Beyond the Headlines

Can a handshake transform a region? After long years of tension, Saudi Arabia and Iran decided in March to normalise diplomatic relations. Weeks later, the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers met face-to-face - and the handshake took place. The landmark agreement entails patching up the rift by reviving a security cooperation pact, reopening embassies within two months and resuming trade, investment and cultural accords. The China-brokered deal could lead to a major realignment in the Middle East. And, while it is a coup for Beijing, it represents a geopolitical challenge for the United States. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Ismaeel Naar looks at how Saudi Arabia and Iran were able to finally reach the negotiating table - and asks what the thawing of ties means for the wider region.

Nothing says Ramadan more than joyous gatherings of family and friends, dining tables heaving with delicacies as the sun sets. But this Ramadan, many people are struggling to make ends meet, with the cost of living having soared globally. For months, The National has been tracking the prices of food staples in supermarkets across the Middle East and North Africa – and seen how shoppers have adopted new strategies, routinely searching for discounts and reining in other spending, as higher prices influence their purchasing patterns. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Enas Refaei takes us to Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan - where our correspondents explore the new strategies of shopping.

On March 27, Israel ground to a halt in protest at a set of judicial reforms put forward by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right wing coalition. Demonstrations had been rumbling for weeks against the proposals, but then on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu fired defense minister Yoav Gallant for speaking out against the bill. It was like he had lit a match. Within hours, one of the largest demonstrations in Israel’s history took place. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines Young looks at Mr Netanyahu’s controversial reforms and asks why they have provoked such anger.

On February 21 Tunisia’s president Kais Saied declared that “a criminal plan has been set up since the beginning of this century to alter the demographic structure of Tunisia”. Civil rights groups and activists considered the statement dangerous and warned that it could encourage hate crimes against the sub-Saharan minority, who already face tough conditions. The Tunisian president's comments coincided with an unprecedented crackdown targeting hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans. Lawyers Without Borders said they estimate around 300 people have been detained and placed in an irregular migrant detention facility in just one wave of arrests. Tunisia's ministry of interior said they were only applying the law and the migrants being detained were in the country illegally. In this week’s Beyond the Headlines, host Ghaya Ben Mbarek looks at the plight of migrants and black people in an increasingly unwelcoming Tunisia.

Thousands died and millions were displaced in a matter of moments following the violent earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey. While survivors are now trying to rebuild their lives, there is one group for whom recovering from the earthquake is an even harder challenge: the children who lost their parents. Some have lost their parents and even a month on at least 160 infants and children remain unidentified. Horror, devastation and heartbreak is what the majority of children in Syria and Turkey have endured as a result of the disaster that violently shook the region in the early hours of February 6. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Mina Aldroubi looks at the child survivors of the February 6 earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, what happened to them after they were found under the rubble and how humanitarian agencies have protected them.

First they were forced to flee their homes in Myanmar after the military regime launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing against them. Then they faced more horrors in the Bangladeshi refugee camps where they had sought sanctuary. Now, Anjana Sankar reports on the perilous sea crossings many Rohingya are embarking on – in another desperate attempt finally to find a safe home.

Since the start of the Russia- Ukraine war, more than 12 million people have fled their homes. Military casualties on both sides are believed to have topped 200,000 while civilian casualties in Ukraine are at nearly 7000, according to the latest UN figures. A year on, and there are still no signs of returning to a normal way of life. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Enas Refaei looks at the human toll of the war and the lives that were changed in the blink of an eye. She also talks to people caught in the crossfire who tell us how they find small ways to cope with the suffering.

The UN says that 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians since systematic records began in 2005. Israeli security forces killed 151 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank territories and east Jerusalem last year, while 24 Israelis were killed by Palestinians. This year there is no sign of a decline in the volume of violence. Tensions are high in Israel and the occupied territories after a spate of attacks against Israeli citizens, raids on Palestinian communities by the Israeli military and a return to power of longtime prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this time leading the most right-wing government in the country’s history. The situation looks dire, UN and international officials are calling for urgent action to ease anger, calm tensions and stop the rumbling violence. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young focuses on Israel and Palestine to understand what’s driving the latest rounds of violence and ask if we’re heading towards a new intifada.

