Al Jazeera World

One of the world’s most fertile fishing grounds is beset by scandal. Al Jazeera goes undercover to expose how foreign companies get a corrupt cut of a priceless natural resource in Namibia. Host Kevin Hirten sits down with producer James Kleinfeld to break down the “Anatomy of a Bribe” that engulfed a nation.

How much would you pay for diplomatic immunity? The trade-in Caribbean diplomatic passports has become a magnet for wealthy foreigners, corrupt businessmen, and criminals from around the world. Al Jazeera exposes two prime ministers who are complicit in the deals. The investigation reveals details of how an oil smuggler, turned ambassador, turned international fugitive bought his way into the diplomatic class. Investigators go undercover to reveal the inner-workings of a secret system: to find out how much it costs and what it takes to purchase what’s become the ultimate luxury item a diplomatic passport.

Maestro Daniel Barenboim is one of the leading figures in the world of classical music. He has conducted all the major orchestras and performed at some of the world's most prestigious concert venues. Born in Argentina, his first performance came at the age of seven back in 1950. Two years later his family moved to Salzburg, Austria, and then to Israel, where he became passionate about politics and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Barenboim has since had an outstanding international career and is also recognised for his humanitarian work. In 1999, he created the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with young musicians from across the Middle East to promote dialogue and peaceful coexistence. But Barenboim has also faced controversy and criticism from some of the musicians who have played under his baton. As Israel's recently elected government plans to annex parts of the illegally occupied West Bank, can peace in the region ever be achieved? And can arts and culture play a new role in our lives after the global coronavirus pandemic? To discuss this and more, the general music director of the Berlin State Opera and the Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, talks to Al Jazeera. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Just how free are women in Saudi Arabia today? The Saudi government has said it supports the empowerment of women and young people. While there have been reforms, including lifting the ban on women driving in June 2018, the arrest and detention of women speaking out against the government appear to have continued. Al Jazeera World looks at the individual cases of five Saudi women currently in detention, or who have fled the country following apparent harassment for their political views. It asks whether Saudi Arabia is publicly championing the rights of women while privately punishing those who challenge the status quo. In this film, the family of one detainee makes serious allegations of torture during her imprisonment, while others give testimonies about random arrests and arbitrary detention at Dhahban prison near Jeddah. According to Human Rights Watch, and following international pressure, the Saudi Human Rights Commission carried out an investigation into conditions at Dhahban and found no evidence of torture. This film examines the consequences of activism in Saudi Arabia, hearing from women detainees and international human rights organisations, as well as seeking responses from those at the heart of decision-making within the country. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit secretly films officials in Namibia demanding cash in exchange for political favours. It’s a story of how foreign companies plunder Africa’s natural resources. Using confidential documents provided to Al Jazeera by Wikileaks. “Anatomy of a Bribe” exposes the government ministers and public officials willing to sell off Namibia’s assets in return for millions of dollars in bribes. Al Jazeera journalists spent three months undercover posing as foreign investors looking to exploit the lucrative Namibian fishing Industry. The country’s Minister of Fisheries is shown willing to use a front company to accept a $200,000 ‘donation’. Exclusive testimony from a whistleblower who worked for Iceland’s largest fishing company reveals that his employers instructed him to bribe ministers and even the president in return for fishing rights worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

After months of anti-government protests and political uncertainty, Iraq is now grappling with its worst fiscal crisis in decades. The country's economy and state budget are heavily reliant on oil income, and have been hit hard by the sharp decline in global oil prices. The World Bank has projected Iraq's GDP to contract by 9.7 percent, with the fiscal deficit expected to reach almost 30 percent of GDP. Iraq's newly appointed government, led by Mustafa al-Kadhimi, is now faced with a challenging task of implementing long-overdue structural reforms, such as reducing public sector employment while also keeping popular unrest at bay. But what are the root causes of the current economic crisis and what needs to be done to tackle it? And how can the new government overcome entrenched political interests that oppose reform while also winning over a public that has lost all trust in the political establishment? Ramzi Neman, the World Bank's special representative to Iraq, talks to Al Jazeera. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Asked to pick a country where people are passionate about Indian cinema, few might choose the North African Kingdom of Morocco. Bollywood came to the country in the 1950s, where it was embraced for its glamour, dance, romance and pure escapism. There is no obvious explanation for the connection, although it may have started when Ibrahim al-Sayeh began dubbing films - including Indian cinema - into the local Arabic dialect, Darija. Now, the most devoted fans have decorated their homes with Bollywood paraphernalia and perform Hindi songs at themed events - and there is sometimes an Indian section at the annual Marrakech International Film Festival attended by well-known actors and directors. Others have gone even further, like Imane Karouach who left Morocco for India when she was 16. She has worked hard to become a jobbing Bollywood actress and, although not a mega-star, she has had several high-profile roles; she also runs a pizzeria in Mumbai. This quirky documentary, filled with a wide variety of characters, voices and movie clips, is a fascinating snapshot of a world few outside Morocco knew existed. It also includes a contribution from legendary Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor who passed away in April 2020. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

