More than a million people have protested France’s controversial pension reform plan, which was formally presented on Monday. The majority of people – along with all of France’s biggest unions – oppose the reforms, which would raise the retirement age and the threshold of years worked to get a full pension. President Emmanuel Macron says the reforms are essential to erase deficits in the system by 2030, but even though the increases are slight, many protesters see it as a standoff over the future of work. With more demonstrations planned, is Macron risking civil unrest to get his plan through?
In this episode:
Bernard Smith (@JazeeraBernard), Al Jazeera correspondent
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra with Negin Owliaei and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke and Ney Alvarez fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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Global consulting firm McKinsey works all over the world, but in South Africa, it faces criminal charges for corruption. The case centers on its role in the country’s biggest post-apartheid scandal, known as state capture. The firm has also consulted on everything from looking at privatizing the UK National Health Service to researching Saudi Arabian dissidents. So what exactly does McKinsey do, and why?
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Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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When it comes to the media, Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa has dealt with it all: attacks on the freedom of the press in the Philippines, audiences turning to social media, and misinformation. We spoke with her in Manila on January 17th, ahead of an acquittal in some of the legal cases against her. But these problems aren’t only in the Philippines. For our 500th episode, we’re looking at how we get our news and why. Spoiler alert: the state of the media isn’t great. So at a time when many say journalism is more important than ever, what can be done to turn around that distrust and disinterest?
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Amy Walters with Chloe K. Li and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Miranda Lin fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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The World Economic Forum is known for glitzy parties, exclusivity, and dealmaking – in addition to panels on topics ranging from climate change to ‘stakeholder capitalism’. The theme of this year’s annual meeting in Davos is “cooperation in a fragmented world,” and Davos mainstays are the world’s most powerful networkers. They wield an enormous amount of economic and political power. So who are they? What actually happens at Davos, and what do the people left off the invite list need to know about it?
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Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with Ashish Malhotra and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Miranda Lin fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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Texas is the largest US state with a near-total ban on abortion. Legislators and activists want to make 2023 the year of closing the loopholes that remain, whether that’s travel to nearby states for the procedure or targeting abortion medication by mail. The state is also where the Roe v Wade legal case was first filed. It had made abortion legal across the United States after the US Supreme Court ruled on the case 50 years ago this week. We hear from one former abortion provider about life in a post-Roe world.
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Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Khaled Soltan and Alexandra Locke with our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Amy Walters and Chloe K. Li fact-checked this episode.
Our production team also includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
For more:
Watch the Fault Lines documentary, ‘The End of Roe: Living without abortion rights’
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What happens when you fall victim to a cyber scam? And who's really at fault? In Cambodia, an entire economy of these scams is operating, and the scammers Al Jazeera found in a city called Sihanoukville are often held against their will. Tens of thousands of people are being trafficked, and authorities are alleged to be complicit.
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Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Amy Walters with our host Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, and Negin Owliaei.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St. Clair mixed this episode. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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In Russia's war in Ukraine, the use of drones – for surveillance, correcting artillery fire and dropping weapons on the enemy – has become increasingly important, especially for the Ukrainian army.
The drones used so far are believed to have all been controlled by humans but experts say the technology for fully autonomous weapons exists. Are so-called ‘killer robots’ that take to the battlefield inevitable?
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra with Chloe K. Li and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Amy Walters, Alexandra Locke and Chloe K. Li fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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Tigray was cut off from the rest of Ethiopia and the outside world for nearly two years. As a civil war raged on, the region was under a de facto blockade that impacted everything from food to phone lines. The war resulted in one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, and widespread human rights abuses, including sexual violence. But a peace agreement signed between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces in November means the region is beginning to open up again. So what does that mean for the people in Tigray?
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, and our host, Halla Mohieddeen.
