The stories behind the iconic images of the Arab uprisings as told by those who filmed them.
A special three-part series taking an in-depth look at the post 9/11 'war on terror'.
Al Jazeera investigates the rise of the English Defence League.
The Israeli blockade may have taken a heavy toll on Gazans, but this film reveals life and hope among the devastation.
Some Italians have made it their mission to mobilise support on behalf of the Palestinian cause.
An insight into life in a Moroccan town where many locals make a living as film extras for major Hollywood productions.
Baloch politicians and leaders share their vision of self-determination and freedom from Pakistani rule.
Innovations in technology are changing the tactics of modern-day conflict, turning the cyberworld into a new frontline.
Revealing a bygone era, we tell the story of Egypt's once-thriving Greek community.
A two-part series looking at three individuals and their 25-year, 24/7 peace vigil in front of the White House.
As France prepares for a presidential election, racism remains a topic of heated debate.
An examination of the deep wound that remains at the heart of Turkish-Armenian relations.
The story of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and its emergence into the political arena after decades of suppression.
We follow a Sesame Street composer as he learns how his music has been used to torture detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
We follow the Palestinian girls facing challenges on and off the pitch as they pursue their passion for football.
In an area 100 kilometer west of Alexandria in northern Egypt lies the famous region of el-Alamein -- scene of a mighty battle between the UK and its allies fighting German and Italian forces for control of North Africa in 1942. With no natural barriers in the desert, Rommel ordered half a million mines to be laid around the coastal town, while the British reportedly put down even more. About 70 years after the battle, the area remains riddled with debris from the hostilities -- including an estimated 17 million landmines.
We follow four survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre as they look to the future despite the pain of their past.
We follow Palestinians as they navigate the Israeli checkpoints that have become a frustrating feature of daily life.
Could the end of Muammar Gaddafi's rule help solve the mystery surrounding the fate of a missing Lebanese imam?
We follow Arabs released from Israeli jails as they attempt to adapt to their new lives on the outside.
An Argentinian woman goes in search of her Lebanese heritage and ends up uniting two families from two different worlds.
Palestinian Bedouins in the Israeli-occupied Jordan Valley struggle to cling on to an age-old way of life. Stretching from Mozambique in south-east Africa to Syria in the Middle East, the Great Rift Valley is home to the world's lowest city, Jericho, which was established over 10,000 years ago.
We follow the stories of some American Muslims caught up in the crackdown that followed the 9/11 attacks.
When love crosses the religious divide Cyprus becomes a favoured destination for Lebanese couples seeking a civil union.
Turkey and Israel were once good friends but ties have slowly soured, creating new geopolitical tensions in the region.
For many Turkish soldiers returning from the conflict in the southeast, the past is disturbingly ever present.
A Romanian journalist discovers that the dictatorship of the past still casts an influence over people's lives today.
Exploring simmering tensions between the country's Slavic-speaking majority and its ethnic Albanian minority.
Football takes supporters to great heights, but a crisis in Turkey is threatening to drag the game into disrepute.
Constant power outages mean the people of Gaza are forced to live much of their lives off the grid.
The story behind Mossad's bungled bid to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.
"This two-part film features exclusive interviews with Meshaal himself as well as with Danny Yatom, the then head of the Mossad, who masterminded the attempt to kill the Hamas leader, and who later fled to Jordan with the antidote that saved Meshaal's life. The second part of the film shows events following the failed assassination attempt, including behind-the-scenes discussions during the diplomatic struggle involving Jordan, Israel and the US. At Al Jazeera English, we focus on people and events that affect people's lives. We bring topics to light that often go under-reported, listening to all sides of the story and giving a 'voice to the voiceless.' Reaching more than 270 million households in over 140 countries across the globe, our viewers trust Al Jazeera English to keep them informed, inspired, and entertained. Our impartial, fact-based reporting wins worldwide praise and respect. It is our unique brand of journalism that the world has come to rely on. We are reshaping global media and constantly working to strengthen our reputation as one of the world's most respected news and current affairs channels."
An insight into the struggles of Germany's Turkish community as revealed through the lives of a Berlin street gang.
When a domestic worker travels home to Nepal, her employer accompanies her and gains an insight into a different world.
Journalist Gideon Levy is arguably the most hated man in Israel for his reports on the occupied Palestinian territories.
Across the world, journalism is a profession under assault - and nowhere is this more true than in the Middle East.
It has offices in 40 countries, nearly three million members and a $150m budget, but where did it all begin?
How Bosnia and Herzegovina's sitting volleyball team overcame war injuries to win gold at the 2012 London Paralympics.
With war in Syria threatening to spill over into Lebanon, we examine the two countries' shared history.
The graffiti on the walls of Beirut offers an intriguing insight into both the city and the psyche of its people.
Sweden welcomed Iraq war refugees but a growing backlash against immigration is testing the future of multiculturalism.
This history of modern Syria offers an intriguing and incisive perspective on the current war in the country.
This history of modern Syria offers an intriguing and incisive perspective on the current war in the country. (Follow up)
The story of Jovan Divjak, an ethnic Serb who defended Sarajevo against Serb forces during the Bosnian war. Jovan Divjak is an ethnic Serb and former army officer who defended Sarajevo against Serb forces during the Bosnian war in the 1990s. In Bosnia he is a hero and humanitarian who, since the war, has worked to improve the lives of citizens - Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs alike. But his native Serbia accuses him of being a war criminal and has sought his extradition. As a young conscript, Divjak served in the elite guard of Yugoslavia's first president, the country's founding father Josip Broz Tito. Under Tito's rule, Yugoslavia's ethnic divisions were kept in check and Serbs, Croats, Muslims and Slovenians came together to establish the Republic of Yugoslavia on November 25, 1942. But war changed all that and nationalist parties rose to power and fought each other for dominance. Amidst the conflicts of the 1990s Radovan Karadzic's propaganda was that co-existence with Bosnian Muslims was impossible. For Divjak, a Serb who had made Sarajevo his home, there was a hard choice to be made. On May 3, 1992, Divjak played a role in one of the war's most bitterly contested incidents, a role which was to stain his reputation. Serbian forces had taken Alija Izetbegovic, the Bosnian president, hostage in a bid to secure the release of a Serbian general. But the exchange went awry and Divjak, a deputy commander who has been handling the operation, was accused of betraying his cause. Years later after a forced exit from the army and an end to war, Divjak found solace in helping the children who were scarred by the atrocities of war through his NGO, the 'Education Builds Bosnia'. But this newfound peace was interrupted one day in March 2011 by his sudden arrest in Vienna airport, and request for his extradition to Serbia. Two decades later, Serbian authorities still held him responsible for the deaths of their soldiers in the bungled hostage exchange but a surpris
Circassians are protesting the holding of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games 150 years after being expelled from their land.
Is there a connection between Libya's worst-ever aviation disaster and the Lockerbie bombing?
After military service, many young Israelis travel abroad to distance themselves from distressing experiences.
We meet the activists using non-violent resistance to oppose the construction of Israel's separation wall.
This series traces the secret road to the Oslo Accords and asks why, 20 years on, peace remains elusive.
This series traces the secret road to the Oslo Accords and asks why, 20 years on, peace remains elusive.
As Libya emerges from the shadows of dictatorship, it must decide whether to embrace retribution or reconciliation.
The drying up of the Aral Sea was an environmental and human tragedy, but can Kazakhstan undo this man-made disaster?
In this film we follow two young girls from the minority Turkmen community in northern Afghanistan as they get the chance to attend school. Hayt Gul wants an education rather than sitting at home carpet-weaving with her mother. Nooriya wants to become a doctor. Both are keen students who seek to shine in their class. Through these two young girls, the film explores the current situation and future prospect for girls’ education in Afghanistan, and looks at the efforts of a minority to educate its children and improve their lot in a world where local and external players fight for power and influence in a dangerous and unrelenting manner.
Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, or Shabak as it is known in both Hebrew and Arabic, is one of the three branches of the Israeli General Security Service (GSS). Through personal accounts - from two former Shin Bet detainees, a former agency officer, Palestinian-Israeli lawyers and Israeli legal experts and politicians - Al Jazeera World examines the controversial organisation's methods, powers and history.
We follow one man as he becomes the only Israeli granted access to the inner sanctum of the whirling Dervish order. Miki Cohen is a 58-year-old college teacher who has 'discovered' the works of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, a 13th-century Muslim poet and Sufi mystic. Attracted by Rumi's writings and philosophy, Miki translates his works into Hebrew and practices whirling in worship. What makes Cohen's story so remarkable is that he is an Israeli. The son of holocaust survivors and a veteran of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Cohen found himself searching for answers to his spiritual identity.
Increasing numbers of immigrants are risking the treacherous journey to Italy in search of a better life in Europe.
Christians discuss the challenges they face in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Christians from Middle Eastern countries share their stories on freedom of worship and access to the Holy Land.
Palestinian Christians speak out about the obstacles facing pilgrims to sites associated with the life of Jesus.
What will become of families stranded in Vietnam since their Moroccan fathers defected from the French army in 1953?
Exclusive gated communities are springing up across Istanbul, but how are they shaping the social fabric of the city?
We trace the reasons for the split between north and South Sudan and its impact on the lives of ordinary South Sudanese.
Politicians and journalists reflect on Sudan's 2011 separation, the underlying reasons for the split, and its toll.
Undocumented migrants and refugees in Lebanon reflect on the trials of a rootless and helpless existence.
A story of migrants in Lebanon, whose dreams of finding a new life abroad often turn out to be little more than fantasy.
Tens of thousands of Greeks, often ethnic Turks, were stripped of their nationality and now face a battle to regain it.
Educated, middle-class Syrian exiles share their thoughts on the revolution and their determination to return home.
One man fights to save the life of his daughter, then himself, finding redemption in helping others avoid his own fate.
In 1944, Stalin deported 218,000 Crimean Tatars to Central Asia - we tell the story of their struggle to return home.
What happens to millions of Egyptians who are unaccounted for by the state?
A poor Kurdish family travels across Turkey searching for farm-work in exploitative conditions.
An extraordinary insight into Palestinian life in the city before 1948, revealing the loss of a culture and lifestyle.
The personal stories of three members of the Syrian opposition forces treated for critical wounds in Germany.
Israel exercises total control over Area C, which forms 61 percent of the land of the West Bank.
The 1991 and 2003 attacks on Iraq destroyed museums, libraries, theatres and heritage sites.
Brazil’s revival, despite the World Cup protests, from 1990s debt and inflation to stability and relative wealth today.
A filmmaker travels through the West Bank exploring the relationship between Palestinians and Israeli settlers.
A rare glimpse at people’s daily lives in western Algeria as we go behind the scenes at three different weddings.
Journalist Gideon Levy is arguably the most hated man in Israel for his reports on the occupied Palestinian territories.
Follow the story of exiled Uighur Muslims of Central Asia, many of whom fled Chinese control of their land in 1949.
Italian marathon runner Max Calderan goes on a spectacular Ramadan journey across the desert of the Sinai Peninsula.
Five Syrian refugees in Turkey reveal their hopes, fears and why their homeland feels like a world away.
Two Serbian Gypsies celebrate Roma culture through music.
Constant power outages mean the people of Gaza are forced to live much of their lives off the grid.
What happened to residents trapped in the besieged southern Gaza town of Khuzaa?
To what length do Palestinian prisoners in Israel go on hunger strike?
Despite government denials, this investigation uncovers evidence of slave labour in Yemen.
Bangladeshi students travel to the UK in hope of a prestigious education only to find the reality is quite different.
We follow the B'doul tribe of the ancient Jordanian city of Petra as they eke out a living in a modern-day tourist site.
The inspirational story of the daily lives of the deaf community of Gaza.
Eritreans, fleeing their own country for decades, are now using refugee camps in Sudan as a first step into Europe.
In an autonomous Spanish city on the north coast of Africa, people of four religions live together in peace.
The story of Syrians fleeing conflict, first to Libya and then to Europe on journeys fraught with danger and turmoil.
A look at the 1987-1993 Palestinian uprising, or First Intifada, through the eyes of those who lived through it.
Can a Qatari former camel herder find an alternative to the mass killing of camels underway in Australia?
Fleeing from civil war since 1991, Somalis are confronted by poverty and abuse as they seek refuge in Yemen.
The story of Morocco's Jewish community told from the perspective of those who have left, stayed or are now returning.
The stories of Palestinians deported from Israel between 1977 and 2012, their lives in exile and their longing for home.
How Egypt's most devoted football fans became a major protest group during their country's revolution and the aftermath.
Five Lebanese in Beirut reflect on how their lives have been affected by their country's civil war in the 1970s and 80s.
The music of the Algerian Sahara, known as Ahalil, is a key part of a way of life that has survived for centuries.
Al Jazeera World follows the everyday lives of Aleppo residents living amid the ongoing conflict and destruction.
The stories of three Iraqi women, forced to seek refuge in Jordan where their new lives have proved very tough indeed. 01 Apr 2015 12:55 GMT | War & Conflict, Iraq, Jordan, Syrian crisis, Humanitarian crises Before the US-led coalition invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003, Fatima Mohammed, Bushra Kazem and Ashwak Hnon were comfortably off, had strong marriages, happy homes and stable family lives in Basra, Najaf and Baghdad respectively. They belonged to a relatively small middle class that enjoyed the oil-generated benefits of Saddam Hussein's regime. But in the prolonged occupation, uncertainty and violence that followed the invasion, millions of Iraqis were displaced and many left for Syria and Jordan. There are now over 60,000 Iraqi refugees registered with aid agencies in Jordan. Fatima, Bushra and Ashwak were among those Iraqis who chose to flee and who sought refuge in Jordan. Fatima Mohammed fled from the southern Iraqi city of Basra after her first husband's body was found in a burned-out car. Bushra Kazem is a single mother raising four daughters. Hnon has six children and has not been able to send them to school since the family left Iraq in 2011. Her husband suffers from serious depression and all three women are now responsible for the welfare of their families. From Riches to Rags examines how the fallout of the Iraq invasion affected the lives of three women. It tells their personal stories of disrupted lives, traumatic escapes and battles to support their families amid a descent into near poverty, as refugees living in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Fatima, Bushra and Ashwak once employed staff and domestic help. Now they scrape together a living -supplemented by UN handouts - by working for local Jordanian middle class families, doing odd jobs like the door-to-door selling of cosmetics, cooking Iraqi food and cleaning homes. Dependent on aid, these women feel that the plight of Iraqi refugees has now been overshadowed by the conflict in Syria
In East Jerusalem, Palestinians whose houses are declared illegal by Israel are being forced to raze their own homes. The city of Jerusalem lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and property, housing and Israeli settlements are burning issues. The Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem has forced thousands of Palestinians from their homes and created a serious housing shortage. Since 1967, the Palestinian population has quadrupled, climbing to over 300,000 - nearly 40 percent of the population. Yet the Israeli municipal authorities in East Jerusalem deem that Palestinians can build property on only nine percent of the land. For Palestinians, construction permits are prohibitively expensive and bureaucratic processes make them difficult to obtain. Many Palestinians have had no choice but to build their own homes without permits, even with the threat of demolition hanging over their heads. Israel has now declared around 20,000 of these buildings to be illegal and has ordered their demolition. Rather than paying the high costs of fighting demolition orders in court, or paying the fines for getting Israeli crews to pull down their homes, Palestinian families are making the difficult choice to bring them down themselves. Forced to demolish their own homes, many have been made homeless, or pushed away from the city centre. Others have chosen to remain in the ruins of the properties they themselves have pulled down. Jerusalem: Hitting Home examines how these demolitions are not just changing the face of the city but also the lives of the people who live there. The film follows three families who have been forced to take hammers to their own homes. It traces the events that led to the demolitions, where the families have gone afterwards, and the emotional and economic impact it has had on them. The filmmaker also charts how city planning and municipal policies have led to a set of building rules that many argue are pushing Palestinians towards the out
The Nile's delta and waters nourish 11 North African countries and the river has long inspired ancient myths, poetry and the curiosity of travellers. This film takes an intimate look at the everyday lives of two families living on the Nile. Salama Saeed left school when he was 12 years old to become a fisherman. Back then, fishing was a profitable job; now, it is a hand-to-mouth existence, as fish stocks have steadily depleted. Saeed, his wife and three children live on a boat near Giza.
The story of one the UK's oldest Muslim communities - and the challenges facing their British-Arab descendants today.
The story of how Israeli settlements continue to spread into Palestinian territory despite international opposition. French producer and reporter Paul Moriera travels through the West Bank to meet Palestinians and Israeli settlers. In Hebron, Moriera sees how the old Arab city is gradually being overwhelmed by Israeli incomers, whose security forces are imposing a bizarre street-by-street apartheid on the Palestinians who have always lived there. Moriera encounters the sometimes startling intolerance of their ultra-orthodox communities.
Class dynamics are changing in Turkey.When Turkey was founded in 1923 it was on firm secular principles. Turkish women were restricted in wearing the headscarf - known as the hijab outside Turkey - in all public sector jobs and universities for most of the 20th century.During the current AKP party government, a young, confident, female, Muslim middle class has emerged, that is less worried about being socially accepted and more comfortable sharing public spaces with secularists.Hulya Aslan is the editor of Ala, a monthly fashion magazine in Istanbul that serves a growing Turkish market of Muslim women who think that fashion and Islam are compatible - 'conservative' women who want to wear the hijab but also want to dress fashionably, with colour and style.This film follows Hulya Aslan at Ala and looks at hijabi fashion, social change in Turkey and the ongoing debate about a Muslim woman's right to choose how she dresses.
Five women, Israeli and Palestinian, born in the same year but irreconcilably divided by history and events.
The story of how the women of a Kosovan village rebuilt their lives after many of their men were killed in 1999.
