Talk to Al Jazeera

After months of anti-government protests and political uncertainty, Iraq is now grappling with its worst fiscal crisis in decades.

The country's economy and state budget are heavily reliant on oil income, and have been hit hard by the sharp decline in global oil prices.

The World Bank has projected Iraq's GDP to contract by 9.7 percent, with the fiscal deficit expected to reach almost 30 percent of GDP.

Iraq's newly appointed government, led by Mustafa al-Kadhimi, is now faced with a challenging task of implementing long-overdue structural reforms, such as reducing public sector employment while also keeping popular unrest at bay.

But what are the root causes of the current economic crisis and what needs to be done to tackle it?

And how can the new government overcome entrenched political interests that oppose reform while also winning over a public that has lost all trust in the political establishment?

Ramzi Neman, the World Bank's special representative to Iraq, talks to Al Jazeera.

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The global coronavirus pandemic has changed the world as we know it.

It has been particularly devastating for the aviation sector. Airports have been shut, thousands of aeroplanes grounded, businesses have ceased operations, and the long-term financial cost may not be known for years to come.

According to the International Air Transport Association, this year's loss of revenue has cost airlines more than $300bn. Thousands in the air travel industry have been left jobless.

Qatar Airways, one of the world's biggest carriers, is no exception. The Doha-based airline was already dealing with restrictions imposed by four Gulf Arab nations as part of their blockade of Qatar.

Without access to the airspace of its neighbours, it had to find new routes and new destinations.

And now, as it navigates the turbulent skies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, how will the airline recover from both the health and political crises? And what is in store for the future of global air travel after the pandemic ends?

The chief executive officer of Qatar Airways, Akbar al-Baker, talks to Al Jazeera.

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The global coronavirus pandemic has changed the world as we know it.

It has been particularly devastating for the aviation sector. Airports have been shut, thousands of aeroplanes grounded, businesses have seized operations, and the long-term financial cost may not be known for years to come.

According to the International Air Transport Association, this year's loss of revenue has cost airlines more than $300bn. Thousands in the air travel industry have been left jobless.

Qatar Airways, one of the world's biggest carriers, is no exception. The Doha-based airline was already dealing with restrictions imposed by four Gulf Arab nations as part of their blockade of Qatar.

Without access to the airspace of its neighbours, it had to find new routes and new destinations.

And now, as it navigates the turbulent skies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, how will the airline recover from both the health and political crises? And what is in store for the future of global air travel after the pandemic ends?

The chief executive officer of Qatar Airways, Akbar al-Baker, talks to Al Jazeera.

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When the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, newly independent states emerged.

These new borders meant that all of a sudden people found themselves on the wrong side - foreigners in a country they called their home, but were unable to prove or formally claim as such.

The United Nations refugee agency estimates that at least 280 million people lost their citizenship during the formation of post-Soviet republics, including in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Nearly 30 years later, thousands across the region live without any legal trace - many of them having inherited their statelessness from their parents.

Azizbek Ashurov is a Kyrgyz lawyer, and founder of the Ferghana Lawyers Without Borders association. He has spent more than a decade fighting for the rights of thousands of stateless people in his country.

To access those in need, Ashurov and his team first had to figure out how many people lacked legal identity, and find ways to help them. With an estimated two-thirds of Kyrgyzstan's six million people living in rural areas, the team spent much of their time in the hills and villages of the Ferghana valley which spreads across parts of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The work has had an effect.

The NGO has helped more than 10,000 stateless people in Kyrgyzstan gain citizenship, and some 2,000 children now have access to education, health and a more promising future.

Kyrgyzstan is now a leading example of how statelessness can be eradicated - there are no more known cases of people living there without a legal identity.

Talk to Al Jazeera travelled to Kyrgyzstan to meet Ashurov and some of the people he has helped.

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The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we live.

Nearly every country in the world has been affected. There have already been millions of infections, and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

And while scientists work on developing a vaccine, governments are focusing on reducing the number of infections through social distancing and other preventive measures.

But these restrictions have brought with them countless financial losses across the globe. The coronavirus recession is considered to be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of 1929.

As COVID-19 measures halt international trade, shut down airports and leave businesses bankrupt, tens of millions of people have lost their jobs. And for many, being unemployed in the middle of a pandemic means not only losing their income but also losing access to healthcare.

So, how can governments protect their workers and rebuild their economies?

The director-general of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Guy Ryder, talks to Al Jazeera.

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In September 2016, nearly two months before the then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's election, United States President Barack Obama spoke at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

"As I address this hall as president for the final time, let me recount the progress that we've made," he said, "A quarter-century after the end of the Cold War, the world is by many measures less violent and more prosperous than ever before …"

But with millions displaced worldwide, unresolved conflicts from Yemen to Syria, Iraq to Afghanistan, and armed groups like ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda launching attacks against civilians, was Obama's speech too optimistic?

And in the years since, how has US foreign policy changed under President Trump? And what should have been done differently?

Samantha Power served at the US ambassador to the UN from 2013 to 2017.

As Obama's top UN diplomat at the time, she was responsible for securing international consensus on a variety of pressing issues at the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the UNGA.

To discuss the Trump presidency, the difference between Trump and Obama's responses to global health crises, and China's increasing influence on international organisations, she talks to Al Jazeera.

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It has been nearly two months since Qatar implemented a series of measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The government has since closed schools, issued stay-at-home orders and imposed travel bans on travellers from many countries.

But while the number of deaths here remains low, infection rates continue to rise.

On Talk to Al Jazeera, we speak to Qatar's minister of public health, Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, about the government's efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

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It's now more than four months since the COVID-19 started spreading from Wuhan in China.

Although the pandemic hasn't stopped, some countries with falling infection rates are slowly easing lockdown restrictions.

Small shops and restaurants are reopening in a dozen countries across Asia, Europe and Africa.

Some school children are returning to class.

A few more domestic flights are taking off, and train services are increasing frequency.

What are the risks of a second wave of infections?

And how should we adapt to life post lockdown?

Presenter: Bernard Smith

Guests:

John Nicholls - Clinical Professor in Pathology at the University of Hong Kong

Donna Dawson - Psychologist specialising in personality and behaviour

David Alexander - Professor of Risk and Disaster Reduction at University College London

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Thailand has begun lifting restrictions after a steady decline in the number of coronavirus infections.

But many people still need help putting food on the table and some businesses are expected to struggle.

The government will evaluate the situation every two weeks - either determining to further ease the restrictions - or if there is a spike in confirmed cases, they will reimpose some of the restrictions.

Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler reports from Bangkok.

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As Canada’s hospitals and medical personnel deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, calls are mounting to allow more internationally-trained doctors to practice and support front-line healthcare workers. But tight regulations are leaving many shut out of their chosen profession.

Al Jazeera's Daniel Lak reports.

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