ISIS has dominated headlines for nearly a decade. Even as the groups power has waned the fear it instils has remained. In 2019 ISIS saw its last pocket of territory wiped from the map, ripped from its dying hands by Kurdish forces in Eastern Syria. In October, US special forces managed to chase down the group’s elusive leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi. He killed himself by detonating a suicide vest. US president Donald Trump may have declared ISIS defeat. But are they are really? The National sent Jo...
Dec 10, 2019•16 min
In the last century, the global population has exploded. Today, there are 7.7 billion people on the planet and that number is rising at the pace of another billion every 12 to 15 years. Scientists say this is simply unsustainable. In this week’s Beyond the Headlines, we’re asking, how many children is too many when it comes to climate change? We hear from Emma Lim, 18-year-old activist and creator of the No Future No Children pledge has vowed, along with over 5000 others, not to have children un...
Dec 05, 2019•24 min
Every year on December 2nd, millions across the seven emirates mark the day the UAE became a country. This week, we are doing something a bit different. Regular listeners will know that on Beyond the Headlines, we try to break down some of the most pressing issues from across the region and beyond. In the last few months, we’ve discussed protests in Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon and Hong Kong. We’ve tackled environmental issues from India’s choking smog to whether carbon capturing rocks in Oman ...
Nov 28, 2019•32 min
The true extent of Iranian infiltration of Iraq has been revealed. 700 pages from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security were released to western outlets, The New York Times and The Intercept. They show interference at the highest level in Iraq’s political, military, and judicial system. Host Taylor Heyman, foreign editor from The National talks to Dr Zana Gulmohamad, from the University of Sheffield and Dr Michael Knights from The Washington Institute. We also talk to Iraqi member of parl...
Nov 21, 2019•15 min
For the past two weeks, air pollution in the Indian capital of Delhi has been off the scale. A toxic mix of dust, soot from farmers burning paddy field stubble, car fumes and construction all combined into a murky grey film over the city. The pollution was so bad visibility was reduced and the government moved to close schools and advise people to stay in doors. This week, host James Haines Young talks to Dr Vikas Maurya (Specialist Pulmonology at Fortis Hospital in Delhi) and Professor Guojun (...
Nov 14, 2019•17 min
On October 9 after months of warning, Turkey launched an offensive across their southeast border into Syria. The move came after US President Donald Trump pulled his forces back from the border, effectively green lighting the operation. The move abandoned America’s Kurdish and northern Syrian allies who had led much of the fighting in the long campaign against ISIS in Syria. This week host James Haines-Young looks at the situation for the newly displaced refugees fleeing a Turkish offensive at h...
Nov 07, 2019•29 min
The Iraqi city of Mosul lays in ruins. A three year campaign by the Iraqi army and international forces managed to push ISIS out of the country they tried to take over in 2014. But it came at a huge cost. Thousands were killed, by some estimates 40 per cent of Iraqi’s famed Golden Division counter terrorism officers died as they fought street to street, house to house in Mosul. There is an estimated 8 million tonnes of rubble in Mosul, the remnants of a fierce fight with heavy weapons. In the fi...
Oct 31, 2019•33 min
A Beyond the Headlines extra. The Lebanese people have joined together with a single message, to stand against the government that they see as corrupt, inept and self serving. The clashes gave way by day three to a more jubilant atmosphere. Multiple videos of people dancing together, singing and of large community clean ups occurring in the mornings after the protests have given the rallies a festive feel. On this episode, Saeed Saeed is speaking to some of Lebanon’s biggest indie artists about ...
Oct 25, 2019•9 min
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Lebanon from the north to the south. The demonstrations have gone viral across social media platforms with videos of raves through the evenings and clean-up efforts the morning after. Host James Haines-Young takes a look at what sparked the protests, how the government is reacting and what options are available to Lebanon as they continue.
Oct 23, 2019•24 min
On October 1st, young Iraqis took to the streets in Iraq’s southern provinces to demand basic services like clean water and electricity, job creation and an end to widespread corruption. The government response to the protests was swift and brutal, killing over 100 people and leaving a further 6,000 wounded. Demonstrators said they were set upon by armed forces and attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire. Anger at the violence meted out against demonstrators only served to inflam...
