Beyond the Headlines

From our friends on the 85% podcast, we consider the changes unfolding in Saudi Arabia from a regional perspective. In conversation with emerge85 Lab editor-in-chief Joseph Dana, emerge85 co-director Mishaal Al Gergawi (@algergawi) and Mina Al-Oraibi (@AlOraibi), editor of the UAE's leading English-language newspaper The National, discuss the challenges facing Saudi Arabia, what western media are...

In Iran, this week a small demonstration that started in Mashhad turned into nationwide protests, with some calling for regime change. Iran has a long history of coups, protests and demonstrations. Of all the countries in the Middle East, historically, none other than Iran has been more defined by the spark within a person or group that drives them to take to the streets and fight for change. Host...

The Middle East in 2017 could look like relatively tame year in a region that has become so characteristic of extreme often dramatic changes.  The Arab world has become a stage for an ever shifting political reality, with coups, civil wars and millions of people displaced from conflict in the last ten years. Despite all of this, the Arabian Gulf typically remains quite peaceful as the leaders have...

Jerusalem serves as one of the holiest sites in the world, and as the scene of some of the most dramatic political events. Donald Trump last week recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which sent waves of protest around the world. We spoke to Joseph Dana, a writer for the National, to explain what it means on the ground. The move is likely to create unrest, but we look to understand how it...

As dozens of Arabic-speaking nations celebrate their language this week, The National's Mina Aldroubi, Naser Alwasmi and Saeed Saeed discuss whether the language is being lost, the importance of preservation and education among Arab youths, and more on this special edition of Beyond the Headlines.

The United States is now the only country in the world that recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Since president Donald Trump announced the move in a speech last week, protests have continued to rumble across the West Bank and Gaza and Washington has been condemned by both regional leaders and politicians across the world. But although demonstrations by Palestinians against the decision...

This week's GCC summit may have closed a day early but there were some signs that progress had been made on the row between members states the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and Qatar. Though there was by no means a real resolution to the six-month-long dispute reached, the fact that the annual gathering took place at all was seen as a positive step. And, as our reporter Naser Al Wasmi explains fr...

Peace talks sometimes fail before they even begin. A complete political breakdown has been the case with Syria the last 7 times Bashar Al Assad's government and the opposition have gathered to talk. However, with Russia, regional powerhouses and others getting involved, the peace talks in Geneva taking place this week might have a chance of ending this brutal war. Mina Al Droubi comes to us with t...

Talks in Sochi, Riyadh and in Geneva could finally spell an end to the Syrian civil war, where millions have been displaced and hundreds of thousands killed. The country has been spinning out of control Syrians demanded the resignation of their heavy-handed ruler, Bashar Al Assad, during the Arab Spring in 2011. Mina Al Droubi, a reporter on the foreign desk, tells us how the meetings could be ano...

Less than two years into the Paris Agreement, where 196 countries agreed to curb climate change to less than two degrees this century, the goal is beginning to slip out of reach. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the accord has been a shock to the rest of the world as it comes to grips with how to fill the gap. We record live from COP 23 in Bonn, Germany where th...

In this episode, we look back at a night that will have deep implications for the future of Saudi Arabia. The foreign press dubbed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's anti-corruption drive as "The night of the long knives" but many Saudis may look at his manoeuvring as a long awaited move to root out corruption. This will not only come to define the news of this week, but the news of the youn...

Cholera, as it looked to threaten and plunge Yemen into the worst pandemic since Ebola, is on the decline. The drop coincides with the end of the rainy season but could be back for another bout if medical facilities in the Middle East’s poorest country fail to improve. As a result, Doctor’s Without Borders has decided to scale down its cholera treatment centres, and Dr Caroline Seguin, the Yemen c...

One of the most heinous humanitarian disasters is taking place today, and the world has never been so slow to react. The Rohingya refugee crisis has seen more than 600,000 members of the Muslim minority flee what has been referred to as “hell on earth” by the UNHCR. We have Fiona MacGregor reporting on the topic and Queen Rania of Jordan’s visit to Bangladeshi camps. Oman, one of the oldest countr...

