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Beyond the Headlines

Dive deeper into the week’s biggest stories from the Middle East and around the world with The National’s multi-award-winning podcast, Beyond the Headlines — winner of two Signal Awards and the New York Festivals Radio and TV Awards. Nuances are often missed in day-to-day headlines. We go Beyond the Headlines by bringing together the voices of experts and those living the news to provide a clearer picture of the region’s shifting political and social landscape.

Will the promise of the Covid-19 vaccines help us return to normal in 2021?

20 mins; January 07, 2021

Stories from 2020: the year of Covid-19 and beyond

24 mins; December 25, 2020

Will Azerbaijan's victory in Nagorno-Karabakh lead to lasting peace?

14 mins; December 17, 2020

Memories of Mosul three years after ISIS

28 mins; December 10, 2020

How new tech is helping the UAE farm the deserts

13 mins; December 01, 2020

Iran's secret affair with Al Qaeda

23 mins; November 26, 2020

Why are people fleeing Ethiopia's Tigray region?

24 mins; November 19, 2020

The changes in the Middle East after Joe Biden takes office

23 mins; November 12, 2020

Why superstorms are the new normal

17 mins; November 05, 2020

US election special: Who will be the next US President?

23 mins; October 28, 2020

Arab Americans vote in divisive presidential election

17 mins; October 22, 2020

A year of revolution in Lebanon between fires, crisis and blast

26 mins; October 15, 2020

The challenges of finding a Covid-19 vaccine

24 mins; October 08, 2020

Iraq's year of protests, assassinations and foreign interference

17 mins; September 30, 2020

Saudi Arabia at 90, an evolution from Bedouin culture to leading power

16 mins; September 23, 2020

The Abraham Accord between Israel and the UAE

16 mins; September 15, 2020

Social media and the freedom of speech

20 mins; September 10, 2020

How gas exploration in the Mediterranean is pitting Turkey against Europe

19 mins; September 03, 2020

How do people become radicalised online and can we stop it?

25 mins; August 26, 2020

What is long-haul Covid and is it real?

18 mins; August 20, 2020

Lebanon explosion: What will Lebanon do now?

24 mins; August 13, 2020

What happened when Beirut exploded?

24 mins; August 06, 2020

How Hajj will be different during the coronavirus pandemic

23 mins; July 29, 2020

The global sand trade: Are we running out of sand?

21 mins; July 23, 2020

The Hope Probe: UAE's mission to Mars

17 mins; July 16, 2020

USA: The world's epicentre of the coronavirus

22 mins; July 09, 2020

How do you solve the great Nile Dam dispute?

24 mins; July 02, 2020

Should internet access be declared a human right?

18 mins; June 24, 2020

Who will help the abandoned Ethiopian workers in Lebanon?

16 mins; June 18, 2020

George Floyd and how social media is changing social justice

24 mins; June 11, 2020

Will coronavirus wipe out refugee camps?

15 mins; June 04, 2020

Man vs Mosquito: The global battle against Malaria

16 mins; May 27, 2020

India: The biggest Covid-19 lockdown

18 mins; May 21, 2020

The places with no coronovirus

21 mins; May 14, 2020

Coronavirus: How close are we to a Covid-19 vaccine?

19 mins; May 07, 2020

Ramadan 2020: How muslims are coping during coronavirus

16 mins; April 30, 2020

What is cloud seeding and cloud brightening?

12 mins; April 23, 2020

Births, marriages and death in the time of coronavirus

14 mins; April 16, 2020

Coronavirus: Lessons from Wuhan China

20 mins; April 09, 2020

Chris Hadfield: An astronaut's guide to self-isolation

19 mins; April 01, 2020

How Iran became the epicentre of coronavirus in the Middle East

16 mins; March 26, 2020

Coronavirus: What is it, how does it spread and how to stay safe?

19 mins; March 19, 2020

Are we on the precipice of another refugee crisis in Europe?

13 mins; March 12, 2020

The new Taliban deal: Will it bring peace in Afghanistan?

15 mins; March 02, 2020

Coronavirus: The race for a vaccine

14 mins; February 27, 2020

A year of protests in Algeria

14 mins; February 20, 2020

Beyond the Headlines Trailer

4 mins; February 20, 2020

Will Hassan Diab fix Lebanon?