Miranda Lin, Alexandra Locke, and Amy Walters fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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There are more strikes in the United Kingdom today than in more than a decade. Inflation is at a 41-year high, and economists are predicting that UK households are looking forward to a miserable 2023. But rather than offering concessions, the government is trying to make it harder to strike.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Amy Walters with Miranda Lin and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Miranda Lin, Chloe K. Li and Alexandra Locke fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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What makes a community special? Al Jazeera’s series, A Sense of Community, has travelled to four unique parts of the globe to explore the concept. We visited islanders in remote Scotland facing depopulation, explored the fight against crime and search for safety in the most dangerous neighbourhood in Mexico City, spoke with female runners in Kenya pushing back against gender-based violence, and delved into why Tibetans in Toronto are battling gentrification. All four communities face challenges in holding onto their culture and identity. While communities worldwide reckon with changes due to the pandemic, they also offer lessons about what makes a community worth preserving.
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Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. It was fact-checked by Ruby Zaman. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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Mo Gawdat, author and former chief business officer at Google X, predicts that AI will become a billion times smarter than humans. The time is now, he says, to influence it with the right ethics to have humanity's best interests in mind. Artificial intelligence is becoming unavoidable with smart devices in every aspect of our lives, and AI image and text generation reaching new heights. So, is it time to make friends with AI?
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Ruby Zaman with our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Alexandra Locke fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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The United States space agency NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest telescope ever put into space, just over a year ago. Since then, we have been given a whole new picture of the universe – image after image of stars, planets and galaxies, farther into the universe than humans have ever seen. We talk to those who helped put together the telescope about what they have learned and find out how close it really is to detecting signs of life on other planets.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Chloe K. Li with Negin Owliaei, Ruby Zaman, Alexandra Locke, Amy Walters, Ashish Malhotra and Halla Mohieddeen. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alex Roldan is our sound designer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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Americans waste about $408bn in food every year but the most significant consequence of food waste is not financial. Pollution from methane gas generated at landfills accounts for about 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Today, we are re-exploring food waste – how to avoid it and what steps local and national governments in the United States are taking to solve the problem.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Ney Alvarez. The original production team was Alexandra Locke, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, Ney Alvarez, Priyanka Tilve, Ruby Zaman, Tom Fenton, Stacey Samuel and our host, Malika Bilal. Our production team also includes Chloe K Li and Ashish Malhotra. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our engagement producers are Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
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@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
Unmarked graves, lost family members, and a reckoning long overdue – it is a story familiar to Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States, where residential schools for native children ripped apart tribal nations. The US boarding school system was even more extensive than Canada’s, but much less is known about it, and its history is often surrounded by a culture of silence. Today, we’re revisiting this story and still wondering what will it take for a reckoning in the US.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Alexandra Locke. The original production team was Alexandra Locke, Dina Kesbeh, Amy Walters, Ney Alvarez, Priyanka Tilve, Natalia Aldana, Stacey Samuel, Graelyn Brashear, and our host, Malika Bilal. Our production team also includes Chloe K. Li, Ruby Zaman, and Ashish Malhotra. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our engagement producers are Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
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The people of Gaza experience frequent violence, even war, but in 2020, there was a moment of relief – an understanding between Israel and Hamas, the group that's run Gaza since 2007. A sign of that temporary peace was strawberries. Today, we’ll tell you why as we revisit a story from Gaza that doesn’t usually make headlines.
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Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Alexandra Locke. The original production team was Alexandra Locke, Dina Kesbeh, Amy Walters, Ney Alvarez, Priyanka Tilve, Natalia Aldana, Stacey Samuel, Graelyn Brashear and our host Malika Bilal. Our production team also includes Chloe K. Li, Negin Owliaei, Ruby Zaman and Ashish Malhotra. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our engagement producers are Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
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@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
Any fan of mob movies is likely familiar with one of their central lessons: Don’t be a snitch. Informants have been fuel for Hollywood for decades. In reality, the use of snitches has become a key feature of the US criminal system. In this episode, we hear from a legal scholar who suggests the problems with snitching go far beyond the tattle-tale accusations you see in the movies.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with Chloe K Li, Amy Walters and our host Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
The number of Israelis who openly refuse military service due to the occupation is low; earlier this year, four teenagers refusing together was notable. The low numbers persist despite multiple international human rights groups recognising Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as apartheid. Now, army violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is at a high not seen in years, Israel’s most far-right government yet is on the verge of taking power, and draft refuser organisations say there has been increased interest in what is seen by most Israelis as a radical step. We hear from two men about why they did it, and why their decision is so rare.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Alexandra Locke with Chloe K. Li and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. It was fact-checked by Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our engagement producers are Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman.