Most people were tucked up in bed when the first quake hit. The ground shook violently as a fault roughly 200 km long and 25km wide slipped, causing a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The force of the quake in the early hours of February 6 caused death and destruction across hundreds of kilometres of eastern Turkey and northern Syria. The UN estimated that 23 million people were affected; the death toll jumped by hundreds, hour after hour. But as a number of experts told us in the wake of the tragedy, it’s not earthquakes that kill – it’s collapsing buildings. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young takes a closer look at the catastrophe and asks: could more have been done to make the buildings quake-proof?

We all know exactly what happened three years ago. The winter we didn’t expect was coming, and it stayed with us for years. This time of the year now comes with memories of the world’s first Covid lockdown in China, and later when almost 3.9 billion people around the world followed suit. But still, more than 6 million people lost their lives due to coronavirus. So what have we learnt from the pandemic? On this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Enas Refaei takes a look at the legacy of Covid-19 and our preparedness for another pandemic.

It took months of wrangling and it nearly didn’t happen - but Ukraine will soon get some of the most formidable tanks ever built. At the start of the war in February 2022, Western aid focused on sending either equipment the Ukrainian military already used, or items like night-vision and body-armour that could quickly be assimilated. And for a long time there were still no tanks. But then that changed. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young takes a closer look at how and why the West suddenly agreed to send its best battle tanks to Ukraine and what this means for the war as it approaches its one year anniversary.

Thousands of business leaders, policy makers, experts, heads of government and state have gathered once again in a snowy Swiss mountain resort in January. There are crises affecting different parts of the world; the war in Ukraine, mitigating the impact of climate change and weakening global economic outlook. But other regions, like the Middle East, are looking at the opportunities from a world in transition. In this special episode of Beyond the Headlines at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, host Mustafa Alrawi is highlighting the main discussions of the forum with The National’s editor in chief Mina Al-Oraibi and CNN’s international correspondent and anchor Richard Quest.

Since Covid-19 first emerged in Wuhan province in late 2019, China has pursued an aggressive containment policy. In October, 28 cities across China were in some form of lockdown impacting 207 million people. By comparison, much of the world had got rid of lockdowns, international travel had resumed, and life was returning to normal. But the government still maintained that Zero Covid was the most cost effective policy. People across China started to protest – lift the restrictions. Then the infections spread. In the first 20 days of December 2022, China may have had 250 million Covid infections alone – that’s according to a leaked memo from top health officials. Reports from hospitals show overwhelmed wards, but officials in Beijing insist that everything is under control This is Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young looks at how many cases there are in China, how the numbers exploded so fast and what this means for the rest of the world.

The Arabian Gulf Cup is returning to Iraq for the first time since 1979. Coming less than a month after the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the tournament in the once war-torn city of Basra represents another electrifying moment for football fans in the region. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Robert Tollast takes a closer look at an historic moment in sport for Iraq - and what it means for the country and the region.

2022 was a year of uncertainty on the global stage. Amid the lingering impact of Covid-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a fresh shock to the system and its reverberations were felt across the planet. The unnerving combination of a European land war and the inflation it helped to export worldwide wasn’t what anyone expected as life was just beginning to move forward from the pandemic. This week on Beyond the Headlines, as we turn the corner from 2022, host Jamie Goodwin speaks to The National’s correspondents as they look at this year’s pivotal moments and their lessons.

2022 was a year in the global spotlight for the Middle East. Mass protests in Iran after the death of a young woman in police custody brought about real hope of change, while in Israel, the re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu kick-started a journey towards what has been described as a fully right-wing government. The Middle East held its first World Cup and the region also returned to the forefront of the global drive for carbon neutrality when Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh hosted the UN’s climate change conference. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Jamie Goodwin speaks to The National’s regional correspondents as they go through the year’s biggest stories in the Middle East.

