Latin America has turned into a COVID-19 epicentre. It has 10 percent of the world's population, but in recent weeks has accounted for nearly half the global daily death toll. And Mexico is one of its worst-hit countries, with a death toll that has now surpassed Italy and Spain. About one in five of its inhabitants live in the capital, Mexico City - a beehive perfect for any virus looking to spread. Despite that, many question whether its rise here was so inevitable, or if the region's second-most populous country simply got it wrong. From the start, there have been questions: Why did Mexico test at one of the lowest rates in the world? Why was the quarantine so softly policed? And why did the country's president flout his own government's physical distancing guidelines? Al Jazeera heads to the front lines with paramedics and medical staff at a public hospital's intensive care unit, and with stallholders in a mega-market that has become a COVID focal point. We also visit the food banks, where the country's poorest come for help as they try to deal with the economic fallout of the pandemic. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Featured Documentaries

Frontline Mexico: The Fight Against COVID-19 | Featured Documentary

One day, when the coronavirus pandemic is merely of historical concern, much time will be spent discussing its origins and evolution and evaluating its long-term effects. But for now, for today, the coronavirus is still a matter of life and death. With many already mourning the loss of loved ones, others fear they might be next. Billions of people around the world are still in some degree of lockdown, their lives on hold, their jobs on the line. Economies are imploding, overstretched health services are trying not to buckle under the strain and political leaders are struggling to find solutions to the biggest global challenge in decades. So one question is uppermost: what is the best route out of this crisis? An answer could lie in East Asia, where COVID-19 first appeared and where governments, with varying degrees of success, have tried different ways of defeating it. As documented for this film by correspondents in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the distinct approaches of those four countries might have something to teach us all.

Coronavirus: Lessons From Asia (Featured Documentary)

A group of young women are looking to the stars in Kyrgyzstan. In the capital Bishkek, a non-profit organisation has put together an all-female group to build and launch the country's first satellite by 2021. This could help reignite an industry once shuttered; after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan gained independence but lost its national space programme. Nineteen-year-old Alina and others work tirelessly to code, wire, design and build the satellite. They also have to whip up support and raise funds by speaking at events and doing local media gigs. Kyrgyzstan's Space School follows their journey as they get ready for the launch, documenting the challenges and successes this formidable team encounters. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Women Make Science: Kyrgyzstan's Space School | Featured Documentary

Marita Cheng built a tech empire with the sole purpose of creating robots that help people in their everyday lives, especially those with physical disabilities. The 29-year-old creative entrepreneur works on several of her innovations in this film. Some are completed and some are still a work in progress. We see her creations through all stages, from inception and research development, to the process of making and testing them. Her robots transform the routines of people with disabilities. From an app that "sees" for blind people, to an "arm" that enables severely paralysed people to mobilise freely. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Women Make Science: Robogal | Special Series

Anastasia Miliou knows just about everything there is to know about dolphins. She is a hydrobiologist and scientific director of the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation. It is the largest NGO of its kind and has monitored marine life in the Aegean Sea for the past 20 years. It is also halfway through a project to host the world's first marine life sanctuary off the small Greek island of Lipsi. A remote hamlet, the sanctuary's blue-green waters will offer refuge to local animals as well as those injured or threatened around the world. This includes dolphins released from captivity as marine life parks, widely criticised for their treatment of animals, fall out of public favour and shut down. It will also house marine animals threatened by the 8 million tonnes of plastic waste dumped into the ocean each year. But building the remote sanctuary, away from noise pollution and human activity, is no small task. Construction is tricky as they must secure funds, organise logistics and build a diverse habitat for future animal guests. All the while, Anastasia mentors a team of young women, passing on the science as well as the confidence to study and protect the ocean's rich ecosystems. - - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Women Make Science: Greece's Dolphin Sanctuary | Featured Documentary

