Al Jazeera World

It has been over a month since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.

More than 120,000 people have died, and a cumulative total of nearly 2 million have been infected worldwide. The health emergency has also affected diplomacy and the global economy.

One of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic is Spain. It has had more than 18,000 deaths, despite a weeks-long government-imposed lockdown. Its already weak economy has declined further.

And, despite concerns by the World Health Organization, workers' unions and opposition leaders, the Spanish government has announced a partial lifting of the lockdown restrictions.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has asked the European Union for help to tackle the economic fallout. Spain, along with Italy, France and other EU nations, wants to share the cost of the crisis through Eurobonds that all EU nations will have to pay off.

But some countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, oppose that plan, saying it will be a burden on their taxpayers. In an article published by newspapers across Europe, Prime Minister Sanchez warned that failing to respond with unwavering solidarity could push the EU to fall apart.

So, how will Spain overcome the challenges ahead? And will it succeed in its effort to unify the EU's response?

Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha Gonzalez Laya, talks to Al Jazeera.

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

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

Khalil al-Wazir, better known in the Arab world as Abu Jihad, was a key figure in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), helping found Fatah in the late 1950s. For years, he was the effective deputy to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.

He was shot dead by Israeli agents in an audacious commando raid in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, in 1988. Israel denied responsibility for nearly 25 years until 2012, when an Israeli newspaper published an interview with Israeli soldier Nahum Lev, who killed Abu Jihad, eventually revealing the truth.

This film, Assassination in Tunis, hears from both sides of the story and traces the assassination in detail: How Israeli commandos made a beach landing in Tunis under direction from Mossad, Israeli national intelligence, and overran the villa where Abu Jihad was staying. Moments later, Abu Jihad was killed in multiple rounds of gunfire. His widow, Intisar al-Wazir, offers witness testimony to these final moments of Abu Jihad's life.

The Tunis raid that finally ended Abu Jihad's life was a high-risk venture for the Israeli special forces. They sent a hit squad to a foreign country to kill a prominent Arab figure and escaped undetected.

However, Nahum Lev's interview, published after his death, raised almost as many questions as it answered, including whether Israel had acted alone or had help from inside Tunisia.

The attack on October 17, 2019, shocked Mexico.

The Sinaloa drug cartel - one of the country's largest and most powerful criminal organisations - took over the streets of the northern city of Culiacan with a devastating array of high powered weaponry.

From machine guns to AK-47 assault rifles, the rival gangs were armed to the teeth, despite strict gun controls, the weapons smuggled across the border from the United States.

About 70 percent of the guns seized in Mexico are traced back to the US.

Successive Mexican governments have asked the US to do more to stop the weapons flow. And those calls for action have grown louder because of the rising murder rate - already one of the highest worldwide.

But how is Mexico policing its border? And how is it dealing with those weapons once they are in the country?

Talk to Al Jazeera met an arms trafficker, a hitman, and the wife of a victim of gun violence, to get insight into the weapons crisis facing Mexico.

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

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

These are the inspiring stories of four men - two refugees from Iran and Afghanistan, and two from Senegal - who have carved out careers for themselves at the sharp end of art, photography and human rights in their adopted European countries.

Reza Deghati is an award-winning photographer whose work has been featured in many prestigious international publications, including Time and Newsweek. He made his journey as a refugee from post-revolutionary Iran to France nearly 40 years ago.

Photographer Abdul Saboor fled Afghanistan in 2015 and began photographing refugees after arriving in Serbia. Several years on, he sets out to visit a refugee camp outside Calais in northern France to document the plight of eastern Europeans, Syrians and north Africans seeking a new life far from their home countries.

Mammadou Dia and Malk Gueye, refugees from Senegal, champion the rights of new arrivals in Spain. For 10 years, Dia spoke out on behalf of undocumented Africans in Europe and wrote a best-selling book about them, before founding a community charity in West Africa. Gueye campaigns for undocumented African street traders selling goods on Spanish streets, his work intensifying after the death of an immigrant street trader in Madrid, who witnesses claim was chased down by police before dying of a heart attack.

A Hard Road from Home: Photographers and Activists follows the four men's journeys as they overcome their own struggles to dedicate their lives both to their art and to the plight of others less fortunate than themselves.

YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraWorld

Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World

Visit our website - http://www.aljazeera.com/aljazeeraworld

Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe

Coronavirus has upended lives and workplaces around the world, with more than a third of the globe under lockdown.

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, where about 10,000 people usually work, a skeleton staff of a few hundred is on site, ensuring the world body's vital operations continue - such as peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads fast, the UN is critically concerned about those most vulnerable - especially refugees and people trapped in conflict situations.

The UN has launched a $2bn global humanitarian appeal to assist fragile states and those most vulnerable.

It says prevention and suppression of the virus must be a priority for leaders of all countries.