On December 17, 2010, Tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the Arab Uprisings. Coinciding with the 12th anniversary of his death, Tunisians head to the polls on Saturday for the second time this year. Over those years, Tunisia has seen new constitutions, changing governments, different presidents and deadlocked parliaments. All played out against a backdrop of terrorist attacks and food shortages. While politicians promise people a better tomorrow, there have been calls for boycotts and demonstrations in the week leading up to the polls. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines Young looks at what’s next for Tunisia as it heads back to the ballot box.

A group of men in green uniforms and women in loose black chador head scarfs roaming the streets in a van is a familiar sight in Iran. This is a patrol by Iran’s so-called morality police Officially called the Guidance Patrol, officers have the power to arrest anyone deemed to be flouting the country’s strict rules on how men and women should dress and act in public. While officially they police everyone - men wearing shorts or showing visible tattoos can fall foul of officers - it is women who are overwhelmingly scrutinised. On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young looks at Iran’s religious rules and the force that upholds them.

The UAE is launching the Arab world's first mission to the Moon - a new milestone for a country that hasn’t looked back after sending the first Emirati astronaut into space in 2019. The Rashid rover is flying on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Suhail Akram looks at the build-up to the launch of the rover and the legacy it will leave behind for the UAE’s future space ambitions.

The world came together in Qatar when the FIFA World Cup kicked off for the first time in the Middle East and Arab world. But even before a ball had been kicked, there are many reasons why the Qatar tournament is unlike any other. It is the costliest World Cup to date and Qatar is also the smallest country to host the competition by land size and population. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Gully Burrows takes a look at the World Cup in Qatar to find out exactly what it’s like on the ground there.

For millions of Americans, it is an unwelcome blast from the past. For millions of others, it is a hope for a second chance to "drain the swamp" of American politics. Whatever your view on Donald Trump and his mission to make America great again, there is no doubt that the former president's recent announcement that he intends to make another run for the White House in 2024 is deeply divisive. True to form, Mr Trump heralded his possible campaign with a combination of rhetorical showmanship, bombast and mudslinging in the days leading up to the big announcement. He took a swipe at the newly re-elected Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, a one-time ally whose success and popularity with his constituents has cast him as a potential challenger to Mr Trump. Host Sulaiman Hakemy sits down with Hussain Ibish, The National’s US affairs columnist and senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, and The National's social media editor, Cody Combs, to talk about what is next for President Joe Biden, Mr Trump, Democrats and Republicans.

“Conflict, climate and the economic consequences of Covid-19 are feeding off each other in a vicious circle, with 54 conflicts, 100 million displaced people and 345 million people going to bed hungry every night.” This was the stark picture painted by President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband in this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines. The National's editor in chief Mina Al-Oraibi spoke to Mr Miliband during his visit to Abu Dhabi to discuss concerns about the lack of adequate funding to support the most vulnerable in the world, in addition to the impact that the Ukraine war will have not only on Ukrainians but people around the world directly and indirectly.

There is a debate raging internationally about climate change. As we’re greeted by dire headlines and alarm, the UN had a stark warning - the battle against carbon emissions isn’t going well. As the world gathers in Egypt for the Cop27 global climate forum, it can be hard to understand exactly where we stand, what’s being done and whether it's even still possible to stop climate change. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines Young looks at where the world is on climate action and asking what to expect from Cop27.

Britain has seen two monarchs and three prime ministers in the space of just two months. If a TV writers’ room pitched anything like the events of the last few months, they probably would have been told to dial back the drama and make the storyline more believable. So how did this all happen, and who is the man now in charge of the United Kingdom? This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Gully Burrows asks: can Rishi Sunak restore the public’s trust in government and pull the Conservative Party together?

Ten years ago, one family’s future was changed forever when a single bullet fired by a militant extremist shattered a 15 year old girl’s face in a small village in Pakistan. That was when the world learned who Malala Yousafzai is. On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at how Malala’s story, advocacy and activism have inspired generations in her hometown of Swat in Pakistan and beyond.