13 mins; February 12, 2020

The coronavirus: Unnecessary panic or grave concern?

9 mins; February 06, 2020

The Middle East peace plan. Explained

17 mins; January 30, 2020

Tear gas, fireworks and a new government in Lebanon

15 mins; January 23, 2020

Sultan Qaboos: what comes next for Oman?

17 mins; January 13, 2020

Will Iran and America go to war?

25 mins; January 09, 2020

A decade in the Middle East, stories that changed the region

28 mins; December 26, 2019

Stranded seafarers to return home after years

13 mins; December 19, 2019

Journey through the ISIS badlands

15 mins; December 09, 2019

Is overpopulation our biggest climate challenge?

23 mins; December 05, 2019

A look at national service on National Day

32 mins; November 28, 2019

Who’s really running Iraq?

14 mins; November 21, 2019

India's fight against death by breath

16 mins; November 14, 2019

Is Iraq ready for the new Syrian refugees?

29 mins; November 07, 2019

Noura Al Kaabi on UAE's effort to re-build Al Nuri Mosque

32 mins; October 31, 2019

Songs of Revolution

8 mins; October 24, 2019

Politics, protests and partying in the streets of Lebanon

24 mins; October 23, 2019

Where are Iraq's protests going?

13 mins; October 17, 2019

Why Turkey is invading Northern Syria

21 mins; October 09, 2019

As Hazza Al Mansouri returns, the UAE looks to Mars, the Moon and beyond

14 mins; October 03, 2019

Hazza Al Mansouri and the UAE’s space ambitions

15 mins; September 26, 2019

UNGA special: Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump

14 mins; September 25, 2019

Is the Israeli election Netanyahu’s final chapter?

23 mins; September 19, 2019

Bye bye, Bolton

22 mins; September 12, 2019

The Amazon is still burning. Can we save it?

18 mins; September 05, 2019

Drones above Beirut: Israel's battle against Hezbollah

24 mins; August 29, 2019

Sudan: Can democracy work?

19 mins; August 20, 2019

What sparked the Hong Kong protests?

17 mins; August 15, 2019

Hajj for my brother who was killed at Christchurch

14 mins; August 08, 2019

Future-proofing our cities against record-breaking temperatures

21 mins; August 01, 2019

Can Oman's carbon capturing rocks help save the Earth?

19 mins; July 24, 2019

Ghost ships: how Iran avoids US oil sanctions

17 mins; July 17, 2019

The Minnesota model for fighting ISIS in the US

27 mins; July 11, 2019

Locusts: battling the great plague

26 mins; July 04, 2019

Iraq could face another summer of bloodshed

23 mins; June 27, 2019

Tanker attacks straight from Iran’s playbook

18 mins; June 20, 2019

Life in Afghanistan during America's longest war

30 mins; June 13, 2019

Exporting ISIS justice

33 mins; June 06, 2019

A queue in Everest's death zone

13 mins; May 31, 2019

What’s next for America and Iran?

22 mins; May 23, 2019

Yemen's floating bomb

14 mins; May 16, 2019

The bombing of Syria's last rebel province

21 mins; May 09, 2019

Sudan moves on from Omar Al Bashir

11 mins; May 02, 2019

Sri Lanka reels after Easter Day massacre

23 mins; April 25, 2019

The many issues at play in India's election

10 mins; April 18, 2019

Israel’s Arab population and the Palestinians fear for the future as Benjamin Netanyahu clinches victory in a general election.

8 mins; April 11, 2019

Beyond the Headlines podcast: Bouteflika bids goodbye to power in Algeria

7 mins; April 04, 2019

Former UK PM Tony Blair says Brexit is a mess

20 mins; March 25, 2019

New Zealanders shaken but unbowed by terrorist attacks

22 mins; March 21, 2019

The last stand of ISIS in Syria

19 mins; March 12, 2019

National Geographic's Enric Sala on saving the planet, one kilometre at a time

16 mins; March 04, 2019

The curious case of the runaway ISIS bride

11 mins; February 19, 2019

How digital transformation will change the jobs we have

34 mins; February 12, 2019

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