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Private Notes
We speak to Otto Perez Molina at a military prison as he waits to find out if he'll stand trial on corruption charges.
Among the hundreds of thousands of refugees entering Europe a significant number is made up of young men from Afghanistan. Last year, more than 100,000 Afghans fled to Europe and the exodus continues.But why are so many Afghans leaving their home countryIn Kabul's Kote Sangi neighbourhood, painters, carpenters, plasterers, and other manual workers sit outside waiting for someone to come by and hire them, even if only for a few hours. This scene is replicated throughout the Afghan capital as thousands of casual workers hope to earn a dollar or more a day, the desperation etched on many faces. But their chances aren't good. These men don't have the family or the political connections often needed to get a job. And Afghanistan's unemployment rate is estimated to be at 40 percent or higher.Afghanistan's economy still depends heavily on international aid and 61 percent of the country's operating budget is funded by foreign donors. The withdrawal of more than 100,000 NATO troops, and a scaling down of aid has shrunk the economy drastically. Building bases for the troops, staffing them, moving food and water to them, injected billions of dollars into the economy and employed tens of thousands of Afghans for years. In response to the economic downturn, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has launched the National Employment Programme in November 2015 to give thousands of Afghans job opportunities.But will he succeed How do do young Afghans feel about their country's economic futureOn this week's Talk to Al Jazeera in the Field, we examine the job market in Afghanistan. How does it really work And what jobs, if any, offer some kind of future for the young people who decide to stay in Afghanistan We talk to business leaders who are looking for workers; the head of one of Afghanistan's biggest recruitment companies; and job seeker Abdel Fatah, who studied sociology at Kabul University and wants to stay and work in his country.
After UN probe into the country’s civil war, Sirisena downplays allegations as 'human rights violations only.'
With the latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence a whole new concept of food may soon radically change what we eat. And at the same time, some experts believe, it could reduce global warming.No longer based on animal ingredients, this is a food entirely based on plants - although it looks and tastes like the classic food based on ingredients derived from animals.This is not a new idea, it has been around for about 10 years.But the breakthrough has been delayed, perhaps one of the reasons is that many consumers still prefer locally produced food, they want to trust the supply chain, and not simply depend on big manufacturers.However, a group of young scientists in Chile are working on alternatives for a sustainable and meatless future.Commercial engineer Matias Muchnick and Harvard research associate Karim Pichara are two of the founders of the Not Company.Together with biochemist Isidora Silva they are developing new plant-based food and are determined to bring it to people in their local market.Part of what motivates them is what they consider to be the biggest drawback of classic animal farming: It requires massive amounts of land and it affects global warming.According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock contributes both directly and indirectly to climate change through the emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.Livestock is also a major driver of deforestation, desertification, as well as the release of carbon from cultivated soils. Overall the livestock sector is contributing 2.7 billion tonnes of CO2 emission according to the UN.'When you get behind the scenes of the food industry, you don't like what you see. There is a lot of things that we should be knowing... but we are blindsided by a whole industry that is making it really hard for us to see what we are really eating,' says Matias Muchnick. The main scientist of the Not Company team is a computer, an artificial intelligence a
As the WHO investigates the massive outbreak of microcephaly in Brazil, we travel to ground zero of the epidemic.What is the true scale of the health crisis over the zika virus Is Brazil, and the region, losing the battle against the virus How far is the world from finding a cure And will the Brazilian government help the mothers and their babies Today on Talk to Al Jazeera, we travel to the centre of the crisis to find out how the children and parents are coping, whether they receive the help they have been promised, and we talk to a scientist about a possible way to stop the disease.
Ahead of the presidential elections, Mahamadou Issoufou discusses politics, regional instability and how to defeat Boko Haram and ISIL.
Ahmet Davutoglu discusses the recent attacks in Turkey, the downed Russian military jet, and the refugee situation.Is there a possibility Turkey will lose its patience and order some sort of military intervention in Syria against Kurdish and government forces And if so, is a military conflict with Russia imminent
Ahmet Davutoglu discusses the recent attacks in Turkey, the downed Russian military jet, and the refugee situation.
