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Road to Net Zero

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Road to Net Zero

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Opinion

Buffeted by great powers, where does the Middle East stand at the end of 2025?

Next year will be a critical one that tests Israeli and Iranian doctrines, as many others try to steer away from slipping into wider conflicts

Raghida
Dergham

The National

Today's cartoonShadi's take on hopes for peace in 2026

Video

EU chooses loans over seizure in Ukraine funding decision

Europe has rejected using seized Russian assets to fund Ukraine, opting instead for a €90 billion loan out of its own coffers

What the UAE actually did in Yemen - and why it will still matter

Mohamad Ali
Harisi

Unchecked AI companions are not guardians, they are engagement machines

Hanan
Al Shaikh

Some good news for the new year – cinema is back

This year so much changed in Lebanon - and yet so much more stayed the same

Khaleda Zia's death closes Bangladesh's founding chapter

Can Europe summon the empathy needed to solve its refugee challenge in 2026?

Janine di Giovanni

Degrees may soon be a thing of the past - embrace 'skills passports' instead

Kais Zribi

Ireland's policy on Palestine is a litmus test for international diplomacy

Why family will be at the heart of the UAE in 2026

Managing change is global sport's latest goal

Syria has an opportunity to empty its 'ISIS camps' for good

The UAE's digital safety law is a welcome step towards protecting minors

Precision medicine in the UAE is set to change lives

Resilience is at the heart of the Christmas message

Columnists

Indian opposition parties prevented an absolute majority for the BJP in the last general election, but they have failed to capitalise on that victory since. EPA

Will 2026 be the year India's opposition finally gets its act together?

Chitrabhanu Kadalayil

'Treedom for Palestine' is fighting the good fight, one olive tree at a time

AI is producing more intelligence but leading to less clarity

How Iraq's middle class will shape the country's future

Zaid Al-Ali

For Iran, 2026 is going to be the year of the unknown

Middle East airlines are booming. Their next steps will be critical

Linus Benjamin Bauer

ISIS attacks in the West could signal a dangerous new phase

The US won the Cold War decades ago. It is paying the price for it today

Challenges for Keir Starmer grew in 2025 – much like for the rest of Europe

The nativity story resonates with today's world of displacement

From Venezuela to Ukraine to Iran, a larger shadow war going on

Raghida Dergham

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

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?

Week in cartoons

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