Managing Editor, Al Jazeera Arabic News
Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera Arabic News
PROFILE
Abderrahim Foukara
Guest
FROM Abderrahim Foukara
To the Point
Iraq News and Your Evening News The conflict in Iraq is now the third longest war in America's history. For tens of thousands of US soldiers and countless Iraqis it's a matter of life and death. But America's newspapers and broadcasters have now reduced Iraq and Afghanistan to just 3% of the stories they are reporting. Is it too dangerous for Western reporters? Is it too expensive? Conversely, has a decreased level of violence made it a non-story? Has the taxpaying, patriotic American audience lost interest? Why do the presidential primaries get so much more attention?
To the Point
What's the Immediate Future of the Middle East? With the United States bogged down in Iraq, and President Bush, the Congress and leaders around the world debating the Iraq Study Group's report , there's talk that the "American era" in the Middle East has ended. Without Iraq to offset it, Iran is becoming the strongest Islamic nation—with Israel the region's other major power. We get several views on the changes to come and how they'll affect American interests. Can increased democracy counter radical Islam and be a vehicle for peace and prosperity? Should the US put less emphasis on the military and more on diplomacy?
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To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.