Despite living in self-imposed exile for the best part of ten years, Thailand's former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, continues to shape and influence Thai politics.Elected to power in 2001, he was the first democratically elected prime minister to serve a full term in office, before being re-elected in a 2005 landslide victory.A former telecommunications billionaire, the business tycoon turned politician drew his support from Thailand's rural poor, with his populist healthcare programmes and assistance for farmers schemes winning him great levels of support.But loathed by the elite who saw him as a threat to the monarchy, Thaksin would face increasing allegations of corruption, with attention soon turning towards his tremendous wealth.Coupled with accusations that he insulted the revered monarchy, protests would pave the way for the military to launch a bloodless coup in September 2006 while he was in the US.Apart from a brief return to Thailand in 2008, Thaksin has based himself in self-imposed exile in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, ever since.He has since been found guilty by Thai courts of abusing his power over a land deal whilst also being stripped of around $1.4 billion for concealing ownership of shares in a telecommunications company and for amending government policies to benefit it.Thaksin told Al Jazeera that fears over his safety were stopping him from returning to the country.'If I was there, who could guarantee my safety,' he said. When asked if his life was in danger Thaksin replied: 'definitely,' pausing before adding that while Prime Minister there were 14 attempts on his life including a 2006 foiled car-bomb assassination near his residence.Thaksin's younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra would later become the country's first female prime minister in 2011, but when her government tried to push through a bill that would have granted amnesty to those found guilty of political crimes, protests gripped the country.Yingluck was removed from office
Nine months after he came to power, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari received an official welcome from Qatar's Emir on Buhari's latest trip of many to boost Nigeria's standing abroad.The Nigerian president is seeking support for his crackdown on corruption and to encourage much-needed investment in his country's ailing economy.Qatar is the current president of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer.Low oil prices have a devastating impact on the Nigerian economy, which has long depended on the export of oil. 'We were unable to diversify our economy, hence we are much more disadvantaged by the lower oil prices,' Buhari says.Buhari tells us he values the institution of OPEC and that 'Nigeria will make the necessary sacrifice to remain in OPEC.'With a chorus of voices, including from the IMF, calling for the Nigerian government to devalue the naira, Buhari says he will not reconsider his insistence on freezing the currency. Buhari says as Nigeria 'virtually imports everything, from rice to toothpicks', it cannot afford to devalue its currency.'If it is against our national interest, why can't we go against the IMF advice' Buhari asks.Buhari's election campaign rode on pledges to root out corruption and quash Boko Haram. Yet, Boko Haram remains active in many areas of Nigeria, seemingly able to strike at will.And many questions are being asked about whether Buhari's anti-corruption drive is yielding results and if newer forms of corruption are emerging with a freeze on the naira.President Buhari talks to Al Jazeera about his campaign against graft and why he is adamant he hasn't failed in the fight against Boko Haram. He also explains why he believes the security of his country is best served by being part of the Saudi-led Islamic anti-terrorism coalition announced in December 2015.
It's been five years since pro-democracy protests started challenging the rule of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. After years of ongoing bloodshed and multiple failed attempts to resolve the conflict, no one is counting the dead anymore, but it is estimated that the Syrian crisis has killed 300,000 people and displaced millions.Ahead of the resumption of peace talks in Geneva on March 14, Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, says there is a higher chance than ever of achieving a political solution.'Five years [ago], no one would have ever imagined this conflict would have gone there. But perhaps now we have a chance to try and put an end to it,' says de Mistura.So, as the bloody conflict enters its sixth year, what are the prospects for peace for Syria And after so many failed attempts, what does it take to end the ongoing violenceAl Jazeera's James Bays talks to Staffan de Mistura, about his challenging mission to bring peace to Syria.
