For my first video report for
@AJEnglish
, I spoke to 4 Palestinians who have been displaced again and again by Israel’s war in Gaza.
All are uncertain about the future and if they will ever achieve their dreams.
I hope you listen to their stories.
🚨Some news 🚨: it took a l'il while (!), but I'm finally in Doha, Qatar to join
@AJEnglish
's Middle East and North Africa desk! After living in North America, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe, I'm excited to report from a region I've always had an eye on 🙌🏼
For the last few months, I had been interviewing for a dream role…at the New York Times. After making it to the final 3 from 750+ applicants, I learned yesterday I didn't get it. I'm gutted - it's so hard to get so close to a dream. I don't remember ever wanting anything more.
Will Israel’s ‘humanitarian pauses’ mean much for Gaza? No, experts tell me.
Analysts say the temporary cease in fighting is not only glaringly inadequate but a PR move led by US interests.
@SALHACHIMI
@JulietteTouma
@CHIntLaw
A few weeks ago I handed in my dissertation, wrapping up my 2-year
@MundusJourn
master's degree in Journalism, Media & Globalization that took me to both Denmark and Wales.
Next week, I'm *thrilled* to be joining
@AP
's London bureau as an intern Business News reporter!
Excited to be joining
@AJEnglish
's Europe desk for the next few weeks! Grateful to
@anealla
for the opportunity.
Get in touch with any story tips from the continent. DMs open or email📩urooba.j
@gmail
.com📩
A career highlight! Yesterday I interviewed rapper
@jarule
and his business partner Herb Rice about their new NFT project that is hoping to carry on the legacy of Black jazz and hip-hop icons! Watch for a story out soon for
@BusinessInsider
🙌🏼
Why am I sharing this? Because our rejections define us as much as our wins. And I’m still proud of how far I made it, after many sleepless nights & sweating through my blazer through Zoom calls. After the storm (literally & figuratively!) clears, I hope to see the silver lining.
Prolonging summer by zipping off to Madeira, a Portuguese island off the Northwestern coast of Africa, which boasts a subtropical climate, steep mountains, and a rugged but lush, green terrain. 🤌🏼⛰️🌊☀️
Are you a young person who began their career working remotely during the pandemic? Or, as a young worker, has the lack of face-to-face networking affected your job prospects? I’d like to speak to you for an
@AP
story!
DM me or📩ujamal
@ap
.org
#JournoRequest
The 2020 dating scene was largely about video chats as COVID-19 forced more people to connect remotely, and sometimes more deeply, before meeting in person. The 2021 dating scene is ... even more so for many — and dating apps are leaning into the trend.
In bed before midnight for the first time in months, giddy about starting my first day at
@AP
tomorrow! Send me tips, questions, a hello etc. at ujamal
@ap
.org!
Truce breaks or truce sticks? Gets extended? Leads to a permanent ceasefire? Or to more aggressions?
My piece examining all the ways the war may now evolve now that the truce has come into effect.
Thanks
@SALHACHIMI
&
@HHamayel2
for your thoughts. 👇
People are finding respite in the Red Sea city of Port
#Sudan
– whether they leave Sudan or stay.
My latest
@AJEnglish
with stunning images and on-the ground reports from
@ahmadz249
.
I hope you read our visually-compelling piece:
#Sudan_updates
#السودان
A wonderful 3 years in Europe — a year each in Denmark, Wales and England. I've moved across the world 10838373627 times in my life already, but leaving London is easily one of my hardest moves 🥲
.
@DearHarara
, 28, has been thrust to the frontlines of a war early in his career.
He's seen a lot - including the maggot-infested wounds of the maimed.
Him,
@DrMahim
,
@MSF
& others are concerned about growing rates of malnourishment in Gaza.
My latest⤵️
It's too unsafe in Rafah for our Al Jazeera colleagues to appear live on air to give updates of the Israeli offensive there, where more than 1.4 million people are sheltering, many having fled there since the start of the war.
