Beyond the Headlines

Hajj for my brother who was killed at Christchurch

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 visiting the country for the pilgrimage and how she feels her brother's presence is accompanying her on her journey.

Future-proofing our cities against record-breaking temperatures

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 to Professor Shipworth, Professor of Energy and the Built Environment at University College London and Karim El Jisr from See Nexus who is already living in a city of the future, built to withstand summer temperatures in the UAE without pumping out masses of Co2.

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 Read more on our website:
• Hitting climate target like landing man on the moon, says Danish ambassador to UAE

• Planting 350 million trees, Ethiopia strikes at the roots of climate change

• Temperature records tumble as extreme heatwaves become new reality

• You think this is hot? The US heatwave has nothing on the UAE summer

 

Can Oman's carbon capturing rocks help save the Earth?

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 Haines-Young looks into the natural resource Oman has to offer that can do just that. 

Ibra's rocks and boulders hold the secret to what scientists now think could make a viable, industrial scale carbon capture and storage.

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Ghost ships: how Iran avoids US oil sanctions

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 website:
• Vanished Strait of Hormuz tanker 'towed to Iran for repairs', says Tehran

• We will negotiate if US lifts sanctions, says Iranian foreign minister

• Britain wants assurances before releasing Iranian oil tanker, Jeremy Hunt says 

• Panama withdrawing flags from vessels that violate sanctions

The Minnesota model for fighting ISIS in the US

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 probation officer has lead a deradicalisation programme in Minnesota with a local Somalian community. Can the results be used to counteract the threat of ISIS ideology?

James Haines-Young speaks to The National's correspondent Stephen Starr, along with Nikita Malik from the Henry Jackson Society and Colin Clarke from the Soufan Group in New York to find out what the strategies and options are.

If you would like to listen to our podcast about returning European ISIS fighters you can do so here. 

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Locusts: battling the great plague

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 speaks to Keith Cressman from the FAO Desert Locust Information Service that keeps a watch on all potential locust infestations across the globe and Professor Stephen Simpson AC, the Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre, who has over three decades experience in studying locusts. 

Read more on our website:
• Massive locust swarm provides a desert bounty in central Yemen - in pictures

• Jordan sends out air force to defeat locust swarm

• Like the locusts, the regional response knows no borders

• Swarms of locusts descend on Al Dhafra in Abu Dhabi

Iraq could face another summer of bloodshed

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, and the province was on the edge of revolt.

Despite the violence, little has changed. The government still suffers from mismanagement and fraud. The country's elite have done little to improve conditions for the lower classes.

As temperatures creep closer to 50°C and the struggling electrical grid and fresh water supply are strained, many question whether the protests will spiral into similar violence.

On this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Campbell MacDiarmid speaks with Dr Renad Mansour, a research fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, and Belkis Wille, the senior Iraq researcher in the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch.

 Read more on our website:

• Southern Iraq: Basra protests resume as temperatures and anger rise

• Iraq’s electricity ministry subjected to political meddling, minister says

• After years of war and drought, Iraq's bumper crop is burning

Tanker attacks straight from Iran’s playbook

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 Dr Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, Research Fellow on the Middle East from the Royal United Services Institute in London to discuss the economic aspects of instability in the region and the origins and outcomes of the current tensions.

You can listen to our podcast on the rising tension between Iran and the USA in May here.

Find related coverage and more at The National website. 

Life in Afghanistan during America's longest war

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 and hearing how people in the cafes of Kabul are trying to build a more hopeful future. 

Nargis Azaryun who works with Open Society Foundations tells us about what peace talks mean for the societal changes that have occurred since the war started. 

 

We also hear from Graeme Smith from Crisis group in London who spent years in Afghanistan, about efforts for talks, why they’re taking place now and what might come of it all.

Read more on our website:

• The hidden lives of children of the Afghan Taliban
• 'What use is it all': surge in Kabul violence leaves Afghans celebrating Eid in Hospital
• America's closing act in Afghanistan is playing out as both tragedy and farce

Exporting ISIS justice

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 joined Al Qaeda in the early 2000s and has been working on deradicalisation and counter extremism programmes in the UK ever since his return in 2003. 

Also on the show is Dr Drew Mikhael, a fellow at Queen's University in Belfast who has spent years researching the nature of radicalisation and Anthony Dworkin, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. 

You can keep up to date with all the headlines, news and more of our podcasts at https://www.thenational.ae/