Five years after the Syrian civil war began, images of bombings, destruction and suffering continue to dominate the coverage on television screens.Before the war, the ancient city of Aleppo was Syria's largest city and the country's financial heart.Anti-government fighters partially controlled the city for some time, but have lost much of it after intense Russian airstrikes in support of Syrian government forces.Once a bustling city of two million, Aleppo is now a war zone, mortared and shelled into oblivion - a city under attack and under siege. Many have been killed and many more have fled. But what about those who have stayed Those who are trapped inside Away from the battlefront, what has life become for the people of AleppoThis is what renowned Syrian photographer Ammar Abd Rabbo has tried to capture in his latest exhibition. Rabbo is one of the Arab world's most prominent photographers.For the past 20 years, he has witnessed some of the most profound political changes in the Middle East and made intimate portraits of heads of states.From Libya, to Iraq, to Lebanon, his works have been published in the world's most widely-circulated publications, earning him numerous awards and accolades.Over the last few years, Ammar Abd Rabbo has travelled to Aleppo several times to bring back images - snapshots of everyday life that not only remind us of the impact of the ongoing Syrian war, but also show the strength and resilience of the people of Aleppo. His photos show that live still goes on in war-torn Aleppo despite the war, destruction and devastation.'It [Aleppo] used to be once a city where Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together, not always in love and harmony, but at least [they] lived together and built and created an amazing city. Today, it [the city] is wounded, it's bleeding, but it's still very lively,' says Rabbo.'It's shelling, it's under terrible moments and violence, and still people send their kids to school. It says a lot about the resilience and t
It is one of history's greatest unknown crimes: More than a million people were brutally killed after Indonesia's military coup in 1965.The victims were accused of being communists, an umbrella that included not only members of the country's Communist Party, but all those who opposed General Suharto's new military regime.The killers were often members of paramilitary groups or death squads that carried out the executions with the approval of the military government and killed with impunity.The perpetrators have stayed in power, living alongside the survivors and the victims' families who were threatened into silence. Fear and anti-communist rhetoric persist in Indonesia today.For nearly 10 years, American filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer researched and documented the atrocities.He spoke to victims and their families as well as the perpetrators of the crimes, shedding light on Indonesia's dark past and today's impunity in his two films, The Look of Silence (2014) and The Act of Killing (2012).His first film tells the story from the point of view of the killers - some of whom are celebrated as heroes in Indonesia today. The Look of Silence follows an optometrist, born two years after his brother was killed, as he meets those responsible for his brother's death.'Neither film is a historical documentary about events 50 years ago. Both films are about a present-day regime of fear that subsists because everybody knows who the perpetrators are and knows what the perpetrators did,' Oppenheimer tells Al Jazeera.He says the perpetrators in his films are performing - rather than reenacting the past - 'the present-day fantasies, lies, stories they tell themselves so they can live with what they've done.'Oppenheimer says that the films are fundamentally about impunity, but as he dug deeper, he realised it wasn't unique to Indonesia.'What I was really finding there was an allegory for an impunity that defines so many of our societies.'The filmmaker explains how his films have helped
Sweden has received more refugees per capita than any other country last year, but many Swedes have started to question the country's immigration policies as crime rates and extremism are on the rise.Traditionally, Sweden has been viewed as welcoming to refugees.In 1970, most immigrants came from other European nations like Finland, Yugoslavia, Denmark and Greece. The 1980s saw people come from Iran, Chile, Lebanon and Turkey.In the last 10 years, the numbers have taken off and in 2015, nearly 163,000 individuals applied for asylum in Sweden, a nation of 9.8 million people.Syrians accounted for 51,000 of these asylum seekers, 41,000 came from Afghanistan, 20,000 from Iraq, along with thousands from Eritrea, Somalia and Iran. A combined 4,000 came from Albania and Kosovo.Today, around 1.6 million people living in Sweden were born in another country - that is 16 percent of the population.Many new arrivals are languishing in temporary housing, beggars and homeless live in the streets, and some neighbourhoods have seen an uptick in violence and extremism.Concerns over security are growing and recent information about members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) living in Sweden and going to fight in Syria has received lots of media attention. According to Swedish police, around 300 people, many of them from the city of Gothenburg, are believed to have gone to Syria.Then there's violent crime - in the past several months murders and assaults have taken place in asylum centres and in neighbourhoods with large numbers of immigrants.The Sweden Democrats, the only party that has been advocating a more restrictive immigration policy, is now the third largest party in opinion polls, despite efforts by established political parties to isolate it.So, what is behind the recent backlash against immigration in Sweden Why is the tide turning for refugees in SwedenAl Jazeera went to the Swedish community of Ostra Goinge, an area that has received a n