As the US tries to detain the whistleblower, we look at the diplomatic repercussions of tracking down Edward Snowden.
Turkey has emerged as a magnet for African migrants as they descend in their thousands on its shores every year in search of a better life.In the past five years, numbers have more than doubled as immigrants from countries like Nigeria, Uganda and Liberia throng to Istanbul - a city that offers the possibility of a steady job, paycheck and a safe living environment.Istanbul My Dream follows the story of four African migrants who have left their homes in search of social mobility, riches and even stardom.
In 1947 when the UN General Assembly voted for the partition of the region between Jews and Palestinian Arabs the land was divided on a relatively equal measure.But after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War only 22 percent of Palestinian land remained. When Israel was founded in 1948 it divided Palestinians between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, creating separate territories with very little freedom of movement between the two.In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel occupied both territories, began building settlements and appeared to implement separate policies on each.'The aim has always been to create different atmospheres and cultures; here and there,' says Dr. Nashat al-Aqtash, a political analyst and academic.The decades of separation have distanced the Palestinian communities living in the two territories who have developed distinct social and cultural identities.None of the conflicts or peace talks over the decades, including the Oslo Accords of 1993, has succeeded in changing the map or this divide.Filmmaker Asraf Mashhrawi examines the political, social and economic history of the split, analysing major events such as the Oslo Accords, the Fatah-Hamas conflict, the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the attacks of recent years - with interviews from Israeli experts like Haaretz journalist Amira Hass and lawyer Sari Bashi.
The story of political skullduggery in Yemen and the high cost to the Presidency of alleged collusion with the Houthis.
Muslims have lived in Kenya for centuries and today make up about 11 percent of the country's population. These communities live on the coast in cities like Mombasa - where nearly half of the city's inhabitants are Muslim - and in the country's northeast.Ramadan in Kenya meets Muslims living in Mombasa, Kisumu and Nairobi and captures their lives and culture in their homes, at work and in their places of worship.They talk about what aspects of Ramadan mean the most to them.Aseef Akram is a 25-year-old halal butcher living in Mombasa. He talks about the 'spirit of Ramadan' in the city, the culture of openness towards those who are fasting, and about breaking that fast with the coconut dishes of the region.'For me [during Ramadan], I tend to be most spiritually connected to my God, my creator,' says Akram.In the western city of Kisumu, Fauza Asya Kombo picks and sells bananas for a living and is raising five children on her own after her husband died.Although earning a livelihood can be a struggle, she says, 'When we've finished [iftar], we give any leftover bread to our neighbours. Food doesn't go to waste ... Wasting leads to non-belief.'Arafat bin Talebis, a sixth grader at a shelter for orphans, talks about the peace he gains from his Quranic studies and the importance of his faith in his life.'To me, the month of Ramadan acts like a guide. If I've made mistakes before Ramadan, I'll avoid making them once Ramadan starts,' he says.From the Quran memorisation competitions which attract children studying in madrassas in Tanzania and Uganda - to Akram's family using the opportunity to eat together to break their fast, Ramadan in Kenya experiences the spirituality, traditions and significance of the holy month through the eyes of individuals who observe it.
Educated women from the former Soviet republics work as nannies in Turkey to support their families back home.Subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/AJSubscribeFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/AJEnglishFind us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aljazeeraCheck our website http://www.aljazeera.com
In a bid to escape poverty and caste discrimination, some Hindu Dalits are converting to Islam and other faiths.
Four women refugees in Lebanon who have spent years raising their children in camps, with resilience and resourcefulness, hope one day to return home.
The untold story of Algerians deported by France to the Pacific island in the 1870s and their descendants today.
Between April and July 1994, more than 800,000 men, women and children, mostly from Rwanda's Tutsi minority were slaughtered.In one of the worst atrocities in recent history, Hutu paramilitaries unleashed a bloodbath, killing every person they could find, as neighbours murdered neighbours.Sparked by the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airport on 6 April 1994, Hutu extremists seized on his death to exterminate the Tutsi community.In Rwanda: From hatred to reconciliation , we explore the genocide through the prism of the media, exploring their role - both then and now.This film explores how the country's earliest print journals, followed by newspapers and radio, all played a major part in reinforcing prejudices, inciting racial hatred and fanning the flames of violence.The Catholic church and its journal Kinyamateka, the country's first periodical, are now seen as playing a vital role in the creation of racist ideology.Produced in the 1930s under Belgian rule - one of Kinyamateka's early journalists, Gregoire Kayibanda, would later become the country's first president after independence.'[Kayibanda] used to encourage the Hutu to expel the Tutsi or fight them, viciously.' says Jill Bayafra from Rwanda University. 'He used to compare them to snakes.'In the 1960s, radio would become a powerful means to spread hate and when the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), made up of exiled Tutsis, invaded in 1990, Radio Rwanda stepped up its anti-Tutsi propaganda.In June 1993, a new radio station, Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC), encouraged people to arm themselves and attack Tutsis.At the height of the genocide, it broadcast lists of people to be killed and instructed killers on where to find them.'Feeling pressured' says Emmanuel Ndaysaba, 'I took my sword and joined the militias.'Twenty years on, and with many of those responsible serving sentences for war crimes, the media now spreads a new spirit of recon
An in-depth look at the work and views of the man described as 'one of the greatest minds in human history'.
Nearly half-a-million blind people live in Turkey. While attitudes are gradually changing in Turkey, awareness of blindness tends to lag behind awareness and understanding of disability in some other parts of the world.In Seeing Isn't Everything four blind people living in Istanbul talk about how they are all too often defined through their disability and want to challenge social perceptions about what it means to live without sight.One of them is Burcak Souoglu who lost her sight aged four. She is now a single mother after her husband left her with two children. She works on the switchboard at Marmara University. She lacks confidence out on the often frenetic streets of Istanbul - but as a devoted mother derives immense satisfaction from raising her two children.Burcak's younger sister, Gamze, has five percent of her sight. 'I can distinguish big objects…and also the main colours… When you're a teenager you take your physical appearance very seriously…but you don't know what you look like,' she says. Still Gamze, like the other three characters in this film, exudes positivity.'Gaining pleasure from something isn't always related to seeing. Seeing isn't everything.' All four of them talk about their personal strategies for leading full lives and challenging perceptions about the blind, particularly in Turkey.
Switzerland is proud of being a democracy, of being internationally neutral and of not having been involved in conflict since a civil war in 1848. But is still has the second largest armed force per head of population in the world. Why?Military service is mandatory with almost all eligible males trained as soldiers and women also serving as volunteers: 'For me, joining the army was patriotic decision,' says Sergeant Laetitia Geiser. 'I'm intrigued when it comes to serving my country.'Military training camps are a common across Switzerland, as are civilians carrying shotguns over their shoulders.Behind only the US and Yemen in the number of guns per capita; there are around 29 guns for every 100 people. And in a country of only 8 million people, that means at least one in four households has a gun.The pro-military culture has made target shooting a popular national sport, even amongst children. 'I inherited my passion for shooting from my parents,' says nine-year old Luca.Despite the strong gun culture, there are rarely more than forty gun homicides a year, compared with the US - with its 30,000 gun murders a year and 31 every day.Nonetheless, a fresh debate over gun control has been rekindled in Switzerland.Sandro Cattacin from Geneva University doesn't believe keeping arms at home creates greater security; and anti-gun lobbyist Amanda Gavilanes launched a campaign five years ago with the slogan 'for a better protection from armed violence.'But with guns so engrained in Swiss culture and the crime statistics so relatively low, is it a debate that will ever lead anywhere?
Generations of Lebanese migrants call Africa home. We look at their achievements, challenges and search for identity.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound – of historical and religious importance to both Muslims and Jews and a point of tension between Israelis and Palestinians.-Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe-Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish-Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera-Check out our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
The story of King Idris I who unified Libya and became its first - and last - king before being toppled by Gaddafi in 1969.-Subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe-Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/AJEnglish-Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera-Check our website http://www.aljazeera.com/
The story of King Idris I, who unified Libya and became its first king in 1951 before being toppled by Gaddafi in 1969.-Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe-Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish-Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera-Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
For the past 16 years, Huseyin Gunduz has dreamt of building a mosque in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.Having had to perform congregational prayers in factories, community centres and people's basements; he has spent years campaigning and fundraising to build a place of worship and make his dream a reality.In The Mosque of West Amsterdam, we follow Huseyin as work finally nears completion on the Western Mosque.'The thought of the outcome and success leaves me speechless,' he says. 'I believe we'll be rewarded in the afterlife for our contribution and efforts.'Known locally as Westermoskee, the structure - modeled on Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia - is in urgent need of funds to be completed.From its conception, in the early 1990s, to the present day - construction has been fraught with controversy, as well as political and financial difficulties.Planning problems, corruption scandals, local opposition and anti-Islamic prejudice have plagued the project, halting development for nearly a decade.The extreme-right leader Geert Wilders, whose Freedom Party is riding high in the opinion polls, has also been an outspoken critic, leading to growing local opposition.This film looks at how Huseyin tries to raise the capital necessary for development while trying to bridge relations with residents who are growing increasingly weary of the mosque.- Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera- Check out our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Moroccan family law is built around the Moudawana, a family code that governs marriage, divorce, child custody, maintenance and the division of assets.Adapting well-established traditions, it has been in existence since the 1950s; but, historically, marriage - and divorce - had always been in the hands of men.But in recent decades the Moudawana has faced pressure from civil society groups and women's rights campaigners to introduce reforms, prompting King Mohamed VI to appoint a commission to examine its principles and practice in October 2003.Its findings have resulted in more rights for women and updates to many of its rules, particularly in introducing new types of divorce, including for 'irreconcilable differences'.In Marriage and Divorce in Morocco we look at a host of areas affected by the family code including registration of marriage, division of assets, maintenance, domestic violence, rape, and the effects on men who find themselves in abusive relationships.We hear from lawyers, judges, social commentators and also ex-wives and ex-husbands - like Fadma Amzil, who had a Fatiha marriage, but which was not registered with the civil authorities.'I only had a Fatiha marriage,' she says. 'He got married to another woman and their marriage was registered. My situation would have been different if my marriage had been registered.'We also speak to critics of the code who argue that some discrimination has survived the 2004 reforms.We hear from the family of Amina Filali, a 16-year-old whose case grabbed headlines when she took her own life after being forced to marry her alleged rapist.A loophole in the law, penal code article 475, meant a rapist could evade prosecution if he married his victim.This film looks at the human stories behind the Moudawana, how it has modernised family law, and at the progress it still probably needs to make.
Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish community, persecuted and even deported last century, continues its fight for recognition.- Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera- Check out our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Moroccans who have spent all their working lives in France and the Netherlands are now facing discrimination against their pensions in what has been slammed as a form of 'retirement apartheid'.Retired French and Italians can live anywhere in Europe without it affecting their domestic pension entitlements; but north Africans who've lived and worked in France for more than 40 years are denied the same rights.Instead they face a stark choice - return to their home countries and lose large slices of their pension and face medical bills they can't afford; or remain in, say, France with their full pensions but away from their families back home.'I'm sick,' says 75-year-old Mohamed Air Wakrim who's lived in France for 45 years. 'If I stay in Morocco for more than six months, they'll find out and take away my rights.'Contrast this with the treatment of Europeans and you have what some people have called 'retirement apartheid'.'In Tunisia, I only have to pay four or five percent tax,' says Italian pensioner Mauro Sansovini. 'In Italy, the tax rate on my pension income is between 40 and 45 percent.'Salim Fkire who heads the campaign group 'Moroccans Residing Abroad' sums up the situation: 'Mohamed and Patrick both worked in the same factory, got the same pension and paid the same taxes. Today, Patrick has the right to live permanently in Agadir. But Mohamed can't stay in his home town for more than six months. After that he’ll have to return to France or else he’ll lose his social rights.'In The Retirement Trap, we look at the struggles of Moroccans to redress this pension injustice and escape the retirement trap they find themselves in.- Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera- Check out our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Seven disabled Palestinians negotiate the challenges of life in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank.
Akincilar is a small village on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.It has lived through Cyprus' turbulent, modern history, including the island's civil war in the 1960s and its division in the 1970s when Turkish Cypriots moved north, and Greek Cypriots moved south.Akincilar, like many rural communities the world over, has experienced the outflow of young people seeking opportunities in big cities.But Akincilar's decline from a bustling town of 5,000 to a village of 350, almost frozen in time, has to do with its geographical location, the division of Cyprus, and the island's complex history.This film explores Akincilar's past and present through the eyes of three residents.
Mayotte is a magnet for Comoros islanders who risk their lives crossing hazardous seas in search of a better life.
Five young Arabs from countries that went through the 2011 revolutions reflect on what has happened five years on.
In the heart of Egypt's bustling capital Cairo, only very few female taxi drivers brave the unforgiving traffic.Um Waleed is one of them. Driven by force of circumstance and the need to make a living, she went down a road that very few other women in the Arab world would contemplate.This Egyptian woman has been driving for over 30 years and first bought a taxi when her father encouraged her as he had no sons. This kind of work is dominated by men - but the discrimination she's encountered along the way has only her made her more determined.'When I went to the traffic department to take my test, men were making fun of me. 'Go peel onions and cook cabbage', they said. This just made me more determined. Their comments and the way they looked at me motivated me even more,' she says.Um Samah's husband used to drive a minibus but was diagnosed with glaucoma. Hiring someone else to work the bus was more trouble than it was worth, so she started driving without a licence. After a run-in with the police, she was later able to pass her driving test and now drives the bus legally.She wouldn't want any of her children to do what she has done because it is so tough, but she has no regrets: 'If I could go back in time, I'd do the same thing. This is the only work I can do... I like my job but sometimes I cry, tears run down my face while I drive, because I didn't stay at home like other women do,' she says.Dalia is 20 and decided to drive the family auto-rickshaw because her younger brother was being bothered by other drivers. She drives wearing an abaya to try and cut down on harassment - but that doesn't stop other drivers trying to run her off the road.'It's not the driving itself. The problem is the people. A day doesn't go by without fighting. I face about 20 fights a day,' she says. Away from work, Dalia likes to go to the beauty salon: 'I like Dalia when she is not driving the auto-rick because she gets to act like a lady. The Dalia that drives the auto-rick acts more like
The American University of Beirut (AUB) was founded a century and a half ago and is the oldest university in Lebanon.It was established in December 1866 as the Syrian Protestant College. Since then, almost 65,000 students from around a hundred countries have graduated from AUB. This year, some 8,000 Arab men and women will study there.This film explores AUB, one of the leading academic institutions in the Middle East, and some of the ways its history has been interwoven with that of Lebanon itself. We explore the history of the American University of Beirut and whether it has played a role in US interests in Lebanon and the Middle East since its founding nearly 150 years ago.
Waqf, an Islamic philanthropic tradition, was abolished in Tunisia in 1957. Now, there are calls to restore it.
In March 2011, protests broke out in Syria which have led to arguably the worst refugee crisis since World War Two. While millions of the Syrians affected by the uprising remain internally displaced, the majority have fled the country, seeking refuge in neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon.According to official figures from UNICEF, children currently account for just over half of the total number of refugees. These children are now at the real risk of becoming a 'lost generation'.'If we don't provide them with education, they're lost. This is the generation that's going to re-build their country in a few years. They are the future. The children feel that they can't dream, that they can't hope. They are the future generation who are supposed to re-build. The children feel their horizons and hopes are limited,' says Soha Bsat El Boustany, UNICEF, Lebanon.In this film, children from across Syria who are now in Lebanon and Jordan reflect on what little they remember of the lives they left behind and the difficulties of receiving an education in their current situation
Medical students in an Egyptian university are packed into a small lecture room. A grainy presentation is projected on to the wall. The lesson, taught in English, is entirely theoretical - much like most of the medical-related courses - and demonstration equipment is also faulty. Dr Rami Said is a product of Egypt's tertiary education system.'That's what happens in medical school. We finish our studies and are supposed to be doctors. That's our dream,' he says. 'Six years of study plus a year of residency and we still don't know anything.' Said's view is shared by many others. Dr Nadia al-Ansari works in the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University in Cairo.She says that 'today, professors don't have the time to teach the way they used to. University teachers are not dedicated or keen to teach any more. Medical students take private lessons, as in the humanities, engineering or business faculties. No one is dedicated the way they used to be.' A lack of government funding is not only undermining health provision and affecting the quality of doctor training, it's also spawned a black market in the sales of human organs - and a bizarre trade in 'patients for hire'.In the Qasr al-Aini Hospital, a familiar face walks the corridors, seen most frequently during exam season. Ahmad al-Saed Ahmad is a professional patient, more commonly known as a 'consultation subject'.In return for treating his chronic chest complaint, Ahmad - who is on the books of an agent organising similar cases for this kind of work - is paid by students at the hospital, to allow them to examine him in preparation for their final medical exams.He uses his cut of the money to pay his own medical bills. The rest is pocketed by the agent and universities taking part in the back-door process.But Ahmad's role - and that of other consultation subjects like himself - doesn't end there. 'I started memorising the medical terms until I knew the cases by heart,' he says, 'We learned them so we could teach them
In 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their country during the ‘Nakba’, the ‘catastrophe’, the founding of the state of Israel. The majority of Palestinians in Lebanon retain the hope of one day returning home - known internationally as ‘the right of return’ - but almost seven decades later, refugee camps have become part of the urban landscape of Lebanon. Over a quarter-of-a-million Palestinians still live in the 12 UN-registered camps and 42 other so-called ‘gatherings’ across Lebanon. Lebanon is their home but any chance of becoming a genuine part of the communities they live in is constantly undermined by strict laws ‘protecting’ Lebanese citizens’ rights, general safety and well-being.
