Beyond the Headlines

Stranded seafarers to return home after years

In March 2017 the ship Tamim Aldar found itself, along with its crew, abandoned at sea 25 nautical miles off the coast of the UAE. It was one of seven ships owned by Elite Way Marine Services, a company that was facing financial difficulties and found itself unable to pay crew salaries or maintenance for its fleet. 

It has been over two and half years but four crew members, two from India and two from Eritrea, had been awaiting payment and to travel home. On December 19th, 33 months after they were first abandoned at sea, the four seafarers finalised an agreement with their employer for 80% of their owed wages.

We hear from Vikas Mishra one of the seafarers who has spent over three years away from his family as well as Rev. Andy Bowerman from the Mission to Seafarers, a non profit that has been helping the crew. Senior Associate Shehab Mamdouh from the legal firm Fichte and Co. gives us an insight into maritime law.

Journey through the ISIS badlands

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 Journalists Willy Lowry and Jack Moore into Kurdish controlled Iraq to investigate the state of the world’s most feared terrorist organisation.

Is overpopulation our biggest climate challenge?

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 until governments around the world take substantive action on climate change.

We’ll also hear from Professor Corey Bradshaw, fellow in Global Ecology at Flinders University in Australia, who has been modeling population growth and looking at what methods could cause the global population to decline.

Robin Maynard, director of British-based campaign charity Population Matters, joins us to talk about why all this matters and whether he’s feeling optimistic about the future.

If you missed last week’s episode, catch up below.
https://audioboom.com/posts/7436709-a-look-at-national-service-on-national-day

A look at national service on National Day

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 can help avert climate change. 

But today, we’ll hear a conversation between Faisal Salah and Daniel Lee, two men in their 20s from very different parts of the world - the UAE and South Korea - as they reflect on their time as a conscript, their fears, the lessons they learned and what they missed most while serving. 

Who’s really running Iraq?

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 parliament Sarkwat Al Shamsi.

India's fight against death by breath

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 (Economics Department of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) about why so many cities are struggling to breath. James also talks to Tanya Dutta, a reporter with The National in Delhi.

Is Iraq ready for the new Syrian refugees?

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 home to seek safety in northwest Iraq. Firas Al Khateeb from the UNHCR, Jack Moore, our deputy foreign editor and Willy Lowry, our video journalist talk about the situation on the ground.

Noura Al Kaabi on UAE's effort to re-build Al Nuri Mosque

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 final push to liberate the old city, ISIS blew up the famed Al Nuri Mosque. The site had stood since the 12 century, withstanding the rise and fall of nations and countless invasions. 

On the 23rd of April 2018 the UAE pledged over $50 million to rebuild the Al Nuri mosque, working with UNESCO and the Iraqi government to complete the project.

Host James Haines-Young speaks to Noura Al Kaabi, to talk about the reconstruction of the Al Nuri Mosque and its famous leaning minaret.

Songs of Revolution

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 what the protests mean to them.

Politics, protests and partying in the streets of Lebanon

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.