He rose quickly from political obscurity, emerging first as a mayoral candidate in Johannesburg and soon after becoming leader of South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), in 2015.Mmusi Maimane thinks he has got the answers to South Africa's problems. At a time of economic and political turmoil, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), he says, is focused less on the needs of the people, and more on the enrichment of its ruling elite.When he called for a vote in parliament recently to impeach President Jacob Zuma for breaching the constitution, Maimane struck a heavy blow in an opposition campaign to overtake the party that he accuses of betraying the ideals of Nelson Mandela.But the vote failed and the ANC is fighting back, using the rhetoric of race to discredit Maimane. They call him a sellout, a puppet of the rich, the black face of a white party.'The true test was whether or not the ANC would defend the constitution or defend Jacob Zuma. I found that as the leader of the opposition it was important to put that test before them. When they took the test and made the decision to defend Jacob Zuma it made us realise, and it made South Africans realise, that project Zuma is not an anomaly to the ANC, it is the ANC itself,' says Maimane.The politician believes that 'one of the things the ANC has departed from is the basic freedom that is the freedom of association. They fail to recognise the fact that it is possible that black South Africans can join any party that they so choose, they have departed from that. The second thing the ANC has departed from is what I believe the generation on 1956 that was led by President Nelson Mandela that said that they were fighting a system not a race. And if you are fighting a system you recognise the fact that black and white can join together to fight a system that oppresses black people even though the same white people were benefitting they can join arms with black people and fight against it.... I
Julius Malema is never far from the spotlight. In 2012, his aggressive and divisive brand of rhetoric led to expulsion from South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC). As head of the influential ANC youth league he had earlier helped Jacob Zuma become president.
The senior leader of Ethiopia's Somali rebel group discusses a growing alliance of groups seeking self-determination.
The veteran statesman discusses Jacob Zuma, the return of race to the political discourse and his Zulu culture.
Brazil, the world's fifth largest country, is in turmoil. It's a nation submerged in economic recession and corruption while its president has been forced out of the presidential palace to face an impeachment trial, betrayed by her own coalition.Accused of transferring money from the state-owned Bank of Brazil - without the approval of Congress - to cover a massive budget deficit, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is fighting for her political life.Rousseff insists she is the victim of a political coup d'etat triggered by a thirst for revenge, and made worse by a dramatic slowdown in economic growth.Now abandoned even by her vice president who has taken over her office, Rousseff has one trusted ally - the man she appointed attorney general, who is today leading her defence team.Jose Eduardo Cardozo is a passionate defender of the president, even though she caved into pressure to remove him as justice minister in February when he refused to block corruption investigations against members of their own party. When her trial begins, he must convince the Senate that Rousseff is innocent. On this episode of Talk to Al Jazeera we go to the presidential residence - which is now a sort of bunker for the impeached president - to meet the man responsible for what many call 'mission impossible' - bringing Dilma Rousseff back to office.
The decision by the US and UK to invade Iraq in 2003 was met with condemnation around the world at the time - and is still haunting its principal architects.On the British side, it was Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who took their country into war. Ever since, there's been an intense debate about why they did so.The long-awaited culmination of an official British investigation should bring insights into how Blair and Straw reached their decision.The Chilcot Inquiry, named after its chairman Sir John Chilcot, will reveal its findings in July, seven years after it began its work.Leaks from the final report, which is 2.6 million words in total, suggest that both the prime minister and foreign secretary come under severe criticism.Jack Straw was a key witness at the Chilcot Inquiry, where he insisted that he supported an attack on Iraq for good reasons: to destroy Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.But the evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed such weapons was hotly contested at the time, and was shown to be false after the invasion.'Of course I regret the fact that the basis on which we made the decision, which was that there were extensive holdings of what we knew Saddam had had, holdings of very dangerous chemical and biological weapons, were not found,' he tells Al Jazeera.Jack Straw stayed on in the British Parliament until 2015. He is now campaigning for the UK to remain in the EU in the referendum on June 23, and also lectures on international relations.On this episode of Talk to Al Jazeera, the former UK foreign secretary talks about Turkish-Iranian relations, Western intervention in Syria's war; the threat of ISIL; Tony Blair's legacy'; and the issues behind the 'most difficult decision of his life' - the invasion of Iraq.
