The Take

Days before a US airstrike hit “Iranian-backed targets” in Syria, Iran and the US were trying to get back to the negotiating table. This week is the closest the two nations have come to returning to the nuclear deal. It’s also the closest Iran has been to seeing an end to the latest round of US sanctions — sanctions that began with Donald Trump after he withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. But it has not been an easy start. 

This episode has been updated to incorporate recent news events.

In this episode:

Maziar Motamedi (@MotamediMaziar), Iran correspondent for @AJEnglish Digital;

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More than 5 million Venezuelans have fled the country — and almost half of them are in Colombia. Nearly 2 million people are living in the neighboring country without stability or visas. Now, the Colombian government is offering an alternative to Venezuelans living there. Colombian President Iván Duque hopes this measure will get the country international help for one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world. We hear about this possible path to legal residency from an Al Jazeera correspondent, and from Venezuelans currently in Colombia.

In this episode:

Alessandro Rampietti (@rampietti), Al Jazeera journalist in Bogotá, Colombia.

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Two viruses, two vaccines, one unequal system: Guinean health officials declared an Ebola epidemic after reporting the first cases of the virus since West Africa’s deadly outbreak ended in 2016. One thing that’s changed since that last outbreak: the availability of a vaccine. But like we’ve seen with the coronavirus pandemic, the existence of a vaccine doesn’t necessarily mean access to one.

In this episode:

Nicolas Haque (@nicolashaque), Al Jazeera journalist; Gladys Archange, Guinea country representative for Catholic Relief Services.

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Blackouts and power outages are happening in Texas just as climate activists in the United States celebrate the country’s re-entry into the Paris Climate Accord. After a year of grounded flights and limited travel, global emissions are barely lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic. And the disastrous effects are clear, not just in the US, but around the world. In today’s episode we’re asking, is the Paris Agreement doing enough to protect the planet?

In this episode:

Dr. Richard Munang (@RichardMunang), UN African regional climate change coordinator; Kofi Mawuli Klu, joint chief coordinator for the Extinction Rebellion International Solidarity Network (@XRIntSol); Dina Kesbeh (@dinakesbeh), The Take producer

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Designating Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a "foreign terrorist organization" was one of the last foreign policy decisions of the Trump administration. It was a move that many aid agencies feared would push the worst humanitarian crisis in the world into further chaos. Now, weeks later, the new administration under President Joe Biden has walked it back. So just how big a shift is this for US policy toward Yemen, and what does it mean for Yemen’s war?

In this episode:

Abubakr Al-Shamahi (@abubakrabdullah), journalist; Sultana Begum (@sultanabegums), Norwegian Refugee Council

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