How did Yemen's Houthis take Sanaa so easily? Was former President Saleh part of an unlikely alliance with the group?
The Libyan revolution started in February 2011. Misrata in north western Libya was one of the main strongholds against the then President Muammar Gaddafi, along with the city of Benghazi. In this film, we meet some of the people who not only witnessed the 13 week battle for the city but took part in some of the fiercest fighting of the civil war, with the minimum of training and experience.
Bread is a matter of life and death in Egypt, once the provider of grain to the whole Roman Empire but now the biggest importer of wheat in the world
This is the story of the secret deal between the British and French, concluded in May 1916, which aimed to carve up the Middle East in ways that most benefited the two European powers.Modern world history has been heavily influenced by events in the Middle East, whose strategic importance has been magnified by both a global dependence on oil and the Israel-Palestine conflict.A hundred years ago, World War I saw Britain, France and Russia locked in combat with Germany, Austro-Hungary and the Ottomans. As the war in Europe fought itself almost to a standstill, Britain cast a strategic eye towards key areas of the Ottoman Empire. Should the allies be victorious, it would be important to claim the most strategically valuable territory - Greater Syria and Mesopotamia - particularly in relation to the French.The prime minister, Herbert Asquith, turned to a young British politician, Sir Mark Sykes, who'd become chief government adviser on the 'Near East'. In late 1915 and early 1916, he and the French lawyer-turned-diplomat, Francois Georges-Picot, would negotiate the terms of a secret agreement with potentially far-reaching consequences.
The story of the secret century-old deal which aimed to carve up the Middle East in ways that still reverberate today.
Yehia Mohamed Elias, a former Comoran minister for education, married his wife Zakiya 20 years ago. He married his 'new' wife Zuleikha just two years ago.But now Elias and his wives have decided to take part in the great Comoran tradition of the 'grand marriage'. The 'grand marriage' is an age-old institution which has been passed from generation to generation on the islands of Grande Comore, Moheli and Anjouan.It's a symbol of social status on the islands and a must for any self-respecting Comoran, a commitment not even the President of the Republic can avoid embracing.A Comoran man can only wear certain elemens of the national dress or stand in the first line at the mosque if he's had a grand marriage.There are two types of legal unions in the Comoros - the small marriage and the grand one.The ordinary wedding is an intimate gathering and one which has to satisfy the appetite for celebration until the married couple decide it’s time for - or they can afford - the grand marriage.This is normally at least a year after the smaller ceremony and involves a major series of parties, processions and gatherings that can last up to two weeks and take over the whole village. The grand marriage is as important for the bride as it is for the groom, with some beauty preparations starting as long as six months before the event. Other women might only take a week of pre-nuptial make-up preparations, depending on the couple's social and financial status.The grand marriage certainly doesn't come cheap and Elias claims to have spent all his money, over €20,000, on the wedding - not much by modern international standards but a small fortune on the Comoros. These festivities are a huge extravagance, particularly on these islands which are among the 20 poorest nations in the world.But while half the population continues to live beneath the poverty line, the grand marriage remains an important beacon of Comoran social standing.
Once a year, for a whole month, Muslims around the world observe the holy month of Ramadan. Family, community work, prayer, reflection and, most importantly, fasting from sunrise to sunset, are the main elements of the month.However, observing Ramadan is not always straightforward in countries where Muslims are in the clear minority.So, how do Muslims in the western world put their faith into practice when lifestyles can often be so differentRamadan has recently fallen in July and August, summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the south.Fasting during daylight hours in Iceland where there can be 24-hours sunshine in summer, contrasts sharply with the short days of the New Zealand winter - but each posts different challenges for the minority Muslim communities of the two countries at opposite ends of the globe. There are almost 50,000 Muslims in New Zealand now, one percent of the population.The numbers of indigenous Maori converts are also on the rise, some claiming it helps them connect with the true nature of their heritage.Carlos Brokeen, now known as Abdulaziz, his extended Maori family and friends in Hastings on the South Island, are relatively recent converts.'People look at me like I'm not a Maori because of my clothing,' says Carlos, indicating his salwar kameez. 'But then they've got to turn around and look at what they wearing.'With a troubled past including gang violence and drug abuse, Islam has brought him and his family a fresh start and a new inner peace, especially evident during Ramadan.'Once I became a Muslim it became obligatory upon me to seek knowledge. So now I know more about my history than I did before I was a Muslim. I feel strong and more intact with my Maoridom,' he continues. For the family, Ramadan can be both the best and hardest time of year. It's sometimes difficult to cram everything into a shortened winter day.But over in Iceland, the day sometimes never ends for its estimated 1,200 Muslims.Sverrir Ibrahim Agnarsson came t
Israel is a nation of immigrants, and first-generation Israelis comprise only 32 percent of the population.Integration into Israeli society has been one of its main political goals and, under the leadership of founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion, Israel was going to be 'the great Jewish melting pot', but it has come under severe strain almost since its inception in 1948.'There's a gap in Israeli society,' says Karen Amit, an Israeli of Moroccan origin.'They support the arrival of immigrants in theory and love them but, in practice, the ordinary Israeli doesn't open his arms to welcome them. Research about Israeli attitude towards immigrants from Ethiopia has shown surprising results. On the one hand, they love them and have no problem with them. But when asked if they'd accept an Ethiopian neighbour or their children being at school with Ethiopians, their reply was negative.'Jewish people living in Israel today are largely divided into three main groups: Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi.The Ashkenazim are from Germany, France and Eastern Europe. The term 'Ashkenazi' comes from the Hebrew word for Germany. Most American Jews today are Ashkenazim, descended from those who arrived from Europe in the mid-1800s and early 1900s.The Sephardim are from Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East. The term 'Sephardi' comes from the Hebrew word for Spain. Many Jews fled Spain after the end of Muslim rule there in 1492.Sephardic Jews are often subdivided into Sephardim and Mizrahim, from North Africa and the Middle East. The term 'Mizrahi' comes from the Hebrew word for eastern.There are claims of discrimination against the Mizrahi community in Israel.'Discrimination and inequality were always a common practice. Western [Ashkenazi] Jews look down on others. They don't want to grant the Mizrahis power ... They want to fill their prisons with them rather than offering them education, culture and guidance,' says Pinhas Aloshi, an Israeli of Tunisian origin.David Hetsron
On July 8, 2014, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge, aimed at stopping alleged rocket fire from Gaza into the occupied territories.One of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip, Shujayea, was claimed by Israel to be the site of Hamas 'terror tunnels'. The attack started late on July 19, initiating 24 hours of sustained air bombardment and artillery fire.An American military officer talking to Al Jazeera said 11 Israeli artillery battalions fired around 7,000 shells into Shujayea over that 24-hour period, in which at least 65 Palestinians were killed and 288 wounded.One paramedic reported over 200 calls for help at the peak of demand, one from virtually every house on targeted streets.The emergency services responded to every callout with scant regard for their own safety.In this film, cameraman Khaled Hamad joins local paramedics in Shujayea as they attend to the dead and wounded at the height of the raid. Risking his life, he documents the atrocities committed against civilians in the neighbourhood during Operation Protective Edge.A number of journalists were killed. News photographer Rami Rayan was killed whilst shooting stills of a busy market where locals were shopping during a brief humanitarian truce.Knowing the risks, Hamad continues to film until his camera dramatically captures the raid in which he and paramedic Fouad Jaber come under direct attack.Paramedics, Hamad's fellow journalists and family all maintain that Israel targeted journalists in order to try and minimise coverage of what the Palestinians described as a 'massacre'.Most of the footage in the film is Hamad's, his camera never stops shooting even after he is struck, and continues rolling long after he has taken his final breath.
Farah is a young girl from Beit Lahia, a city located in the Gaza Strip, close to the Israeli border and in the midst of much of the turmoil that occurs in the area. Farah's mother, grandfather, aunt and three uncles were all killed in the same attack that injured Farah, causing her severe third degree burns on parts of her body.The Palestine Children's Relief Fund was able to help Farah, securing her safe passage from Gaza and sponsoring her travel and treatment in San Diego, California. With her grandmother accompanying her, Farah is hosted by Arab-American families in the city as part of the arrangement.While staying with her first host family, Farah is being examined by a plastic surgeon, a difficult process for a child surrounded by unfamiliar faces. A month later she is taken in by a new family - the Jubrans.Former nurse, Amal Jubran, is a Lebanese Christian, born in Haifa. Throughout her nine-month ordeal, the whole Jubran family becomes very attached to Farah as she makes great strides in both her recovery and development as a child.When she returns to her family in Gaza, Amal finds it hard to move on; but almost three later, she seizes the opportunity to visit Farah - only to have her worst fears realised. Farah has readjusted to life in Gaza with her new stepmother and extended family and doesn't appear to remember Amal or her time in California at all.Amal is also not satisfied with the follow-up care or general lifestyle Farah is being afforded back in her home town.Are Amal's expectations too high And is contentment a subjective emotion
Miki Cohen is a 58-year-old college teacher who has 'discovered' the works of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, a 13th-century Muslim poet and Sufi mystic. Attracted by Rumi's writings and philosophy, Miki translates his works into Hebrew and practices whirling in worship. What makes Cohen's story so remarkable is that he is an Israeli. The son of holocaust survivors and a veteran of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Cohen found himself searching for answers to his spiritual identity. 'I was in the Israeli army in the '73 war. And the war mentality, the killing mentality, the feeling that we are on one side victims and on the other side we are the oppressors. So, what are we So I started, you know, looking for bigger answers let's say or deeper .... For many years I was looking in many places,' he explains. Along with several other Israelis, he undertakes a spiritual search and is attracted by the mysticism of Sufism. But Miki goes a step further. He travels to Konya in central Turkey, the resting place of Rumi and a city once known as the 'citadel of Islam' with a reputation for religious conservatism. It is the centre for the Mevlevi Sufi order of Islam. Miki becomes one of few outsiders - and certainly the only Israeli - to be granted access to the inner sanctum of the whirling Dervishes.
Three years on from the dramatic attack on Rabaa Field Hospital by Egyptian Special Forces, memories of the day remain as vivid as ever for those who witnessed the events unfold. On August 14th 2013, protest encampments around the hospital were bulldozed and over a thousand protestors killed over the course of ten hours. Human Rights Watch labelled it 'one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history' and claimed it was 'a violent crackdown planned at the highest levels of the Egyptian government'. The Special Forces carried out the attack in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, with armoured personnel carriers, bulldozers, ground troops and snipers.
Two years on, a graphic and harrowing look behind the scenes at the Shifah Hospital in Gaza during the seven weeks of Israeli attacks in July and August 2014. The Shifah is Gaza's biggest and oldest medical facility and the dead and injured were brought there day and night during almost two months of bombardment by Israeli forces. Thousands also took refuge in and around the hospital while Palestinian medics often put in 30 hour shifts. The conflict in Gaza in the summer of 2014 claimed 2,220 lives, two-thirds of whom were civilians. Over 11,000 more were injured and many of these were treated at the Shifah Hospital. Space, medicines, equipment and beds were all limited, power cuts frequent and the Out Patients department took a direct hit. Here, cameras record the suffering, chaos and distress - and we hear from Norwegian anaesthetist and trauma expert Dr. Mads Gilbert. A frequent visitor to the Shifah until his ban by Israel in November 2014, Gilbert brings desperately-needed supplies - but also joins the Palestinian doctors in the constant, brutal decision-making about which patients should live and who should be left to die.
An insight into Palestinian weddings, uniting faiths and communities, and upholding traditions as a form of resistance.
The refugee crisis triggered by the continuing conflict in Syria has reached epic proportions in 2016. The death toll in the Mediterranean has risen steadily in recent years; and according to a UNHCR report, reached the 10,000 mark in the two-and-a-half years up to June 2016 But the numbers succeeding in completing the hazardous sea journey and landing in Italy, largely on the island of Lampedusa, have also continued to increase – and this has challenged Italy's preparedness to accept, process and accommodate them. While the Mediterranean crisis has deepened, the numbers fleeing Syria and taking the land route through Turkey have also mounted. The powerful images of homeless adults and children queuing and camping at the borders of eastern Europe meant the world could no longer ignore the scale of the refugee crisis. This human fall-out was also too much for many of these countries that were simply not prepared - practically or politically – for the nature or numbers of the tens of thousands of displaced people. The way European Union deals with fingerprinting and asylum applications was also seriously challenged. This film follows two Syrian refugees trying to reach Europe – one by sea, the other by land. The film-makers use hidden cameras to observe people-smugglers doing deals with desperate refugees in both Libya and Turkey. Muhannad Ahmed pays them to travel on an overcrowded boat from Zuwara on the Libyan coast to Italy. The small fishing vessel has a capacity of 300 passengers – but on this trip 1,068 refugees were on board, including 193 children. No surprise, then, that it leaked and almost sank in the Mediterranean before being rescued by Italian coastguards. Muhannad secretly films the harrowing journey, aware that his phone may be confiscated if he’s spotted and clear evidence of the blatant exploitation by the people-smugglers lost. Muhannad manages to travel on through Italy, filming as he goes, and then though France to Germany. Exhausted a
As the Armenian economy continues to struggle, as do its people. Over a third of the country's population lives under the poverty line and the price of common goods shows no sign of moderation. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians have immigrated to neighbouring and far away countries, and although the border with Turkey has been closed since 1993, many continue to make the short journey over - the proximity from home a draw-factor for those who can't bear to move further away. This film tells the poignant story of two Armenian women unable to survive at home and who leave their families to join the many economic migrants with hopes of a better life for their families. Anahit Donoyan lost thirty family members in an Armenian earthquake, after her husband passed away at a mere 50 years old. When she first moved to Istanbul, manual labour was how she earned her keep. 'I worked in a factory and at a restaurant. I cleaned hallways at night. I took care of babies. I would steam corn and sell it by the sea. Then I was a housekeeper. All kinds of work. I'm not ashamed because I was providing for my children,' says Donoyan. Now, too old for such physical roles, she ekes out a living selling Armenian food products to other immigrants, not unlike herself, out of a suitcase on the streets of Istanbul. She has lived and worked illegally in Turkey for 18 years, avoided trouble with the authorities and still tries to support her family in Armenia and Russia. 'I've been setting up a stall and selling my goods here for five years. No one's ever asked me what I was doing here. Never. Everyone's fond of me and I'm fond of them.' Karine Galstyan is also Armenian and came to Turkey looking for work in 2004. After marrying a Turkish man, her residency and work status are a lot more stable, allowing her easier transport in and out of Turkey and Armenia. 'It was very difficult for me. I would lie in bed at night and my mind was in Armenia with my children. But, as a mother, I suffered to
A look at opposing sides of Catalan bullfighting, to some a cruel sport, to others a revered Spanish tradition. Editor's note: On 20th October 2016, Spain's Constitutional Court overturned the ban against bullfighting in Catalonia which lawmakers approved six years ago. The Court ruled that bullfighting is enshrined in Spanish heritage and therefore any decision to ban the practice can only be taken by the Spanish central government. This film was made before the ban was overturned.
The story of Somalia's decline from stability to chaos and the problems facing its people at home and abroad.
"The ongoing civil war has caused serious damage to Somalia's infrastructure and economy. Thousands of Somalis have either left as economic migrants or fled as refugees. Most spent months, if not years, in refugee camps aboard. Around 200,000 Somalis refugees have fled to Yemen and roughly 50,000 to the UAE. There are around 150,000 Somalis living in Canada, 100,000 in the UK and 85,000 in the US. Within Somali, more than a million people are internally displaced. "There are more than 1.1 million people displaced from their homes and their original places of living. 1.1 million people. There's certainly nearly that same number who are reliant upon food assistance from the United Nations agency and other donors, nearly a million people who can't meet their own food needs," says Nicholas Kay, United Nations special representative for Somalia. Somalia receives aid from both the UN and the Arab League - of which it is a member - how it's allocated and where it goes can sometimes appear inconsistent. Many Somalis have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, hoping to return to Somalia once the civil war dies down. Ethiopia has become home to 4.6 million Somalis and Kenya to over 2 million. After a series of Al-Shabaab attacks in Kenya starting in 2011, the Kenyan government began ordering Somalis back into refugee camps and some to return to Somalia. Other Somalis have even fled to war-torn Libya, a hub for human traffickers who export them to the full. From there, they must make the often treacherous sea journey to Europe and then by land to onward destinations. Those who survive can encounter a wide range of problems - but sometimes find help from established Somali communities. With the collapse of government, Somalis have often turned to their tribes, clans and sub-clans to fill the void, and clan allegiances can extend beyond Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya into the diaspora. "The clan is a wonderful form of insurance," says the BBC's Africa Editor,
The stories of Yaya Toure and Yacine Brahimi, whose lives have been transformed by their glittering careers in football.
Two more stories of lives transformed by outstanding careers in football.
An insight into a rural community in western Turkey which is losing its livelihood, population and hope for the future. Avsar is a small village in south-western Turkey which, like many rural communities around the world, is gradually losing its livelihood, its population and much of its hope for the future. It has depended on cotton farming for centuries, but times have changed. Turkey's agriculture used to be the biggest contributor to the country's economy and in the 1920s, farm labourers formed three-quarters of the workforce, but now they are under a quarter.
'War on terror' or competition for natural resources? A look at the US and French military presence in Africa. Africa remains a key territory on the global chessboard of the 21st century. Rich in oil and natural resources, the continent holds a strategic position. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to six of the world's 10 fastest growing economies. North Africa counts with vast oil and natural gas deposits, the Sahara holds the most strategic nuclear ore, and resources like coltan, gold, copper among many others are abundant in the continent.
The stories of five Lebanese women struggling with the complex systems of divorce within a multi-faith community.