Dilma Rousseff, the former leftist guerrilla who became the first woman president of Latin America's largest country, is now fighting for her political survival.Brazil's immensely popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, chose his chief of staff to carry on with his legacy of economic growth with social justice.But it didn't last. By the time Rousseff began her second term in 2015, Brazil was in turmoil.Now Rousseff has been suspended to face an impeachment trial - abandoned by her allies and millions of Brazilians who accuse her of driving the nation's once healthy economy into the ground and of turning a blind eye to corruption within her own left-wing party.It's the material political soap operas are made of: almost daily corruption scandals are splattering every political party, most recently, that of interim President Michel Temer.This week, more leaked phone conversations revealed that two of his top ministers, including the man in charge of combatting corruption, were apparently trying to derail ongoing investigations into a multi-billion dollar bribery scheme.Temer, who was until last month the vice president, turned against Dilma Rousseff, so she could face impeachment.Rousseff is charged with having tampered with fiscal accounts to hide a massive budget deficit in order to get re-elected. Yet, unlike a great many of those seeking her impeachment, she is not being accused of stealing money for herself.In fact at least 60 percent of Brazilian lawmakers are under investigation or indictment for crimes ranging from attempted murder to massive corruption, including the president of the senate who will be overseeing the impeachment trial.Rousseff claims her enemies are punishing her for refusing to block corruption investigations, but will the latest scandals involving the interim government be enough to save herAl Jazeera's Lucia Newman speaks to President Dilma Rouseff in Brasilia as the suspended leader faces a controversial impeachment trial which
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the impoverished son of illiterate farmers, rose to become not just the president of the world's seventh largest economy, but the man who catapulted Brazil onto the global stage as no one ever has.US President Barrack Obama called him the world's most popular president. Newsweek, Le Monde and the Financial Times dubbed him the world's most influential president.The former trade union leader who lost a finger working at a metal factory at age 14, is the only Brazilian president to never have gone to university. Yet, even his adversaries recognise that his political skills are unparalleled.Elected in 2003, the leader of Brazil's left-wing Workers' Party, or PT, embraced both George Bush and Hugo Chavez, determined to assert Brazil's place in the Americas and beyond.While he played by market rules during his two-term presidency, Lula catapulted tens of millions of impoverished Brazilians into the lower-middle and middle classes, through unprecedented social programmes that won him praise worldwide. While corruption allegations dogged his party from the start, he left the presidency in 2010 with a historic 80 percent approval rating.The trajectory of his chosen successor, his former cabinet chief, Dilma Rousseff, has been vastly different. Many said early on she didn't have the political skills of her predecessor.She now faces an impeachment amid an unprecedented economic and political crisis. Revelations of a billion-dollar corruption scheme in the state-owned oil company Petrobras while Lula was president, have eroded the legacy of the so-called 'Teflon' leader. In March, police detained him for interrogation on suspicion of money laundering, just one of several corruption allegations against him. Al Jazeera visited Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at his Sao Paulo foundation, The Lula Institute, which focuses on social equality and economic development, furthering the policies he pursued during his presidency. Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman spoke to Lu
In mid-June, the bodies of 34 migrants were found in the Niger desert, 20 of them were children. They had been abandoned by human traffickers.On June 3, Boko Haram, the armed group battling Western influence, carried out an attack in the Diffa region of eastern Niger. More than 30 soldiers were killed and about 50,000 people were forced to flee.The people of Niger, a landlocked country almost entirely covered by the Sahara Desert, face unemployment, the threat of armed groups, hunger, poverty and drought. Niger is one of the world's poorest countries and one with the highest percentage of people under the age of 20.Yet, hope remains for many young Nigeriens who are most affected by the country's lack of opportunities.In March 2016, three young people in Niamey, the capital, talked to Al Jazeera on what they want to accomplish and the dangers they see as they try to build a future in an uncertain environment.Abdel Nasser Boubacar, Mamane 'Kaka' Touda and Rachida Abdourahamane tell of what it means to grow up in Niger, how they give hope to others and what future they see for their country.