Drawing a line on a map is never straightforward – there are many places around the world with no set boundaries. But now there is one less unmarked border as Lebanon and Israel have, after years of indirect talks, agreed on where the line lays. This is a remarkable feat for two countries still technically at war. It might appear just an administrative achievement, an event to be noted as a quirk of geography and diplomacy. But this agreement could already have averted a war and have major consequences for the two countries - getting it wrong could cost someone millions. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines Young looks at the significance of this week’s landmark agreement.

Microchips are integral to almost everything we do - they keep planes in the sky and cars on the roads, they are the brains of almost every modern device we use. It is microchips that mean we can walk around with smart watches more powerful than computers that took up whole rooms just a few decades ago. But what would happen if we suddenly couldn't get hold of new chips? This is a question that has worried experts and legislators around the world for a while. And it is no longer a hypothetical thought experiment. It’s now a real issue. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines Young delves into why the world could be running out of microchips – and what it means for us all.

In a video shared many times on social media, an Iranian woman climbs on top of a car in the conservative city of Mashhad. She takes off her headscarf and starts chanting “death to the dictator”. Young protesters nearby join in before the crowd build a fire and women start burning their headscarves and slicing off their hair. Such a direct challenge to the powerful religious authorities that run Iran would usually be unthinkable. But sustained protests have been taking place across the country, sweeping through hundreds of towns and cities there, as well as abroad. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Mina Aldroubi looks at how the death of a young Kurdish-Iranian woman from Iran’s north became the rallying cry for years of frustrations and anger at the country’s leaders.

After a two-year disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the United Nations General Assembly has returned to normal … more or less. While the UN has implemented a number of covid restrictions including limiting the size of the delegations attending, enforcing a mask mandate inside the building and requiring proof of vaccination, world leaders are back in New York, shaking hands, holding high-stakes bilateral negotiations and bringing the city to a grinding halt. The meeting has come at a crucial time – the war in Ukraine, rising energy prices, spiralling inflation, increasing food prices, climate change and global health are all high on the agenda. The National's Willy Lowry takes us Beyond the Headlines at the United Nations General Assembly to look at the key issues and hear what's on the agenda as world leaders all meet again in person for the first time since the pandemic.

Gaza has only one honey-producing season, which begins with the onset of the warmer weather in March and lasts until the first week of May. This usually sets up Gaza'a honey production for the year, with 200 tonnes produced. But this year the weather stayed cold with unexpected downpours until the second week of April, and then became unusually hot. The prolonged cold affected the blossoming of Gaza’s many citrus orchards and vegetable crops, leaving the bees with fewer flowers from which to collect nectar when the weather turned warmer and then too hot. These wild swings in the weather have cut honey production in the Gaza Strip by almost a third and are threatening the territory’s bee population. On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Ahmed Maher looks at how the decline of the bee population is threatening food security and whether climate change is to blame.

On Monday August 29th, Iraq came closer to civil war than it has for year. The fears of many Iraqis that political tensions would spill out into violence were coming true. After 11 months of parliamentary elections, government formation is still help up by complete political gridlock. As violent clashes between the followers of Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and members of militias affiliated with the Coordination Framework led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki escalated, 30 Iraqis lost their life. However, by Tuesday afternoon, Al Sadr had called back his followers from the streets and restated his intention to “retire from politics”. Since then, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi has threatened to resign, which would add further chaos to Iraq’s political scene. In this week’s episode of Beyond The Headlines, The National’s Editor in Chief Mina Al-Oraibi discusses these developments and what could come next, with guests Chairman of the Iraqi Advisory Council Farhad Alaadin and Senior Foreign Reporter Mina Al Droubi.

As much of the world’s focus remained firmly fixed on ending the coronavirus pandemic, another illness was quietly spreading in the background and has now emerged as a global health concern. A few months ago, monkeypox, an infectious viral disease, began cropping up in countries across Europe for the first time in years. The virus is spread from person to person through close contact. Historically, monkeypox has been largely confined to west and central Africa but had occasional and short-lived appearances elsewhere - such as in the US in 2003. Despite this, monkeypox was never really an international cause for concern, until this year. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Juman Jarallah delves into the global monkeypox outbreak and what this could mean for a world still tackling a pandemic.