Oct 17, 2019•14 min
On the afternoon of October 6, US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the more than 8 year Syrian civil war. That one phone call upended nearly five years of US policy in Syria. Shortly afterwards, the White House released a statement announcing their withdrawal from the country and Erdogan's plans to launch an offensive across the Northern border. Host James Haines-Young looks at why Donald Trump stood aside for a Turkish invasion of Syria and why does An...
Oct 09, 2019•22 min
At 2.59pm UAE time on Thursday the 3rd of October 2019 Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati in space touched down on Earth after spending 8 days at the international space station. For the last eight days Al Mansouri was speeding around the earth at 7.66km/hour completing approximately 16 orbits a day. During his time there in zero gravity, Hazza conducted experiments relating to the perception of time in microgravity and the effects of space on the body’s cardiovascular system. But now he’s bac...
Oct 03, 2019•15 min
On the 27th of September 2019, Hazza Al Mansouri became the first Emirati to go to space. He did it from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, from the same spot that Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, started his journey over 58 years ago. Back then, in the early years of the space race, Cold War rivals The Soviet Union and the United States were in a technological battle to achieve spaceflight capability, in hopes to secure their scientific and symbolic superiority. Yuri Gagarin went into space ten years b...
Sep 26, 2019•16 min
The United Nations General Assembly is the pinnacle of global diplomacy. For one week every year more than 190 world leaders gather in New York City. Some of the big news stories from the UN General Assembly so far have been the impassioned speech given by 16 year old Greta Thunberg and the much more listless speech from Donald Trump. Trump addressed his anti-globalist agenda and the US relationship with Iran. Multimedia producer and host, Willy Lowry, is in the big apple reporting on events as ...
Sep 25, 2019•15 min
What does Israel’s second election in 2019 mean for Netanyahu, the Jewish population and the Arabs and Palestinians? Deputy foreign editor, Jack Moore, takes a look at the results of the vote and speaks to people in the region about the ramifications for the state and those living inside it. Can Israel’s titan, Benjamin Netanyahu, hold on to power and what does Benny Gantz offer as an alternative? With Natanyahu facing corruption charges is it possible he is looking for immunity more than power?...
Sep 19, 2019•24 min
US National Security Advisor John Bolton has been fired. Or perhaps he resigned. On Twitter Donald Trump says he fired him whilst Bolton claims he quit. The hawkish security advisor has been one of Iran’s most vocal critics so what does his departure mean for the Middle East? Host James Haines-Young speaks to Douglas Silliman, former US Ambassador to Iraq, and Joyce Karan, The National’s Washington correspondent, about what Bolton’s role was in the Trump administration and what his departure mig...
Sep 12, 2019•22 min
In the first 26 days of August alone, 1,114 square kilometres of Brazil's Amazon rainforest, an area equivalent to the size of Hong Kong was on fire. Tens of thousands of fires, far more than last year, have broken out and nbunrned off hundred of kilometres of one of the world's most diverse and unique habitats. But this isn't a natural distaster. James Haines-Young speaks to prominent climate scientist, Carlos Nobre, and Natalie Unterstell, Director of policy at Talanoa solutions in Brazil abou...
Sep 05, 2019•18 min
This week, we ask if Israel is stepping up its campaign against Iran and will it spark a war with Hezbollah. We talk to Sunniva Rose, the National's Beirut correspondent and Joseph Haboush, the national editor of The Daily Star, Lebanon's only english language newspaper. The National's deputy foreign editor, Jack Moore, joins James to talk about why this is all happening and how it's being seen from Beirut and Tel Aviv.
Aug 30, 2019•24 min
On this week's episode, we catch up with The National’s Hamza Hendawi to talk about the historic move to democracy in Sudan and what he sees as the challenges ahead. We also speak to Sara Abduljaleel, a spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, one of the leading umbrella groups that organised the protests. Catch up on our episode when Hamza was in Sudan after Omar Al Bashir was forced from his 30-year dictatorship. Here is the link to the episode: Sudan moves on from Omar Al Bashi...
Aug 21, 2019•20 min
Hong Kong is facing one of the biggest crisis since Britain handed the city back to China in 1997. For 10 weeks, protesters have shut down the city, stormed the legislature, and even shut down the airport. Dozens have been arrested, scores of police and protesters have been wounded in clashes. In this week's Beyond the Headlines we’re asking why thousands of residents of Hong Kong taking to the streets in increasingly violent protests against the city’s leaders. We’ll hear from one young residen...