We investigate the ISIL cell responsible for the attacks in Paris and Brussels.
Lebanese and Egyptians discover their family history through old photos and tales of the studios where they were taken.
The poignant stories of Palestinian prisoners in Israel and the effects of imprisonment on them and their families.
The life and struggles of King Hussein of Jordan, from the assassination of his grandfather to the rise of the PLO.
The story of Jordan's king from 1952 to 1999, a major political figure in the cauldron of the Middle East and never far from a crisis at home and abroad (2/2)
The story of Abdul Hamid al-Sarraj who used fear and torture to turn 1950s Syria into a police state.
"A Somali in America" documents the experience of Ali Warsame, a Somali refugee who gained residency in the United States in 2015, but is re-assessing his new life now that Donald Trump is president. While in a detention camp in Ukraine, Ali was told he'd be moving to the US through the United Nations refugee resettlement programme. Ali remembers getting the official notification on Eid Day in 2013: "In my life, I never thought that I will be in the USA," he says, because many others before him had been rejected. He moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2013 and began a new life with his housemates, Prince and Sadik, who had had their own difficult and dangerous journeys getting there.
The stories of Syrians, Iraqis and Egyptians seeking passports from other countries and emigrating to Georgia, Turkey and Canada since the 2011 Arab Spring.
The story of the Palestinian village of Qaryut in the Occupied West Bank, attacked by nearby Jewish settlers and designated an archaeological site by Israel.
Waqf, an Islamic philanthropic tradition, was abolished in Tunisia in 1957. Now, there are calls to restore it. Giving to charity is a central tenet of Islam. One form of giving is Waqf, a tradition of permanently endowing property dating back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad. In Tunisia, Waqf has had a long and, at times, controversial history.
Parisians, many of Arab descent, have been marching in the streets of the capital in protest at Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, in blockaded Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. Paris is a cosmopolitan city and certain areas of France are extremely ethnically diverse. Some cities like Marseille have large Muslim, immigrant populations and while the figures are much lower for the capital, the question of identity is now a burning issue for many young people whose parents emigrated from the MENA region in the 1960s and 70s. France today is arguably still quite mono-cultural. Nationalism is on the rise across Europe and Marine Le Pen of the right-wing National Front is a leading contender in the upcoming presidential elections. The hijab is banned in high schools and government offices, as is the burkini on some beaches. This film is about the combined effect of growing Islamophobia, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the plight of the Palestinians and the 2011 Arab revolutions on the young middle and working class from immigrant backgrounds.
A rare and exclusive insight into an Iranian Kurdish political party in exile in northern Iraq which has recently renewed its military activity. In this film, Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Salam Hindawi gains access to the little-known but long-established Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan - or Hadaka, to use its Kurdish name. Hadaka was founded in 1945 and is a left-wing group that wants Kurdish self-determination in Iran. In 1946, it briefly created a Kurdish republic in the western Iranian city of Mahabad, but when this was overturned a year later, Hadaka almost disappeared as a political entity. However, it managed to survive and was reorganised in the 1960s. It took part in the Iranian revolution in 1979, but Ayatollah Khomeini refused Kurdish demands, suppressed Kurdish political parties and forced Hadaka into exile.
An investigation into who and what's behind the rise of anti-Islamic feeling in the US - what they think, how they operate and where their funding comes from.
Survivors of the Omarska concentration camp tell chilling personal stories of their incarceration and ill-treatment at the start of the Bosnian War in 1992.
Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Tamer Almisshal investigates a confrontation in 2013 that highlights the serious tensions in Lebanese politics, the rise and role of Hezbollah, the emergence of Salafi-inspired groups and the depth of the country’s continuing sectarian divide. What became known as the Battle of Abra is supposed to have begun with the killing of three soldiers in an attack by armed supporters of the conservative Sunni cleric Ahmed al-Assir. They’re alleged to have attacked an army checkpoint in Sidon’s Abra neighbourhood on June 23, 2013. Two days of intense fighting followed, resulting in the deaths of at least 17 Lebanese soldiers, more than an estimated 30 of al-Assir’s supporters, two civilians and (according to some accounts) two men associated with Hezbollah. The fighting was the culmination of tension which had been building for the previous year, with al-Assir seemingly always at the centre of the storm. Accounts of the Battle of Abra vary but nearly four years on, the question as to who really fired the first shot still seems to remain unanswered. Al-Assir’s supporters accuse Hezbollah of provoking it - and the Lebanese army of denying the armed Shia faction was involved at all.
The story of Madeleine, a teenage Palestinian girl forced to take over the family fishing business when her father is badly injured in an Israeli attack.
The story of four bikers who fought on different sides of the Lebanese Civil War finding friendship and a common cause in the local Harley Davidson Club.
Libya's Shifting Sands is a two-part series that offers a rare glimpse into the fight against The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in two strategically important cities of Derna and Sirte.
How a young girl was rescued from the rubble of her home in Shujayea after an Israeli bomb killed most of her family.
Denied citizenship, forced from their homes, and subjected to cruelty; we investigate the plight of Myanmar's Rohingya.
The story of Syria's Turkmen minority, their persecution under the Assad regime and struggle to survive the ongoing war.
What drives foreign nationals to join the Israeli army, both as paid soldiers and unpaid volunteers?
The story of two Moroccan men so obsessed with betting on horses that it has split their families and ruined their lives.
How four young Omani women sailors challenge stereotypes and push the limits to represent their country internationally.
The story of the Chinese community in Egypt which has grown exponentially in the past 20 years with an increase of import-export businesses and overall trade.
The story of Shula Cohen, aka The Pearl, who spied for the Israelis in Lebanon for 14 years. When Shula Cohen was arrested for espionage in 1961, Beirut society was shocked. How could such an elegant, classy, high society woman turn out to be an Israeli spy? Shulami, "Shula", Cohen was born of Jewish parents in Argentina and grew up in Israel. At 16, she was married off to a wealthy Lebanese Jewish businessman, Josef Kishik, and moved to Beirut.
A hundred years since Britain's infamous declaration, its repercussions are still felt across the Middle East today. The Balfour Declaration was a public promise by the British government during World War One, announcing support for the establishment of "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. Palestine was still a part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, with a minority Jewish population.
How Palestinians serving long sentences in Israeli jails enable their wives to conceive in their absence using IVF.
How a legendary Cairo brass band gave birth to an entire musical genre, which still resonates with Egyptians today.
The ongoing war in Yemen and chronic humanitarian crisis are deeply rooted in the country’s turbulent history.
The human impact of the Syrian war through the eyes of a Lebanese midwife helping pregnant Syrian refugees give birth.
A story filled with intrigue and suspense, the killing of Fathi Shaqaqi, founder of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, allegedly assassinated by Mossad.
The personal stories of villagers in south Lebanon and the extreme measures they take to deal with the threat they see from across the border with Israel.
Musicians from all around the world revive the Palestine National Orchestra and perform in the occupied territories.
A look at the case of Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein and his continued detention without trial in Egypt.
The lasting legacy of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Five Syrians reflect on the devastation wrought on their homes, some of which took a lifetime to build.
Exploring Ziade's complex life, her effort to emancipate women, and her platonic relationship with poet Khalil Gibran.
After the civil war, the basketball court became a new battleground of sectarian divisions between Lebanon's top teams.
The stories of five Egyptian village women supporting their entire families by selling local produce in the markets.
While working on a kibbutz in 1967, a Japanese journalist discovers the hidden remains of a Palestinian village.
Many of Morocco's nomadic communities living across the Atlas Mountains, like the Ait Atta tribe, are gradually changing their way of life from roaming herders to part settlers - or what sociologists call 'a sedentary lifestyle'. But such fundamental change comes challenges, as well as opportunities. Traditionally, nomads do not receive a formal education. However in the past decade, there have been moves to introduce what they call 'tent schools' to try and equip their children for the modern world. But for them to attend school, their families have to remain in one place all year. It might also mean that the children ultimately leave their parents' traditional nomadic way of life. 'They told us they'd provide education for our children if we settled in a particular place,' says nomad Daoud Ariba. Helping with that adjustment are social activists like Ali El Amine. It was his idea to bring the tent schools to the region, with help from international agencies and the Moroccan government. 'Our goal is to see nomads at all levels of education, in college and even university. We want them to get diplomas and not to stop at the primary level and then return to cattle grazing,' says El Amine who is also the President of Chems Association. In addition to providing tents, the association serves as a liaison between the nomads and local authorities. 'We try to integrate the children into charity groups and obtain financial support for them,' he says. While the tent schools are a first step towards settling the nomads, the schools' remote locations, harsh winters and heavy rains pose challenges for teachers and pupils. 'When I came here, I walked for two hours,' says teacher Abdallah al-Sahraoui. 'I got an idea about the area from the road condition. The road was difficult with dangerous bends. I had to walk up and slide down the mountain. I had to walk for two hours to reach the school.' The tough mountain terrain also poses risks. Teenager Ittou lost her leg after she suff
An investigation into the complex questions of identity and alienation in the under-privileged suburbs of Paris.
When she catches up with long lost female friends, Tarfa Itani usually anticipates their first question: 'Are you married' 'I answer 'no',' says the thirty-something jewellery designer and boutique owner in Beirut. And then they usually follow-up with, 'Why, you're pretty' Her eyes sparkle as she talks to filmmaker Simon El Habre who is on his own personal quest to discover why, at 40, he hasn't yet found the woman he feels he wants to commit the rest of his life to. Finding time for a personal life has not been easy and though Itani's had several relationships, she hasn't yet found a life partner. She feels that women's expectations finding the perfect man are unrealistic, but also believes that many Lebanese women these days no longer feel pressure to see marriage as the be all and end all. It's not a burden or a responsibility. It's about companionship, love and beautiful moments together. It's unfair to link marriage to all these negative thoughts. Tarfa Itani, jewellery designer and owner of Falamank Boutique 'It's not a burden or a responsibility,' she says standing in her jewellery boutique where she supplies a growing Arab and international market. She's referring to social pressures and growing divorce rates. 'It's about companionship, love and beautiful moments together. It's unfair to link marriage to all these negative thoughts.' El Habre comes across a number of factors contributing to increasing numbers of single, thirty-plus women in Lebanon. Women outnumber men by more than 2 percent in the country of six million. It's a situation that becomes more pronounced as people enter their late thirties and early forties and is exacerbated by the sometimes rigid roles imposed by Lebanese society, across religious and cultural boundaries. Getting work has become an increasing problem following the end of the Lebanese Civil War, in 1990. Unemployment hovers around seven percent today, so many men now work abroad, marrying foreign wives. Educated Lebanese women
Millions of Turkish voters will head to the polls on June 24 to simultaneously elect a president and new members of parliament. It's the first time since the referendum last year when the people approved key constitutional amendments - giving more power to the presidency. Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) argue that a more powerful executive presidency makes Turkey more stable. But critics like Temel Karamollaoglu, presidential candidate and leader of the Saadet Party, warns that Erdogan is moving the country to a dictatorship and says the president is not doing enough to unite the Muslim world abroad. 'The new presidential system is going to lead Turkey to a dictatorship,' Karamollaoglu says. 'There is no doubt, because the parliament has no influence on the president. They can't control, they can't produce any values which will be effective, so the president, in fact, will decide whatever he thinks proper without consulting the parliament.' And although the people voted for the constitutional changes, Karamollaoglu believes that 'the public can make mistakes as well. It will be too late when they see, realise what the dangers are and what they will face.' 'We believe in separation of power ... The government should not have any influence on justice, on the courts. Today, the government directly controls and gives in fact orders to the courts. You can't have justice in a world like this,' he says. Asked about his chance to winning the presidency, he says, 'there are some rumours that certain tricks are prepared, but we don't know what will happen. When you take part in elections, you go there to win.' President Erdogan has been ruling Turkey for more than 15 years, and his spokesperson is confident that he will win another term - with increased powers. 'Those who claim that the new system will be some kind of an authoritarian autocracy, one
Widely seen as the world's leading primatologist and conservationist, Jane Goodall has an unparalleled understanding of chimpanzees. Goodall's study of chimpanzees, human beings' 'closest living relatives on earth', began in 1960 when she travelled to Tanzania for this sole purpose. Her moment of international recognition came with the broadcast of the documentary 'Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees' across the United States. However, Goodall's career hasn't always been embraced by society. As discoveries were made establishing the real biological and behavioural similarities between chimpanzees and human beings, the resistance in both the press and general public grew, the main point of contention being how a woman - without a university degree - could make such claims about humanity. As science backed the facts Goodall continued to uncover, those issues were more or less laid to rest; but the peoples' trust in science and what studying chimpanzees could tell us about humanity, especially whether aggression was an innate trait or something learned, was a real political predicament. 'At that time, in the early 1970s, it was a political issue. Science was divided as to whether human infants are born with a clean slate, everything is learned from your culture, your society, from your mother ... I was saying, no, some things are inherited, it's instinctive - I know as a mother. When your child is threatened you get this surge of adrenaline and sometimes anger. It's not rational, but it's there,' Goodall recalls. 'It's mostly people who don't want to admit that animals have personalities, minds, and above all, emotions.' In light of an upcoming visit to chimpanzee sanctuary Ngamba Island, Goodall also recalls the maltreatment and abuse of primates at the Entebbe zoo when she first visited Uganda under then-president Idi Amin's rule. 'They [Entebbe zoo] had about eight or nine infa
In early 2018, a researcher at the Palestinian Return Centre in London, Pietro Stefanini, attends a conference where he sees a video by a young Palestinian man. In it, Ahmed Shehadeh speaks passionately about the 70-year ordeal he feels his family has faced living stateless in Lebanon. 'I challenge anyone to stay in a refugee camp,' he says, 'not for 70 years, because we were forced out of Palestine 70 years ago, but for just seven days'. Inspired by Ahmed's challenge, Stefanini takes time out from his day job and travels to the Burj Al Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut – a long-established shanty-like community where around 50,000 Palestinian refugees live – but without Lebanese citizenship. This film documents Pietro's stay, from Ahmed's meeting him at the camp entrance until he departs the alleyways and the maze of overhead electrical cables, notorious for falling and electrocuting residents. Students my age have graduated from college as doctors and engineers, but they're unemployed,' he says. 'I studied nursing but I can't find work. That's why we need different citizenship, Lebanese or anything, even if it's Somali or Indian. Ahmed was born in the camp but his grandfather, Abdullah Shehadeh, was forced out of Palestine during the first Arab-Israeli War in 1948, following the creation of the then new state of Israel. Palestinians refer to this as Al Nakba, 'the catastrophe'. He and his father and siblings went to the border with Lebanon and eventually came to Burj al-Barajneh. The camp was set up by the Red Cross in 1948 to accommodate the influx of Palestinian refugees from what's now northern Israel. As family patriarch, Abdullah is known as 'Hajj' and assembles his sons, daughters and grandchildren to greet Stefanini. He points mournfully to the picture of his wife of 62 years and says she's being treated in hospital. 'I wish she were here with us today,' he says, 'to tell you about Palestine, its natural wealth and heritage… She's been with me since 19
Each year, childhood ends for an estimated 15 million girls around the world who marry before the age of 18, according to the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW). South Asia has the largest concentration of child brides, but early marriage is a global phenomenon. Girls living in poverty are more susceptible, and by marrying so young, research shows, girls perpetuate the cycle of poverty. UNICEF says they typically drop out of school and as a result, face poor job prospects. 'I couldn't go to school because of the war,' says Ola, a Syrian refugee who was married at 14 years. 'We had to stay at home, the schools closed. I studied only until 6th grade.' The Syrian war has created a vortex of conditions, such as displacement and poverty as well as fears about the so-called honour and safety of girls that have prompted families to marry off their daughters. 'I left Aleppo six years ago,' says Fatima, a Syrian refugee living in a camp in Jordan. 'We used to go to the school, then come home. I did my homework, went out with my friends ... If the problems stop, I think I will go back. Because of the the current problems, it's all terror and fear.' Jordan is now home to more than 650,000 Syrian refugees. UNICEF says there is an epidemic of child marriage among them and it's on the rise. From the onset of the Syrian war in 2011 to the present, child marriage has spiked from 15 to 36 percent in the kingdom. European countries such as Sweden and Germany, that have welcomed large numbers of Syrian refugees, are also grappling with a dilemma: permit child marriage or separate families. Child brides commonly face domestic violence, restricted movement and are often not given a voice when it comes to making decisions in the family. No matter the justifications families give, the ICRW says, child marriage is 'a violation of human rights and a form of violence against girls'. 'I wanted to be a doctor' Fatima f
In 1990, Lebanon emerged from a 15-year civil war politically fractured and under the control of the Syrian army. Syrian troops eventually withdrew in 2005 but many Lebanese remained deeply wary of their neighbour to the north and east. In the two decades that followed, Lebanon continued to be dogged by regional, religious and political conflict - and Lebanon's efforts to stabilise have been frustrated by factionalism, fraught relations with Syria, Israeli interventions and internal divisions arising from Iran and Syria's backing of the Shia Muslim movement Hezbollah in south Lebanon. After the Syrian revolution and subsequent war in 2011, many wondered whether Lebanon could withstand yet another regional conflict. Today, in a country roughly the same size as the US city of Los Angeles, Lebanon still hosts some 450,000 Palestinian refugees - and since 2011 roughly 980,000 Syrian refugees have fled over the border into Lebanon. Amid the humanitarian crisis, the Lebanese themselves feel torn between their long-standing resentment of Syria's prolonged military presence in their country and a desire to help their Arab neighbours. It's a dilemma that filmmaker Raghida Skaff explores in Shahira: My Syrian Friend, in which she tells the story of her strong personal relationship with a seven-year-old Syrian girl whose family find themselves in her village of Zeghrine 30km east of Beirut.be
'The time for change has come' - that was the message from Malaysia's new leader Mahathir Mohamad after his stunning victory over the ruling coalition in May. The 92-year-old veteran politician, who served as Malaysia's prime minister for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, returned to politics two years ago. He opposed the political force he was once a part of - the Barisan Nasional coalition, which had ruled Malaysia since its independence from Britain in 1957. The law must take its course and if the attorney general finds sufficient evidence of acts that are criminal then the attorney general takes the decision. One of our [election] promises was that we would honour the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judiciary, so I cannot interfere with what the attorney general wants to do. Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia PM Malaysia is a diverse nation with millions of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians living side by side. But in recent years, many Malaysians have been frustrated with high-level government corruption and a rising cost of living. Prime Minister Mahathir accused his predecessor Najib Razak of stealing millions of dollars, and this may have led to Najib's defeat at the polls. Najib has denied corruption charges over the disappearance of millions of dollars from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund, as part of a graft probe while he was in office. The new government led by Mahathir has reopened investigations that were stifled while Najib was in office, setting up a special task force to deal with the allegations. So what are the implications of the 1MDB investigation And what's next for Malaysian politics In an exclusive interview, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, talks to Al Jazeera about his fight against corruption and for more transparency in government.