On August 15, 1947, British Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten formally announced India's independence from British colonial rule. The Indian subcontinent was partitioned into two countries – India and Pakistan. The borders were drawn hastily along religious lines. Muslim-majority provinces became part of Pakistan, Hindu and Sikh majority areas remained in India. The borders cut through villages, rivers and homes, leading to one of the largest migrations in history. Unexpected and unprecedented violence followed, claiming more than a million lives. Fifteen million people left the land they had called home for generations - never to return. In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, we hear the stories of those who lived through the trauma of seeing their land cleft asunder.

It’s amazing how the UAE’s home-grown produce has become so diversified. Over the years, farms have been modernised and new crops introduced. The supermarket aisles we browse in the UAE vividly illustrate the country’s progress. The UAE aims to be the most food-secure nation by 2051, according to the National Food Security Strategy. But will this ambition be realised and can local farms keep up with the demand? This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Nilanjana Gupta explores the future of farming in the UAE.

This summer is breaking temperature records like never before. The rising mercury is a reminder of the impact of climate change. Unless drastic action is taken, the temperatures seen in recent weeks will become increasingly common. Failing to find sustainable ways to heat and cool our offices and homes when temperatures soar – or plummet in winter – could lead to more Co2 being produced as more people turn to AC units or turn up their thermostats. But experts say there’s another way. Rethink our built environment. Increasingly, architects are turning to passive cooling methods to keep the heat down in summer. Better insulation is offering more efficient heating in winter. But more is needed. On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, first broadcast in 2019, we spoke to David Shipworth, Professor of Energy and the Built Environment at University College London. He told us about how we can rethink our urban environment to make extreme weather events more manageable without costing the Earth. We also spoke to Karim El Jisr, who established The Sustainable City Institute – a global platform for advancing knowledge in sustainability and the built environment.

For nearly three years, Lebanon has been steadily collapsing under the weight of a financial crisis that is one of the worst in the modern world. But what is life like for those who have to live through the situation on the ground? To be Lebanese is to navigate a slew of daily challenges caused by the economic rupture. So people have developed coping mechanisms. And they’re not always healthy. Experts say mental health is declining, and substance use is on the rise. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Nada Homsi takes a look at Lebanon’s hidden psychological crisis.

For more than a decade, Tunisia was seen as the poster child for democratic transition after the Arab Uprisings of 2011. By 2014 the country had had two free and fair elections and ratified a new constitution. But the consensus-building that went into drafting that new constitution soon dissolved, leaving behind partisan bickering and political deadlock. Successive governments and parliaments failed to deliver on the socioeconomic demands that had driven the revolution: jobs were still scarce, prices were rising, and the basic services you expect from your government — everything from rubbish collection to transportation — weren’t working. The economy tanked; inflation rose; tens of thousands of young Tunisians hopped on rickety boats, trying to get to Italy. People’s dissatisfaction with their government grew. Protests raged on the streets in the winter of 2020 and spring of 2021. They wanted change. Then, in July last year, President Kais Saied fired his government, shuttered parliament and essentially took full control of the country, saying it was the only way to stop the political deadlock. Now he’s asking Tunisians to vote in a referendum this Monday to ratify a new constitution — one it appears he’s written almost entirely himself. This week on Beyond the Headlines, Erin Clare Brown investigates Tunisia’s constitutional referendum — and explains what it means not just for the country but for the wider region.

Joe Biden has made his first visit to the Middle East as US president. He might be no stranger to the region, having visited dozens of times as vice president and senator for Delaware, but this is the first time since he was elected to America’s top office. And it comes at a time of uncertainty. Oil and food prices have surged since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and global inflationary pressures are pushing up prices across the board. Talks with Iran on reviving a nuclear accord to limit Tehran’s enrichment of uranium have stalled. A tentative ceasefire in Yemen is holding, but major challenges remain to end the more than five-year war. Energy and security might be top of his agenda but so is the fundamental question of America’s role in the Middle East. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young talks to The National's US correspondent Willy Lowry about President Biden’s visit to the Middle East, how it was received and how it will be remembered.