In the Kenyan port city of Kisumu, biological scientist Sheila Kaka Ochugboju tackles the biggest challenge of our era: climate change. In Kenya, one of Ochugboju's main concerns is the shrinking Lake Victoria, which also borders Tanzania and Uganda. Rich in resources, the lake is the lifeblood of surrounding communities, but a quickly changing environment is forcing people to adapt to new ways of harvesting food and running businesses. To tackle these issues head-on, Ochugboju works with local women, who she says are most tied to the land and bear the brunt of the crisis. She and a team of experts also founded the Network of African Women Environmentalists, which aims to address climate issues on all levels. And as Ochugboju and local women learn more about the area's delicate ecosystem, communities find new ways to support themselves while restoring the nature that surrounds them. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Women Make Science: From the Lab to Lake Victoria | Featured Documentary

Filmmaker: Blaise Piguet Loyalty cards, medical records, geolocation, biometric passports. Our digital traces speak volumes about our habits. The large volume of data recorded during each of our visits to the internet represents a great opportunity for personalisation, but the information we distil is also widely used for commercial purposes and can be used by governments as an invasive tool. Dataland illustrates the different facets of big data and artificial intelligence being unleashed by the world's most prolific data scientists. The film goes to Dublin where artificial intelligence is becoming an increasing influence on community life; to Finland where citizens transmit their DNA to improve public health and predictive medicine; and finally to China where facial recognition is routinely used by the state to track the movement, habits and private lives of common people. But we are just scratching the surface of AI's capabilities. This film explores a number of different issues and provides us with a basic understanding of how it works and where it might lead. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Dataland: The evolution of artificial intelligence and big data

Primatologist Citlalli Morelos-Juarez came to Ecuador's fast-disappearing Esmeraldas jungle to study and help save the endangered brown-headed spider monkey. To conduct her research she must go beyond the normal role of a scientist to become the director of a nature reserve, a landowner, agriculturalist, economist and politician. Key to her success has been setting up a parabiologist programme that empowers local women to learn about sustainability for the benefit of their communities and for the jungle's delicate eco-system. Ecuador's Hidden Treasure follows Morelos-Juarez and her team as they navigate a male-dominated field, support fellow women and work to protect an endangered species. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Women Make Science: Ecuador's Hidden Treasure | Featured Documentary

This is Episode 2. Watch Episode 1 here: https://youtu.be/EPHe4oag0R8 Writer and journalist Aatish Taseer returns to India, his mother country, to explore the changes in this deeply religious yet secular nation. He takes an in-depth look at tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and how the hardline government of the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has fueled anger between Indians of different faiths. Cows are a sensitive topic in India - holy to Hindus and a commodity to Muslims. Taseer meets the families of cow traders and herders who have become targets of Hindu nationalist anger. Aatish also meets Hindus who believe Muslim men are forcing Hindu women to convert to Islam as some form of "Love Jihad" - and discovers the dangerous lengths they are prepared to go to stop Hindu women marrying Muslim men. He also examines the country's history of religious rule, stretching back to the Mughal Empire and beyond. He searches for answers as to why India finds itself in this position today, and what lies ahead for this religiously diverse nation founded on secular principles. - - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

In Search of India's Soul: From Mughals to Modi - Episode 2 | Featured Documentary

Writer and journalist Aatish Taseer returns to India, his country of birth, to explore the changes in this deeply religious yet secular nation. He takes an in-depth look at tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and how the hardline government of the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has fueled anger between Indians of different faiths. Cows are a sensitive topic in India - holy to Hindus and a commodity to Muslims. Taseer meets the families of cow traders and herders who have become targets of Hindu nationalist anger. Aatish also meets Hindus who believe Muslim men are forcing Hindu women to convert to Islam as some form of "Love Jihad" - and discovers the dangerous lengths they are prepared to go to stop Hindu women marrying Muslim men. He also examines the country's history of religious rule, stretching back to the Mughal Empire and beyond. He searches for answers as to why India finds itself in this position today, and what lies ahead for this religiously diverse nation founded on secular principles. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