The global coronavirus pandemic has changed the world as we know it. It has been particularly devastating for the aviation sector. Airports have been shut, thousands of aeroplanes grounded, businesses have ceased operations, and the long-term financial cost may not be known for years to come. According to the International Air Transport Association, this year's loss of revenue has cost airlines more than $300bn. Thousands in the air travel industry have been left jobless. Qatar Airways, one of the world's biggest carriers, is no exception. The Doha-based airline was already dealing with restrictions imposed by four Gulf Arab nations as part of their blockade of Qatar. Without access to the airspace of its neighbours, it had to find new routes and new destinations. And now, as it navigates the turbulent skies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, how will the airline recover from both the health and political crises? And what is in store for the future of global air travel after the pandemic ends? The chief executive officer of Qatar Airways, Akbar al-Baker, talks to Al Jazeera. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

When the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, newly independent states emerged. These new borders meant that all of a sudden people found themselves on the wrong side - foreigners in a country they called their home, but were unable to prove or formally claim as such. The United Nations refugee agency estimates that at least 280 million people lost their citizenship during the formation of post-Soviet republics, including in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Nearly 30 years later, thousands across the region live without any legal trace - many of them having inherited their statelessness from their parents. Azizbek Ashurov is a Kyrgyz lawyer, and founder of the Ferghana Lawyers Without Borders association. He has spent more than a decade fighting for the rights of thousands of stateless people in his country. To access those in need, Ashurov and his team first had to figure out how many people lacked legal identity, and find ways to help them. With an estimated two-thirds of Kyrgyzstan's six million people living in rural areas, the team spent much of their time in the hills and villages of the Ferghana valley which spreads across parts of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The work has had an effect. The NGO has helped more than 10,000 stateless people in Kyrgyzstan gain citizenship, and some 2,000 children now have access to education, health and a more promising future. Kyrgyzstan is now a leading example of how statelessness can be eradicated - there are no more known cases of people living there without a legal identity. Talk to Al Jazeera travelled to Kyrgyzstan to meet Ashurov and some of the people he has helped. - - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Egypt's cinema was prolific from the 1940s to the 1960s, a time when the stars of the silver screen captivated a generation of movie-goers. But the films' soundtracks were just as much a part of the appeal of these Arab cinema classics, and the man behind the vibrant rhythms of more than 350 movies was the legendary composer, Ali Ismael. It was through playing the saxophone in the nightclubs of downtown Cairo that Ismael found his niche, and where he met the Greek film composer, Andre Ryder, who got him into movies. An ardent supporter of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ismael also wrote many patriotic songs. Leave My Sky flew the flag during the Suez Crisis in the 1950s, and his music filled the airwaves during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Flags of Victory also inspired Egyptian forces when they reclaimed Sinai in 1973, and the song, Fida'i' or 'Warrior, also composed by Ismael, later became the Palestinian national anthem. Ismael's life and career were cut short in 1974 when he suffered a sudden, fatal heart-attack aged only 51. His military funeral was widely covered by the press and also shown in cinemas. Until today, his legacy remains as a prolific composer who brought joy to millions and whose songs became Arab classics. In this rich and colourful documentary, Al Jazeera World tells the multi-layered story of the musician's relatively short but successful life and career. Combining high-quality performances with incisive interviews, the film pays tribute to an Egyptian musical icon, whose popularity and cultural influence were felt by an entire generation across the Arab world.

