The Inside Story Podcast

Not everyone is in the same boat!

The 26 richest people in the world, hold as much wealth as half its population

Life chances depend on gender, race and whether or not a person has a disability.

These global inequalities are being made worse by the pandemic. And the world is reaching a breaking point.

A bleak reality laid bare by the UN secretary general. Antonio Guterres has delivered one of his most hard-hitting messages.

He says the disparities start with the biggest institutions, and they should be eradicated under a new model of global governance, that guarantees a fair share of wealth, opportunity and power.

But how's that even possible?

And does the pandemic offer a chance for change?

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests

Max Lawson, Head of Inequality Policy at Oxfam.

Jayati Ghosh, international development economist and professor

Alexander Deane, former Chief of Staff to David Cameron when he was the Shadow Secretary of State for Education.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #InsideStory #Poverty

Years of civil war have torn Yemen apart. Fighting has divided the cities, destroyed the economy and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

And now, the country is on the verge of an enviromental disaster.

For 5 years the oil tanker FSO SAFER has laid idle off the coast.

On board are more than 1.1 million barrels of oil.

As Yemen's Houthi rebels battle with the Saudi-backed government for control of the country, the ship has been left to rust.

The United Nations has described the tanker as a ticking time bomb - one that will eventually cause an ecological and humanitarian disaster if nothing is done.

But who's to blame?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests

William Lawrence, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at American University.

Hussain Al Bukhaiti, a pro-Houthi journalist.

Zeina Khalil Hajj, Executive Director of Greenpeace Middle East North Africa region.

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The coronavirus crisis seems to be spinning out of control. On Thursday, the world recorded its worst single-day rise in infections - almost a quarter of a million in just 24 hours.

Cities that had declared a tentative victory - are falling back under lockdown, one by one.

The return of restrictions is an economic disaster for many nations already suffering from the first wave.

Governments say they're doing what they can, and some are bailing out flatlining industries.

Others have chosen to spend big - to create jobs, encourage spending and reduce individuals' debt.

And some have chosen welfare and public sector cuts too.

Now a group of millionaires is saying that cash - or at least part of it - should come from them.

The collective of 83 wealthy people around the globe has penned a letter calling themselves 'Millionaires for Humanity'.

The headline: Raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently.

But will governments answer the millionnaires' call?

And how popular is this idea?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests:

Morris Pearl, Chair of Patriotic Millionaires. A participant in ' Millionaires for Humanity' who has signed the petition.

Arun Advani, Assistant Professor of Economics and Impact Director of the CAGE Research Centre at University of Warwick.

Ana Caistor Arendar, Head of Inequality Campaign and Policy at Oxfam.

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Former Soviet republics Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region for decades.

The area is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but controlled by ethnic Armenian forces.

There have been regular battles near the border since a 1994 ceasefire.

Both countries accuse each other of triggering the latest artillery bombardment and drone attacks north of the disputed region.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has sacked the foreign minister, accusing him of 'meaningless negotiations' with Armenia.

Can the two sides resolve decades of animosity?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Hikmet Hajiyev - Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan

Arsen Kharatyan - Former Adviser to the Prime Minister of Armenia

Ibrahim Fraihat - Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution, Doha Institute

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #Armenia #Azerbaijan #InsideStory

Millions of passengers on one of the world's largest airlines have spent more than three years taking the long way home.

All Qatar Airways flights have been forced to reroute and burn extra fuel to avoid the airspace of the four countries which imposed an air, sea and land blockade in 2017.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt want to keep it that way.

But the highest court at the United Nations has rejected their appeal to prevent mediation by the world's civil aviation organisation, the ICAO.

Will the verdict change the course of the diplomatic dispute?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Ali Alhail - Political Writer

Paul Morcos - Professor of Law at Saint Joseph University in Beirut

Mahjoob Zweiri - Director of the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #Qatar #InsideStory

Activists, journalists, even one of the world's richest men.

All are said to have been hacked by spyware developed by an Israeli company called the NSO Group.

But the firm insists its products are only sold to authorised government agencies to fight terrorism and crime.

Rights group Amnesty International says one of its researchers was also targeted.

It sued NSO to revoke its export licence from the Israeli Defence Ministry.

A court in Tel Aviv dismissed the case after six months of hearings behind closed doors, thus allowing the company to continue selling products abroad.

So who should be held responsible when surveillance technology is misused?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Nolen Gertz - Assistant Professor, University of Twente in the Netherlands.

Amichai Stein - Political Writer.

Nishanth Sastry - Professor of Computer Science, University of Surrey.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #Israel #InsideStory

Oil has played a major role in Libya's years-long civil war.

Most of the oilfields are in the east, under warlord Khalifa Haftar's control.

This means the UN-recognised Government of National Accord in Tripoli has been cut off from a huge source of income.

On Friday, Haftar's forces allowed a tanker to transport some of the crude for the first time in six months.

But they reimposed a blockade a day later.

Libya's National Oil Corporation blamed Haftar's backer, the United Arab Emirates, for the blockade.

The U.A.E says although oil production should resume, it wants what it calls 'safeguards' in place to ensure revenues aren't used to fuel the conflict.

Could the dispute scuttle attempts to end the war?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Guma Al Gamaty - Special Envoy of Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj to Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

Wolfgang Pusztai - Former Austrian Defence Attaché to Libya.

Jonathan Winer - Former U.S. Special Envoy to Libya.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #Libya

It's been described as the worst civil unrest Mali has seen in decades. Violent anti-government protests this week left several people dead.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has promised to form a national unity government. The country's been without one since elections earlier this year.

He has dissolved the constitutional court.

That's faced controversy since it overturned provisional results from parliamentary elections in March.

But will that be enough to restore peace?

And what if turmoil spirals out of control?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests

Fatima Al Ansar, special adviser the the Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs

Noufal Abboud, Director of The Nordic Center for Conflict Transformation, and a Specialist on North West Affrican Affairs

William Lawrence, former U.S. Diplomat in West Africa.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #InsideStory #Mali

One of the world's most famous landmarks, the Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul, has been turned back into a mosque.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the site will be open to Muslim worship in less than two weeks, after a top court ruled the building's conversion to a museum in 1934 was illegal.

Built 1,500 years ago as an Orthdox Christian cathedral, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453.

While UNESCO and Greek, Russian and other church leaders have denounced Turkey's decision, its foreign ministry insists it's a 'domestic issue of national sovereignty'.

But is this an act of religious significance or political narrow-mindedness?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests

Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mehmet Celik, managing editor of the Turkish newspaper The Daily Sabah.

Mustafa Akyol, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of the book, 'Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty'

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #HagiaMosque #Turkey

The Democratic Republic of Congo is braced for more violence after several people were killed in protests across the country.

On Thursday, thousands of protesters defied a ban on public gatherings to march against the nomination of a new election administrator - Ronsard Malonda.

They accuse Malonda of rigging previous polls in favour of the former President Joseph Kabila, who stepped down last year after 18 years in office.

So, how will this impact the ruling coalition?

And can any fallout be contained?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests

Al Kitenge, a Congolese economist and political analyst.

Okito Tongomo, an exiled politician and president of the Congolese Support Group.

Vincent Rouget, associate director for Africa at the political consultancy, Control Risks.

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