In Search of India's Soul: From Mughals to Modi | Featured Documentary

Latin America's political left has been facing mounting pressure after political defeats in Bolivia, Argentina and Ecuador, demonstrations and parliamentary opposition in Venezuela, the far-right victory in Brazil and flagging enthusiasm for the revolution in Cuba. This film offers an insight into the new challenges the continent is facing with unprecedented access to political leaders in Latin America including Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and former Presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Jose "Pepe" Mujica of Uruguay, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador. Marco Enriquez-Ominami, a filmmaker and former presidential candidate in Chile, thoughtfully explores how things have changed since the beginning of the 21st century when Latin America witnessed an extraordinary cycle of economic growth and social development. This transformation changed the scene radically and led to the building of a democratic culture, respect for the rule of law, economic independence and a redistribution of wealth. The result was a considerable reduction in poverty and the emergence of new political leaders. But now, this period of political dominance has given way to one of increasing instability. Nicolas Maduro explains that Venezuela is now experiencing the collapse of what he calls "the oil model" on which his country relied for the past 100 years. "The fact is, 2015 saw the exhaustion of the oil-rentier model. What did this model mean? A country that was spending $35bn on imports in order to satisfy a very strong domestic market. But in 2016, our foreign currency income fell to an all-time low. This wrought havoc on our economy, already weakened by an internal economic war, with contraband, fraud … it hit a country on its knees," Maduro explains. He adds: "Our oil experts failed. I have never said this publicly, our experts, our analysts, our strategists failed. They saw nothing coming. I have documents to prove it." From 2016 onwards, the policies of these leaders began to be questioned by the same voters who had originally put them in power. It was the beginning of the end for the left in Latin America. "The greatest harm ever done to economics was the stripping of its original definition: political economy. Look at why and for whom measures are taken. On close inspections, it is always for capital," Rafael Correa, Ecuador's former president and left-wing economist, argues. Correa lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium after facing charges related to the alleged kidnapping of an opponent in 2012. "What is the left? The supremacy of humans over capital," he adds. The right won the 2015 election in Argentina (though has since lost out to the current centrist regime), Jair Bolsonaro has been elected President of Brazil - and Maduro continues to face the challenge of the opposition-led parliament in Venezuela. Along with the death of Fidel Castro, all are signs of a shift in a continent well acquainted with revolution and counter-revolution. Add to the mix Donald Trump in the White House, Brexit in the United Kingdom and a Europe struggling with both a crisis in confidence and immigration, the left appears to have no meaningful answers. So, is Latin America's shift a swing of the political pendulum or part of a wide global trend? - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Latin America: A giant in turmoil

What is China? Where is it going? What is it going to do? The world's most populous country, an economy set to become the biggest in the world, a communist state, a developing nation, the world's oldest surviving civilisation at the cutting edge of a technological revolution, an authoritarian regime brutally suppressing its minority groups - China is many things to many people, but running through its core, like a continuous silk thread, is one central principle: order. The order really starts from within the family ... China is one of those cultures where relations are much more important and people are defined in a sense by roles. Professor Bin Wong, director of the China Institute, UCLA The Big Picture: The China Complex traces the roots of this principle to find how ancient philosophical models such as Legalism that promoted the strict, often brutal imposition of the law, and Confucianism, the moral bedrock of Chinese culture, have been the foundations of how China has been ordered for more than two and half centuries. The China Complex examines how they have been applied by ruling dynasties, nationalist republicans, communist revolutionaries all the way through to today's Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping. And at the heart of any leader's authority, we find a higher ideal: the Mandate of Heaven (tianming), legitimising the rule of emperors and paramount leaders alike. The suppression of Tibetan Buddhists and majority-Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang have been uncompromising. Viewed through the prism of order, new light is shed on how such oppression serves the greater Chinese interest. Leaked documents detailing the state-sanctioned abuses perpetrated within so-called "vocational education camps" in Xinjiang point to a regime unable to accommodate any divergence from a rigid, long-instilled notion of order. Those seeking to stand apart from Han-majority China are beaten down, forced to assimilate with majority rule or suffer the consequences. "Xinjiang was gradually being transformed into a kind of a police state … It's absolutely alright for them to be Uighurs if they'd simply eat pork and drink alcohol. And preferably even smoke cigarettes like good Han Chinese citizens always do," says Professor Steve Tsang, director of China Institute, SOAS In Hong Kong, demands for greater democratic rights has been given short shrift by Beijing. What the protestors in Hong Kong have demanded does not fit into the Chinese Communist Party's notion of what China stands for - a deference to authority, a hierarchy of respect, an adherence to order. "In the minds of an authoritarian dictator, the last thing you do is back down and let the people win," says Professor Sharon Hom, New York University. As China is in the grip of an autocratic government, criticised for human rights abuses at home and imperial adventurism abroad, can the age-old ideas bleeding through China's historic rise also tell of how it may be set to fall? As The China Complex shows, to understand China today and China tomorrow, it is first to understand China of long ago. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

