Beyond the Headlines

The United Nations General Assembly is the pinnacle of global diplomacy. For one week every year more than 190 world leaders gather in New York City.

 

Some of the big news stories from the UN General Assembly so far have been the impassioned speech given by 16 year old Greta Thunberg and the much more listless speech from Donald Trump. Trump addressed his anti-globalist agenda and the US relationship with Iran. Multimedia producer and host, Willy Lowry, is in the big apple reporting on events as they unfold. He speaks to The National’s Editor-in-Chief, Mina Al-Oraibi and Damien McElroy, our London Bureau-Chief about the events so far. 

 

To read more about the United Nations General Assembly visit www.thenational.ae

What does Israel’s second election in 2019 mean for Netanyahu, the Jewish population and the Arabs and Palestinians? Deputy foreign editor, Jack Moore, takes a look at the results of the vote and speaks to people in the region about the ramifications for the state and those living inside it. Can Israel’s titan, Benjamin Netanyahu, hold on to power and what does Benny Gantz offer as an alternative? With Natanyahu facing corruption charges is it possible he is looking for immunity more than power? And what hope does the Joint List offer Arab Israelis or the Palestinians in the occupied territories?

 

Jack speaks to Miriam Berger, freelance journalist in Jerusalem, Hugh Lovatt, Middle East and North Africa policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and Tareq Baconi, Ramallah-based Israel/Palestine analyst for The Crisis Group to get an insight into the prospects for the country.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton has been fired. Or perhaps he resigned.

On Twitter Donald Trump says he fired him whilst Bolton claims he quit.

The hawkish security advisor has been one of Iran’s most vocal critics so what does his departure mean for the Middle East?

Host James Haines-Young speaks to Douglas Silliman, former US Ambassador to Iraq, and Joyce Karan, The National’s Washington correspondent, about what Bolton’s role was in the Trump administration and what his departure might bring.

In the first 26 days of August alone, 1,114 square kilometres of Brazil's Amazon rainforest, an area equivalent to the size of Hong Kong was on fire. 

Tens of thousands of fires, far more than last year, have broken out and nbunrned off hundred of kilometres of one of the world's most diverse and unique habitats.

But this isn't a natural distaster. 

James Haines-Young speaks to prominent climate scientist, Carlos Nobre, and Natalie Unterstell, Director of policy at Talanoa solutions in Brazil about who is starting these fires and why. 

This week, we ask if Israel is stepping up its campaign against Iran and will it spark a war with Hezbollah.

We talk to Sunniva Rose, the National's Beirut correspondent and Joseph Haboush, the national editor of The Daily Star, Lebanon's only english language newspaper. 

The National's deputy foreign editor, Jack Moore, joins James to talk about why this is all happening and how it's being seen from Beirut and Tel Aviv.

On this week's episode, we catch up with The National’s Hamza Hendawi to talk about the historic move to democracy in Sudan and what he sees as the challenges ahead.

We also speak to Sara Abduljaleel, a spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, one of the leading umbrella groups that organised the protests.

Catch up on our episode when Hamza was in Sudan after Omar Al Bashir was forced from his 30-year dictatorship.

Here is the link to the episode:

• Sudan moves on from Omar Al Bashir

Hong Kong is facing one of the biggest crisis since Britain handed the city back to China in 1997. 

For 10 weeks, protesters have shut down the city, stormed the legislature, and even shut down the airport. 

Dozens have been arrested, scores of police and protesters have been wounded in clashes.

In this week's Beyond the Headlines we’re asking why thousands of residents of Hong Kong taking to the streets in increasingly violent protests against the city’s leaders. 

We’ll hear from one young resident of Hong Kong who attended some of the early protests and also from David Schlesinger, the former editor in chief of Reuter’s news agency and an expert on Hong Kong and China.

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.

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

 

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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