Al Jazeera World

The Arab Muslim world has a long tradition of songs and chants for the holy month of Ramadan. This film tells the fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of four popular pieces. The song Ramadan Gana, or Here Comes Ramadan, is often played on TV to coincide with the start of Ramadan. Its simplicity, familiar lyrics and the singer’s warm voice make it hugely popular in the Arab world. Wahawi Ya Wahawi, or Welcome Ramadan Moon, was first performed by an Egyptian singer in the 1930s and later in a 1953 Egyptian movie by a five-year-old Lebanese girl, Hayam Younis, who still clearly remembers singing it. Decades on, she describes filming the song which became a timeless classic. Mawlay, or My Lord God, is a religious chant derived from a prayer. Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat encouraged the Sufi figure Sayed Naqshband to work with the famous Egyptian composer, Baligh Hamdi, whose speciality was love songs. Despite early misgivings they found common ground, and the result was a deeply spiritual chant. Allou El Bayarek, or Hang Out Ramadan Flags, dates back to the Lebanese Civil War and was written for a children's choir at a Beirut orphanage. Composer Ahmed Kaboor had a vision of colourful flags, lights and lanterns hanging from every building. This film is a rich mix of music, theology and social and cultural history, weaving together interviews and rare video archive to offer a different take on Ramadan. 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

As the second world war was ending in June 1945, representatives of 50 countries signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco in the US state of California. The UN officially came into existence in October of the same year, when the Charter was ratified by China, France, the then-Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and by a majority of other signatories. Almost 75 years later, the UN comprises 193 member states, all represented in one of its six main organs - the UN General Assembly. The UNGA's first session with representatives from 51 nations was in London on January 10, 1946. The next few annual sessions were held in different cities, then moved to the UN's permanent headquarters in New York in 1952. The annual UNGA in September is chaired by a president voted for by member states. But what power does the Assembly have to enforce its resolutions or to compel countries to act? We find out as the President of 2019's 74th session of the UNGA, Nigeria's Ambassador to the UN Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, 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 over a month since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. More than 120,000 people have died, and a cumulative total of nearly 2 million have been infected worldwide. The health emergency has also affected diplomacy and the global economy. One of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic is Spain. It has had more than 18,000 deaths, despite a weeks-long government-imposed lockdown. Its already weak economy has declined further. And, despite concerns by the World Health Organization, workers' unions and opposition leaders, the Spanish government has announced a partial lifting of the lockdown restrictions. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has asked the European Union for help to tackle the economic fallout. Spain, along with Italy, France and other EU nations, wants to share the cost of the crisis through Eurobonds that all EU nations will have to pay off. But some countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, oppose that plan, saying it will be a burden on their taxpayers. In an article published by newspapers across Europe, Prime Minister Sanchez warned that failing to respond with unwavering solidarity could push the EU to fall apart. So, how will Spain overcome the challenges ahead? And will it succeed in its effort to unify the EU's response? Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha Gonzalez Laya, 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/

Khalil al-Wazir, better known in the Arab world as Abu Jihad, was a key figure in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), helping found Fatah in the late 1950s. For years, he was the effective deputy to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. He was shot dead by Israeli agents in an audacious commando raid in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, in 1988. Israel denied responsibility for nearly 25 years until 2012, when an Israeli newspaper published an interview with Israeli soldier Nahum Lev, who killed Abu Jihad, eventually revealing the truth. This film, Assassination in Tunis, hears from both sides of the story and traces the assassination in detail: How Israeli commandos made a beach landing in Tunis under direction from Mossad, Israeli national intelligence, and overran the villa where Abu Jihad was staying. Moments later, Abu Jihad was killed in multiple rounds of gunfire. His widow, Intisar al-Wazir, offers witness testimony to these final moments of Abu Jihad's life. The Tunis raid that finally ended Abu Jihad's life was a high-risk venture for the Israeli special forces. They sent a hit squad to a foreign country to kill a prominent Arab figure and escaped undetected. However, Nahum Lev's interview, published after his death, raised almost as many questions as it answered, including whether Israel had acted alone or had help from inside Tunisia.

The attack on October 17, 2019, shocked Mexico. The Sinaloa drug cartel - one of the country's largest and most powerful criminal organisations - took over the streets of the northern city of Culiacan with a devastating array of high powered weaponry. From machine guns to AK-47 assault rifles, the rival gangs were armed to the teeth, despite strict gun controls, the weapons smuggled across the border from the United States. About 70 percent of the guns seized in Mexico are traced back to the US. Successive Mexican governments have asked the US to do more to stop the weapons flow. And those calls for action have grown louder because of the rising murder rate - already one of the highest worldwide. But how is Mexico policing its border? And how is it dealing with those weapons once they are in the country? Talk to Al Jazeera met an arms trafficker, a hitman, and the wife of a victim of gun violence, to get insight into the weapons crisis facing Mexico. - 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/

