Al Jazeera World

This film goes behind the scenes with Palestinian icon and musical virtuoso, Simon Shaheen, one of the most significant and celebrated Arab musicians of his generation.

Born into a large musical family from a village in northern Galilee, Shaheen was inspired by his father.

“He introduced me to the secrets of classical Arab music,” Simon Shaheen says of his father Hikmat Shaheen, who was an oud player, teacher and composer.

Since childhood, Simon Shaheen's artistic hunger and dynamic personality have helped him move from his native Palestine to cross cultural boundaries. He won a music scholarship from Columbia University in New York and later settled in the United States.

But he looked to Palestine, the land of his birth, and to other parts of the Middle East, for the next generation of Arab musical talent. This film shows a series of Skype auditions with Shaheen in the US and his potential students in Haifa.

From his base in Boston, Massachusetts, Shaheen has specialised in combining traditional Arabic music with Western classical and jazz; and his unique style has drawn followers from across the globe.

For more than 20 years, Shaheen has also been leading a week-long Arabic musical retreat at a centre in rural Massachusetts.

“Part of this retreat is to introduce Arabic music theory in a new, innovative way and from a different viewpoint,” Shaheen says.

For successful young musicians, the retreat is an opportunity to study under one of the most significant musical teachers of a generation whose continuing desire to adapt and change is one of his greatest gifts.

“I like to use the ideas of different music from different countries like Egyptian, Syrian, and Palestinian music, Lebanese, Moroccan, Tunisian and Iraqi music,” Shaheen says.

He adds: “For sure, many of these musical styles have a lot in common but there are differences as well.”

Violinist Layth Sidiq has attended Shaheen’s retreats. “I went deeper into Arabic music with Simon which made me appreciate my musical roots,” he says. “This encouraged me first to expand my understanding of Arabic music within me before I can share it with others. At the same time I can learn about other music and cultures and if possible merge the two together."

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The Nile River, at 7,000 kilometres (4,350 miles), is Africa's longest river. Its waters run through 11 countries and for the 280 million people living alongside its banks, the Nile symbolises life itself. Just as it did for those who settled along the river centuries ago.

Some fear if the dispute is not resolved, the Nile will dry up. One of the loudest voices fighting to save the river, explains exactly what is at stake.

Dr Essam Heggy, a scientist from the University of Southern California and member of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, talks to Al Jazeera and explains the significance of the Nile River.

"The Nile River is a very unique ecosystem, it's a very unique hydrological system, it is a very unique water body on our plane," Heggy says, explaining that the Nile is the only giant river that goes from the South to North and through five different climatic zones.

He also points out that the Nile is one of the oldest and most unique ecosystems on the planet.

"The Nile River is twenty to thirty million years old. Today we don't know how we can make rivers flow in a constant way for this amount of time … its existence helps us understand the Earth's evolution."

But a huge new project in Ethiopia has triggered a big dispute with Egypt and scientists are warning construction of the Renaissance Dam, aimed at boosting Ethiopia's electricity source, could cause irreversible damage, not only in Egypt but the entire region.

"It's a great river but in a very challenging place," Heggy says.

"This whole conception that you can suffocate the Nile, and yet benefit out of its resources, from the environmental perspective, it is wrong."

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Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated in early January after US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.

The attack also killed Iraq's Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).

In response, Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two US bases.

All of that was happening on Iraqi soil, a nation once again caught up between a regional giant and a military superpower.

Trump is adamant that the attack was "self-defence" and that Soleimani posed an imminent threat - which was contradicted by Iran and the Iraqi prime minister.

And Iran says it's delivered "a slap in the face" with a missile strike which will usher in the end of US presence in the Middle East.

So is the latest US-Iran crisis really over? Will the US heed calls for its forces to leave Iraq?

Al Jazeera was given rare access to the sprawling Ain al-Assad base after the Iranian strike. We asked the US-led coalition if the threats from Iran-backed militias still loom. And in a rare TV appearance, Mohammad Mohie, spokesman of the Iran-backed Shia paramilitary group Kataib Hezbollah, talks to Al Jazeera.