On July 14, 2016, 31-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel ploughed a rented 19-tonne truck through crowds out celebrating France's Bastille Day in Nice. He was shot dead by police at the scene but 86 people died and 458 others from 19 different countries were wounded. There have been 12 vehicular attacks since 2006, 10 of which occurred in the two-year period following this incident. Nice has the highest death toll. One of Bouhlel's first victims was Fatima Charrihi, a Moroccan woman wearing a headscarf. In fact a third of the victims that day were Muslim men, women and children - including four year-old Kylan al-Majri who had come out to enjoy the fireworks with his family. Truck Attack in Nice looks at the event through the eyes of three Muslim families who lost two young sons and a wife and mother. They re-tell their own versions of their ordeals on an evening that started with celebration and ended in violent tragedy, as they all struggle to come to terms with a loss that they simply cannot comprehend. The relatively high numbers of Muslim victims in Nice and in the similar Barcelona attacks a year later, challenge the common perception that this type of violence is somehow an expression of Islamic teaching or values. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had been radicalised quickly through ISIL propaganda a few weeks before Bastille Day. He was known to French police for threatening behaviour, violence and petty theft but did not figure on the 'Fiche S', or France's high-security watch list. He was a loner whose neighbours said smelled of alcohol and behaved strangely. The 2016 attack in Nice followed those in 2015 on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and Bataclan nightclub and neighbouring restaurants in Paris. Each incident turned up the heat in the debate about the relationship between Islam and violence in French politics and society. In the months following Nice, politicians were campaigning for the French presidency. Marine Le Pen seized the o
Global climate change and an engineering 'quick fix' have created an ecological disaster on Senegal's Atlantic coast. Doune Baba Dieye was once a vibrant fishing community on the Langue de Barbarie, a narrow, 30km peninsula that has protected the Senegalese port city of Saint-Louis from the Atlantic Ocean for centuries. But changing weather patterns and heavy rainfall in 2003 led to flooding inland and a rise in sea levels that have now submerged part of the south of the peninsula. Today, the southern part of the Langue de Barbarie is an island and the village of Doune Baba Dieye under more than a metre of water. But the impact of climate change would not have been so great had local authorities not tried to fix the problem. By 2003, as rain hit record levels, the Senegal River threatened to overflow its banks and to flood the commercially important Saint-Louis. As floodwaters upstream slowly wound their way down the river into the Atlantic, the authorities hastily dug a four-metre-wide trench through the Langue de Barbarie. They hoped the trench would disperse the floodwaters more quickly.
'Take a step and reject Serzh' was the rallying cry of hundreds of thousands of Armenians who took to the streets earlier this year, forcing the resignation of Armenia's president-turned-prime-minister, Serzh Sargsyan, and clearing the way for the leader of the opposition, Nikol Pashinyan. What was Sargsyan's second term as PM, deemed by many to be a 'power grab', lasted only six days. Nicknamed the 'Velvet Revolution' for its non-violent nature, the protests marking Sargsyan's departure were a remarkable turning point for Armenia, with the promise of sweeping reforms under Pashinyan's interim administration. But the role doesn't come without challenges. Alongside the need to address internal disputes, such as oligarchs monopolising Armenia's politics and economy, the country is also in a delicate geopolitical situation, balanced between Russia and the West. Moscow provides economic and military support to Armenia, which has been geographically isolated by both Turkey and Azerbaijan, most pointedly with the building and recent inauguration of the Baku-Tiblisi-Kars Railway in 2017 after the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict saw an existing railway that went to Baku via Armenia shut down. Armenia fought a war with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the 1990s. Azerbaijan wants its internationally recognised territory back, putting the real risk of conflict on the cards and now, in Nikol Pashinyan's hands. One of Pashinyan's first official moves as PM was a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh. Although he insists on a peaceful solution for the ongoing 'frozen conflict' between the two countries, Pashinyan insists that Azerbaijan may have more on its plate than a decades-old debacle with Armenia. 'I am sure that the Azerbaijani government is trying to distract the attention of its own people from its own domestic troubles and problems, to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. That is why I am saying that any aggre
The landmark conviction of Jean-Pierre Bemba for war crimes and crimes against humanity was overturned by panels of judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague last month. A majority ruling saw Bemba acquitted of all charges against him. The former rebel leader and vice president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has spent nearly a decade in custody in The Hague. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison after sending his militia to the Central African Republic (CAR) to help put down a coup attempt, where they conducted a reign of terror. A rampage of looting and killing of civilians followed, including the mass rape of hundreds of women. But a majority of judges ruled on his appeal that he could not be held responsible for the actions of his fighters. His lawyers argued successfully his fighters were no longer under his command after they crossed the international border - an argument Bemba has maintained throughout his trials and incarceration. 'I have a lot of sympathy for all the victims ... I have a lot of sympathy for people in Central Africa ... if there are any victims, I'm very sad and I support them in their pain,' Bemba tells Al Jazeera. 'But I have been acquitted by a professional judge, an experienced judge, an honest judge and that is all. Justice has been served.' His militia, known as the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), has now been transformed into a political party opposing the rule of President Joseph Kabila. The electoral commission (CENI) has announced that a delayed election is due to take place in December. The election was due at the end of 2016, Joseph Kabila's end of term. In spite of this, Kabila has maintained his position and refuses, to date, to announce the presidential majority candidate who would run for his party. This has stoked concern that Kabila is seeking to change the constitution in order to run again or further delay the elections. 'I never heard from himsel
Every civilisation stamps its own mark on history - but the Islamic period of rule over the Iberian peninsula has many features which are not often widely known or appreciated. The Algerian academic Saadane Benbabaali has now retired from teaching at Paris University III. But partly because his ancestors came from what's now the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, he became passionate about the region and for fifteen years, led groups of students on his annual trips there. He came to believe that the period of Arab, Muslim rule there in what was called Al Andalus was arguably the only time in European history when Muslims, Jews and Christians lived relatively peacefully together – and produced a common culture and harmonious society. Furthermore, he believes that the period and place have powerful lessons for what he sees as today's fractured world. 'Today we need all those [Andalusian] philosophers, thinkers and Sufis, who like [the scholar] Ibn Arabi, made love the basis of human relationships,' explains Benbabaali. Origins of Andalusia and Al Andalus Arabs came to Spain in CE 711 under the command of Tariq ibn Ziyad, who landed with his army at a spot he named 'Jabl al Tariq' (the Rock of Tariq). The location is now known as Gibraltar. The Muslim armies eventually occupied most of present-day Portugal, Spain and parts of Southern France until their defeat and expulsion in 1492. The region came to be ruled by the leader Abdurahman of the Umayyid dynasty whose power base was in Baghdad. The 'Golden Age' of Al Andalus In Muslim Al Andalus, Jews and Christians had to pay Jizya, a tax levied on non-Muslim citizens living in Muslim lands in exchange for protection. Muslims also paid a tax called zakaat, one of the five pillars of Islam. Non-Muslims were allowed to practise their faith freely and this sense of relative unity made Al Andalus prosperous, culturally as well as economically. At this time, the region became a hub for soci
In the four years since Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein became the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, attacks on people's safety and dignity have been reported all over the world. From Myanmar's campaign to drive hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya from the country, to the carnage wrought by the brutal wars in Yemen and Syria, human rights are under extreme pressure. Hussein is well-known as an outspoken critic of world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. He himself has been criticised for pointing out where countries have failed to preserve human rights. Hussein is stepping down at the end of August and will be replaced by former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet. Before his departure, the outgoing human rights chief sat down with Al Jazeera to discuss areas where human rights are under extreme pressure and what should be done to protect these freedoms. On criticism by governments of the job he has done: 'The job of high commissioner is to effectively be the ambassador of human rights. It means that you have human rights law and you have obligations upon states to abide by the law, and where they don't do so you then have to defend the victims who either are deprived of their rights or discriminated against when it comes to their rights or they live in fear. 'My job is not to defend governments, they can do that themselves, my job was to defend the rights of everyone else, individuals. 'In that sense I knew early on that I was not going to have the backing of the permanent members of the Security Council. Actually, I would be concerned if I was on the outside and I'd see the high commissioner had gotten the support of the P5 because I would suspect he or she would not have done the job properly. 'I almost goes without saying that the permanent five enjoy a privileged status here in New York because of the use of the right to veto they have in the Security Council. 'But i
Filmmaker: Khalid Zairi Morocco's key natural resources include phosphates, zinc, manganese and iron ore. The mining industry is important to the national economy and its products highly sought abroad. Moroccan truck drivers Ibrahim Tabii and Abdelkabir Ainan risk their lives on dangerous roads and through disputed terrain to bring mineral material from Agadir to Dakar, a 3,000-kilometre journey that can take around two weeks. This is not like truck driving across the United States where long distances are common and hours are controlled by the federal law. It's not like driving in Europe with its tight regulation and vehicle monitoring systems measuring driver-time at the wheel. This is driving in Saharan Africa. There are no motorway service stations, no 24-hour SOS vehicle recovery and no spare parts at the end of a mobile phone. Driving hours are not obviously regulated and there are hardly any rest areas. The two drivers also have to pass through an area known as the Western Sahara. It has been a disputed territory between Morocco and what's called the Polisario Front since 1975. The UN has maintained a peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, a territory about the size of New Zealand, for 27 years. UN efforts have repeatedly failed to broker a settlement over the disputed territory, which the Sahrawi people, led by the PF says belongs to them. The Polisario Front, a formerly armed nationalist group signed a cease-fire with Morocco in 1991; but since the conflict has made this leg of the journey risky. When the two drivers reach the border with Mauritania, they're heavily delayed and by customs and immigration formalities and have no alternative but to wait in a makeshift bedroom until vehicle checks and done and visas issued. In the US, a driver can be at the wheel for up to 11 hours out of 14. In Europe, the rules are tighter, the daily maximum is normally nine hours but breaks have to be taken every four-and-a-half hours. Daily rest should be
When Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega overthrew the country's Somoza dictatorship in 1979, Sergio Ramirez was standing by his side. Now, the poet and novelist is among Ortega's most vocal critics, saying the thirst for power has changed him. 'If someone says 'I'm staying no matter what' they have to crash into a wall of reality that usually gets stained with blood because that is not natural in a democratic system and that's what's happening in Nicaragua'. The Central American country has been in extreme disarray since April when students took to the streets in the capital, Managua, to protest the government's failure to handle forest fires in one of the country's most protected areas. Two days later, numbers swelled as plans to cut pensions and other social security reforms were announced and protests morphed into calls for the country's ageing leader to resign. 'I think that it's like the power of a dam that has been broken with the water ... people have suffered many grievances. All the fear that's been created, the social control in neighbours, much like Venezuela, much like Cuba,' he says. 'All these things began to create feelings of rejection and weariness ... a feeling of having had enough that was in the mouths of many people and was waiting to just explode.' Ortega responded with a brutal crackdown, allegedly using paramilitary groups to put down protests. He, and his wife and vice president blame the protests on so-called 'terrorists' and have refused calls for an early election to defuse the crisis. According to the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights, some 448 people have been killed since protests began, many are university students who have been a key force in the demonstrations. Ramirez is critical of Ortega's response, saying the levels of violence are worse than during the Sandinista revolution. 'These are unarmed casualties, people who are being per
In 2014, Yuval Noah Harari's life changed completely. The little-known academic was thrust into the international literary spotlight when his book on the history of humans from the discovery of fire to modern robotics, Sapiens, was translated into English. Then-US President Barack Obama said the book gave him a new perspective on 'the core things that have allowed us to build this extraordinary civilisation that we take for granted.' It went on to sell more than eight million copies worldwide. 'I still see myself as a historian,' says Harari. 'I don't think that historians are experts in the past, historians are specialists in change and how things change and we learn the nature of change by looking at the past.' 'The real question is what is happening right now What can we learn from the past about the future changes And what we should be doing or thinking today' In his next book, Homo Deus, Harari delved into how the growth of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology could radically alter and divide human society, perhaps ending the species altogether. The same themes appear in his latest work, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, which collects essays, talks and responses to his readers. 'What I see today in the world is that people are overwhelmed by information, misinformation, by distraction and they don't realise often what the most important challenges are. I see my job as trying to bring more clarity to the public discussion.' 'There are three big challenges facing human kind in the 21st century,' says Harari. 'They are nuclear war, climate change and technological disruption, especially the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and bioengineering. This will change the world more than anything else. 'Nuclear war and climate change we can hopefully prevent, so these are changes we try to avoid. But technological disruption and especially AI and bioengineering are bound to happen
Located in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Al-Mohtaseb’s ancestral home is a short distance from the site where both Muslims and Jews believe the ‘father of the faithful’, Abraham, to be buried. What Muslims call the Ibrahimi Mosque and Jews the Cave of the Patriarchs are built on a cave some fifteen metres feet below ground and are where both faiths worship, albeit on different sides of a bullet-proof wall. The Israeli army now maintains round-the-clock checkpoints and barricades that restrict Palestinian movement, separating Hebron’s 270,000 Palestinians from around 1,000 illegal Jewish settlers. This puts Hebron on the front line of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - and makes the land and property surrounding the shared holy sites highly valued assets for both sides. As with generations of his family before him, Abdulraouf Al-Mohtaseb has lived close to the Ibrahmi Mosque all his life, through the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars and subsequent Israeli occupation. But even he was surprised when potential buyers began offering him millions for his modest home and souvenir shop. He refused as a matter of principle as the bids gradually increased to a staggering 100 million US dollars. Still Al-Mohtaseb refused, earning him the nickname ‘the crazy man’ by some of the bidders. In The Hundred Million Dollar Home, filmmaker Resad Kulenovic tells the story of life in Hebron today through the eyes of Al-Mohtaseb and his son Mohammed. Both firmly abide by the principle that their home is their heritage and must never be sold: '[Hebron] is beautiful despite all the suffering,' father tells son. 'If people evicted every area they {the Israelis] besieged, it would be a disaster. We're staying until God guides us to a solution. That's our fate.' The film also includes the perspective of a former Israeli soldier who now works for ‘Breaking The Silence’ which enables Israeli army personnel to recount their experiences and educate the Israeli public abo
In the state of Assam, a sliver of India squeezed between Bangladesh and Bhutan, four million people are at risk of becoming stateless. The local government has put together a draft list of those it considers to be 'legitimate' citizens and four million of Assam's 32.9 million people didn’t make the cut. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) lists those who can prove that they or their parents were in India before March 1971, when Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands fled civil war in Pakistan, many choosing to cross the border into India's Assam to escape the violence, which led to the formation of Bangladesh. India's government says that those who came then or since should go back to Bangladesh. But Bangladesh doesn't view those missing from the NRC list as Bangladeshi and says it won't accept them. 'People are scared,' says Sharifa Khatun, who comes from the remote village of Langia where, she says, she is among some 500 people who did not find their names on the list. 'Our names were struck off the list, our family is sad. Many can't stop their tears,' she says. 'Apparently if your name's not on the list then you are a foreigner. If you are tagged as a foreigner then you will become a Bangladeshi. They are scared they will be put away in jails.' Authorities say those who did not make the list will not be arrested or deported immediately but will have time to file for corrections before the final list is published by the end of the year. Most of those missing from the list say their Indian roots pre-date 1971, they can appeal the decision but many fear that without the proper paperwork, they will become stateless. An hour's drive from Langia is the town of Nagoan and there, another family is worried. Despite having Indian passports, some of the family's names are not on the list. 'We are from here. This is my village,' says Hasiban Nesa. My father and my
Barely a year after his entry into politics, Robert Kyagulanyi - a pop star-turned-politician who also goes by the stage name Bobi Wine - is being hailed as the new face of Uganda’s opposition. Kyagulanyi has built a large youth following through his criticism of Uganda’s long-time leader President Yoweri Museveni - who has been in power for 32 years - both in parliament and through his music. The 36-year-old’s message of freedom and inclusivity, encourages young people to 'stand up' and take over the East African country from what he calls the government’s failed leadership. But Kyagulanyi’s rise to prominence has not been without difficulties. His appeal is considered a threat to Museveni’s hold on power, which is waning because of public anger over deteriorating public services, corruption and human rights abuses. On August 14, Kyagulanyi was arrested and charged with treason for allegedly throwing stones at Museveni’s presidential motorcade during a by-election campaign in August. 'In my opinion, it was more persecution than prosecution,' says Kyagulanyi, who claims he was tortured by Ugandan security forces while in detention. 'I feel humbled that my brutalisation attracted attention of friends across the world, but at the same time I feel indebted to the men and women who have endured similar torture over the years, in particular the people that were arrested together with me,' he says. After being released on bail nearly two weeks later, Kyagulanyi was rearrested last week while trying to leave the country to seek medical treatment in the United States for his injuries. Eventually Kyagulanyi was released and allowed to travel to Washington, DC to be treated in hospital. In an exclusive interview - his first for television since leaving hospital - Kyagulanyi discusses his detention, alleged torture by Ugandan security forces and what's next for Uganda with Al Jazeera. 'We've always wanted a free Uganda, but th
As the British mandate in Palestine drew to a close in the late 1940s, clashes intensified between Palestinian and Jewish militias. When the British left and the new state of Israel was announced in May 1948, the first Arab-Israeli War was fought. In the 1950s and 60s, tension continued and armed Palestinian ‘fedayeen’, many of them now refugees, mounted attacks into Israel which were met with equal force. Palestinian nationalists, including Yasser Arafat, formed the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) in 1959 - and the party became the dominant force in Palestinian politics – and in the PLO in particular - after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Ali Hassan Salameh rose to the top of the Fatah Party in the 1960s and 70s, to become one of Arafat’s most trusted men. He also founded the Black September armed group which killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. Munich Olympics 1972 'The Munich operation was meant to protest against the Palestinians’ exclusion from the Olympic Games,' explains Saqr Abu Fakhr, assistant editor at the Journal for Palestine Studies. 'Why should Israel alone be represented at this event It was also aimed at drawing attention to the Palestinian cause and the issue of prisoners inside Israel. However, its operations were not intended to kill but to take hostages and exchange them.' Unfortunately, the operation went badly wrong. Black September killed two Israeli athletes in the Olympic village and abducted nine others. They demanded the release if Palestinian prisoners within Israel and planned to leave Germany with the hostages whom they later intended to exchange. But Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir would not negotiate with the Palestinians and left the operations in the hands of the inexperienced Germans authorities. The Germans laid on helicopters at a military air base but secretly planned to foil Black September’s getaway. German snipers killed all but two of the Black Septemb
Latin America is facing the largest refugee crisis in its history as hundreds of thousands of people flee Venezuela to escape severe economic hardship. Once one of the region's wealthiest countries, Venezuela has been hit hard by a drop in oil prices from 2014 onwards, with the economic situation worsening under the fiscal mismanagement of President Nicolas Maduro. Since Maduro took power following the death of the country's long-time leader, Hugo Chavez, in 2013, the Venezuelan bolivar has lost some 99.99 percent of its value against the US dollar on the black market. Few Venezuelans have access to official exchange rates, which have been controlled since 2003. The president blames the crisis on an 'economic war' against the socialist country by opponents, including the United States but for many of the country's 31.5 million people, the exact reason things went wrong is no longer important. The imploding economy has led to shortages of basic items such as food and medicine and, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), some 1.6 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2015. For those who remain, daily life is a struggle and hopes of a better life in Colombia, Brazil or elsewhere are never far from their minds. Three Venezuelans share their hopes, dreams and fears for the future with Al Jazeera: Olga Betancourt, 43, hairdresser 'The situation in the country has become so difficult. No matter how hard you work, the money is never enough to buy anything, including materials and tools to work with because they are extremely expensive. 'About a year and five months ago is when life began to become unbearable here ... I can't buy food, my mother needs special treatment for high blood pressure but she can't get it because it's too expensive. Her entire pension goes to pay for her medication. 'I will leave in two months if I can sell what I need to sell. It's not because I want to emigrate from