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Peru’s government is now trying to regain balance after Pedro Castillo, its fifth president in six years, has been impeached.
Now, the country is grappling with a new president, and the public is feeling displeased about their government system. Protests have erupted over the country demanding new elections and a new constitution.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Chloe K Li with Amy Walters, Ashish Malhotra, and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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Over the last month, we’ve watched 62 World Cup matches, some full of surprises and unexpected outcomes.
When Morocco advanced to the semifinals, we even saw history made. Now, with two matches left until a world champion is crowned, we hear from some of the fans who watched it all play out on the pitch.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei, Ashish Malhotra, and Chloe K Li with our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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As winter sets in, Russia is targeting Ukraine’s power grid. Homes are without heat and light while multi-storey apartment buildings no longer have functioning elevators. Families are relying on camping stoves to do their cooking. What does a weaponised winter mean for Ukrainians now and what will that mean as the cold continues?
In this episode:
Rory Challands (@rorychallands), Al Jazeera correspondent
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Amy Walters with our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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Lionel Messi - considered by many to be the greatest football player of all time - is two wins away from finally winning a World Cup. And though much of his native Argentina is behind him - they are not the only ones. Continents away, in parts of India and Bangladesh, Argentina and Messi superfans also hope to see him lift the cup. So what’s behind the Messi mania in South Asia, and what does it say about the soft power of ‘the beautiful game?’
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra with Chloe K. Li, and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. It was fact-checked by Ruby Zaman.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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China’s zero-COVID bubble has officially burst, after years of some of the world’s strongest restrictions aimed at preventing its spread. After protests in more than 20 cities last month, people have shown they were ready for restrictions to be lifted. So, what are the challenges facing the loosening of tight restrictions, and are people ready for what comes next?
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Alexandra Locke with Ruby Zaman, Chloe K. Li, and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. It was fact-checked by Ruby Zaman.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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For more than a decade, football fans have been wondering what the first Middle Eastern World Cup would look like. Now that the tournament has passed its halfway mark, we can finally see it in practice. Morocco’s now the last Arab and African team standing. After their win against Spain, players posed with the Palestinian flag, highlighting an issue that’s become central to fans at the tournament. In this episode, we see how the 2022 Qatar World Cup has panned out so far, from upsets to football culture to geopolitics.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with Chloe K. Li and our host, Halla Moheiddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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After Russian forces occupied most of Mariupol, members of the Azov Battalion and other Ukrainian fighting forces were holed up in the Azovstal steel plant – their last stand in the besieged city. For their own safety, Ukraine’s government encouraged them to surrender to Russian forces. They were imprisoned for months but recently many were part of a prisoner exchange and now have stories to tell. We hear one of those stories.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Amy Walters with Chloe K. Li and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode.
Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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As wealthy nations try to find new ways to cut their carbon emissions, electric vehicles have been getting a lot of attention. From incentives for electric cars in the US to all-out bans on future gas and petrol cars in the UK and European Union, leaders are pushing their populations away from the gas guzzlers. But electric cars aren’t an environmental silver bullet. Their batteries require specific types of metals, like cobalt and nickel. One potential – and controversial – source for those metals is the deep sea. In this episode, we look at the minerals on the bottom of the ocean floor and the environmental costs of mining them.
In this episode:
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St. Clair mixed this episode. Our engagement producers are Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad. Al Jazeera’s head of audio is Ney Alvarez.
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