Five years have passed since Iraq liberated Mosul from ISIS in a bloody, street to street battle that left 11,000 civilians dead and much of the northern city in ruins. Millions fled the brutal three year rule of the terror group and hundreds of thousands more fled the deverstating fighting to recapture the city. But five years after victory, several neighbourhoods in Mosul still lie in ruins. On this week's episode, host Robert Tollast asks why is it taking so long to rebuild Mosul.

On June 29, world leaders gathered in Madrid to discuss the future direction of the The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. On this week’s Beyond the Headlines, host Mina Aldroubi speaks to Michael Stephens, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, about the Nato summit’s biggest talking points.

Steve Jobs once said: "The most precious resource we all have is time." For most of history, the average human life expectancy has been about around 70 years. Although average life expectancy has been rising for years, this is because more of us make it that far and many beyond. Fewer of us are dying at birth, in childhood, in the midst of raging battle or being mauled to death by wild animals. Take out those threats and an average human is capable of a 70th birthday. And now, with breakthroughs in our understanding of genetics and billions of dollars being poured into life sciences research, we may find ways to extend our lives, maybe to even double that number, in the next few decades. On this week's Beyond the Headlines host Kelsey Warner looks at the future of ageing and longevity.

When you hear of Arab cuisine, what imagery does it conjure up? Hummus, bulgur wheat, meat, chicken and spices like sumac, cumin and cinnamon. Lavish dinner parties with popular dishes like Egyptian koshary, Jordanian mansaf and Iraqi tashreeb. The bigger the dish, the more generous the host. That is a deeply rooted belief in Arab culture. Despite the Gulf countries being insulated from the rising costs of living, people in many places in the Middle East - and around the world - are struggling to regularly buy quality raw food ingredients as prices skyrocket. In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Ahmed Maher speaks to people from across the Middle East to see how rising prices are pushing some of them into food poverty.

On 14 May, a white gunman in body armour killed 10 black shoppers and workers at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Ten days later, an attacker shot dead 19 students and their two teachers in their classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Then, on 1 June, another gunman killed two doctors and two others at an Oklahoma medical building in Tulsa. These are just some of the recent, chilling examples of how gun violence has traumatised America - they’re only the tip of the iceberg. According to the Gun Violence Archive, the US has suffered at least 246 mass shootings in 2022. Not all of them make the news, so frequent have mass shootings become there. Many Americans have long been calling for action on gun control. So why is it so difficult to bring in reform? On this week’s Beyond the Headlines, host Suhail Akram looks at what can realistically be done to tackle US gun deaths.

The sky turns orange as a huge cloud of dust rolls toward you. Your vision is impaired and your chest feels tight as you struggle to draw breath. You grab a scarf and wrap it around your face as you hurry inside, but the coughing continues long after you reach safety. For those in refugee camps, even this escape is denied. Sand is buffeted against flimsy tents and belongings and residents become swiftly covered in a film of dust. You may think this is happening to a character in an apocalypse movie, but it's becoming a regular occurrence for people in many parts of the world, and especially the Middle East. In spring, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and parts of Israel and Egypt experience the most frequent dust storms. Moving into summer, Iran, Syria and the Gulf will be hit by the flurry of sand and minerals. Many of these countries are sources of the dust as well as feeling the impact of it. In this week's Beyond the Headlines, host Taylor Heyman looks at the impact of dust storms on the Middle East and asks what can be done to mitigate them.