Asked about the US government calling Kataib Hezbollah a threat to Iraq's peace and security, Mohie says: "We are Iraqis and from Iraqi soil. We have confronted US troops; they were occupation troops according to the UN. After 2003, the US troops were occupation troops so it was the right of the Iraqi people to resist. And with our joint efforts we expelled US troops. So the return of the US troops to this area is stirring problems by inciting violence and supporting terrorist groups and Takfiris. Those groups threaten the security of the region, this is the main reason for instability in the Middle East and it is the main threat to everyone’s security. We are the sons of this area, we have the right to defend it, to live in it peacefully."

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Details surrounding the political assassination of Ibrahim al-Hamdi, president of North Yemen, in 1977 are stranger than fiction.

Al-Hamdi, viewed by many as a reformer and modernist, came to power in a bloodless coup in June 1974 at a time when Yemen was divided into two countries: North Yemen, where al-Hamdi was president and Marxist South Yemen. As a moderniser, al-Hamdi pushed for Yemeni unification and was due to travel to Aden to meet with his southern counterpart in October 1977.

Two days before that meeting was due to take place, al-Hamdi was invited to lunch at the home of his army commander Ahmed al-Ghashmi. On arrival, al-Hamdi was taken past the dignitaries and brought to a room where on the floor lay the body of his brother. According to an eyewitness, al-Hamdi was then murdered at the scene.

The exact details of his death remain a mystery. Some claim he was shot dead in a drive-by shooting. A more lurid account places al-Hamdi's body and that of his brother alongside those of two young French women, who some speculate may have been spies, high class escorts, or both. While nobody was ever charged with the murder, the list of suspects included two future Yemeni presidents, tribal enemies opposed to al-Hamdi's erosion of their power and forces loyal to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, who vigorously denied involvement in the murder.

The assassination of al-Hamdi still resonates today. More than 40 years on, his family and supporters still search for answers. And with few witnesses left alive, calls for accountability and closure are more pressing than ever.

Yemen: The Last Lunch traces the events leading up to Ibrahim al-Hamdi's murder and how his death steered the course of a country deeply divided.

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Details surrounding the political assassination of Ibrahim al-Hamdi, president of North Yemen, in 1977 are stranger than fiction.

Al-Hamdi, viewed by many as a reformer and modernist, came to power in a bloodless coup in June 1974 at a time when Yemen was divided into two countries: North Yemen, where al-Hamdi was president and Marxist South Yemen. As a moderniser, al-Hamdi pushed for Yemeni unification and was due to travel to Aden to meet with his southern counterpart in October 1977.

Two days before that meeting was due to take place, al-Hamdi was invited to lunch at the home of his army commander Ahmed al-Ghashmi. On arrival, al-Hamdi was taken past the dignitaries and brought to a room where on the floor lay the body of his brother. According to an eyewitness, al-Hamdi was then murdered at the scene.

The exact details of his death remain a mystery. Some claim he was shot dead in a drive-by shooting. A more lurid account places al-Hamdi's body and that of his brother alongside those of two young French women, who some speculate may have been spies, high class escorts, or both. While nobody was ever charged with the murder, the list of suspects included two future Yemeni presidents, tribal enemies opposed to al-Hamdi's erosion of their power and forces loyal to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, who vigorously denied involvement in the murder.

The assassination of al-Hamdi still resonates today. More than 40 years on, his family and supporters still search for answers. And with few witnesses left alive, calls for accountability and closure are more pressing than ever.

Yemen: The Last Lunch traces the events leading up to Ibrahim al-Hamdi's murder and how his death steered the course of a country deeply divided.

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Haiti was the first black republic in the 19th century, created by a revolution that overthrew slavery maintained by French colonial rule.

But independence came at a cost, and Haiti had to pay billions in compensation which left the country bankrupt since its creation.

Added to the nation's bankruptcy, high levels of inequality and poverty have persisted over the years, and political attempts to fight corruption have not ended well.

Jean Bertrand Aristide, the country's first democratically-elected president in 1994, was removed from office twice when he confronted the country's elite.

In 2010, a powerful 7.0 earthquake left the country destroyed and killed between 200,000 and 300,000 people. The earthquake left over 1.5 million people displaced and the international community saw the disaster as an opportunity to rethink foreign aid.

But little has changed in Haiti, a decade after the devastating earthquake.