These are the inspiring stories of four men - two refugees from Iran and Afghanistan, and two from Senegal - who have carved out careers for themselves at the sharp end of art, photography and human rights in their adopted European countries. Reza Deghati is an award-winning photographer whose work has been featured in many prestigious international publications, including Time and Newsweek. He made his journey as a refugee from post-revolutionary Iran to France nearly 40 years ago. Photographer Abdul Saboor fled Afghanistan in 2015 and began photographing refugees after arriving in Serbia. Several years on, he sets out to visit a refugee camp outside Calais in northern France to document the plight of eastern Europeans, Syrians and north Africans seeking a new life far from their home countries. Mammadou Dia and Malk Gueye, refugees from Senegal, champion the rights of new arrivals in Spain. For 10 years, Dia spoke out on behalf of undocumented Africans in Europe and wrote a best-selling book about them, before founding a community charity in West Africa. Gueye campaigns for undocumented African street traders selling goods on Spanish streets, his work intensifying after the death of an immigrant street trader in Madrid, who witnesses claim was chased down by police before dying of a heart attack. A Hard Road from Home: Photographers and Activists follows the four men's journeys as they overcome their own struggles to dedicate their lives both to their art and to the plight of others less fortunate than themselves. 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

Coronavirus has upended lives and workplaces around the world, with more than a third of the globe under lockdown. At the United Nations headquarters in New York, where about 10,000 people usually work, a skeleton staff of a few hundred is on site, ensuring the world body's vital operations continue - such as peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads fast, the UN is critically concerned about those most vulnerable - especially refugees and people trapped in conflict situations. The UN has launched a $2bn global humanitarian appeal to assist fragile states and those most vulnerable. It says prevention and suppression of the virus must be a priority for leaders of all countries. Leading UN officials have also called for all conflicts to cease and warring parties to focus their efforts on tackling the coronavirus. To discuss the global efforts against COVID-19 and the risks facing the world's most vulnerable populations, Talk to Al Jazeera speaks to Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general; Mark Lowcock, the under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs; and Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. - 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/

Lazhar Chraiti, a legendary figure in Tunisia's resistance to French colonial rule, was executed in 1963. More than 50 years later, Lazhar Chraiti's son goes back to Tunisia to find out more about how his father lived - and how he died. The story of Lazhar Chraiti is that of an unlikely hero. He had little education, was virtually illiterate, worked as a miner and was a trade union activist. Yet he had a vivid sense of the injustice in his country, particularly the economic and social divide between Tunisians and French colonials. In response, Chraiti joined the Fellagha, bands of rural fighters with a common enemy, the French. He quickly rose up the ranks and took part in several battles against French military units. Eventually in 1956, French colonial authorities - seeing Tunisia slipping from their control - offered nominal independence, but with strings attached. It was about this time that Lazar Chraiti first encountered Habib Bourguiba, a man who would later become Tunisia's first president. There were tensions between Bourguiba and the Fellagha, many of whom felt the deal did not reflect their struggle. In the Footsteps of a Tunisian Hero charts the rise and fall of Lazhar Chraiti's fortunes. The early years of Tunisian independence saw Bourguiba consolidate his power as the Fellagha's influence waned. Tensions came to a head when Bourguiba accused Lazhar Chraiti of being part of a coup attempt against the new president. In the film, Lazhar Chraiti's son tells how after his father's arrest, the family had nowhere to turn and were ostracised from Tunisian society. After a speedy trial, Chraiti was executed on January 24, 1963. To the continuing distress of his family, the site of his burial remains unknown. 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

COVID-19 has killed thousands and, as of March 25, 2020, has infected at least 400,000 people worldwide. And those figures are expected to grow in the coming months. It all started in December last year, when cases of an unusual pneumonia were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Most of those affected by the unknown virus seemed to have something in common. They were working at the Huanan Seafood Market. As the Chinese health authorities were trying to identify the causes of the illness, the numbers kept growing. On January 7, The World Health Organization announced it had identified the new virus. Four days later, 41 people had been diagnosed in China and the first death was reported. By January 13, cases in other countries began to appear. And the death toll in China jumped from tens to hundreds to thousands. In the coming weeks and months, governments worldwide took different measures to stop the outbreak of the coronavirus, but it was too late. On March 11, the WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic. For many, COVID-19 has changed the world as we know it, from school closures to closing borders. The restrictions put in place to ease the effects of the pandemic mean we have to stay where we are. So, is the world doing enough to overcome this global health crisis? And what will it take to win the battle against COVID-19? Find out as the executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Mike Ryan, 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/

