On The Listening Post this week: Hyped-up headlines, 'anonymous' sources and unspecified threats - Iran is back in the news in the US. Plus, the online horrors faced by female journalists. And our own network - Al Jazeera - comes under fire. We set the record straight. The media momentum for war with Iran This wouldn't be the first time the US media have made the case for war on the basis of vague, anonymously sourced intelligence. In 2003, it was Iraq - in 2019, it's Iran. Much of...

Eritrea is marking its independence day after a year of profound changes. A peace deal last year ended a decades-old border dispute with its larger neighbour Ethiopia. And the United Nations lifted sanctions and an arms embargo. But President Isaias Afwerki, who's been in power for nearly 30 years, is accused of ruling with an iron fist. Political opponents are jailed, there's mandatory military service and Eritrea is now one of the biggest sources of African refugees in Europe. So, can...

Saudi Arabia has jailed many activists and dissidents since Mohammed Bin Salman became the Crown Prince two years ago. Now media reports suggest three religious scholars may be sentenced to death after the Muslim month of Ramadan. Salman Al-Odah, Awad Al-Qarni and Ali Al-Omari were arrested in September 2017 on what Saudi Arabia described as terror charges. They are seen as reformists who've spoken about human rights. The United Nations and rights groups have been calling for their...

Major technology companies are considering their next steps after the US president blacklists Chinese firm Huawei over national security concerns. American suppliers have three months to keep supporting Huawei users before they have to cut ties. Google says it'll carry on updating its software on existing Huawei devices, but new handsets won't have access to its operating system and applications. That's raising questions about how the world's second-largest mobile phone maker will adapt. How...

The United States is in the midst of containing the largest number of measles cases in 25 years. Measles, a vaccine-preventable disease, was eliminated from the US in 2000, but the spread of online misinformation about vaccines has led to a public health crisis that has resulted in more than 800 cases in at least 20 states. Vaccine sceptics represent only a tiny minority of the population, but their digital advocacy has evolved into the "anti-vaccine" movement - a well-organised online...

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...

Elections for the European Parliament get underway on Thursday. Immigration and the economy are dominating the political agenda, and the rise of the far-right is dominating the headlines. On Saturday, right-wing leaders from nearly a dozen EU countries, including France, Germany and the Netherlands gathered for a rally in Milan to show their unity. The gathering was led by the Italian Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, who wants to form a far-right block within the EU Parliament. Some...

Doctors say they're terrified by the spread of the worst-ever Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 1,100 people have died since August. 1,760 cases have been reported; a fifth of them in the past month alone. This is the tenth Ebola outbreak in DR Congo since the disease was discovered there more than 40 years ago. Aid workers are calling for money and protection after three people were killed in an attack on a treatment centre last week. The World Health Organization...

As the adverse effects of the climate crisis intensify, many believe governments around the world are responding too slowly. It is now unlikely that the Paris Agreement target of keeping the global temperature rise below two degrees will be met unless there is immediate action taken to prevent further warming. In this episode of earthrise we visit those putting themselves on the line and pushing for urgent climate policy reform before we reach a point of no return. Officially launched in...

The Strait of Hormuz is a critical waterway to the world for Middle East oil and gas producers. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran send tankers full of crude to clients mostly in Asia. It is also Qatar's main export corridor as the world's biggest producer of gas. About a fifth of the world's crude passes through the narrow strait between Oman and Iran. After the United States pulled waivers for nations trading with Iran, a string of alleged attacks on tankers and drone attacks on pipelines...

It's often said that one man's trash is another man's treasure. But that's not how the Philippines sees dozens of shipping containers filled with waste from Canada. The case has sparked a diplomatic dispute, and is just one example of a global problem with managing our rubbish. Who should pick up the task of treating our trash? Presenter: Nick Clark Guests: Beau Bakon-gis, Break Free From Plastics Ziad Abi-shaker, Founder, Cedar Environment industrial engineering organisation Edward Kosior...

The Strait of Hormuz is a critical waterway to the world for Middle East oil and gas producers. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran send tankers full of crude to clients mostly in Asia. It is also Qatar's main export corridor as the world's biggest producer of gas. About a fifth of the world's crude passes through the narrow strait between Oman and Iran. After the United States pulled waivers for nations trading with Iran, a string of alleged attacks on tankers and drone attacks on pipelines...

An estimated two million North Koreans died during the famine in the 1990s. Aid workers, and even state media, are calling for international help to prevent history repeating itself. The official news agency is reporting the worst drought in 37 years, and blames economic sanctions for making matters worse. North Koreans are being urged to fight what's called 'a war against nature' to find new water sources and protect crops. The UN has just reported the lowest harvest in a decade, and warned...

