Will pressuring Sudan make a difference?: With more than 100 protesters killed in the past week, international pressure is growing on Sudan's military faction to compromise with its opponents. Ethiopia is leading mediation efforts to end the standoff. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is in Khartoum, where he's due to meet both sides. The goal is for the military to hand over power to civilians- but after this week's violent crackdown, the protest leaders see little reason to trust the army....

When you look at a country that's had 12 coups since 1932, along with another seven attempted ones, well, there's clearly something of a love-hate relationship with democracy. And so it is in Thailand, which had an election in March, the first since the 2014 coup, and now has a newly-confirmed Prime Minister. Only this Prime Minister was the same army general who led that coup, leading to a whole lot of questions about the true state of democracy in Thailand. On Inside Story, an in-depth...

Quiet, picturesque New Zealand was the last place most people expected to see a massacre. "This is not us," the country grieved en masse after the Christchurch killings. But as the dust settles on a mass shooting that saw 51 Muslims shot and killed as they prayed, community leaders, survivors and activists are starting to tell a different story. They say alarms about rising Islamophobia and glaring loopholes in the gun laws were ignored repeatedly. Despite New Zealand's harmonious image,...

In March 2018, Marielle Franco, a prominent Brazilian human rights activist and politician, was murdered in mysterious circumstances. A champion of the favelas, Rio's slum neighbourhoods, Marielle was also a vocal critic of the city's security forces - both official and unofficial - and the high cost in civilian casualties of their war against Rio's drug gangs. So who killed her and why? And what does the investigation into her death reveal about the state of Brazil today? Juliana Ruhfus...

A lot can happen in 730 days except, it seems, in the Gulf crisis. Arguably, the standoff between Qatar, and the group of four Arab nations which blockaded it, is still where it was two years ago. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt, cut their diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, closed the only land border, and imposed an air and sea blockade on June 5th 2017. Kuwait stepped in to mediate, but even as recently as last week, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister was saying Qatar must...

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...

Tens of thousands of Chinese people protested in Beijing for democracy and freedom in 1989. The government answered with tanks and bullets. The Tiananmen Square massacre is a highly-censored issue in China. Security in Beijing was tight for the anniversary, and any public discussion will land you in jail. Sympathisers have been holding vigils in Hong Kong and Macau, two semi-autonomous Chinese territories where freedom of expression is allowed. How have the killings in Beijing shaped modern...

After months of peaceful demonstrations, Sudan's military junta has had enough. Security forces have carried out a dawn raid to break up a sit-in outside the army's headquarters in the capital Khartoum. At least 13 people died. Soldiers then stormed a hospital and shot at the injured. The main opposition group has stopped all contact with the Transitional Military Council that has been in power since April. The crackdown has been condemned around the world. Does this end hopes of a transition...

Donald Trump likes to call himself a 'Tariff Man'. The US president has imposed import duties to address trade imbalances with China, Canada, Europe and others. Now he's threatening tariffs on Mexico, one of America's biggest trading partners. Trump says he will impose levies on Mexican goods if it doesn't stop undocumented people from entering the US. Meanwhile, China says the US is solely to blame for their trade war over the past year, which has seen both countries impose tariffs on...

Mozambique is hoping to secure billions of dollars for reconstruction after the devastation of cyclones Idai and Kenneth. Cyclone Idai alone left more than 600 people dead and about 1.8 million people in need. According to the United Nations, Mozambique needs $3.2bn for post-cyclone reconstruction. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says growth could slow to at least 1.8 percent from 3.5 percent from losses to agriculture, transport and communications. Food shortages in Beira, one of the...

Istanbul plays an oversized role in the Turkish economy and politics. It has been the gateway to the presidency for Recep Tayyip Erdogan and represents a third of the country's economy. After a quarter of a century, Erdogan lost the battle to control the financial capital but controversially another vote to elect the mayor has been planned. It is just one of a number of issues that has many people and businesses losing faith in the country. After a credit-fuelled boom led to bust many are...

It's been nearly two months since Sudan's military deposed the long-time leader Omar Al Bashir. Talks on the country's political future have stalled, and people are venting their frustration. Opposition groups want the military to hand over power to a civilian leader, and they are defying warnings to end a sit-in outside the army's headquarters in Khartoum. Meanwhile supporters of the military council held a rival demonstration in the city, saying only the army can bring peace. The United...