ISIL made headlines around the world in 2014, when its fighters pushed out Iraqi soldiers and took control of cities like Mosul and Sinjar. And in what became known as the Sinjar massacre, thousands of Yazidi men, women and children were killed. In response to ISIL’s rapid territorial gains, the United States and its allies formed a coalition to fight the armed group. They launched air strikes on ISIL hideouts, its fighters and convoys. In October last year, a US military operation in northwest Syria resulted in the death of ISIL’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In 2018, the United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, announced the appointment of a special adviser to support efforts to investigate ISIL’s crimes. As the head of the UN investigative team, the special adviser’s mandate is to collect, preserve and store evidence. But, how are the investigations conducted? And will they bring justice to the countless victims in Iraq and Syria? The UN special adviser, Karim Khan, talks to al Jazeera about his efforts to investigate ISIL’s crimes. - 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/

A group of men embark together on a journey to recovery at a secluded rehabilitation centre in a desert oasis between the Egyptian capital of Cairo and its coastal city of Alexandria. In recovery, they reflect on the events that brought them there. They speak of deteriorating health, ruined relationships, stealing or losing money, life-threatening overdoses, stigma, suicide attempts, and other challenges. While substance abuse is not uncommon in the Middle East and North Africa, it is rarely discussed as openly as in this documentary. Patients follow a "12-Step" programme, a residential course that guides them through physical and emotional withdrawals and helps them to lead more fulfilling lives. For many, their addiction hurt not just them, but their families and loved ones as well. But as they recover, they make new friends, spiritually reconnect with themselves and find healthier ways to cope. Through their harrowing stories comes hope; several of the men overcome their illness and begin to help other substance abusers, working to end the painful cycle once and for all.

It has been more than a year since the former cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan became Pakistan's prime minister. During his campaign, Khan promised to turn his county's economy around. But the fight to ease inflation has not been easy. The Pakistani rupee lost 35 percent of its value during Khan's first year in office. And despite some encouraging news from the International Monetary Fund, many are still struggling as a result of the country's weak economy. Pakistan's location brings a lot of opportunity as well as challenges. A lot of hope has been placed on its agreement with China to set up an economic corridor. But it is not clear if the ambitious project will benefit both sides. Relations with its other neighbour, India, have been strained in recent months after New Delhi revoked the autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir. There has also been tension over India's controversial citizenship law that many say discriminates against Muslims. Elsewhere, Islamabad will also be looking to see how the recently signed deal between the US and Afghanistan's Taliban will affect its policies. We discuss all this and more with Pakistan's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. - 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/

After nearly two decades of the longest-running US war - the United States and Afghanistan's Taliban have signed an historic agreement. With the potential to end the war in Afghanistan, the long-awaited agreement includes: a timeline of 14 months for all US and NATO troops to withdraw a Taliban guarantee that Afghan soil will not be used to threaten US security and negotiations with the Afghan government by March 10; leading to a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire. Years of shuttle diplomacy were behind the signing and Qatar played a central role in the negotiations. It hosted the months-long discussions between representatives of the Taliban and US officials in its capital, Doha. Now, with an agreement in place to stop the fighting and the impending withdrawal of foreign troops, can Afghans negotiate a deal among themselves? Can peace finally come to Afghanistan? Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani, Qatar's special envoy for counterterrorism and mediation of conflict resolution, 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/

"Refugees are always connected. Once you become a refugee ... it's like the energy just pull you guys together." - Emmanuel Jal, musician Four people - refugees from Sudan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe - took very different, unpredictable paths away from conflict or political persecution in their home countries. But they all have something in common: they have since built successful careers in the arts and culture industry and are driven to express themselves by using their skills to help others. Emmanuel Jal does not know when he was born. He knows he was born sometime in the 1980s in southern Sudan. He was displaced by the pre-secession war that took place between the north and south and was recruited as a child soldier while attending school in Ethiopia. He is now a critically acclaimed musician and author in Canada. Tara Moneka, a teenage singer from Baghdad, took part in a popular TV talent show in Iraq and received threats from militiamen angered by her singing. She now lives in exile in Turkey with hopes of returning home. Euphemia Sydney-Davies, who fled civil war in Sierra Leone as a child, today has her own fashion label in London, producing ethically sourced clothes for clients throughout the world. And Faith Gakanje, a vocal opponent of the government of Zimbabwe, fled her native country in 2002. She now lives in the UK, where she is a fashion entrepreneur and founder of a forum that supports refugee women. The four artists have found success through their determination, family support and what they consider to be a certain degree of good fortune. It is a gift they now pay forward to help fellow refugees and connect with others.

Palestine's PM: Trump's Middle East Plan 'insult' to Palestinians Mohammad Shtayyeh on the 'deal of the century' and why it 'erodes' possibility for peace between Palestine and Israel. 29 Feb 2020 09:53 GMT Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Palestine, Israel, Donald Trump, Middle East US President Donald Trump describes his Middle East peace plan as "the deal of the century". But Palestinians call it the "Swiss cheese" plan rather than a solution for a sovereign Palestinian state. So what will happen now? We explore the next steps for the Middle East peace process with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, on Talk 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/