The Take

Americans have some of the highest rates of student debt in the world, and 92 percent of it belongs to the US government. That means President Joe Biden could erase the debt with the stroke of a pen, and some activists are going on a ‘debt strike’ to urge him to do so. As Biden takes a victory lap from passing a massive economic stimulus bill, activists and some politicians are ready for the next fight: canceling student debt.

Sarah Everard was a 33-year-old marketing executive. She went missing while walking home from a friend’s house on the evening of March 3rd in South London. A London Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with her kidnap and murder. Sarah's killing, her alleged murderer, and the events that followed have spawned an outcry in the UK about violence against women, police brutality, and the right to protest.

Bitcoin is having a moment. The cyber currency broke through its own record this past weekend with each bitcoin valued at over $60,000 USD. That’s more than two times Bitcoin’s value at the start of the year. If FOMO is getting the best of you, consider this: Bitcoin may be making some investors fabulously rich, right now at least, but at what cost to people, and the planet?

The first trial of crimes against humanity in Syria is taking place — but not at the International Criminal Court. 10 years after the first protests in Syria, a tiny spark of accountability has been lit, with the trial of two Syrians who first came to Germany seeking asylum. On the anniversary of Syria’s uprising, we hear from a reporter who’s been inside the courthouse nearly every day of a harrowing trial, and from a woman who’s staged her own vigil outside of it.

More than 70 protesters have been killed and nearly 2,000 detained since early February when the protest against the military coup began in Myanmar. Amnesty International says many of the killings documented amount to “extrajudicial execution” by military security forces. Still, some say the coup has not succeeded yet. Today, we talk to a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist living in Yangon about how protesters are fighting back, and what the military is doing to silence them.

A year ago this week, the coronavirus outbreak was officially declared a pandemic. Now, Pfizer, a leading vaccine manufacturer, is being accused of bullying governments with negotiation tactics so harsh that deals have been delayed or flat out refused. On the anniversary of the pandemic, we’re discussing the Pfizer controversy, and taking stock of the global inequities from COVID-19.

International Women’s Say is inextricable from women’s labor, but the pandemic has pushed unprecedented numbers of women out of the workforce around the globe. For women still working, the pandemic has divided those who work at home from those who don’t. We hear from women in different parts of the world, from a psychiatrist for new mothers, a sex workers’ advocate, and one of Al Jazeera’s own journalists.

The streets of Armenia are hot with protest, as several military generals and hundreds of protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over his handling of last year’s deadly conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. After accusing the military of a coup attempt, Pashinyan is calling for early elections and proposing a referendum to adopt a new constitution. But will that be enough to calm the opposition and keep himself in office?

Two and a half years later, the United States has released its official report on the killing of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi. The report states that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman approved the operation that led to his killing. But in the days since the report, the Biden administration has resisted sanctioning the Saudi leader. We hear from the author of a 2019 United Nations investigation on Khashoggi’s killing on what she found in the US report, and what she thinks is missing in order to serve justice for Khashoggi.

Somalia is weeks overdue for a presidential election. The president’s term has expired without a successor in place. At the center of the crisis is President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmaajo, a former US dual citizen whose previous job was as a local bureaucrat. Four years ago, he was a new hope for the Somali people. This election was supposed to be a triumphant milestone for Somalia, a sign of stability. But instead, there’s a power vacuum that risks spiraling into conflict.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?