On The Listening Post this week: The indictment of Julian Assange under the Espionage Act and the threat it poses to the media. Plus, the erasure of Palestinian history in Israel's archives. The US indictment against Julian Assange When WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorean embassy in London seven weeks ago, the site's editor, Kristinn Hrafnsson, told The Listening Post that the legal charges waiting for him in the United States were "just the tip of the...

An emergency requiring three consecutive summits in one location, it certainly sounds like something that needs to be addressed, and quickly. And according to Saudi Arabia, the emergency is Iran. The Kingdom gathered Arab leaders for meetings of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Arab League, and the Organisation of Islamic Countries. Riyadh said the international community must "use all means to stop Iran from interfering in other countries' affairs". So, IS there an emergency? Or is it...

He worked right up until the Wednesday-midnight deadline, but Benjamin Netanyahu just couldn't make it happen. Nearly two months after the Israeli election, and there is no workable coalition, meaning the Knesset, the Israeli parliament has been dissolved and there'll be another vote on September 17. That means three months of campaigning, of political uncertainty and of course, no guarantee the next result will be any clearer. But will anything change? And can a new vote shift the balance of...

Delhi, India's vast central metropolis and the sprawling seat of government, has the deadliest air of all the world capitals - routinely exposing millions of its inhabitants to a shocking range of life-threatening diseases, which in turn cause thousands of fatalities every year. So why is Delhi's air so polluted? And what if anything is being done to clean it up? We asked journalist Neha Mehta, who was born and raised in the city, to find out. - Subscribe to our channel:...

Problems between Serbia and Kosovo go back 10 years to Kosovo's independence, back to the war of the late 1990s and arguably back well beyond that too. On Tuesday, Serbia put its troops on full alert, after armed Kosovan police entered a Serb-dominated area in the north, fired tear gas and - according to some reports - live ammunition, and arrested 23 people. Kosovo called it an operation against smuggling and corruption... and the arrests included two members of the UN mission in...

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. They not only make it through the early rounds but go on to win the...

They keep the peace, but at what cost? As the United Nations marks the 'International Day of UN Peacekeepers', a funding shortfall could threaten the missions carried out by the 'Blue Helmets'. The UN Secretary General says the peacekeeping budget is $2 billion short because member states are not paying their share on time. The United States, the biggest contributor, owes more than a billion dollars. Recent peacekeeping missions in Haiti and Africa have also been implicated in...

earthrise looks at ways of healing one of the silent and often forgotten casualties of war – the environment. In conflict, one of the silent and forgotten casualties is often the environment. From the chemical contamination of soils with chemicals, and the collapse of water and food supplies, to the habitat damage caused by displacement, war has devastating consequences. Not only man-made infrastructures but also natural ecosystems are destroyed and lives lost. But even amid the most...

A record-number of voters across Europe have dealt a blow to traditional centrist politics, with far-right and far-left parties making significant gains in the European Parliament elections. A surge in support for liberal and green parties means pro-EU politicians will maintain their majority in the 751-seat parliament. But far-right and nationalist wins in Italy, France, Britain and Poland gives eurosceptic parties control of a quarter of the seats for the first time. Far-right gains were...

The United States is raising the stakes against what it calls threats from Iran. President Donald Trump is sending an extra 1,500 troops to the Middle East. He's also bypassing Congress to sell billions of dollars' of weapons to Iran's rivals, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran's neighbour, Iraq, is vowing support and offering to mediate. At the same time, Iraq is wary of straining relations with the Americans. How should leaders in Baghdad handle this balancing act? Presenter:...

It wasn't meant to be like this. Mauricio Macri's election to the Argentine presidency in 2015 was supposed to usher in an end to economic and political crises. International investors welcomed moves to float the peso and eliminate export capital controls. Last year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased the size of its bailout to $56.3bn. As with all IMF loans, Argentina had to agree to cut pension benefits and public utility subsidies. Not surprisingly, Macri's popularity has...

UK leadership contest begins after Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation. Brexit brought UK prime minister Teresa May to power, and it was ultimately the issue that forced her out. Debate on Britain's departure from the European Union exposed deep divisions in the country. May faced intense pressure to step down, after parliament repeatedly rejected her withdrawal deal with the EU. She will resign on June 7th, and her governing Conservative party is now looking for a new...

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