Aug 15, 2019•17 min
On this week's episode we talk to Aya Al-Umari, the sister of Hussein Al-Umari, one of the victims who was gunned down in the Christchurch massacre earlier this year. King Salman of Saudi Arabia has invited her amongst two hundred relatives and survivors of the shooting to perform Hajj. The Hajj is an essential part of Islam and undertaking the pilgrimage can be a difficult though rewarding task. Aya tells us about her experience in Makkah, the feelings of kinship with the millions of Muslims vi...
Aug 08, 2019•14 min
This summer has beaten temperature records. Throughout July, Europe sweltered in baking heat. Paris hit 42 degrees centigrade, Berlin 40 and London 39. It is projected that at current rates of climate change many cities across the world will be uninhabitable by 2070 due to the heat. Such extremes will become increasingly common until it’s the norm not the exception. So what can we do in the face of increasing temperatures? Host James Haines-Young asks how we can heatproof our cities. He speaks t...
Aug 01, 2019•22 min•Season 1Ep. 103
Around the world, many governments are starting to take action about carbon emissions, looking at ways to cut greenhouse gases produced each year that are warming up our planet. But action is slow, the choices we face are stark and time is limited. Green and renewable energies are increasing and people today are more aware of the need to reuse, reduce and recycle. But to truly make an impact experts tell us cutting emissions is not enough. We must remove carbon dioxide from the air. Host James H...
Jul 25, 2019•19 min
At around 2 am on July 4, the Panamanian flagged Iranian tanker Grace 1 was boarded by British Royal Marines off the coast of Gibraltar at the mouth of the Mediterranean. The Marines from 42 Commando division stormed the vessel. some descended onto the ship’s deck by ropes from a Wildcat helicopter. The rest approached the side via speedboat. In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young, takes a look at the seized ship accused of dodging Syria-sanctions. Read more on our webs...
Jul 17, 2019•18 min
In Northern Syria tens of thousands of women and children are now living in squalid, overcrowded camps. Thousands more military aged men have been corralled into Kurdish jails. Hundreds of them had left their homes in Europe and America to join the militants. Publicly, United States President Donald Trump has called for countries to take responsibility for their nationals who joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria and return them home. But how is America handling its extremists? A retired former probatio...
Jul 11, 2019•28 min
The first written records of locust swarms are over 3 millennia old. Today, international organisations work to prevent the formation of these swarms that devour their own body weight in food every day. A swarm of desert locusts can build into tens of millions of insects, wreaking havoc on farmland, and are a serious threat to human food security. In 2019 swarms have hit Sardinia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Jordan and Yemen. In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young spe...
Jul 04, 2019•26 min
Hundreds of protesters converged on the streets of the southern Iraqi city of Basra last week. Demonstrators across the province are calling for structural change to fix rampant corruption, a stagnant economy, high unemployment and underfunded public utilities. Protests in Iraq are common, but last summer's demonstrations saw an escalation into violence. Hundreds were wounded and killed, and many thousands more were arrested after clashes with police forces. Government buildings were set on fire...
Jun 27, 2019•23 min
On June 13th, two more tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman, just over a month after four vessels off the coast of the Emirate port at Fujairah. The USA blames Iran for the attacks and has sent one thousand troops to the region to deter any further attacks. Host, James Haines-Young looks at the strategic relevance of the Strait of Hormuz where the attacks happened and what the political motivations are behind the attacks. He speaks to Jennifer Gnana, The National's energy correspondent and ...
Jun 21, 2019•18 min
On October 7, 2001 US forces invaded Afghanistan in response to the devastating 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda from bases in the Afghan mountains. Although this drove the Taliban from power in a matter of days, 18 years later the bloody conflict is ongoing. It is by far the longest US war and the most expensive. We speak to Stefanie Glinski in Kabul who has been reporting from across Afghanistan for The National , speaking to government supporters and Taliban families, reporting on war damaged schools...
Jun 13, 2019•30 min
This week on Beyond the Headlines, we look into the growing number of European ISIS fighters captured in Syria and ask what should Europe do with them? France has agreed to allow eleven ISIS fighters to be handed over to Iraq where the penalty for belonging to a terrorist group is death. France is opposed to the death penalty and has campaigned against the punishment globally. Is there a growing change in the European public's appetite for reform and rehabilitation? We speak top Hanif Qadir, who...
Jun 07, 2019•33 min
