Mina Al-Oraibi was previously Assistant Editor in Chief of Asharq AlAwsat newspaper, based in London.
Mina Al-Oraibi was previously Assistant Editor in Chief of Asharq AlAwsat newspaper, based in London.
Mina Al-Oraibi was previously Assistant Editor in Chief of Asharq AlAwsat newspaper, based in London.
Mina Al-Oraibi was previously Assistant Editor in Chief of Asharq AlAwsat newspaper, based in London.

Mina Al-Oraibi appointed as Editor in Chief of The National


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  • Arabic

ABU DHABI // International Media Investments has announced the appointment of Mina Al-Oraibi as Editor in Chief of The National. She begins her new role on July 1 following the official transition of ownership from Abu Dhabi Media. The National will relaunch on July 2.

IMI, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC), announced the acquisition of The National, the Abu Dhabi-based English language newspaper, in November 2016.

Mina was previously Assistant Editor in Chief of Asharq AlAwsat newspaper, based in London, and has also served as the outlet’s Washington DC Bureau Chief. She brings to her new role more than 14 years of high level experience as an international journalist and commentator.

Mina has written widely on US and European policies in the Middle East and has extensively covered regional diplomatic and security developments.

She has conducted interviews with leading global figures, including former US president Barack Obama, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and former Iraqi prime minister Nouri AlMaliki.

Mina, who is currently working closely with the IMI team, said: "I am delighted to join The National, and to lead a stellar team providing a window into the UAE and the wider region."

She added: "As the media landscape continues to be shaped by the fourth industrial revolution, journalistic excellence and integrity will remain the foundations of our success. While we develop new and innovative ways to deliver news and engage with our readers, content will remain king."

Mina was most recently a Senior Fellow at the Institute for State Effectiveness, where she worked on and wrote about governance and public discourse in the Arab World. She was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2009 and a Yale World Fellow in 2015.

Mina is a member of the International Media Council and a trustee of the American University of Iraq – Sulaimani. She is regularly sought out as a commentator on international broadcast outlets and has been published by various publications.

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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If you go

The flights

Fly direct to London from the UAE with Etihad, Emirates, British Airways or Virgin Atlantic from about Dh2,500 return including taxes. 

The hotel

Rooms at the convenient and art-conscious Andaz London Liverpool Street cost from £167 (Dh800) per night including taxes.

The tour

The Shoreditch Street Art Tour costs from £15 (Dh73) per person for approximately three hours.