The US Secretary of State and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes discuss Syria, ISIL & investing in innovation.
South Sudan became the world's youngest nation in July 2011, but despite independence the country went to conflict again two years later, when civil war broke out - leaving tens of thousands dead, more than two million people displaced and an economy in ruins. In 2013, former rebel leader and vice president Riek Machar was sacked by President Salva Kiir in a cabinet purge. Later that year, Kiir accused him of plotting a coup, which prompted Machar to flee the capital, Juba.Machar denied the allegation, but the incident triggered South Sudan's vicious civil war.After protracted negotiations by regional mediators, a peace deal was achieved between both sides in August last year and Machar has been sworn in again as vice president.Kiir and Machar, have agreed to share power and are now tasked with rebuilding the world's youngest country that has been devastated by the conflict.South Sudan is facing severe economic problems, and a deal with international donours has yet to be implemented.'Whenever there are displaced people, or there are refugees, the solution is always money so that you can settle them. And then you get them food, medicine, everything so that they live comfortably, whether they are foreigners or citizens. So our problem is money. We have no money.' says Kiir.Riek Machar's delayed but much-publicised return should mean a positive working relationship with his arch rival Salva Kiir, but the key question is: Can they work together And are they aiming for the same goals'We are unified now... As the government of national unity, we are functioning smoothly,' President Salva Kiir says.But asked about the agreement and his message to Riek Machar, Kiir says: 'When you preach messages of hate, probably you are going to divide the people.The problem, that we are not moving smoothly on the implementation of the agreement, is the way the agreement was designed. And when I signed this agreement in August last year, I said this in front of the president of Uganda. I
From above, Caracas' skyline still hints at the opulence that once characterised oil-rich Venezuela, but at ground level there's no hiding today's reality: people are queuing all night for food and medicine; inflation is with over 700 percent the highest in the world; and murders and kidnappings are spiralling out of control.Venezuelans who can, are fleeing their country, once a magnet for immigrants.And with a political confrontation mounting steadily, many warn that the nation with one of the world's largest oil reserves is on the edge of an abyss. Political violence against opponents of the populist government of President Nicolas Maduro is intensifying, but it's common crime which is terrifying most Venezuelans, no matter what their beliefs or social class.Venezuela is now one of world's most dangerous countries, and its capital, Caracas, the city with one of the highest murder rates in the world, according to a recent study.Violent crime is rampant and the police are unable to stop - or don't want to intervene - people from looting, or others from killing for a bag of food.The looting of bakeries, pharmacies and especially supermarkets is spreading throughout the country. At long queues of people waiting to buy food, the army is deployed to maintain order.Talk to Al Jazeera travels to the Venezuelan capital, where many airlines are now refusing to fly. Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman speaks to five Venezuelans about life in the midst of the country's mounting turmoil.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells Al Jazeera's Jamal El Shayyal that he first learned of the attempted coup from his brother-in-law.
In Western Europe it has been a summer of great change and discontent.The European Union is facing major upheaval as the United Kingdom gets ready to withdraw its membership and in the process possibly jeopardising the composition of the country itself. In fact, under the surface, people across Europe seem to be on edge. As European nations deal with migration and various economic uncertainties, the political landscape is changing, and a feeling that old social structures are being replaced or challenged is widespread.It's the same for the United States where the race for the White House is anything but ordinary. Political rhetoric this year is tougher and there's a feeling the country is seriously divided on race and economic prosperity.What has brought us to this situation And what are the possible scenarios going forwardOne of the most prominent philosophers of our time is Zygmunt Bauman.Born in Poland 90 years ago, he has thought and written extensively about the modern era, and what it is doing to us, coining the phrase, 'liquid fear' - a tangible feeling of anxiety that has only vague contours but is still acutely present everywhere.We sit down with Zygmunt Bauman on Talk to Al Jazeera and take a step back to discuss what is happening in the world.