The China Complex Part 2 | The Big Picture

What is China? Where is it going? What is it going to do? The world's most populous country, an economy set to become the biggest in the world, a communist state, a developing nation, the world's oldest surviving civilisation at the cutting edge of a technological revolution, an authoritarian regime brutally suppressing its minority groups - China is many things to many people, but running through its core, like a continuous silk thread, is one central principle: order. "The order really starts from within the family ... China is one of those cultures where relations are much more important and people are defined in a sense by roles," says Professor Bin Wong, director of the China Institute, UCLA. The Big Picture: The China Complex traces the roots of this principle to find how ancient philosophical models such as Legalism that promoted the strict, often brutal imposition of the law, and Confucianism, the moral bedrock of Chinese culture, have been the foundations of how China has been ordered for more than two and half centuries. The China Complex examines how they have been applied by ruling dynasties, nationalist republicans, communist revolutionaries all the way through to today's Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping. And at the heart of any leader's authority, we find a higher ideal: the Mandate of Heaven (tianming), legitimising the rule of emperors and paramount leaders alike. The suppression of Tibetan Buddhists and majority-Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang have been uncompromising. Viewed through the prism of order, new light is shed on how such oppression serves the greater Chinese interest. Leaked documents detailing the state-sanctioned abuses perpetrated within so-called "vocational education camps" in Xinjiang point to a regime unable to accommodate any divergence from a rigid, long-instilled notion of order. Those seeking to stand apart from Han-majority China are beaten down, forced to assimilate with majority rule or suffer the consequences. "Xinjiang was gradually being transformed into a kind of a police state … It's absolutely alright for them to be Uighurs if they'd simply eat pork and drink alcohol. And preferably even smoke cigarettes like good Han Chinese citizens always do," says Professor Steve Tsang, director of China Institute, SOAS In Hong Kong, demands for greater democratic rights has been given short shrift by Beijing. What the protestors in Hong Kong have demanded does not fit into the Chinese Communist Party's notion of what China stands for - a deference to authority, a hierarchy of respect, an adherence to order. "In the minds of an authoritarian dictator, the last thing you do is back down and let the people win," says Professor Sharon Hom, New York University. As China is in the grip of an autocratic government, criticised for human rights abuses at home and imperial adventurism abroad, can the age-old ideas bleeding through China's historic rise also tell of how it may be set to fall? As The China Complex shows, to understand China today and China tomorrow, it is first to understand China of long ago. Source: Al Jazeera - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

The Big Picture: The China Complex (Part 1)