Pakistan's new government, headed by new Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has inherited challenging relations with two key countries, India and the United States. Observers are questioning how the country's new leadership will seek to reshape its foreign policy regionally and globally as it continues to battle the Pakistan Taliban, attempt engagement with India and address its aid and military relationship with the US. Despite Prime Minister Imran Khan's overtures to India to engage in dialogue, India cancelled the first planned talks between the two countries since 2015 that were meant to have taken place on the sidelines, this week, at the United Nations General Assembly. The cancellation of talks came hours after three policemen were killed by rebels in Kashmir. Citing the 'brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities' Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign ministry added that the release of a series of 20 postage stamps depicting a young Kashmiri rebel commander killed by Indian troops in July 2016 was 'glorifying a terrorist and terrorism.' Pakistan saw its relations with the US threatened one month after Prime Minister Imran Khan's election victory, on July 26, when the US Pentagon announced that it would be cancelling $300m in military and security aid to Pakistan, part of the $1.1bn suspended in January over allegations that the country was not acting against armed groups such as the Afghan Taliban. The US has alleged that, in the years since 9/11, Pakistan has been playing a double game, harbouring Osama bin Laden and maintaining relationships with elements of the Taliban and other armed groups. 'They were helping their own country,' Foreign Minister Qureshi responded. 'They were helping overcome a situation which was not of their own creation. Who were these people Who supported them Who trained them We forget history and at times we overlook that friends change. People that you sup
fter decades of hostility, can two of the world's most opaque organisations start anew or is this path doomed to fail? A scramble for control and power within the churches serving China's estimated 12 million Catholics has kept relations between the Vatican and the "Celestial Empire" fraught for almost 70 years. China's crackdown on religious groups, especially of late, has not gone unnoticed as the Muslim minority Uighurs face life in internment and re-education camps, while Protestant churches are raided and closed down. It therefore comes as no surprise that many are wary about a pact between two of the world's most secretive organisations. An agreement, as launched by the governing Communist Party of China and leaders of the Vatican, provisionally resolves the issue of who gets to appoint bishops within the churches, with Pope Francis insisting on the final say.
Filmmaker: Hala Mourad In the heart of Lebanon's second-largest city, Tripoli, is a 'Khan', an ancient guest house dating back to the period of Mamluk rule in the 14th century. The city fell to the Ottomans in 1516 and, under the Muslim charitable practice of 'Waqf', the Khan was donated to the community to house widows unable to support themselves. The Islamic philanthropic tradition of Waqf dates back to the Prophet Muhammad's time and is intended to be 'in perpetuity'. Waqf in Islamic law was developed in the medieval Islamic world, but bears a resemblance to English trust law. Every Waqf was required to have a waqif (founder), mutawillis (trustee), qadi (judge) in addition to its beneficiaries, with continuity being 'secured by the successive appointment of trustees or mutawillis.' Now called the 'Khanka', few Tripolitans may be aware of the guest house's existence, or its governance by the Ministry of Endowments. When this film was made, the Khanka had fallen into disrepair and its 12 rooms offered its residents only the most primitive accommodation. 'Everything leaks here,' says Khanka resident Um Fadi, a mother of three. 'We wake up in the morning to find our mattresses and clothes completely wet. My little daughter fell ill because of this problem.' While the widows depend on charitable donations for sustenance, some of them do menial jobs like cleaning apartments and cooking for meagre pay. Everything leaks here. We wake up in the morning to find our mattresses and clothes completely wet. My little daughter fell ill because of this problem. Um Fadi, Khanka resident Many of the widows have quite sad stories to tell. One of them, Um Ahmed al-Tahesh, had seven sons and two daughters, but moved to the Khanka when her husband died in the Lebanese civil war. 'I had a very good life. We lived well and I had a housemaid. My husband was killed in Beirut and my life was turned upside down,' s
In an unprecedented move against a member state, the European Parliament has triggered Article 7 of the EU's governing treaty meant to protect its core principles: human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including minority rights. The EU accuses the Hungarian government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban of breaching those values by passing anti-refugee laws, manipulating the media, disregarding government corruption and removing independent judges. Hungary has taken a harsh stance on refugees and migrants since the 2015-2016 migration crisis. It was the first country to erect barbed wire fences at the borders and went on to pass laws aimed at deterring migrants from attempting transit through its territory or from seeking asylum in Hungary. The decision to trigger Article 7 followed Hungary's ongoing refusal to comply with mandatory migrant quotas put in place by the EU and came two weeks after Hungarian authorities stopped food distribution for rejected asylum seekers being held in transit zones on the country's border with Serbia. Budapest denies the accusations and defends its policies. But with EU Parliament elections scheduled to take place in May 2019, could the divisions that have been exposed lead to political change across the EU And what is next for Hungary and Europe 'We are not violating them [EU core values],' Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Al Jazeera. 'The report which was pushed through the European Parliament has a list of 69 points, 69 accusations against Hungary out of which 13 points have been totally agreed upon by the European Commission and the government ... and there are 37 points which are qualified lies ...' he said, adding that the vote against Hungary involved 'cheating' because abstentions were not counted. Hungary could potentially get stripped off its EU voting rights, but according to Szijjarto, 'the Polish government and Czech
Thousands of Egyptians suffer from multiple sclerosis but are often wrongly diagnosed or can’t afford treatment. There are approximately more than 2.3 million people globally who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, an auto-immune disorder in which the body seemingly attacks itself. Researchers believe that MS causes the body's immune system to attack myelin, an insulating coating around the nerve cells. MS is more common in northern, cooler countries but now there are 120,000 registered sufferers in Egypt, who face a number of particular challenges. The condition can often be wrongly diagnosed and they're often unable to afford proper treatment or obtain the necessary medical, social, emotional or psychological support. Living with MS in Egypt follows a number of MS sufferers as they face up to these challenges in a society where their neurological condition is often poorly understood and inadequately treated.
In October of last year, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order lifting some trade and economic sanctions against Sudan. It followed a US Department of State report that said Khartoum had improved its fight against armed groups. But the US still designates Sudan as a 'state sponsor of terrorism' - along with Iran, North Korea and Syria. Regionally, it's mediating a peace deal between the warring parties in South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011. Sudan has also been playing a role in the Saudi-led coalition in the war in Yemen with troops on the ground and several fighter jets. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, has been in power since 1989. He's the first head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for suspected war crimes. He dissolved his government last month amid a widespread economic crisis. But after almost 30 years as president, will Bashir seek another term in 2020 What's the state of human rights in Sudan Why is Omar al-Bashir mediating South Sudan peace talks Sudan's Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed talked to Al Jazeera about his country's human rights record, the lifting of US sanctions, the war in Yemen, and Sudan's role as peacemaker in South Sudan. According to him, ending the conflict between warring parties in South Sudan is a matter of regional security and that recently improved relations between Sudan and Uganda are related to national and regional stability. 'Sudan is the most connected to South Sudan for so many obvious reasons ... Uganda is a neighbouring country that will benefit from peace and stability in South Sudan ... The new thing is that Sudan and Uganda started working together ... We found that if South Sudan is going to continue as is and the situation in South Sudan is going to deteriorate, we will be having a black hole in the region, another Somalia,' he told Al Jazeera. Sudan's position as a member of both the African Union a
Filmmaker: Bashar Ghannam Nearly seven years after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the British government apologised for handing over a Libyan dissident and his wife to Libya's intelligence in 2004, knowing that as an opponent of the government, they would be likely to be imprisoned and tortured. Fatima Boudchar was pregnant when she was tortured and kidnapped in Thailand in 2004, in a process that has become known as extraordinary rendition. It was carried out by MI6 and the CIA in collaboration with the Libyan External Security Organisation, the ESO. Her only 'crime' was that she was married to a Libyan opponent of the Gaddafi regime, Abdelhakim Belhaj. Belhaj was the former leader of an opposition group called the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) which Gaddafi accused of having links to al-Qaeda. He and his wife were planning to seek asylum in the UK. However, they were abducted in their transit in Thailand and taken to a CIA detention centre where they were tortured and later handed over to Libyan intelligence. 'I refused to be interrogated by them … and had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or any organisation outside Libya. My problem was with the Libyan security services' says Belhaj. This was not an isolated case and the subject of rendition is one that Western governments need to be accountable for. Until 2003, Gaddafi had been labelled by the West as the 'mad dog of the Middle East'. But after the US-led invasion of Iraq failed to unearth Saddam Hussein any weapons of mass destruction, Gaddafi seized an opportunity, not simply for redemption but complete rehabilitation, by claiming to possess WMDs and offering to surrender them. Sanctions against Libya were lifted, lucrative oil deals struck and collaboration between the CIA, MI6 and Libya stepped up in the so-called 'fight against terrorism'. This led directly to the rendition of Gaddafi's opponents like Belhaj and many others. After the US-led invasion of Iraq, Gadd
Since the age of 10, Svetlana Zakharova has devoted her life to ballet. Originally from Ukraine, her extraordinary talent catapulted her to world fame as the prima ballerina of Russia's renowned Bolshoi Ballet. Considered one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation, Zakharova is often compared with Russia's iconic male ballet dancers, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. But her success has come at a price. 'At the age of 10, my childhood was over and I started a new grown-up life,' she told Al Jazeera. Zakharova gave up her childhood to practise the art form she says she was physically designed for, despite ballet being 'unnatural for a human body. The stretching, the turnouts and the training load.' 'You get used to living with pain,' she said. 'I sometimes ask myself if I made any sacrifices. But I don't know any other way of life ... I have no regrets. Even when I'm exhausted and tired, when I want to hide from everyone and everything, I never think about quitting.' In 2006, Zakharova became a member of Russia's Presidential Council for Culture and Art, and in 2008, she was elected to a term in the Russian parliament. 'I did not just join the parliament to do something I didn't know,' she said. 'I was in the Culture Committee, which was my territory. So I worked there for some time. But I did not come back after my convocation because, first of all, I gave birth to my daughter and I understood that it's impossible to be a ballerina, a parliamentarian and a mother at once.' 'Russia has always been strong in culture,' she said. 'In my opinion, if there's money to pay attention to the arts, all the other spheres are more or less in a good state.' Asked about relations between her native Ukraine and Russia, Zakharova said: 'Now, I am not related to Ukraine in any way ... I believe that our politicians will do what's right. I'm just really sad that our
Journalist James Gannon has inherited a controversial family legacy - that of a clear descendancy from General Robert E Lee, who led the Confederate Army against the Union during the American Civil war in the mid-19th century. Gannon grew up in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, where an 18-metre high statue of his ancestor dominates the landscape in Monument Avenue, the city's grandest street. For over 100 years, Richmond has honoured Lee as one of its greatest heroes. Until recently. In 2015, 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof shot nine African Americans in a church in Charleston, North Carolina. Photographs of Roof draped in and posing with the Confederate flag emerged on a now defunct white supremacist website. Soon after, the city council in New Orleans voted for their Confederate monuments to be removed. Public consultations over Confederate memorials took place in Virginia, which once had the largest enslaved population in the United States. When a 'Unite the Right' rally to protest against the removal of a Robert E Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned into violent clashes in August 2017, it accelerated the national debate about what to do with the country's more than 1,500 monuments and publically-installed symbols memorialising the American Civil War. What happened that weekend in Charlottesville made Gannon consider the true legacy of his slave-owning ancestors. On a journey into his family's legacy, Gannon explores why people across the US are so divided on the subject of Confederate monuments and whether the oppression of enslaved people by his ancestors still has an effect on black lives in the US today. Travelling across Virginia and Maryland to meet key actors in the ongoing moral dilemma the US finds itself in regards to the Civil War and glorification of Confederate monuments, Gannon finds himself face to face with the debate for justice, reparations and the fight to tear these statues do
The design of online games has reached a new level of sophistication, appealing to millions of people. There are more than 2.3 billion active gamers in the world this year, of which almost half spend money on games. A recent report by the international games market research company Newzoo estimates that the global games market will reach $137.9bn in 2018, with digital revenues accounting for 91 percent. As the gaming phenomenon grows, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified a new disease - gaming disorder. The WHO defines the disorder as 'a pattern of gaming behaviour with increasing priority given to gaming over other activities ... and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.' So what does gaming disorder really mean and how can it be treated 'What happens when we are immersed in a video game, is that the brain starts to activate the sort of exciting reward system, neurological pathways that are associated with excitement and pleasurable activities, and of course it makes us want to do it more and more,' children and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Richard Graham told Al Jazeera. 'So game designers and perhaps social media platforms have learned how to activate those systems to keep us in game and on screen for as long as possible.' With many of his patients in the 14 to 15-year range, Graham said that many youths are facing increasing stress due to the pressure of school. One of the ways they try to escape the ordinary pressures of life is through technology - which then can become an unhealthy escape. 'Where we start to move into the territory of addiction is when what was once almost a healthy way of coping with stress starts to have a grip of its own. That person is no longer able to have control over their use and they feel compelled to keep increasing the amount of whatever is is - a substance or gaming,' Graham explained. 'The loss of control is absolutely key to an addi
Every summer, Amira Abujbara boards a nine-seater plane at a tiny air taxi office. It is the same plane, with the same pilot, that she has flown in almost every year of her childhood. The 50-minute flight will take her over a snowy mountain range, a volcano and an elaborate tundra of blueberries and mushrooms, tea leaves and caribou moss, wildflowers and spider webs. She is heading to her mother’s childhood home and the place where she spends her summers – the remote Alaskan village of Iliamna. Without any roads connecting it to the outside world, this is her only way of going ‘home’. Iliamna, which is an Athabascan word meaning 'big ice' or 'big lake' sits on the shore of the lake that shares its name. The largest in Alaska, it spans more than 2,500 square kilometres, is pure enough to drink from and is home to the biggest sockeye salmon run in the world. Iliamna shares a post office, school, airport, medical clinic and two small stores with the neighbouring village, Newhalen. Together, they have fewer than 300 residents. It is a far cry from her father’s home country, Qatar, where Amira spends the rest of the year. Her father is Qatari and her mother is Dena’ina - a subset of the Athabascan Alaska Natives. Amira was born in Alaska and is registered as an Alaska Native. When her father married her mother he promised her parents that they would return regularly and so Amira and her sister spent their summers in Iliamna. Their grandmother ran a bed and breakfast for fishermen, so she would help make the beds, clean and prepare the meals for her guests. She learned how to subsistence fish – catching, smoking, brining and canning salmon during the summer months to store for the rest of the year. For the villagers, their home is a beautiful and fruitful land, but it is also a place of incredible hardships. Tiny villages are dwarfed by the vast wilderness that surrounds them, and while the region is rich in natural resources, many Alaska
Despite an uneven global economic recovery since the 2008 financial crisis, adequate and affordable housing is increasingly out of reach to hundreds of millions of people, according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha. In her latest report on global housing need, Farha wrote that the world's money markets have priced people out of cities, with speculators and investors treating housing as a 'place to park capital'. Farha, who presented her findings before the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2017, said that 'housing has lost its social function and is seen instead as a vehicle for wealth and asset growth. It has become a financial commodity, robbed of its connection to community, dignity and the idea of home.' Leilani Farha spoke to Al Jazeera about the growing global housing crisis and the steep challenges ahead for the more than one billion people who do not have adequate housing. At an estimated global net worth of $163 trillion, the residential real estate market is equivalent to more than twice the world's total economy and dwarfs the approximate seven-trillion-dollar-value of all the gold ever mined, Farha told Al Jazeera. Housing is viewed as a way to 'grow wealth and that has changed the way in which housing operates', she said. 'It means ... you have investors, private equity firms, vulture funds, buying up housing. Who is their principle concern It's their investor and if they're using housing to satisfy their investor interests, what do they have to do with that housing if it's rental housing It's obvious, they have to increase the rents.' The right to adequate housing is enshrined in Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration for Human Rights, which states that 'Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care.' Hous
Filmmaker: Mostafa Bouazzaoui For almost his whole political career, Abraham Serfaty was a thorn on the side of authorities in Rabat, both during the days of French rule and later, under the reign of King Hassan II. Described by his closest supporters as 'the Moroccan Mandela', Serfaty endured 17 years of imprisonment, torture and 13 years of exile for his political views, including his opposition to Morocco's position on Western Sahara. Part of the minority Jewish population in Morocco, he never embraced Zionism. After the 1967 war, he distanced himself from Israel and became a vocal advocate for the Palestinian resistance movement, a burning issue that dominated discussion on Arab streets at the time. Serfaty once famously told the media 'Conveying the image of a democratic Israel is a fantasy. You cannot be a democrat while oppressing another people. Zionism goes against democracy. I was 10 in 1936, when my father told me at the synagogue that 'Zionism goes against our religion.'' His unique identity allowed him to break taboos and inspire others, according to those who met him. 'He established a new concept of the Arab Jew who didn't renounce any element of his origins as a Moroccan and an Arab Jew,' explains university teacher Michelle Fay. 'One can be a hundred percent Jewish and a hundred percent anti-Zionist.' Together with Abdellatif Laabi, Serfaty developed an artistic journal called 'Souffles', meaning 'Breaths'. Printed in Arabic and French, it was a creative space for political expression that its authors felt had been silenced for so long by politicians and the monarchy. 'It gave a new orientation to both journalism and creativity in an era that was giving birth to new ideas in Morocco, Palestine and the world,' says Noureddine Saoudi, a former prisoner and teacher. As a champion of universal human rights and democratic principles, Serfaty sits alongside the likes of Che Guevara, M
There are 68.5 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Of these, 25.4 million are refugees, and 68 percent of all the refugees come from just five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia. Even though they are hosted by several countries, many of them aim for one final destination: Europe. The European Union declared a 'refugee crisis' in 2015, and the 'crisis' intensified as thousands kept pouring into the continent. EU member states have failed to agree on a solution with increased political tension as a result. But whose fault is this crisis And are all countries in the world - all of them - doing enough to ease the situation, or are only a few carrying the burden Amin Awad, the director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Bureau of the UNHCR, talks to Al Jazeera. 'The international community have paid, to a certain extent, generously for the Syria situation ... Traditional donors like the European Union, the EU member states ... The Arab world, thanks to Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, plus Turkey, have received six million refugees, and others have contributed to the Syria cause,' says Awad. 'But we also have Iraq, we have Libya and we have Yemen. We have many other crises in Africa that are also facing problems and a shortage of funding. Not all funding appeals from the UN are met.' Asked about the prospect of a central processing centre for migrants hoping to start a new life in Europe, located somewhere strategic in Africa, such as Morocco which had been formerly proposed, Awad sees the move as a potentially positive action as opposed to one which sees Europe shirking its responsibilities. 'I think what the Europeans are trying to do is to share the burden of the hundreds of thousands - or millions - that have crossed over in the last few years,' he says. 'The way out of this [multiple transit centres in North Africa] is ro
Fifty years ago, United States Senator Robert F Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles just moments after he'd won California's Democratic presidential primary.