As South Africa prepares for municipal elections on August 3, a series of violent protests in some of its poorest townships have laid bare a growing dissatisfaction with the county's political and economic situation, described by some as the worst since the end of apartheid in 1994. The ruling African National Congress party (ANC) has been in power since the demise of white-minority rule. But for many, the party of liberation has not delivered on its promise to lift millions of South Africans out of poverty.
KwaZulu-Natal, a region in eastern South Africa with the Drakensberg Mountains to the west and the Indian Ocean to the east, is home to one of the most powerful kingdoms in the African continent - the Zulu. The word Zulu means 'sky' or 'heaven' and, according to Zulu history, it was the name of the ancestor who founded the nation at the start of the 17th century. The then newly born nation existed in relative peace until the late 1800s, when British troops invaded Zulu territory and divided the land. The Zulu never regained their independence.
'Education for everyone' has been a popular slogan since the Mexican revolution over 100 years ago. But according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, eight out of 100 Mexican children who enroll in elementary school, do not show up for classes. While barely 50 complete middle school, 20 graduate from high school, 13 get a bachelor's degree, and only two become graduate students. A study released by UNESCO last year says the children who don't attend school are mostly working. The report reveals that at least 21 percent of all Mexican youth between the ages of seven and 14 drop out of school - that's around 651,000 children. That means Mexico has one of the largest child labor forces in Latin America, second only to Colombia. Many of Mexico's youths who don't attend school work in plantations. Talk to Al Jazeera travelled to the coastal state of Veracruz to meet some Mexicans who have traded classrooms and pencils for sugar cane fields and machetes.
South African musician and activist Mzwakhe Mbuli was born in a suburb of Johannesburg at the height of the country's apartheid rule. His love and inspiration for traditional singing came from his father who encouraged him to attend Zulu dance and music events when he was a young man. He became well known in the 1980's through his often underground and political albums. In 1986, he recorded Change is Pain, which was banned by the apartheid government for its influence among revolutionary groups. 'Change is Pain was not limited to South Africa... look at the problems in the Middle East, Palestine... Sudan and elsewhere, change is pain. Why does it have to take so long We live in a world as though there was no United Nations,' he says. But for Mbuli, that album was the beginning of a ruthless persecution by the government. He was jailed several times, tortured, and refused a passport to leave the country. 'I survived almost six assassination attempts... I thought maybe my message was a problem, although I thought South Africa was a big force in the continent... so who am I to threaten such a regime But it happened. So when my home was hit [by] grenades, I received a letter from Nelson Mandela encouraging me to continue, praising me ... after that letter, I was more determined to continue,' Mbuli says. The end of apartheid in the early 1990s changed Mubli's message and lyrics. His songs and poems became about the social problems South Africans faced in the new post-apartheid 'rainbow nation'. Mbuli's more recent work has focused on social issues including abortion, Aids/HIV, and drunk driving. But like many other post-apartheid artists, Mbuli is struggling to remain relevant. There are some who believe that his lyrics and poems no longer matter. But for many, his cultural legacy will remain undoubtedly significant in South Africa's history. So what keeps the poet going Will his lyrics prevail And what's his message to South Africa today Mzwakhe Mbuli, the people's poe
Russia, the largest country on earth, which emerged from the post-Soviet economic and political chaos to reassert itself, is facing an HIV/Aids epidemic. The current rate of HIV is less than 1 percent of Russia's population of 143 million. It's far lower than many other countries, such as South Africa (12,2 percent), which have been battling HIV epidemics. Russia has one of the fastest-growing rates of HIV/Aids in the world. At the beginning of this year, the number of registered HIV-positive people surpassed one million. The number of Russians living with HIV has almost doubled in the last five years. The 2016 UNAIDS Prevention Gap Report pointed to Eastern Europe and Central Asia as 'the only region in the world where the HIV epidemic continued to rise rapidly.' Russian activists say the government's reluctance to introduce internationally-accepted prevention methods is behind this epidemic. Potential solutions such as sex education, the distribution of condoms to sex workers, methadone therapy and the availability of clean needles to drug addicts are strongly opposed by religious leaders and other conservatives. It is estimated that over 50 percent of HIV cases in Russia are the result of intravenous drug use. Methadone therapy, however, was made illegal by President Vladimir Putin's government despite being classified as 'the most promising method of reducing drug dependency' by the World Health Organization. Talk to Al Jazeera travels to St Petersburg and Moscow to meet people living with HIV and the activists doing all they can to help. In St Petersburg, we meet Aleksandr Romanov, 47, who discovered that he was HIV-positive six years ago. He grew up in Kazakhstan, then part of the Soviet Union. He says his infection can be traced back to the post-Soviet effects on society - dramatic changes, which included widespread drug use. Maria Yakovleva, also known as Masha, is part of Svecha, or Candle Foundation, an organisation which provides support, guidance, educa