Haiti's President Jovenel Moise talks to Al Jazeera about reconstruction efforts and what is next for the country.

"We must not confuse the post-earthquake crisis with the socio-economic crisis that we are currently going through in Haiti. The socio-economic crisis is a permanent crisis.The state we have today is a predatory state that is governed by a few corrupt oligarchs who seek to control the key areas of development," Moise explains.

Over $13bn were pledged to help Haiti recover from the earthquake. But only half of that money was released, according to the UN, and Haitians only received half of the money they were promised by donors led by the United States. Much of the funds were spent on short-term programmes to assist people with food, water and healthcare.

"This money should have been spent on building villages around Port-au-Prince, villages which would provide homes for I would say, tens of thousands of families. In terms of results, no reconstruction has actually taken place and I am someone who believes in lasting structural development," says Moise.

Last year thousands took to the streets to protest against corruption, demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise.

"Today it is as if I am being crucified, people are shouting: 'Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!'," Moise says arguing that he has been fighting against corruption despite the accusations from protesters.

Moise was mentioned in a corruption scandal involving the PetroCaribe fund, a strategic oil alliance signed with Venezuela where Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, bought subsidised oil from Venezuela. The Haitian government was supposed to use the extra money for social programmes and to advance the economy.

But billions from the fund were embezzled by those in charge and President Moise was mentioned in a 600-page investigation.

"I was placed on a cross and I descended from it to talk to the people to tell them that is was not my aim to work against them and now the people are beginning to understand," he says.

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Filmmaker: Sameh Mejri

The Shame of my Name is the story of how some Algerians during the colonial period were forced to change their names by French colonial authorities at the time. Many of the names these Algerians were forced to carry hold demeaning and even vulgar meanings.

The burden of these forced names is still carried by some Algerians to this day.

The names were in the local Algerian Arabic dialect and cover a range of vulgar words, including descriptions of bodily functions and genitalia.

In this film, we meet several of these individuals whose families were forced to carry names which translate as "Arse," "Runny Nose" and even more offensive monikers. One contributor finds her name so offensive that she cannot bring herself to utter it. She has since changed her name.

“I go home and rest my head on the pillow. I pray to God to rid me of that ugly name which had become a curse in my everyday life,” Messaoud Bakhti tells Al Jazeera.

Bakhti’s forefathers were forcibly called "Gahroum" which in the Algerian dialect means "Arse" - a name having nothing to do with the heritage of his ancestors.

In 1882, 50 years after the French colonisation of Algeria, the French introduced the Civil Status Law. This allowed the authorities to impose approved names on Algerians arbitrarily. The decree stated that names would be in the “European style”, with a first name followed by the family name, which was quite different from traditional Muslim names.

But beyond this, the law was frequently interpreted by some officials in ways that demeaned and insulted Algerians. And assigning European-style names to Algerians, whether offensive or not, had another important side effect. It muddied the waters of land ownership, making it difficult for some Algerians to prove their rightful title to their land.

All of which means that now the spotlight is on France, with many Algerians saying that it is the responsibility of the French government and theirs alone, to pick up the pieces of this particular French colonial policy.

Some say a full apology is long overdue and that reparations should be paid.

“Yes, the French colonisers are responsible for this. But I also believe post-independent Algeria is responsible too,” Amel Ali Lhadfi, a former victim of obscene naming, says.

She believes Algerian authorities could make it easy to settle this problem if they wanted to or at least the process should not take such a long time.

"Whoever decides to change their name has to realise it may take 10 years.”

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Filmmaker: Sameh Mejri

The Shame of my Name is the story of how some Algerians during the colonial period were forced to change their names by French colonial authorities at the time. Many of the names these Algerians were forced to carry hold demeaning and even vulgar meanings.

The burden of these forced names is still carried by some Algerians to this day.

The names were in the local Algerian Arabic dialect and cover a range of vulgar words, including descriptions of bodily functions and genitalia.

In this film, we meet several of these individuals whose families were forced to carry names which translate as "Arse," "Runny Nose" and even more offensive monikers. One contributor finds her name so offensive that she cannot bring herself to utter it. She has since changed her name.