The Berlin Wall fell more than three decades ago, precipitating a generational collapse of political and economic boundaries in Europe. Now, in 2022, conflict and confusion is on the continent's doorstep once again. Experts and leaders, including around 50 heads of state and government, have gathered in the Swiss resort of Davos this week for the World Economic Forum annual meeting, where they are considering whether history has reached another turning point? Mustafa Alrawi, The National’s Assistant Editor-in-Chief, and Mina Al-Oraibi, The National's Editor-in-Chief, are joined by CNN anchor Julia Chatterley in Davos to discuss the key takeaways from the WEF annual meeting.

People across Lebanon cast their votes last Sunday in an election that was meant to be different. So much has happened since the last poll, in 2018, when familiar faces were elected from parties largely made up of the same people who had fought the civil war decades earlier. First, the economy started to creak - and eventually collapsed. In 2019, hundreds of thousands of people across Lebanon rose up in a popular protest movement, apparently determined to change a political system that seemed to be pushing the country over a precipice. Then, in August of 2020, a devastating explosion at Beirut’s port killed hundreds, left hundreds of thousands homeless, and caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage in a country that could ill afford to pay the bill. Many blamed the same culture of political mismanagement for the catastrophic explosion. In this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, Finbar Anderson asks: will the Lebanese election be seen as a turning point for an embattled country in desperate need of change? Or was it a sideshow designed to buy the ruling elite time and a false sense of legitimacy?

President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed died on May 13, 2022, at the age of 73. He was born in September 1948, before the UAE existed as a single nation and before the discovery of oil in the Emirates. In his lifetime he saw the rise of the nation from a collection of Bedouin and fishing villages to one of the leading and most competitive economies in the Middle East. As the eldest son of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Founding Father of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa’s involvement in public life began at a very young age. On this week's Beyond the Headlines host Faisal Salah looks back at the life of Sheikh Khalifa and hears from UAE cultural historian and columnist for The National Peter Hellyer about his legacy.

On May 16, the European Union will no longer require people to wear masks on planes. Many countries around the world have already started to relax Covid-19 restrictions. And some, like Greece, New Zealand and Japan, are preparing to drop all rules in time for summer. So is it finally time to get back to normal? At least to the way life was before the pandemic. Or is it time to simply embrace the ‘new normal'? This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Suhail Akram asks experts and health care professionals if the pandemic is truly over.

Late one Saturday night towards the end of April, a boat set off to sea from near Lebanon’s second city, Tripoli. It was an ageing craft, nearly 50 years old, built to comfortably hold maybe a dozen people, at a push. But on this voyage it was carrying perhaps 60, maybe as many as 80. Among those on board were Amid Dandachi, his wife and their three children. In all, around 22 members of the extended Dandachi family were on the boat. The family are from the suburb of Qibbe, one of Tripoli’s poorest neighbourhoods. And Tripoli is one of Lebanon’s poorest cities. With Lebanon's economic crisis ongoing they hoped heading west would offer them a better future But only an hour or two after they left land, the boat was intercepted. Lebanese naval forces demanded it turn back. The boat’s helmsman tried to make a break for it but the navy crashed into the overcrowded craft towards the bow, splitting the hull. At least six people died and approximately 30 are still missing. On this week's Beyond The Headlines, Finbar Anderson looks at the story of a tragic shipwreck off the coast of Tripoli, and how it’s an all too familiar fate for thousands of people trying to reach a better life in Europe.

Rescued from the choppy seas of the English Channel or landing on the windswept beaches of the east of England, over the last three years thousands of people in small inflatable dinghies have made the perilous crossing from France. As dozens died making the journey, the UK deployed the coast guard, the navy and the lifeboat service to try and rescue those attempting to make the journey. In 2021, an estimated 28,526 people crossed the channel in small boats. Data for the first half of 2022 showed over 8,000 had made the journey with tens of thousands more expected in the calmer, warmer summer months. The arrivals have sparked a heated debate. Some accuse the government of being soft on immigration, turning a blind eye to smugglers and not policing the country’s borders. Others accuse the government of a callous disregard for human life and failing to meet obligations to those fleeing for their lives. And now, the UK has said “enough”. On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young delves into the UK Government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and asks whether such proposals can even solve the issue.