A look at the life and career of the influential post-colonial writer and champion of the Palestinian cause in the West.
Lebanese and Moroccans reflect on life after retirement, as they pursue their passions in art, music, and literature.
The poignant refugee stories of an Iraqi artist, a Syrian screenwriter and a Palestinian filmmaker in Lebanon.
Two years after the Hamas engineer's assassination, Tunisia struggles to get the suspects extradited from the Balkans.
Eeking out a living as a taxi driver in the Middle East is not for the faint-hearted, especially for Palestinian cabbies in Jerusalem. The city's Arab taxi drivers are used to discrimination and sometimes harassment. Innate Palestinian resilience is what motivates Bassem Idris to work as a cabbie in Jerusalem.
The Kurds have anticipated, negotiated, warred and waited to establish their own permanent state since the First World War and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. But they have been constantly disappointed, not least when Asia Minor was given to the new state of Turkey in 1923.
High in the Atlas Mountains in central Morocco are remote villages almost entirely dominated by Amazigh women, a result of the geographical divide between the urban and rural poor, the volatility of Moroccan agriculture and the lack of regional development. Their menfolk migrate for long periods to do agricultural or city work in other parts of the country.
Iraq's ancient rivers and water resources have been seriously damaged by wars, economic sanctions, the construction of upstream dams, pollution and a fall in water levels.
A story of revolution and defiance - Larbi Ben M'hidi, murdered by the French in 1957, is still revered for his role in the Algerian war against colonialism.
The story of Hilarion Capucci, the freedom-fighting Archbishop in Jerusalem who stood up for the Palestinian cause.
Two drivers trek 3,000 kilometres across the desert, risking life and limb to deliver a payload against the clock.
Investigation into the behind-the-scenes events during the final days of Egypt's first democratically-elected president.
An investigation into journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death which implicates the highest levels of the Saudi government.
Alphonse Etienne Dinet was a French artist from a wealthy background in 19th-century Paris who painted in what was called the Orientalist style, normally a Western view of the Middle East and North Africa which stereotyped its people as "wild" and "exotic". Edward Said's 1978 book, Orientalism, caused critics and historians to re-appraise their view of this style, as Said argued it represented a patronising, colonial attitude towards the life, culture and people of the Middle East. But unlike most Orientalist painters, Dinet travelled frequently to North Africa, and his work, far from being colonial in outlook, came to be seen as a true and sympathetic depiction of life in the Arab world. Since Dinet's death nine decades ago, his distinctive paintings have graced museums, art galleries and collections all over the world.
As long as there is war, poverty and insecurity in Africa and the Middle East, migrants and refugees will try and seek a better life in Europe. For many years now, Italy has been one of the principal destinations for many and that has included the dangerous sea crossing over the Mediterranean. Egyptian refugee Mostafa Hassan was lucky to arrive in Rome at all in 2015, as one of only 27 survivors of the biggest Mediterranean disasters since World War II. He recalls one frightful day on an overloaded boat, its sinking and subsequent drowning - a regular occurrence in the Mediterranean in recent years. "At night, we all went to sleep. When I woke up in the morning the boat was unstable. Everyone was scared. Then it started to lean to one side. There were a lot of us and it was overloaded," he says. "People started to fall into the water. I saw bodies floating on the water before I jumped in ... I pushed the bodies away so I could swim. The boat sank. I swam until help arrived. They rescued survivors but the dead remained in the water. I don't know what happened to them." According to UN figures, immigration to Europe is falling year-on-year. But by the first week of April 2019, there had still been 12,350 arrivals into Europe by sea, with 289 fatalities. One in six refugees arriving in Italy is now aged under 18. Under-aged migrants - or minors - like Mostafa who was 17 at the time, are taken to reception centres where they're looked after by people like Eraldo Andi. Andi runs a primary reception centre for minors and provides support, education and shelter. "I don't just feel responsible for them at the centre. I usually help them after they leave. So I study teenage immigration. I contact experts in minors' issues hoping to know more about the dangers and problems they face and the best solutions," says Andi, who's become a guardian angel for refugees. Unfortunately, state support ends when these young people turn 18 and are left to fend for
Morocco, like much of North Africa, has often been portrayed in the West as mysterious and exotic, a land of belly dancers, enticement and Arab enchantment. This outmoded stereotype is firmly laid to rest by the country's burgeoning combat sports scene. In Casablanca Fight Club, the regional qualifying stage of the Moroccan amateur boxing championships is just weeks away and the young boxers at the Bateha club are training for the biggest fights of their lives. It's here that a 75-year-old parking attendant and former Moroccan featherweight champion, Saleh Rouman, mentors fresh young boxing talent. "There are kids without any education or trade," explains Saleh, Bateha boxing club's head coach. "I save them from the street and encourage them to be productive. I point them in the right direction, but in the end it's up to them. I do my best with them." Saleh founded Bateha in 1979 and his honours board boasts national champions. He gets a government subsidy for rent and electricity but has to fund the rest from his day job, devoting all his free time to nurturing young boxers in the modest Derb Ghallef area of town. His club was the first in Casablanca to admit female fighters and Sanaa Akeel was a four-time national champion. While Saleh's always on the lookout for talent from the outside, most of his members are from Derb Ghallef and nearby areas. Morocco has produced several combat sport champions, including kick-boxer Badar Hari and boxer Mohammed Rabii. Rabii won world super-welterweight gold in Doha and Olympic bronze in Rio. Weight is as important to a boxer as for a jockey in horse racing. And with the qualifying stages for the national championships around the corner, everyone at Bateha needs to be the right weight for their class. That's a problem for 19-year-old Omaima Haji who currently weighs 71.6 but needs to be under 69 kilos to qualify as a welterweight. She doesn't want to fight heavier, middleweight girls, fearing she may be outcl
In Lebanon, there are thousands of stateless people like the Abu Eid tribe. They cannot access free public services like education and healthcare, have no freedom of movement, cannot own property, marry or work legally because of their lack of legal status. They can’t vote or run for public office. One of Lebanon’s many political challenges is overdue reform of its citizenship laws, to address the problems faced by its many vulnerable communities. Not doing so might cause more problems than it solves.
Afghan United: Hope through Football for Refugees in Iran: For a group of alienated young Afghan refugees in Iran, football proves a powerful force that gives them a much-needed boost in pride, identity, and self-worth. They call their team 'Wahdat' meaning 'unity' and assemble a talented and determined squad. They overcome all the odds to form a team, obtain sponsorship and enter one of the Iranian futsal, five-a-side competitions played in evenings after iftar during Ramadan. But this is about more than football. It's about young men trying to rise above their circumstances and their daily struggle to survive - and succeeding. Afghans have been seeking refuge in Iran since the 1970s but they and their families are largely unregistered. Although they can go to school, they cannot attend university, or work as civil servants or in most white-collar jobs. So they're limited to manual work, often in construction. Many young Afghans do not feel welcome in shopping malls or places of entertainment and claim widespread discrimination. For many, football is their only social outlet and can be their salvation. Afghan United is a touching and rarely-told story about a disadvantaged community, but with a positive, life-affirming outcome - in the footballing sense, at least.
Natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean is a highly-prized commodity. In 1999, geological surveys revealed that there were natural gas fields off the coast of Gaza. But through a series of poor decisions, questionable leadership and regional geopolitics, the so-called Gaza Marine gas field has lain dormant for 20 years. So why has Gaza's gas not been exploited for decades? And why has such a major story received relatively little media attention? While making this film, Al Jazeera obtained exclusive documents revealing correspondence between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and other bodies involved in the negotiations. When mineral engineers first told Yasser Arafat about the potential gas resources off Gaza, he proclaimed it "a gift from God to the Palestinian people". The geological surveys suggested that this gas was good quality, of real value, and within easy reach of Gaza's coastline. It was seen by many as a way for Palestinians to achieve energy independence and perhaps a little sovereignty. "If our gas and oil are produced properly, Palestine in general and Gaza, in particular, won't need international aid anymore," says Yousef al-Mansi, a former Palestinian minister. But the PA seemed strangely hesitant right from the start. Added to that, a non-competitive contract with British Gas in 1999 gave Palestinians a minor share of potential gas revenues. Later, Israel - an obvious market - blocked a deal with British Gas in 2003, while Egypt began selling gas to Israel, commandeering what would have been Gaza Marine's share of the market. What's more, a veil of secrecy surrounds the deal-making. "For 20 years, the PA continued to hide facts and refused to answer questions asked by several parties around the world," says economic analyst Rami Abdo. No one at the PA would talk to Al Jazeera about the deal, while political divisions within the governing authority have weakened its ability to exploit a potentially life-changing resource.
"Protecting a library is not an easy task," says Mustafa Jahic, "especially during wartime." It was 1992, the siege of Sarajevo had begun, and Jahic - then the director of the Gazi Husrev-Beg public library - had in his care a priceless, ancient collection of hand-written books and illuminated manuscripts. "The Gazi Husrev-Beg library contains the memories of all the generations of the last 1,000 years. More than 100,000 items. Everything from manuscripts to printed books," says Osman Lavic, the library's keeper of manuscripts. "Some were written by Arabs, perhaps in Fez or Baghdad, and then rewritten by a Turk living in the Caucasian Republic and then purchased by Bosnians. So if you followed the trail of the books you’d see the beauty in their diversity, their multi-ethnic and multicultural nature," he says. But when the city was attacked by the Serbian army, the preservation of books and manuscripts became the least of peoples' problems. Bosnia's National Library was shelled and burned to the ground, its entire contents destroyed. "The culture of our people, the identity, the history of Bosnia, for centuries in one place. And suddenly it was being swallowed by the fire and the flames," says firefighter Ismet Tucak, who responded to the blaze at the National Library. Fearing the Gazi Husrev-Beg library would be attacked next, Jahic's staff took the momentous decision to move their most precious works to safety. Dodging Serbian snipers and street violence, the small band of book-lovers - including the cleaner and the Congolese nightwatchman - moved the manuscripts, one box at a time, to preserve a valuable part of their written history. "As we were carrying the boxes, Sarajevo was under shell fire," cleaner Dzehva Dudo recalls. "We were running from one building to another." Jahic remembers the team working "discretely, without much talking". "The conditions of war are very special. You have to take decisions at every moment. You
When is an air crash a planned suicide mission and when is it the result of a disastrous technical fault? On the morning of October 31, 1999, the EgyptAir Flight 990, a Boeing 767, left John F Kennedy (JFK) International Airport for Cairo. Soon after take-off, it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 217 passengers. Nearly two decades on, the question that still has not been convincingly answered is 'why'?. The initial US investigation blamed the co-pilot and concluded the crash was "as a result of the relief first officer's flight control inputs", adding that the reason for his actions "was not determined". But today the evidence behind this conclusion looks far from convincing, as this Al Jazeera World investigation exposes. The Boeing 737 Max 8 jet crashes in Jakarta in 2018 and Addis Ababa in 2019 have resulted in investigations into this model of aircraft.
