Beyond the Headlines

What happens after Expo 2020 Dubai?

Your curtains open on a timer. You rise with the sun shining - which it does most days of the year here - and a sensor detects when you’re standing under the shower, activating the water at your preferred temperature, no time or water to waste. Your refrigerator has the right ingredients to grab breakfast and pack a quick lunch; it automatically orders your groceries when you begin to run low. As you head for the door, the lights switch off, the climate control readjusts to account for an empty flat, and the lock engages automatically behind you. You hop on your bike and pedal to work - a flexible office space where you mingle with a few dozen other entrepreneurs, as well as some multinational corporations. The ride is ten minutes down the road, passing a few friends on the way.

This is life in a 15-minute smart city. And this could one day be life at the Expo 2020 Dubai site, dubbed District 2020, a reimagined neighbourhood at the site of the most recent world’s fair that experts, visitors and the mega-event planners all say is a vision for the future. 

This week, as Expo draws to a close, we ask: what did we learn in the last six months about where we are heading and the choices we must make? And now, what comes next, for both the site itself and those who gathered there?

Ukraine’s women in war

Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, millions of people have fled the country in search of safety elsewhere in Europe. Most are women and children, with men of fighting age required to stay and protect their homeland.

So often the story of war is told through masculine eyes — soldiers fighting heroically on the front, typically male politicians battling for control of the narrative through speeches and summits  — but as more and more women stream out of the country, it is falling to them to tell the world what is happening in Ukraine, and to highlight their role in forging the country’s future.

On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host Erin Clare Brown travels to Romania and Moldova to hear first-hand from those who have fled the Russian campaign about what life was like inside a country under siege, and how it has changed for them since they left. 

Why Iran is raining rockets on Iraq

In the early hours of March 13, 2022, streaks of light punctuated the sky above the northern Iraqi city of Erbil as a barrage of rockets rained down on a building near the old town. The thud and blasts shook the city, orange flames rose up and thick black smoke stood out against the deep purple of the night.
 
This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young looks at why Iran is raining rockets down on neighbouring Iraq.

India’s hijab row

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.

Female Muslim students have lobbied for days outside the gates of their colleges, demanding the administration let them attend classes wearing the hijab. 

Their protests have been met by counter-demonstrations by students linked to right-wing Hindu groups. They wear saffron scarves - a colour used by hardline nationalists - and march in the streets chanting "Jai Shri Ram", a traditional Hindu salutation that has in recent years become a war cry.

In this week's Beyond the Headlines, Nilanjana Gupta looks at why the hijab is the source of more division than ever in India. 

Ukraine’s refugee crisis

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 weeks and months. If things continue to get worse it could be Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II. 

On this week's Beyond the Headlines host Leila Gharagozlou looks at the plight of the Ukrainians whose lives have been turned upside down.

Ukraine Special: Kiev under siege

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.

Most expected that, if an invasion happened, it would be in the south-east of the country, where Ukraine has been fighting with Russian-backed separatists since 2014. Few expected attacks on the capital.

In this special episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Erin Brown asks what it felt like to be in Kyiv and under siege from Russian forces, and what the future holds for Ukrainians like Katya, who are weighing up whether to stay and fight or try and flee to safety.

How archeology is inspiring Omanis - and the world

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 on how ordinary people lived. The artefacts, often dating back millennia, are some of the most well preserved in the world. They are changing long-held beliefs about how the region was first settled.

In this week's Beyond The Headlines, host Taylor Heyman looks at how discoveries from their country’s past are inspiring the next generation of Omanis and the world.

Will nuclear fusion save mankind?

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 with.

 

It took decades of research to get to a test that only lasted five seconds. There is still a long road ahead.

 

But those leading the quest are hugely excited by what they saw.

 

On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines Young asks: will nuclear fusion save mankind?

The Middle Eastern challenges of competing in the Winter Olympics

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 Gharagozlou asks what it takes to compete in the Winter Olympics, and how much more of a challenge it is when you’re from a hot, arid region.

What is the metaverse and can it replace the real world?

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 controversial idea among tech enthusiasts came crashing into the mainstream.

Now, the company and others like it are betting big that we will all be spending more and more time in the metaverse - doing everything from socialising and playing games with friends, to exercising and working remotely. 

On this week's Beyond The Headlines, host Arthur Scott-Geddes asks: what is the metaverse and is it really about to replace the real world?