The Gaza Strip - at points just 10km wide - is a narrow piece of land along the eastern Mediterranean coast. Its Palestinian population is sealed behind a separation barrier and tightly controlled checkpoints. Gaza is home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians - half of them under the age of 15. Unemployment is among the highest in the world and every day is a struggle to survive. Thousands of young people regularly risk their lives protesting their occupation by Israel along the border fence. But there is a lesser-known unintended consequence of the occupation: opioid addiction. In 2010, Al Jazeera's Zeina Awad travelled to Gaza and found that more and more young people were turning to prescription drugs to escape from the harsh realities of their lives. In the underground tunnels between Egypt and Gaza - where lifelines including food and clothes are smuggled into the blockaded strip - Al Jazeera found that a dangerous drug, Tramadol (or Tramal as it is known in Gaza), was also slipping through. The dangerously addictive painkiller is illegal without a prescription, but a growing number of Gazans were getting hooked on it, and going to extreme means to get it. "I buy fake prescriptions," Khaled al-Jarah, a long-term drug user, told Al Jazeera at the time. "If I don't get this prescription there are other ways to get the pills. Dealers bring in boxes of them through the tunnels." Psychologist Dr Samir al-Zaqout treats addicts at Gaza's Community Mental Health Programme, one of the few places they are able to go for help. "Most of the addicts are between the ages of 18 and 30 ... Those who are supposed to build our future are the most affected," he told Al Jazeera at the time. "If the number of cases I have seen are 150, there are hundreds of others that I have not seen and who would never seek the help of a doctor. Why? Because we live in a traditional society that fears the stigma attached to mental illness. And addiction is not just considered to be a mental health issue. It's seen as even more serious." Almost a decade on, Rewind returned to Gaza where Dr al-Zaqout told us that most users are still reluctant to come forward to be treated at the facility. "People don't go to therapy or to a psychologist because they are afraid on two counts; they're scared of the Resistance labelling them as collaborators and they're also afraid of the associated stigma within society," he said. With Gaza's political and humanitarian situation deteriorating further in recent years, and with a new upsurge of violence at the border, the painkiller problem has also worsened. Although authorities clamped down on Tramadol, other drugs, including Lyrica and Fioricet, have gained popularity. "Now it is smuggled to Gaza through all ports and, consequently, the Strip has been drowned with drugs," said Dr al-Zaqout. - - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Uncomfortably Numb: Inside Gaza's Opioid Addiction Crisis | REWIND

"My Ethiopia is our long-lasting traditions and cultures. My Ethiopia is our family-centred lifestyle. My Ethiopia is our authenticity," says Lensa Mekonnen, the CEO of state-owned Tourism Ethiopia. Since coming to power in April 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has appointed women to 50 percent of his cabinet posts and promised unprecedented political and socioeconomic reforms. Lensa is finishing up her last few weeks on the job, and she is determined that tourism - which can boost the economy, champion local culture, and reinvent the country's public image - will be part of that reform. "We have always been known for the incidents of the past where we had an unfortunate famine where we lost millions. That has been stuck in people's heads. And we have not done enough to change that," she says. Ethiopia's tourism sector supports 2.2 million jobs, and is vital to the Western African nation's development transformation. Lensa sees untapped potential in historic sites that are little known or have fallen into disrepair. "There is so much history and so much culture that we have that we have not used," says Lensa. "If we want tourists to come and visit, then we need to build our infrastructure ... Development means that communities get the benefit out of it ... that our youth actually have jobs ... it means a real change in our economic game, so I want to see the resources developed." Tourism in Ethiopia grew by 48 percent in 2018, far surpassing the global average of 3.9 percent. But as Lensa strives for change, she still faces some pushback. "My biggest challenge is the resistance to the transformation agenda. We are going through a transformation and there is a painful layer where the status quo, the comfort zone, is going to go away. So saying we are not doing business as usual, we are going to change." We follow Lensa as she meets officials, community leaders and tourist guides to discuss strategies to develop Ethiopia's tourism industry, visits her family, and scavenger-hunts for sites that can be reinvested as tourist attractions. And all the while we see how Lensa's obligation to her family, her culture, and her people gives her the energy to - day by day - try and build a brighter future for her country. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Lensa Mekonnen: Ethiopia's Tourism Revival | My Ethiopia

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