“I go home and rest my head on the pillow. I pray to God to rid me of that ugly name which had become a curse in my everyday life,” Messaoud Bakhti tells Al Jazeera.

Bakhti’s forefathers were forcibly called "Gahroum" which in the Algerian dialect means "Arse" - a name having nothing to do with the heritage of his ancestors.

In 1882, 50 years after the French colonisation of Algeria, the French introduced the Civil Status Law. This allowed the authorities to impose approved names on Algerians arbitrarily. The decree stated that names would be in the “European style”, with a first name followed by the family name, which was quite different from traditional Muslim names.

But beyond this, the law was frequently interpreted by some officials in ways that demeaned and insulted Algerians. And assigning European-style names to Algerians, whether offensive or not, had another important side effect. It muddied the waters of land ownership, making it difficult for some Algerians to prove their rightful title to their land.

All of which means that now the spotlight is on France, with many Algerians saying that it is the responsibility of the French government and theirs alone, to pick up the pieces of this particular French colonial policy.

Some say a full apology is long overdue and that reparations should be paid.

“Yes, the French colonisers are responsible for this. But I also believe post-independent Algeria is responsible too,” Amel Ali Lhadfi, a former victim of obscene naming, says.

She believes Algerian authorities could make it easy to settle this problem if they wanted to or at least the process should not take such a long time.

"Whoever decides to change their name has to realise it may take 10 years.”

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- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

With Libya's civil war now in its sixth year, world leaders gathered at a summit in Berlin in an attempt to restore stability and peace to Libya.

The summit was aimed at a stronger commitment from world powers and regional actors to non-interference in the oil-rich North African state and to genuinely support a fragile ceasefire.

All participating parties pledged to respect a UN-imposed arms embargo that has so far failed to stop an influx of troops, money and weapons to the country.

Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, who leads the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli, and renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, who heads the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), attended the talks, but not in the same room.

"The main cause of the Libyan crisis is the hostile foreign interventions," Fayez al-Sarraj told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview.

"Violations to the arms embargo have been taking place for years. This is what led the opposition to believe that they have military power and pushed them away from finding a political solution. This is because of its excessive military and security support."

Al-Sarraj says a political solution is the only way to end the conflict and that they don't want to become "another Syria or a source of conflict or a proxy war on Libyan soil".

"We know that some countries, including Russia, have interests and ambitions in Libya ... We wonder why the UAE is building a military base in eastern Libya, sending its planes and supporting one side at the expense of the other ... It is not correct to recognise a party and then support the other party the way they are doing it."

"Libya, in its current situation, leads to security problems and terrorism, uncontrolled borders and violence. This can impact neighbouring countries, too," he warned. "Everyone is now talking about stopping the flow of arms to Libya. We hope that this will be the last conference. And hopefully, the Libyan crisis will finally be resolved."

Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj talks to Al Jazeera about the Berlin summit, foreign interference in Libya and his hopes for the future.

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In January 2019, Juan Guaido, the almost unknown president of Venezuela's opposition-controlled national assembly took his country and the world by surprise: Guaido declared himself interim president of Venezuela.

The justification was that President Nicolas Maduro was not a legitimately elected leader but an usurpator and dictator.

Venezuelans, desperate for economic and political change, rushed to show their support. And with the US leading the charge, nearly 60 countries followed suit.

But 12 months later, the promise of political change seems to have evaporated.

With help from China, Russia, Iran and others Maduro has circumvented harsh economic sanctions meant to force him out. Negotiations to allow new presidential elections have failed miserably, as has Guaido's appeal to the army to support regime change.

Maduro has retaliated by arresting or exiling scores of opponents.

Driven by worsening poverty and hyperinflation, disheartened Venezuelans have joined the unprecedented exodus of millions of their compatriots to neighbouring countries.

On January 5, soldiers surrounded parliament to block Guaido's reelection as speaker of the house while the pro-government minority named someone of its choosing.

While much of the international community calls the latest conflict escalation a sham, and continues to recognise Guaido as the leader of Venezuela's only independent institution, the crisis seems to be reaching a new tipping point. And the possibility of regime change seems like a very distant possibility.

So, what is next for Guaido and Venezuela? Has Guaido underestimated Maduro's resilience? And how can Guaido stop the military-based government from consolidating its power?

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