In Senegal, traditional wrestling has its roots in the culture and community of rural villages, particularly among the Serer people. What began as tribal preparations for battle developed into village ritual and soon a form of entertainment. Men traditionally fought at village festivals after the harvest season as a way of attracting women, proving their virility and bringing honour to their communities. But in the past 50 years, traditional Senegalese wrestling has grown exponentially to become a major national sport for both men and women - with celebrity fighters competing for big prize money, in large stadia and in front of thousands of fans. "We can say that it is not just a sport," says sociologist Aly Tandian. "It has always been a socially stimulating factor in the Senegalese society." "Today, there are villages that have become well known in all of Senegal because they have given birth to great wrestlers," he adds. Today, the professional wrestlers at major events - like "Bombardier" and Eumeu Sene - are household names, winning over $80,000 a fight. Up-and-coming fighters like "Lacrymogene", who we meet in this film, win more modest sums - from a few to a few hundred dollars. But the winnings mean that for some of the poorest Senegalese, wrestling can genuinely represent a means of clawing their way out of poverty. Traditional wrestling is part of a wider phenomenon of combat sports in West Africa, including in countries like Gambia, Guinea and Gabon. In Senegal, the sport has attracted both genders, with the women's game now popular and well respected in its own right. Olympic fighter Isabelle Sambou has won the African Championships nine times. Safiato Biola has competed in women's events in Europe and North Africa, and Anta Sambou says winning three golds at the 2017 Francophone Games has built her confidence and transformed her life. "Wrestling is part of our culture," says Isabelle. "If you wrestle when you're young, you
For generations, the Kalbelia tribe of Rajasthan in northwest India moved constantly from one place to another - the men catching snakes and trading venom, the women begging for charity. But in 1972, the Indian government introduced the Wildlife Act, forbidding snake possession and hunting, forcing a fundamental tribal re-think. With a key part of their way of life - their centuries-old practice of snake charming - effectively banned, the Kalbelia had to find new ways of making a living. Some became subsistence farmers, while others have reinvented themselves as public performers. Festivals and culture are an important part of local life in Rajasthan - and of its vital tourist industry. Kalbelian dance, with its distinctive twirling movements that resemble those of the snake, is both source of income and acclaim, within and outside India. "This song and dance, this art, it is our tradition," says one Kalbelia man. "During the royalty era, we were invited to palaces; kings and emperors called on us to perform for their guests." The Kalbelia have brought considerable prestige to Rajasthan. They have now become famous – regionally, nationally and internationally - and in 2010 gained a place on UNESCO's Intangible Heritage list. Dance is a key part of Kalbelian cultural identity and has also had a marked social impact on the lives of women and girls. "I was born into a community that preferred not to have girl children ... Any extra girl child was killed soon after birth." says Gulabo, a Kalbelia dancer who was buried alive the day she was born, until her mother saved her. "Now that our girls learn Kalbelian dance, parents are happier with a female child because girls can dance and that's a very good thing for us," she says. Gulabo now teaches Kalbelian dance and has a reputation as an international performer. Kalbelian songs and dances are part of an oral tradition, handed down from one generation to another. There are no real organis
Did the Bahraini government collude with al-Qaeda members to target Shia opposition figures during the 2011 unrest? In February 2011, following unrest in Tunisia and Egypt in the early days of the so-called Arab Spring, opposition demonstrators took to the streets of the Bahraini capital, Manama. The protests quickly gathered momentum, with demonstrators demanding greater democracy and an end to discrimination against the majority Shia Muslim community by the Sunni regime. But in March, the protests were quelled. The king declared a state of emergency and brought in the Peninsula Shield Force, the military wing of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The government called the unarmed protesters and activists "terrorists". Civilian demonstrators were teargassed, beaten and shot. Now, allegations have surfaced suggesting that the Bahraini government made attempts to coerce members of al-Qaeda in Bahrain to target key figures in the Shia Muslim community during the unrest. In leaked secret video recordings, former members of al-Qaeda say that the Bahraini government and intelligence officials cracked down on and tried to assassinate key Shia opposition figures. The recordings say that Bahraini intelligence officers recruited al-Qaeda members to form a cell to murder Bahraini opposition activists, on orders from the king. In one recording, former al-Qaeda member Mohammad Saleh says: "A state security officer and another officer ... paid me a visit. They said they'd come on behalf of His Majesty the King of Bahrain at a time when the country was having a difficult time. He said that we, as fighters and members of al-Qaeda could help quell the Shia." In a different recording made at the same time, Hisham Hilal al-Balushi - who was later a known leader of a Sunni armed group in Iran, before being killed in 2015 - talks about being detained by Bahraini security services and then recruited to infiltrate another group in Iran. The Bahraini gove
Sudan has a troubled history and has been in almost constant turmoil since the 1950s. Regime change, coups, street protests, famine, war, political division - and in April 2019, the toppling of President Omar al-Bashir. The history of modern Sudan is punctuated by several coups, including in 1989, the seizing of power by al-Bashir, whose regime would last for three decades. In the background was Hassan al-Turabi, the power behind the leadership, and the man many call the architect of modern Sudan. "Al-Turabi was a successful politician, not in the sense of political achievements on the ground but in his capacity for mass mobilisation, creating an organisational structure and ensuring continuity," says Dr Al Nour Ahmed, a researcher, academic and Sudanese opposition member. "No politician had ever created a cohesive organisational body in Sudan as al-Turabi did." Al-Turabi was enigmatic, a learned Islamic scholar, the founder of Sudan's religious political party and an arch-politician. His followers revered him as a scholar, diplomat, spiritual leader and strategic thinker, with an uncanny knack of backing winners. "Thanks to his quite diverse experience, he combined traditional Islamic culture with modern European thinking," says political analyst Dr Mohamed Mokhtar al-Shanqity. But to his many enemies, he was Machiavellian, ruthlessly ambitious and sought power on his own terms. "Al-Turabi was known for his intellectual and political flexibility. Political shrewdness is one of his greatest strengths and at the same time one of his major weaknesses," al-Shanqity says. As al-Bashir's attorney-general, al-Turabi was at the heart of power and also at the centre of Sudan's religious ideologues who controlled the executive, the military and the judiciary. When al-Turabi set up a General Assembly to discuss a worldwide Islamic revolution, he attracted people like Osama bin Laden who, as a then-Saudi entrepreneur, set up businesses in Suda
Over the decades, millions of people from the Arab world have emigrated - some driven by conflict and persecution, others for economic and family reasons. They settle in Europe, Australia, the Americas and Africa. But media coverage usually only shows them at the start of their often treacherous journeys, and the stories that get told can sometimes be stereotyped and incomplete. In the Arabs Abroad series, Al Jazeera World profiles the lives of migrants after their initial journey. We meet people who have built successful lives away from their Arab homelands, while remaining connected to their roots - each in their own way giving something back to the region of their birth. In ‘The Surgeons’ we meet two Arab doctors: Dr Munjed al Muderis, an orthopaedic surgeon who fled Iraq for Australia, and Dr Mohammad Hajjiri, a heart specialist who left Jordan for the US.
Over decades, millions of people from the Arab world have emigrated - some driven by conflict and persecution, others for economic and family reasons. They have settled in Europe, Australia, the Americas and Africa. But media coverage tends to focus on refugees fleeing war, poverty and persecution, often at the start of their treacherous journeys. These stories can sometimes be stereotyped and incomplete. In the Arabs Abroad series, Al Jazeera World profiles the lives of migrants long after their initial journey. We meet people who have built successful lives away from their Arab homelands, while remaining connected to their roots - each in their own way giving something back to the region of their birth. In ‘The Politician and The Inventor’ we meet two remarkable success stories: Faycal el-Khoury, a Lebanese-Canadian MP and Dr Adnan Wahhoud, a designer of textiles machinery.
Over decades, millions of people from the Arab world have emigrated - some driven by conflict and persecution, others for economic and family reasons. They have settled in Europe, Australia, the Americas and Africa. But media coverage tends to focus on refugees fleeing war, poverty and persecution, often at the start of their treacherous journeys. These stories can sometimes be stereotyped and incomplete. In the Arabs Abroad series, Al Jazeera World profiles the lives of migrants long after their initial journey. We meet people who have built successful lives away from their Arab homelands, while remaining connected to their roots - each in their own way giving something back to the region of their birth. In ‘The Businesswoman and the Councillor’ we meet two remarkable women of Middle Eastern descent who are thriving in Europe : Dr Nada al-Rubaiee, a Dutch-Iraqi pharmacist and businesswoman, and Sumaya Abdel Qader, a Palestinian-Italian who is also Milan's first Muslim female councillor.
To some, they are heroes, while others called them outlaws. Even their name - the Fellagha - had different meanings for different people. While the word literally translates to "bandits", in 20th century Tunisia, they were known as those who resisted the French presence in North Africa's smallest country. In Tunisia, they were the separatist resistance fighters who launched a campaign against French colonial rule which, together with political negotiations, culminated in independence in 1956. Drawn mainly from the mountainous rural south of the country, the Fellagha drew inspiration from their ancestors - rebels who had opposed the French immediately after colonial rule began in the 1880s. By the 1920s, resistance to the French presence was growing, and by World War Two the Fellagha were launching regular attacks on French military installations in the country. In 1952, the armed resistance was officially launched and by 1954, Fellagha ranks had swollen to several thousand fighters. Although the Fellagha faced a military opposition that was better equipped, better funded, more experienced, and had much greater numbers, they were determined. While on paper, the French army was a far superior force than the Fellagha, the Tunisians had local knowledge and public support on their side. Like other North African independence movements, Tunisia's decades-long fight against colonial rule also began as a mainly political one - but was not ultimately achieved without a violent struggle. In this two-part documentary, we take a look at the Fellagha mainly through the eyes of its old fighters: men who fought the French, and then continued to take issue with the country's new government even after independence. In Episode 1, Rebels: When the French colonised Tunisia in the late 19th century they cemented their rule, but also triggered the founding of an armed rebel movement. As the independence movement grew, so did their armed struggle. This episode is bu
To some, they are heroes, while others called them outlaws. Even their name - the Fellagha - had different meanings for different people. While the word literally translates to "bandits", in 20th century Tunisia, they were known as those who resisted the French presence in North Africa's smallest country. In Tunisia, they were the resistance fighters who launched a campaign against French colonial rule which, together with political negotiations, culminated in independence in 1956. Drawn mainly from the mountainous rural south of the country, the Fellagha drew inspiration from their ancestors - rebels who had opposed the French immediately after colonial rule began in the 1880s. By the 1920s, resistance to the French presence was growing, and by World War Two the Fellagha were launching regular attacks on French military installations in the country. In 1952, the armed resistance was officially launched and by 1954, Fellagha ranks had swollen to several thousand fighters. Although the Fellagha faced a military opposition that was better equipped, better funded, more experienced, and had much greater numbers, they were determined. While on paper, the French army was a far superior force than the Fellagha, the Tunisians had local knowledge and public support on their side. Like other North African independence movements, Tunisia's decades-long fight against colonial rule also began as a mainly political one - but was not ultimately achieved without a violent struggle. In this two-part documentary, we take a look at the Fellagha mainly through the eyes of its old fighters: men who fought the French, and then continued to take issue with the country's new government even after independence. PT 2: By 1955, France and Tunisian nationalists, led by Habib Bourguiba, reached a political compromise which gave Tunisia partial self-rule. But this deal divided the country, with Bourguiba supporting it but the more hard-line Salah Ben Youssef refusing any
The Shame of my Name is the story of how some Algerians during the colonial period were forced to change their names by French colonial authorities at the time. Many of the names these Algerians were forced to carry hold demeaning and even vulgar meanings. The burden of these forced names is still carried by some Algerians to this day. The names were in the local Algerian Arabic dialect and cover a range of vulgar words, including descriptions of bodily functions and genitalia. In this film, we meet several of these individuals whose families were forced to carry names which translate as "Arse," "Runny Nose" and even more offensive monikers. One contributor finds her name so offensive that she cannot bring herself to utter it. She has since changed her name. “I go home and rest my head on the pillow. I pray to God to rid me of that ugly name which had become a curse in my everyday life,” Messaoud Bakhti tells Al Jazeera. Bakhti’s forefathers were forcibly called "Gahroum" which in the Algerian dialect means "Arse" - a name having nothing to do with the heritage of his ancestors. In 1882, 50 years after the French colonisation of Algeria, the French introduced the Civil Status Law. This allowed the authorities to impose approved names on Algerians arbitrarily. The decree stated that names would be in the “European style”, with a first name followed by the family name, which was quite different from traditional Muslim names. But beyond this, the law was frequently interpreted by some officials in ways that demeaned and insulted Algerians. And assigning European-style names to Algerians, whether offensive or not, had another important side effect. It muddied the waters of land ownership, making it difficult for some Algerians to prove their rightful title to their land. All of which means that now the spotlight is on France, with many Algerians saying that it is the responsibility of the French government and theirs alone, to pick up the pieces
A journalist explores political and religious tensions in his mother country. Writer and journalist Aatish Taseer returns to India, his mother country, to explore the changes in this deeply religious yet secular nation. He takes an in-depth look at tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and how the hardline government of the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has fueled anger between Indians of different faiths.
What do you do if your bank account suddenly gets closed and you and your business can no longer function - and you have no idea why? You discover it is because you are on a database that you did not even know existed, saying that you have links with "terrorism" and therefore few banks will deal with you. This happened to two organisations in London which were listed on a database used by the banking system to combat money laundering and other financial crimes. They both resorted to legal action, their cases were settled out of court and they were paid damages - but they still suffered disruption and reputational damage. This film examines these databases - how they gather information, how it is used and what human impact they can have.
The dramatic life of outspoken Palestinian singer and musician, Rim Banna – her talent, struggle and untimely death.
The story of how Israeli-made spyware Pegasus works, the hacking of journalists’ phones and its ominous consequences. In mid-2020, a mobile phone belonging to an Al Jazeera Arabic investigative team was hacked. Over the next few months, reporter Tamer Almisshal and the Canadian research group Citizen Lab investigated Pegasus, the sophisticated spyware used. Pegasus is manufactured by an Israeli technology company called the NSO Group and is among the most advanced spyware in the world. It can access and infiltrate a smartphone without the owner clicking a link, opening an email or even answering their phone – meaning it can go undetected. This investigation exposes how Pegasus works, how governments like Saudi Arabia and the UAE have bought the hugely expensive spyware and how it has been used beyond the stated intentions of the NSO Group of “developing technology to prevent and investigate terror and crime” – including to target journalists.
The history of Oman’s dramatic rise and fall as a trading and imperial power, its role in the Gulf and its regional diplomacy today.
In 1995, Mirko Graorac was arrested by the Croatian authorities and accused of being a guard at the Manjaca concentration camp in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was tortured and subject to humiliating treatment by the Croatian intelligence service. In 1996, he was put on trial for war crimes and sentenced to 20 years in prison, later reduced to 15. He served nine years but always insisted on his innocence. There is strong evidence to suggest that he may have been wrongly convicted. As early as 1998, Amnesty International published a detailed report arguing that his court proceedings amounted to a show trial. But Graorac and his legal team have so far failed to persuade any official body, including the Croatian Supreme Court, to order a retrial. Twenty-five years on, this documentary looks at the evidence being used to support his case and hears from former inmates of Manjaca concentration camp, as well as Graorac and his lawyers and supporters.
Pirate radio: A force for change or a transient subversive movement? The Voice of Peace and Radio Caroline were pirate radio stations that launched in the 1960s and 1970s, broadcasting from ships anchored outside national territorial waters, in an attempt to challenge the societies around them. Radio Caroline, moored off the east coast of England, was "The Boat that Rocked" and was hugely popular with young 1960s music fans. Along with other pirate stations of the time, it helped bring about a cultural change in British broadcasting that is still felt today. The Voice of Peace, based in the eastern Mediterranean, expressed an alternative, pacifist, political viewpoint outside of 1970s Israeli mainstream politics. This documentary intercuts the stories of these two stations, through a mix of archive, presenter anecdotes, journalistic analysis and historical context. In so doing, it sheds light on both 1960s European pop culture and on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Moroccan nomads meet a geologist and a rare stone dealer as they search for meteorites, elusive extra-terrestrial rocks. Meteorites may be the only truly extra-terrestrial items it is possible to find, buy or own on Earth. Their rarity has created a global trade, fed by a fascination with these dark rocks from outer space. Most meteorites on the market come from Morocco, where the inky-black rocks are easier to spot in the arid mountain landscape. Nomads welcome these “gifts from the sky” and sell them to dealers and researchers. However, the prices obtained by Moroccan nomads in the High Atlas Mountains are a fraction of those in the fashionable rock and crystal shops in Europe.
The Samaritans are a tiny ethnic-religious community dating back almost 3,000 years – and they are a population in crisis. But perhaps not for long. Marriage agencies in Ukraine have arranged for more than a dozen women to marry into the Samaritan community in Palestine. Many Samaritans live in a mountain village near Nablus in the occupied West Bank and face a worrying numbers problem. There are only 800 surviving Samaritans, where once they were counted in their thousands. Men outnumber women by three to one. Their custom is that a young Samaritan man can only marry a woman from within the community if he has a sister who he can offer as a bride in return. Faced with a fight for survival, a Samaritan religious leader changed the rules to allow Samaritan men to marry women from abroad.
There is a dark underworld of Palestinian crime syndicates operating within Israel. Al Jazeera Arabic’s Tamer Almisshal examines this rarely reported but growing phenomenon. He meets victims, gangsters and those attempting to keep a lid on a spiralling trend of lawlessness directed at Palestinian citizens of Israel. He asks how the organised crime gangs work, who protects them, where they source their weapons, why murder rates are increasing and, importantly, what the Israeli police are doing to protect the Palestinian citizens of Israel? Some accuse Israeli authorities of turning a blind eye, or worse, colluding with and infiltrating the gangs for political reasons, while Benjamin Netanyahu announced a multimillion-dollar initiative to combat these crimes. But until little has changed and Palestinian victims add this problem to their already challenging lives in Israel.
“A land without a people, and a people without a land” is how the relationship between Palestine and the Jewish people was described by Christian writers in the 1800s. And the 20th-century history of the Middle East has largely been written through these eyes. But this film from Al Jazeera Arabic looks at Palestine from a different angle. It hears from historians and witness accounts, and features archive documents that show Palestine as a thriving province of Greater Syria and the Ottoman Empire at the dawn of the 20th century. The evidence suggests that its cities had a developing trade and commercial sector, growing infrastructure, and embryonic culture that would enable it to meet the challenges of the decades ahead. However, the political ramifications of the Balfour Declaration, San Remo Conference and British Mandate set in motion a series of events that profoundly affected this vibrant, fledgeling society and led to the events of 1948 and beyond.
A local bus driving through mountains reveals the remote lives, communities and environments of eastern Turkey. For eastern Turkey’s remote mountainous villagers, an all-weather bus service is a lifeline. The minibus service operates even when temperatures drop to minus 35 degrees Celsius (-31 degrees Fahrenheit). Despite the treacherous roads, regular passengers journey to the nearest town, Senkaya. This trip allows a tight-knit group of friends to banter, bond and discuss their challenging lives.
Racist slurs, satire, an ancient Islamic "advert" and World Cup football pride are the inspirations for these four song stories from the Arabian Gulf. In Kuwait, the Haydoo song was born as an expression of pride in the face of unpleasant slurs in the 1981 World Cup; in Oman, a satirical song about a cat and mouse is really about the political situation in the 1970s; an old Qatari phrase, "shoomelah", meaning "rise to him", became the lyrics of the country’s main football anthem; and in Iraq, an ancient poem about the virtues of black veils became what is considered the oldest "advertisement" in Islamic history. Away from politics and war, this musical mini-tour sheds light and offers insights into a region often poorly represented in the media.
