Podcast: Beyond the Headlines

DAMASCUS, SYRIA - DECEMBER 08: People watch soldiers and military vehicles parade through the streets to mark one year since the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2025 in Damascus, Syria. The first anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria is being marked today across the country. Former leader Bashar al-Assad was granted asylum in Russia after he fled the country and his government collapsed on December 8, 2024. The fall of the regime, which ended over five decades of the Assad family's rule, came after a rapid offensive by opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). A transitional government, headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly the HTS leader), is now in place and working on the country's reconstruction and political transition. (Photo by Chris McGrath / Getty Images)

The year in impact: our episodes that resonated the most in 2025

Host Nada AlTaher talks about the stories that were most challenging and rewarding to cover on the podcast

Members of the forces of Yemen's main separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council, look on as they arrive in a mountainous area where they are launching a military operation in the southern province of Abyan, Yemen, December 15, 2025. REUTERS / Stringer

How Yemen’s power balance is shifting again

What’s stalling phase two of the Gaza ceasefire?

One year since Assad’s fall: Where is Syria today?

Egypt

British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd Al Fattah apologised for his 'shocking and hurtful' posts, but claimed some had been 'completely twisted'. AP

UK orders urgent inquiry into British-Egyptian activist's 'abhorrent' tweets

Government admits to 'serious information failures' over anti-Semitic and anti-British posts from Alaa Abd El Fattah

UK

Afcon 2025: Hakimi returns, Salah rested as Morocco and Egypt advance to last-16

Football

Lebanon turns to Egyptian gas to ease electricity shortages

Energy

No more dams on Nile without our approval, Egypt warns Ethiopia

MENA

Lebanon

Freedom Recalled runs until January 11 at Beit Beirut in Lebanon. Photo: Robert McKelvey

An artist-led exhibition reckons with Lebanon’s trauma

Freedom Recalled brings together 36 artists to confront the country's scars from the civil war to today

Art & Design

Lebanon turns to Egyptian gas to ease electricity shortages

Energy

Four missing trying to cross river on Syria-Lebanon border

MENA

Why Lebanon's bank customers will struggle to be fully repaid

Economy

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