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we live. Nearly every country in the world has been affected. There have already been millions of infections, and hundreds of thousands of deaths. And while scientists work on developing a vaccine, governments are focusing on reducing the number of infections through social distancing and other preventive measures. But these restrictions have brought with them countless financial losses across the globe. The coronavirus recession is considered to be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of 1929. As COVID-19 measures halt international trade, shut down airports and leave businesses bankrupt, tens of millions of people have lost their jobs. And for many, being unemployed in the middle of a pandemic means not only losing their income but also losing access to healthcare. So, how can governments protect their workers and rebuild their economies? The director-general of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Guy Ryder, talks to Al Jazeera. - - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Palestinian protest against Israeli occupation has taken many forms in the past seven decades - from all-out Arab-Israeli war, to the Intifadas and the Great March of Return. On a global level, Palestinian leaders continue to lobby for increased international recognition of the State of Palestine. Meanwhile, on a smaller scale, other forms of self-determination are emerging. In his own form of dissent, artist Khaled Jarrar designs postage and passport stamps for the State of Palestine, using the Palestine sunbird as the motif. His stamps have been officially recognised by the postal services in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and the Czech Republic. Jarrar’s is a protest in an artistic context, one that began in his home town of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. There, he designed a Palestinian visa stamp saying 'State of Palestine' which he began offering to international visitors, including a Jewish American woman with dual US-Israeli nationality. He stamped both her passports with the Palestine sunbird, but when she later went through Israeli immigration, officials interrogated her and cancelled her passport. In this Al Jazeera World film, we watch as Jarrar achieves a major breakthrough when Germany’s Deutsche Post accepts his design. An initial print run of 4,000 postage stamps quickly sells out, and he soon sells more than 28,000 German Palestine sunbird stamps, while also stamping hundreds of passports of tourists on the streets of Berlin. This is one man’s story of a peaceful Palestinian protest - but with a difference. It is the journey of a charismatic artist’s creative yet provocative way of promoting the Palestinian cause across the world.

In September 2016, nearly two months before the then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's election, United States President Barack Obama spoke at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). "As I address this hall as president for the final time, let me recount the progress that we've made," he said, "A quarter-century after the end of the Cold War, the world is by many measures less violent and more prosperous than ever before …" But with millions displaced worldwide, unresolved conflicts from Yemen to Syria, Iraq to Afghanistan, and armed groups like ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda launching attacks against civilians, was Obama's speech too optimistic? And in the years since, how has US foreign policy changed under President Trump? And what should have been done differently? Samantha Power served at the US ambassador to the UN from 2013 to 2017. As Obama's top UN diplomat at the time, she was responsible for securing international consensus on a variety of pressing issues at the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the UNGA. To discuss the Trump presidency, the difference between Trump and Obama's responses to global health crises, and China's increasing influence on international organisations, she talks to Al Jazeera. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

It has been nearly two months since Qatar implemented a series of measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The government has since closed schools, issued stay-at-home orders and imposed travel bans on travellers from many countries. But while the number of deaths here remains low, infection rates continue to rise. On Talk to Al Jazeera, we speak to Qatar's minister of public health, Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, about the government's efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. - - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

When it comes to weddings, Somalia has many approaches. Some couples stick with tradition while others go for more modern marriage ceremonies. This film tells the story of two weddings, one in a small desert village and the other in a busy city, while highlighting everyday life in different parts of the country. It also contrasts traditional ways of life with modern ideas that come from younger Somalis and social media. In the remote rural village of Toon, herder Jamalli Muhammad Ahmed can only marry a local woman called Hoda after first getting permission from her family. In a tradition going back generations, they all gather in the shade of a large tree to decide whether they are a suitable match. Only then can Jamalli and Hoda start planning their lives together. Abdullatif Deeq Omar in Hargeisa city, however, first met his future wife Najma on Facebook. They eloped but eventually returned to their families who accepted their marriage plans. Both weddings have the same pressures: buying outfits, inviting guests, finding a venue and arranging feasts - but each tells a unique story of family, community and tradition. In Somali culture, many people also believe that getting married in the run-up to Ramadan ensures additional blessings on the couple, making the happy occasion even more special. More from Al Jazeera World on: YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraWorld Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World Visit our website - http://www.aljazeera.com/aljazeeraworld Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe