The Inside Story Podcast

Babies and children are dying of cold in Syria's Idlib and their suffering has been described by the UN as the the largest humanitarian horror story of the 21st Century.

It says nearly 900,000 civilians have left since the beginning of December.

The Syrian government offensive to capture Idlib has created the biggest single civilian displacement during the nine-year war.

Despite that, the Syrian President has announced he'll press on with the operation.

Idlib is the last-remaining rebel stronghold and the only de-escalation zone that remains out of his control.

Syrian regime forces are making advances on the ground and that push has put more pressure on those being displaced.

Turkey backs some of the rebels in the province and is not allowing Syrian refugees to cross its border, saying it can't handle the influx.

So, with Turkey and Russia involved, how will this fight play out across the region ?

And why does Idlib matter ?

Presenter: Peter Dobbie

Guests

Mehmet Celik, Managing Editor at the Daily Sabah newspaper.

Mohanad Hage Ali, Fellow and Director of Communication at the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Pavel Felgenhauer, Defence Analyst and Columnist at the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #Syria

Many of us interact every day with Siri, Apple's voice-activated digital personal assistant.

Siri can find information, gives us directions, send messages, play music, one example of how AI is becoming a bigger part of everyday life.

Chances are it's on all your devices, can mimic areas of human behaviour and could soon learn about our feelings and emotions. The key word there is mimic.

The machines are getting smarter, but experts are divided as to when we'll move from basic AI to the scarey stuff of science fiction, if at all.

But there are real, and relatively immediate threats.

Almost 50% of American jobs are under threat over the next 15 years, and health care will probably get more expensive as AI increasingly gets involved in keeping us alive.

But besides the benefits, what are the risks?

Presenter: Peter Dobbie

Guests

Caroline Sinders, Machine-learning Designer and Fellow at Mozilla Foundation and Harvard Kennedy School.

Eddy Borges-Rey, Associate Professor-in-residence at Northwestern University in Qatar and Author of 'Automated Journalism: Algorithms, Bots and Computational Cognition'.

Catalina Goanta, Assistant Professor in Private Law at Maastricht University and co-manager of the Maastricht Law and Tech Lab.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #AI

Many of us interact every day with Siri, Apple's voice-activated digital personal assistant.

Siri can find information, gives us directions, send messages, play music, one example of how AI is becoming a bigger part of everyday life.

Chances are it's on all your devices, can mimic areas of human behaviour and could soon learn about our feelings and emotions. The key word there is mimic.

The machines are getting smarter, but experts are divided as to when we'll move from basic AI to the scarey stuff of science fiction, if at all.

But there are real, and relatively immediate threats.

Almost 50% of American jobs are under threat over the next 15 years, and health care will probably get more expensive as AI increasingly gets involved in keeping us alive.

But besides the benefits, what are the risks?

Presenter: Peter Dobbie

Guests

Caroline Sinders, Machine-learning Designer and Fellow at Mozilla Foundation and Harvard Kennedy School.

Eddy Borges-Rey, Associate Professor-in-residence at Northwestern University in Qatar and Author of 'Automated Journalism: Algorithms, Bots and Computational Cognition'.

Catalina Goanta, Assistant Professor in Private Law at Maastricht University and co-manager of the Maastricht Law and Tech Lab.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #AI

Transatlantic relations are not what they were.

Neither is the relationship between France and Germany.

European leaders are concerned by U.S. president Donald Trump's America First policy.

They've differed with him in several areas, from Iran to China.

This was reflected during the annual Munich Security Conference.

Divisions arose between leaders as they discussed whether the West is losing influence -- to other global powers.

The answer from the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, was 'everything is just fine'.

Pompeo boasted the 'West is winning' and the transatlantic alliance is not dead.

He rejected remarks by Germany's President who warned that the United States is putting its own interests first, at the expense of its allies.

But is the U.S. stance on global politics really that positive for western powers?

Or is it undermining their alliance?

Presenter: Peter Dobbie

Guests

Glenn Diesen, Professor of International Relations at the Higher School of Economics, and author of 'The Decay of Western Civilization and Resurgence of Russia'.

Theresa Fallon, Director of the Centre for Russia, Europe, Asia Studies and Former Member of the Strategic Advisors Group to NATO.

Roderic Wye, Associate Fellow at Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House and Former Counsellor and Head of Research on Asia in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #Trump

It's being described as the most severe attack on media freedom in the Philipinnes.

President Rodrigo Duterte has filed a supreme court petition to shut down the largest television network, accusing ABS-CBN of committing 'highly abusive practices'.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines protested on Friday, accusing the Duterte government of trying to silence media critics.

Duterte has repeatedly vowed to stop the network's operations and has threatened other media outlets.

So will freedom of speech survive in one of Asia's largest democracies?

Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault

Guests:

Harry Roque - Former spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte & lawyer

Richard Heydarian - Political scientist, author of: 'The Rise of Duterte: a Populist Revolt Against Elite Democracy'

Danilo Arao - Professor of journalism, University of the Philippines

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#Aljazeeraenglish #Philippines #MediFreedom

China's President is admitting shortfalls in the response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Xi Jinping is promising to fix problems and loopholes in the health system.

The epicentre of the outbreak, Hubei province, reported a sharp increase in new cases.

But the World Health Organization says that's because doctors are using a broader definition to diagnose the infected.

Hubei's communist party chief is among four local leaders to be sacked for mismanaging the response.

Is a change of strategy needed?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

John Nicholls - Professor in pathology, University of Hong Kong & flu expert

Peter Drobac - Director of the University of Oxford's Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship

Xun Zhou - Reader in Modern History at the University of Essex who researches China's health system

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #China #Coronavirus

It's a long-running debate: how should we regulate the internet and social media?

While sites including facebook and twitter allow us to share information, they've also become places for illegal and harmful content to thrive.

The UK now wants those firms to be more responsible.

The government will appoint its Broadcast regulator Ofcom as an online watchdog, with powers to force companies to take down certain material.

Other countries such as Germany and Australia have brought in measures to control online content.

But is regulation the answer? And can it be done without violating personal freedoms?

Presenter: Nastasya Tay

Guests:

David Erdos - Deputy Director, Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law (CIPIL) at the University of Cambridge.

Eliska Pirkova - Europe Policy Analyst for Access Now, a digital rights advocacy group.

Meera Selva - Director, Journalism Fellowship Programme, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #SocialMedia

One of the International Criminal Court's most wanted people may soon face trial.

Former Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir is accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in the western Darfur region.

In 2003, he sent soldiers and militias to suppress mostly non-Arab rebels.

The UN believes fighting, famine and disease killed at least 300,000 people.

Bashir denies the allegations, and has escaped previous attempts to send him to the Hague tribunal.

But he's no longer in power and Sudan's transitional government and rebels in Darfur have now agreed to hand over all suspects wanted by the ICC.

So, will Omar Al Bashir face trial at the ICC?

Presenter: Nastasya Tay

Guests:

Waleed Madibo - President of the Sudan Policy Forum.

Samaher El Mubarak - Spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association.

Kenneth Roth - Executive Director of Human Rights Watch.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #Sudan

Angela Merkel has governed Germany for almost 15 years,

But the Chancellor isn't willing to stay for much longer - saying she won't run for reelection in 2021.

The question over who will succeed her is again challenging the CDU.

Its leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was supposed to run for the job, but has announced she's stepping aside.

That came after CDU members voted alongside the far-right AfD party in a regional election.

The shock move has raised questions over divisions within the party and its impact on Germany's politics.

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Ulrich Brueckner, Political Analyst and Professor in European Studies at Stanford University, Berlin.

Hannah Neumann, Member of the European Parliament for the German Greens.

Mona El Omari, Activist and Project Coordinator for the Regional Centre for Education, Integration and Democracy, a Berlin-based NGO.

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#AlJazeeraEnglish #GermanyPolitics #InsideStory

The insects are the world's most dangerous migratory pests.

Locusts can swarm in their billions and in January, densely enough to force an Ethiopian Airlines plane off course.

Now they're invading Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Pakistan.

It is the worst outbreak in twenty five years and for Kenya, seventy years.

The insects can spread fast, and other countries are now at risk.

The swarms have already destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of crops.

Millions of people already short of food, could face famine.

Somalia and Pakistan have declared a state of emergency.

The UN says if action isn't taken fast enough, Somalia's infestation could become 'the most devastating plague in living memory'.

And it's asked for $76 million in aid to help control the outbreak.

So can it be contained, or could it get worse?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Stephen Njoka, Director of the Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa.

Cyril Ferrand, Emergency and Resilience Programme Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Crystal Wells, Spokeswoman at the International Committee of the Red Cross, Africa.

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