Leading UN officials have also called for all conflicts to cease and warring parties to focus their efforts on tackling the coronavirus.

To discuss the global efforts against COVID-19 and the risks facing the world's most vulnerable populations, Talk to Al Jazeera speaks to Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general; Mark Lowcock, the under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs; and Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

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

COVID-19 has killed thousands and, as of March 25, 2020, has infected at least 400,000 people worldwide. And those figures are expected to grow in the coming months.

It all started in December last year, when cases of an unusual pneumonia were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Most of those affected by the unknown virus seemed to have something in common. They were working at the Huanan Seafood Market.

As the Chinese health authorities were trying to identify the causes of the illness, the numbers kept growing. On January 7, The World Health Organization announced it had identified the new virus. Four days later, 41 people had been diagnosed in China and the first death was reported. By January 13, cases in other countries began to appear. And the death toll in China jumped from tens to hundreds to thousands.

In the coming weeks and months, governments worldwide took different measures to stop the outbreak of the coronavirus, but it was too late.

On March 11, the WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic. For many, COVID-19 has changed the world as we know it, from school closures to closing borders. The restrictions put in place to ease the effects of the pandemic mean we have to stay where we are.

So, is the world doing enough to overcome this global health crisis? And what will it take to win the battle against COVID-19?

Find out as the executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Mike Ryan, talks to Al Jazeera.

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

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

ISIL made headlines around the world in 2014, when its fighters pushed out Iraqi soldiers and took control of cities like Mosul and Sinjar.

And in what became known as the Sinjar massacre, thousands of Yazidi men, women and children were killed. In response to ISIL’s rapid territorial gains, the United States and its allies formed a coalition to fight the armed group.

They launched air strikes on ISIL hideouts, its fighters and convoys. In October last year, a US military operation in northwest Syria resulted in the death of ISIL’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

In 2018, the United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, announced the appointment of a special adviser to support efforts to investigate ISIL’s crimes. As the head of the UN investigative team, the special adviser’s mandate is to collect, preserve and store evidence.

But, how are the investigations conducted? And will they bring justice to the countless victims in Iraq and Syria?

The UN special adviser, Karim Khan, talks to al Jazeera about his efforts to investigate ISIL’s crimes.

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

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

A group of men embark together on a journey to recovery at a secluded rehabilitation centre in a desert oasis between the Egyptian capital of Cairo and its coastal city of Alexandria.

In recovery, they reflect on the events that brought them there.

They speak of deteriorating health, ruined relationships, stealing or losing money, life-threatening overdoses, stigma, suicide attempts, and other challenges. While substance abuse is not uncommon in the Middle East and North Africa, it is rarely discussed as openly as in this documentary.

Patients follow a "12-Step" programme, a residential course that guides them through physical and emotional withdrawals and helps them to lead more fulfilling lives.

For many, their addiction hurt not just them, but their families and loved ones as well.

But as they recover, they make new friends, spiritually reconnect with themselves and find healthier ways to cope.

Through their harrowing stories comes hope; several of the men overcome their illness and begin to help other substance abusers, working to end the painful cycle once and for all.

A group of men embark together on a journey to recovery at a secluded rehabilitation centre in a desert oasis between the Egyptian capital of Cairo and its coastal city of Alexandria.

In recovery, they reflect on the events that brought them there.

They speak of deteriorating health, ruined relationships, stealing or losing money, life-threatening overdoses, stigma, suicide attempts, and other challenges. While substance abuse is not uncommon in the Middle East and North Africa, it is rarely discussed as openly as in this documentary.

Patients follow a "12-Step" programme, a residential course that guides them through physical and emotional withdrawals and helps them to lead more fulfilling lives.

For many, their addiction hurt not just them, but their families and loved ones as well.

But as they recover, they make new friends, spiritually reconnect with themselves and find healthier ways to cope.

Through their harrowing stories comes hope; several of the men overcome their illness and begin to help other substance abusers, working to end the painful cycle once and for all.

It has been more than a year since the former cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan became Pakistan's prime minister.

During his campaign, Khan promised to turn his county's economy around. But the fight to ease inflation has not been easy.

The Pakistani rupee lost 35 percent of its value during Khan's first year in office. And despite some encouraging news from the International Monetary Fund, many are still struggling as a result of the country's weak economy.

Pakistan's location brings a lot of opportunity as well as challenges.

A lot of hope has been placed on its agreement with China to set up an economic corridor. But it is not clear if the ambitious project will benefit both sides.

Relations with its other neighbour, India, have been strained in recent months after New Delhi revoked the autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir. There has also been tension over India's controversial citizenship law that many say discriminates against Muslims.

Elsewhere, Islamabad will also be looking to see how the recently signed deal between the US and Afghanistan's Taliban will affect its policies.

We discuss all this and more with Pakistan's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

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