On The Listening Post this week: A perfect storm of activism, science and politics pushes the biodiversity crisis up the news agenda. Plus, patriotism in Chinese cinema, past and present. A change of climate in the media? It is one of those news stories, maybe the only one, that seems almost too big to cover: climate change and the scientific consensus that the planet is almost at the point of no return. The evidence is overwhelming. A UN report last week warned that roughly one million...

Norway stepped into the fray that is Venezuela this week, when it emerged Oslo was hosting talks between officials from the government of President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition led by self-declared president Juan Guaido. The talks are the latest attempt to resolve a crisis that has hit a stalemate, following months of street protests, US sanctions and a failed opposition attempt to overthrow Maduro. Guaido's UK representative Neumann says there's a huge support for the opposition...

The arrest and conviction of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was hailed by US officials as a "victory for the American people". But on the day his trial ended, US officials seized the largest amount of fentanyl ever recovered in the United States. Despite El Chapo's arrest, drugs continue to pour into the US. So is it time to look at alternative ways to win the war on drugs? In this Reality Check, we ask whether Portugal's radical drug policy is the way to go. Follow UpFront...

Known for tweeting sarcastic and stinging critiques of unelected Arab leaders, Palestinian pro-democracy activist Iyad el-Baghdadi rose to prominence in 2011 during the Arab Spring. In April, officials in Norway, where he received asylum, placed el-Baghdadi in protective custody. They had received a warning from the CIA of a possible threat against him from Saudi Arabia. El-Baghdadi is a vocal critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and has worked with the late journalist Jamal...

Sri Lanka is remembering a decade since the end of its civil war. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed over 26 years as the goverment fought ethnic minority Tamils, who wanted to create their own state. Just as stability was returning, ISIL-linked attacks on churches and hotels killed nearly 260 people on Easter Sunday. Mosques and Muslim-owned businesses were burned down this week in revenge attacks. The UN is warning the communal violence could undermine ongoing peace...

The worst attack in New Zealand's history has sparked a global pledge to fight violent content online. 51 people were killed in March when a gunman opened fire at two mosques in the city of Christchurch. The shooting was streamed live on Facebook, which was criticised for failing to stop the spread of the video. Two months on, New Zealand is leading what's being described as the "Christchurch Call" to combat hate speech and violent content on the internet. Social media firms and 18...

They call Donna Stepan the Wombat Whisperer. At her unique animal sanctuary in Australia, she works around the clock to save injured and orphaned wombats. She has a dire warning about her much-loved wombats: "They'll be on the critically endangered list within 20 years. No doubt in my mind." Donna wants the world to know about the fatal and contagious parasitic disease plaguing Australia's wombats - sarcoptic mange. "In the last decade, it has escalated every single year. The amount of...

From poisoning former spies in London to tampering in US elections. Leading the military support for Bashar al-Assad in Syria and playing a part in the pro-leave campaign in Britain's Brexit referendum. From nurturing friendly relations with Iran and Turkey to a military attack on Ukraine and subsequent annexation of Crimea... Russian President Vladimir Putin finds himself at the centre of the world's political map. Not since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 has the Kremlin seemingly...

It's the second attack in less than 48 hours. Two Saudi oil pumping stations were targeted on Tuesday - west of the capital Riyadh Houthi rebels say they carried out the strikes to warn the kingdom against what they describe as its 'aggression' in Yemen. Saudi Arabia's state-owned energy company Aramco has now stopped pumping oil through a major pipeline. The incidents come after two Saudi oil tankers were damaged in an attack off the coast of the Emirate of Fujairah. The Emirati government...

Just a few months after journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, another Arab dissident says his life is also in danger. Iyad el-Baghdadi is a pro-democracy activist and strong critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The UK's Guardian newspaper reported that Norwegian officials took him from his home in Oslo to a secure location. There, he was told the CIA had warned Norway's government the Saudis had him "in their...

Sudan's military rulers said they would not allow the country to descend into 'chaos'. But just hours after announcing a transition deal with an opposition alliance, security forces were accused of firing on protesters on Monday night. Several people and a soldier were killed. The military denies the allegations and blames what it calls 'infiltrators'. Thousands of people have been holding a sit-in outside the army headquarters for weeks. They want the army generals who toppled President Omar...

Sabotaged and significantly damaged'. Saudi Arabia says two of its oil tankers have been attacked off the coast of the UAE. Riyadh has also called on the international community to protect maritime navigation. The incidents happened off the coast of Fujairah. The Emirate denied reports of explosions at its port on Sunday. But the Emirati government later said four commercial ships flagged under several nationalities had been hit - although there were no injuries or deaths. The attack was...