Beyond the Headlines

In Beirut, a white saloon car comes to a swift halt outside the Ethiopian Embassy in the south west of the city. A woman climbs out, and the car speeds off. The Ethiopian woman is one of many domestic workers being abandoned by their employers.

Lebanon is in an economic crisis. There are over 250,000 foreign domestic workers in Lebanon with Ethiopians being by far the largest nationality. Employers say they can no longer afford to pay their domestic help, nor can they afford to buy the women a flight back to their home country. On top of that, there is now a quarantine charge for the women when they land in Ethiopia. On this week's Beyond the Headlines we look at why dozens of domestic workers being abandoned in Lebanon and who will help them?

On the evening of May 25th, George Floyd Jr walked into a shop in Minneapolis and tried to use a $20 note. Within half an hour, his limp body was loaded into an ambulance. What happened in between has been viewed across social media platforms, and news channels around the world, millions of times. 

On this week's Beyond the Headlines, Archer Hill, social media journalist at The National looks at how phone cameras, and social media, have affected racial progress in the US, and globally. We speak to Nicol Turner Lee, Senior Fellow at the Center for Technology Innovation at The Brookings Institution about the way videos and telecommunications have progressed from the civil rights movement to George Floyd and what lies ahead. 

The Coronavirus has spread around the world … infecting millions of people in nearly every country. As doctors and scientists race to discover a vaccine, prevention measures are promoted. It’s agreed that wearing face masks, social distancing, washing hands frequently and good hygiene are the best defence against coronavirus. But in the world’s refugee camps these measures are nearly impossible to enforce.

This week, host Willy Lowry talks to Athena Rayburn, Save the Children's head of advocacy, and Sally Thomas, Deputy Head of Medecins San Frontiere - Syria, about the threat of coronavirus in the world’s refugee camps.

There are 228 million cases worldwide every year. Many of them are fatal. It's for this reason, governments, international organisations and the UN spend billions trying to stop a disease that has plagued mankind since the dawn of time.

This week on Beyond the headlines, host James Haines-Young speaks to Timothy Winegard, author of The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator, and Jerremy Herren, lead researcher at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi about mankind's battle with Malaria.

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 A group of Indian workers, walking back to their villages after losing their jobs, were so tired from walking all night, they lay down on an empty railway track and fell asleep. India was under lockdown and no public transport was running. At about 5 in the morning on May 8, a freight train crashed into them, killing 16 people. It was not the coronavirus that killed them but what this virus has brought with it for many of the world’s poor – job losses, their inability to pay their rents, and a sheer apathy towards them by many of the world’s governments.

On this week's edition of Beyond the Headlines, host Suhail Akram talks to Taniya Dutta, The National's correspondent in India, and Shankar Gopalakrishnan, an activist and a researcher based in India. We also hear from Rajiv G, assistant editor with The Times of India, about the "Kerala Model" and Samaan Lateef, a journalist from Kashmir who tells us how the people of Kashmir are affected by the pandemic.

From Island paradises to mountainous kingdoms… A few countries and territories sprinkled around the world have somehow remained COVID free.

Or have they? 

This week, we talk to Martin Mckee, a professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and David Watchorn, manager at Extra Divers Christmas Island. We also speak to Emmanuel Samoglou, a journalist and former multimedia editor at The National, about visiting the Cook Islands in the pacific when borders started to close. Hosted by Willy Lowry.

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Top scientists across the world are putting their best foot forward to produce a vaccine for Covid-19 as soon as possible. There are more than 90 vaccines for the virus at different stages of development. At least six of these are already being tested for safety in people. What remains to be seen is which of these vaccines will be ready first and which one will be the most effective.

We talk to a senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent, Dr Jeremy Rossman, and a visiting professor of science at Aston University in Birmingham, Robert Matthews about the search for an effective vaccine. This podcast was hosted by Suhail Akram.

This year the holy month of Ramadan comes at an unprecedented time. Covid-19 has impacted just about everything and Ramadan is no different. The usual scenes of mosques buzzing with worshippers and bazaar’s bustling with shoppers are missing. This Ramadan, those fasting are indoors like everybody else. While the fear of the virus lurks in the streets, inside their houses, most of the world's 1.8 billion Muslims are seeking help and peace in their solitary prayers.

Host Suhail Akram talks to Khola Hassan, a religious scholar in the UK and Dr. Saad Al Ameri, an Emirati doctor treating coronavirus patients in the UAE. We also hear from The National's correspondents, Sunniva Rose in Lebanon and Hamza Hendawi in Egypt, about how life is different for Muslims this Ramadan.

This week, host Willy Lowry looks at how the UAE harnesses the rain with cloud seeding and Australia's effort to save the Great Barrier Reef through cloud brightening.

We hear from Dr Deon Terblanche, a consultant in weather and climate at the World Bank, and Omar Al Yazeedi from the National Centre for Meteorology. We also speak to Daniel Harrison at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science.

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Everyone has been affected in some way by the coronavirus pandemic.
But some have had the most significant moments of their lives dramatically altered by the times.

In a special edition of Beyond the Headlines, we look at births, marriages and deaths with three special stories. Host Willy Lowry talks to his sister, Alexis, who gave birth to her first child on March 26 just outside New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic in America. Izbel Mengel was supposed to get married on Easter day but had her dream wedding stolen when lockdown meant her 500 guests couldn't travel. Peter Wheeland lost his father Kenneth to Covid-19. Tight restrictions at the nursing home meant he didn't know if he would be allowed to be with his father when the time came. We also hear from Jo Beddington, a celebrant based in London who recently conducted a virtual funeral.

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