being held in detention centres in Libya, just a stone’s throw away from clashes between rival militias, as journalist Sally Hayden has written for The National . Campbell MacDiarmid spoke with Hayden, who has direct contact with some of the men and women trapped in these jails, in this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines.  Also this week, we look at the...

US President Donald Trump's second United Nations General Assembly was, to say the least, uneven. It started off when he showed up late to his speech at the general debate, then 20 minutes late to the UNSC briefing that he chaired. He waffled on his stance toward the Palestinian-Israeli peace plan in the span of a day. He described his correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un as "beauti...

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, announced the Tomorrow 2021 plan this week. It includes 50 initiatives to spur growth in areas such investment, jobs creation and improving the overall quality of life in the emirate.   The announcement was the culmination of a summer full of reforms for the UAE. Mina Aldroubi and Rory Reynolds,...

Iraq needs two billion dollars to revive its cultural heritage and renovate areas destroyed by ISIS. But the country says it does not have the capacity to rebuild without support from the international community. How are the UAE and other foreign allies helping? Mina Al Droubi joins us from the Unesco conference in Paris to tell us.  And in war-torn Afghanistan, child violence is on the rise more...

The first day of Iraq's new parliament was a chaotic one. Where does the new government go from here? Also, the US administration is proposing a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but it's one that has been out of favour for a long time. Why has the US-Palestine relationship become so fraught? We discuss both Iraq's new parliament and the US-Palestine situation with The National's foreign...

The Caspian Sea is the biggest enclosed body of water on earth, but depending who you ask, it’s either the largest lake in the world or a small inland sea. Either way, it has been a source of conflict among the five countries it borders — Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan — for the last 20 years. A recent gathering of the five countries might have resolved some of the legal mat...

This week Beyond the Headlines hosts two interviews from two different corners of the Muslim world — celebration at Hajj, and an update on the ongoing Rohingya crisis.  In Makkah, where over two million Muslims are fulfilling their Islamic duties for Hajj, The National's Naser Al Wasmi gives a firsthand account from Saudi Arabia. How are pilgrims adjusting to the high temperatures, and what tips c...

Maritime oil trade from the Arabian Peninsula relies exclusively on two strategic chokepoints: The Strait of Hormuz, to the UAE’s north, and Bab Al Mandeb to the south. Despite efforts to diversify the GCC countries’ economy, oil trade remains a lifeline. More than a third of the world’s petroleum trade by sea passes through the Strait of Hormuz. At its most narrow, The Strait of Hormuz is just 54...

The Bab-el-Mandeb strait is just 18 miles wide, but a large slice of global trade passes through its vital waters every day. To its north is a war zone in Yemen, and to its south sits Djibouti, a tiny but strategically crucial East African nation. In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, we dissect the importance of Bab Al Mandeb, both economically and geopolitcally. Host Charlie Mitchell talks wi...

Today we’re bringing you an interview with Jamie Angus, director of the BBC World Service Group. He spoke to The National’s Nick Webster in our Abu Dhabi studio about the BBC’s efforts to curb the proliferation of fake news. The Middle East is regarded as prime territory to cause further division and increase tension for online fraudsters. So what can established news organisations do to help cons...

The newly elected prime minister in Pakistan is not a new name in the country. Imran Khan has led he country to cricket glory and been a longtime politician and philanthropist, and last week won a contentious election to become the country's new prime minister. Now, as Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party attempts to build a coalition, we ask how this man-of-the-people will achieve his many...

It was looking like Iraq was turning the corner last year, after defeating ISIS and garnering more confidence from its Arab neighbors. But recent protests that have left more than 800 wounded and 11 dead are dampening the optimism. These latest demonstrations started over three weeks ago with residents of Basra upset over high unemployment, and a lack of electricity or fresh water.  In this episod...

In a week-long series of events, the UAE will host Chinese President Xi Jinping for his first trip to the country. The tour will look to further develop bilateral relations between the two countries. China is already the UAE's top trade partner, and now both countries are looking further strengthen their bond through diplomacy and a sharing of cultures. We look at the Chinese-UAE relationship in t...

In Fallujah, where four years ago ISIS first gained significant ground in Iraq, life tentatively goes on. But though the territorial rule of ISIS has for now been erased in Iraq, the group still shows signs of life. And Baghdad seems to be doing little to address this concern. In this week's Beyond the Headlines, we look at how safe a country in political flux actually is from a potential ISIS res...

The Arab Coalition has paused its offensive in Hodeidah, as announced on Sunday by UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash. This is in the hopes of giving UN special envoy Martin Griffiths enough time to implement his peace plan. With the liberation of Hodeidah from Houthi control imminent, the Coalition now looks to negotiate Houthi withdrawal from rebel-held Sanaa. The Coaliti...

With a decisive — however manufactured — election result, incumbent Turkish president Recep Tayipp Erdoğan now moves forward with a mandate to form a new government in Turkey. Though there are many questions from the opposition and humanitarian groups about the legitimacy of the democratic process, Erdogan will lead Turkey for at least another five years. How will this government take shape, with...

Afghanistan has become a byword for conflict. But the past weeks saw extraordinary scenes of Taliban fighters and their usual foe  —government security forces — embracing in the streets in a historic, if short, ceasefire. Could it herald something bigger, such as an end to the war? Or will ISIS make that impossible? This week we spoke to Ruchi Kumar, The National's correspondent in Kabul, and aske...

Last week, The National spoke to Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. We bring you the second part of that interview in this edition of Beyond the Headlines. Listen to part 1 for his take on the Qatar crisis. Dr Gargash discusses the wider Arab world and the ever-shifting dynamics of the region, from the war in Yemen, Iran’s influence in the region, and Donald Trump's r...

This week, The National spoke to Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. He talked about how the Arab world has changed significantly a year since the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt cut all diplomatic and travel links with Qatar. The worst diplomatic crisis to ever hit the GCC has changed regional dynamics in the region.  The four nations insist that to normalize rel...

Yemen's military is within striking distance of one of their biggest victories since civil war began in 2015. The forces, backed by the Arab coalition, was last reported to be within 10km of Yemen’s third largest city, Hodeidah. We analyse what this could mean for the future of the four-year civil war in Yemen with Fatima Alasrar, a senior analyst at Washington-based Arabia Foundation.  The city o...

Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr wants a government that is inclusive of all Iraqis. His coalition won the largest number of seats in Iraq’s latest parliamentary elections. But Mr Al Sadr didn’t win enough to form a majority. This prompts weeks, if not months, of negotiations with different factions to form a government. His victory comes as a surprise to many. Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi, whose blo...

As Israeli and American officials celebrated the controversial move of the United States' embassy to Jerusalem, Israeli soldiers were murdering peaceful Palestinian protestors. This week, host Naser Al Wasmi looks at the latest atrocities carried about by a newly empowered Israel against their Palestinian neighbours. Jack Moore and Willy Lowry, who have each spent time in Gaza and the West Bank, g...

For the first time since 2009, Lebanon voted to elect 128 members to parliament. Saad Hariri, the current Prime Minister of Lebanon and his Sunni-dominated party fared better than expected. But he lost seats to Hezbollah, the Shiite-movement that now has more seats and pull in the parliament than ever before. As in almost any election in the Arab World, this one was marred in controversy. Voter tu...