Beyond the Headlines

A row has been brewing for months in the southern Indian state of Karnataka after dozens of Muslim students were barred by authorities from entering colleges because they were wearing the hijab.  Widespread protests and counter protests by students attending local colleges and pre-universities have erupted across the southern coastal state, raising tensions in the communally sensitive region. Fema...

More than a million people have now fled Ukraine. As Russia targets cities across the country, ordinary people have been faced with the unthinkable choice of staying put and facing bombardment - or leaving their homes, their communities, their lives. It is already the biggest European refugee crisis since the 1990s Balkan wars.  The UN fears there could be 4 million people displaced in the coming...

On the morning of February 24, Katya Niporka was woken up by the sound of Russian artillery shaking Kyiv. Soon after, the rest of the world was waking up to the news that Russian President Vladimir Putin had declared war on Ukraine and that an invasion was underway. For weeks Ukrainians had been hoping for the best and planning for the worst as hundreds of thousands of troops massed on the border....

Last month, archaeologists working in Oman’s north found what they believed to be a 4,000 year old board game. The discovery sparked interest worldwide, giving us a peek into the leisure time of the Gulf’s ancient people. Unlike in other areas of the world, where archaeological marvels focus on kings, queens and grand temples, much of the heritage work going on in the Sultanate right now focuses o...

Last week, a team of scientists at the JET laboratory in England announced a major step towards making what some hope will be the energy source of the future.   Nuclear fusion offers the hope of producing near-limitless supplies of safe, clean energy to power our homes, workplaces and cities.   It is also one of the greatest engineering and scientific conundrums that humankind has ever grappled wi...

When you think of the Middle East, you might imagine hot weather, date palms, camels, coffee and hummous - but would the Winter Olympics ever cross your mind? Twelve competitors from five countries in the Mena region are taking part in the winter games in Beijing. And they have some interesting stories to tell about how they came to be there. On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host Leila Gharago...

The idea of a virtual world existing in parallel to the real one was once the stuff of science fiction. But today, millions of people are already spending hours a day in virtual spaces and spending billions of dollars on things that simply don’t exist in a physical environment. When Facebook changed its name to Meta last year and rebranded itself as a “metaverse company”, what was once a controver...

The UAE is a country of cars and buses. The only way to travel between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the two major cities, is by road - a journey of at least 70 minutes. But soon, that’s going to change. Right now, the UAE’s railways only transport freight… but Etihad Rail is building a passenger service that will eventually connect all seven emirates. With trains racing at up to 200 kilometres per hour, t...

Filipinos will go to the polls in May to elect a new president, marking the end of Rodrigo Duterte’s years in power. Presidential hopefuls will be using what Filipinos call political campaign jingles to attract voters, a tradition that has been going since 1953.  But did this ritual begin because of the secret pop aspirations of a CIA officer? The National has seen remarkable evidence that support...

In Israel in January 2021, then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the people that if they turned out at vaccine centres then Israel would be the first country to see an end to the pandemic, leading the world and acting as a global model for handling Covid.  But that’s not quite how it’s worked out.  While the country had begun to open up and life had started to return to normal, Israel, l...

Talks in Vienna between Iran and the US have resumed in the hope of reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. It was then US President Donald Trump who, in 2018, decided to ignore foreign policy experts, and his own advisers, and pulled the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. By many accounts Trump’s decision was underpinned by a belief that he could get better terms. But he did not get the ou...

This week, as we wrap up 2021, we’re looking at two conflicts that have defined not only the past year, but the past few decades. We’re talking about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the collapse of the government and the country’s future under the resurgent Taliban. Also, we talk about May’s war in Gaza, the legacy of 11 days of rockets and air strikes, and whether there is any hope for resolv...

Lockdowns may have given way to Covid vaccine drives in 2021 but as the year ends, the spread of Omicron has pushed millions back into some form of social restriction. From the fall of Afghanistan to the electoral defeat of Israel’s longest serving prime minister; from the billionaires’ space race to renewed global action on tackling climate change, 2021 has been a year of change, a year of firsts...

A new variant of coronavirus is spreading across the globe.  Named Omicron, after the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, it has sparked travel bans around the world. In South Africa, where the variant was first identified, it has quickly become the dominant strain. And on Monday, UK prime minister Boris Johnson announced what is believed to be the first death caused by Omicron.  On this week's Bey...

President Emmanuel Macron of France has been back in the Middle East. This time he was in Saudi Arabia, his first visit to the kingdom since 2017, before heading to the UAE. The French leader has made something of a name for himself in the region in recent years. He staked significant political capital on cajoling Lebanon’s leaders to pass reforms to solve their dire economic crisis. He hosted a p...

The UAE is 50 years old. Half a century of growth and change has taken place to bring a small desert country to the forefront of global recognition. Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world; in February, the UAE successfully sent an orbiter to Mars; and in November the UAE announced it would be the first country in the Middle East to test self driving cars. Not only is the countr...

There's been an ongoing debate over whether children should be vaccinated against Covid-19. Many countries have already begun inoculating those aged 12 and over.  Some experts say that vaccinating the young is necessary for a return to normal life and for kids to get back to school. While there are parents who are happy about this, there are others who are cautious, particularly when it comes to v...

As winter approaches, thousands of refugees are stranded at the Belarus-Poland border. From young children to the elderly, all wrapped up as best they can be to cope with the deteriorating conditions as they wait for sanctuary in the European Union before the weather worsens. Some are chopping down trees in the forest to make fires for heat. At least 10 have already died in these freezing conditio...

Across the Middle East countries are struggling with the impact of climate change. Temperatures are higher and water more scarce. As populations grow, global warming and bad management have given rise to tensions between nations for what may one day become the world's most precious resource.  On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host Leila Gharagozlou looks at how water scarcity is threatening not...

On October 25, soldiers in Sudan arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, announced the dissolution of the government and declared a state of emergency. As the news got out, protesters flooded Khartoum and other cities, demanding his release and a return to the power-sharing agreement between a civilian political alliance, led by Hamdok, and the military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Then...

Saudi Arabia, the word’s largest oil exporter, has announced it is going net zero on carbon emissions by 2060. A day later Bahrain followed suit and the UAE has already committed to doing so by 2050 Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also pledged $186 billion dollars towards cutting carbon emissions. Over 100 countries have so far made the promise that experts say is vital for all countries if human...

On October 14, another protest began on the streets of Beirut. An angry crowd marched with purpose, blocking traffic and yelling slogans. It is a city where such demonstrations have become an almost daily occurrence – but this one would be different. All of a sudden, shots rang out. Chaos ensued. And in the violent exchanges, seven people were killed and dozens more injured.  Unlike the popular pr...

Iraqis went to the polls on October 10, 2021. Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi had promised an early election when he came to power in last May amid mass protests, which began in 2019. People had taken to the streets against government corruption, failing public services and unemployment. But as the ballots were counted it appeared that only about a third of the Iraqi population turned up to vote...

World Fairs, or Expos as they are now more commonly known, have been showcasing the future of technology since the first was held in London in 1851. Predictions of flying cars, a colony on the moon and personal jetpacks are yet to come true but there have also been visions of the future that have guided humanity to building a path forward. As Dubai hosts Expo 2020, Future Editor Kelsey Warner host...

Even before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the UN’s refugee agency estimated that 2.6 million people had already fled the country. The diaspora has grown over decades of military campaigns and fighting. In the latest exodus are men, women and children mourning the loss of their homes, their communities and two decades of freedom.  In this week's Beyond the Headlines, host Sulaiman Hakemy...