The most deadly attack in Somalia’s war-torn history has rocked the country and claimed hundreds of lives. We look to find out why the two bombs have gone unclaimed by any terrorist organization. We talk to Colin Freeman whose on-the-ground reporting has led him to some interesting conclusions. Iraqi troops have been mobilized again, but this time it is to reclaim Kirkuk, the oil-rich Iraqi state...

The Philippines are experiencing an ISIL-influenced insurgency from 8,000 KM away. We analyse what might happen if hard-line President Rodrigo Duterte decides to crack down on the Islamist surge on several of the country’s islands. We talk to Florian Neuhof who has reported from the scene of an intense battle between the two sides. Benjamin Netanyahu has been one of the most pro-Zionist leaders at...

The right to self-determination is not only the core upon which we gauge human rights but it’s considered one of the fundamental freedoms the United Nations outlines as necessary to all mankind. So why is that when people look to exercise that freedom, it’s almost universally met with resistance? We spoke to Mina Al Droubi, reporter at The National, about what is happening in Iraqi #Kurdistan and...

Another session of the United Nations General Assembly has come and gone. Fiery speeches, discussions of nuclear war and celebrity appearances made the headlines. But beyond the headlines, there were developments that are poised to impact lives all over the world, including millions in the Middle East. In this podcast, Editor in Chief Mina Al-Oraibi, London Bureau Chief Damien McElroy and Washingt...

President Trump has addressed world leaders at the United Nations headquarters in New York City for the first time since taking office, and he didn’t mince words. He took direct aim at the regimes in Pyongyang and Tehran, while highlighting key policy approaches including military engagements 'without arbitrary timetables' and promoting the 'sovereignty' of nations. In this podcast, Editor in Chie...

The United Nations general assembly kicks off in earnest next week. We analyse what might happen in some of the highlights expected from the meeting, including American President Donald Trump’s first real address to the international community and UN Secretary General António Guterres presiding over his first General Assembly debate since assuming his new role. Mina Al Oraibi, Editor in Chief of T...

Despite two potential wars on the horizon, people are still finding it in them to get angry at cartoons. This week, nuclear war might break out between the US and North Korea in an unpredictable game of attrition and reporter Rob Crilly explains to us how tensions are rising between the two. With nuclear weapons involved a war between the two would involve the entire region, if not the entire worl...

This week, more than 2 million people will go to Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, Islam’s holiest event on the calendar. What draws so many to go through what is not an easy journey, one that is often marred in media coverage that seldom highlights the significance the pilgrimage has with every practicing Muslim. We speak to Islamic scholar who works for Awqaf in the UAE, Yusuf Jha, who expl...

This week, Yemen might be approaching the first step towards a peace agreement in the three-year war. We use poetry to understand what that means. Oxford University academic Elisabeth Kendall gives us an idea of how Yemen could be understood through tribal lines. Host Naser Alwasmi speaks to Mina Al Droubi to get an understanding of how ISIL exists in Iraq and how the battle against the caliphate...

This week, half a million kilograms of rocket fuel launch an Emirati high school student’s experiment into space, as part of the Genes in Space competition. The show features a clip from Alia Al Mansoori during the launch of the shuttle from the Kennedy Space Centre. Also, Joyce Karam tells host, Naser Al Wasmi, how the alt-right and neo-nazis in the United States have found a champion in Syrian d...

For International Youth Day, Editor in chief Mina Al Oraibi is joined by a few of The National's resident youngsters -- Mina Al Droubi, Juman Jarallah and Naser Alwasmi -- to discuss what it means to be young and Arab in the UAE. What are the unique challenges? How can the region do more to create opportunity and harnessing potential. They also discuss their hopes for the future and what Internati...

Episode 6: The Torch tower in Dubai erupted in flames this week, the second time one of the world's tallest residential buildings has done so in little over a year. The National's Ramola Talwar tells Naser Al Wasmi how new UAE building standards might help avoid fires like the one that happened in one of the world’s largest residential buildings last week. On Qatar, Mishaal Al Gergawi, the founder...