In 2013, Australia's government announced a tough new policy towards refugees travelling by boat to its shores. The campaign that went with it was called, 'No way. You will not make Australia home'. Its goal was to discourage asylum seekers from entering the country 'illegally' - as the government saw it. Most were coming from countries such as Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Many refugees - having fled their homes - considered themselves stateless. Their journeys were arduous and complex. Those from Iran, for instance, would travel first to Malaysia, where they could enter without a visa. Then they'd make their way to southernmost Indonesia, and from there they took boats towards Australia's closest islands. The trips typically involved people smugglers and dangerous - sometimes deadly - journeys on boats that were often overloaded and unseaworthy. Of the boats intercepted at sea by the Australian Border Force, many were forcibly turned back to where they'd come from. But passengers on some - and all those who did make it into Australian waters - were taken into custody, then deported, flown to neighbouring countries. There, in Nauru and on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, they are still held in what Australia's government calls 'regional processing centres'. Nauru is a tiny 29 square kilometre island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. That small independent country - a member of the United Nations - has played a central role in the history of Australia's refugee policies. Nauru's 'detention centre' first opened in 2001, under a policy brought in by Australia's conservative Liberal Party - the so-called 'Pacific Solution'. But this all changed when Kevin Rudd, from the centre-left Labour party, came to power in 2007. Rudd closed Nauru's centre and most of the refugees were relocated to Australia. But then as the number of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat started going back up, the Labour Party's government wa
The small pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru host what many call Australia's offshore prisons for refugees. Labelled 'regional processing centres' by the Australian government, bilateral arrangements enable Australia's government to maintain power and control, but assume less responsibility for the refugees who are forced to live there. These offshore detention centres are home to around 1,500 asylum seekers who were taken into custody after entering Australian waters without visas. Many of them have been stuck there in limbo for more than three years. Both centres are run under secrecy, off-limits to the media and to NGOs like Amnesty International. So what's going on inside Are these prisons Australia's Guantanamo Bay Or a necessary deterrent, which helps to save the lives of refugees and allows Australia to run a 'generous' orderly programme of permanent refugee resettlement Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton talks to Al Jazeera.
As the refugee crisis in Europe continues to divide the continent, world leaders gather in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly, and the issue of refugees tops the agenda. Among European nations, there is a lack of consensus on how to proceed. One of the countries that very early decided to go its own way was Hungary, and it has been severely criticised for its approach. The right to a safe life is a fundamental human right, but picking a country where you would like to live in is not among fundamental human rights. So that's why I raised the issue whether you can consider anyone as a refugee, who crosses at least four peaceful countries, like Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, and then arrives to Hungary, because these people who seek for asylum had already at least four opportunities before Hungary to ask for asylum ... It's not only us, it's also the migrants as well who have to respect international and national regulations. Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's foreign minister Last year, Hungary built a fence along its border with Serbia and is deporting anyone caught climbing over it. 'Our responsibility is to protect the border, and there are certain regulations in Europe which you have to comply with if you want to enter the territory of a country. And since there is no war in Serbia, there is no reason to let people come in into the territory of Hungary, breaking the European and national regulations,' Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian foreign minister, explains. The Hungarian government has refused to sign on to EU's programme forcing member states to accept refugee quotas - something that has led to an open split. It became evident when the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, greeted the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with the words: 'Hello, dictator'. And Juncker has not been the only one to express his disagreement. Jean Asselbourn, Luxembourg's foreign affairs minister, recently said that 'anyone who, like Hungary,
Riad Hijab, chief coordinator of the High Negotiations Committee, discusses the prospects for diplomatic deal in Syria.