In other news, I joined
@BusinessInsider
's London newsroom today, where I'll be covering global biz, tech, retail, etc. for the next little bit. Send tips/say hi 📩ujamal
@insider
.com 📩
"Even the hawkish Reagan mustered the moral outrage to phone up Begin in 1982 and order an end to the bombing after seeing a burnt baby with its arms blown off on television. Biden will do no such thing." -
@SethAnziska
My timely latest: singles are using
@okcupid
's 'pro-choice' profile badge to weed out people they will likely clash with as the US overturns
#RoeVWade
.
I spoke to a few people who are doing just that 👇
@BITech
@BusinessInsider
Well, that was a fantastic summer at
@AP
!
Grateful to
@crubinsky
for the opportunity and all my other AP colleagues who I got to work with - some who I finally got to meet in person yesterday! It truly was a dream to be a part of one of the world's top news agencies!
გაუმარჯოს from Tbilisi, Georgia...where I'm officially waking up as a 30 year old! 😱 Living in 4 continents, reporting everywhere from Mexico to Denmark, and making friends across the globe along the way! Excited for what my thirties will bring (minus the random body aches) 🍾
Today I began my rotation with
@AP
's video team and visited Sotheby's auction house in London, where the seascape of the best marine painter, JMV Turner, is up for grabs for a cool $6-8 million.
Religious extremism in
#Pakistan
is complicated, and Chaudhry argues that the U.S. played a role in fomenting it in the 80s. But Abdullah says Pakistan's own dictator Zia-ul Haq introduced laws that severely reduced women's rights.
Story by
@Kathygannon
today's
@vittleslondon
is the biggest guide to south asian food in london ever attempted, taking in india, pakistan, bangladesh, sri lanka, nepal and parts of afghanistan. part 1: aloo paratha to haleem, via chilli paneer pizza. use it well.
But my parents - who have since fully thrown their support behind my choice - were the first to tell me this means there’s an opportunity much better suited for me and that everything happens for a reason, alongside my friends worldwide who had been cheering me on.
A torrent of messages posted online by men promoting the marriage of underage girls and other forms of exploitation following the powerful earthquake in
#Morocco
has women’s rights activists and organisations on high alert.
My latest with Kim Makhlouf:
I spoke to
@therapisthammam
, whose grandparents met at the
#Gaza
hospital bombed Tuesday night, some 80 years ago.
About 40 years later Hammam himself was born in that hospital. It was, after all, more than a hospital — it was a community, he told me:
I joined a rehearsal of
@rumi_musical
, where
@NadimNaaman
,
@DanaAlFardanDNA
and their mostly mostly Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian cast and crew are bringing the revered Sufi poet, Rumi, alive to London's West End.
Story & photos by me 👇🏽
Croatia was a beaut! Split, a coastal Balkan city, was the perfect locale for my monthly solo retreat, with its palm tree-studded malecon, clear blue waters, and lavender-laced icecream 😋
After 20+ rejections in the last 6 months of an excruciatingly painful job hunt, this was my sliver of hope. Should I have listened to my immigrant parents and chosen a more stable career path? It's hard not to compare myself to others as I turn 30 later this year.
As my time in London sadly comes to a close, I'm glad I got to visit the bureaus (and briefly work at one) of the three top news agencies in the world,
@Reuters
,
@AFP
, and
@AP
.
(I'm back home in Canada for a bit before a new adventure in a new region of the world, stay tuned!)
My first
@BusinessInsider
feature👇(back on that dating app beat!)
Bored of Tinder and Hinge? Want to meet someone IRL? A new crop of dating apps are bringing together pandemic-weary singles to in-person events for the first time.
Story & photos by me 👇
Hoping 2022 is better professionally🤞🏽 & despite a global climate crisis & a global plague - it was a really, really good year on a personal level - marked by great friendships, a cautious return to travel, & dressing up to the nines to go out once again as well! Happy
#NYE2022
!
Reflections on a decade of solo travel: on the left, a grainy 2013 photo of my $5/night hostel in Chiang Mai, Thailand, my first solo trip at 20. On the right, just outside the 4-star hotel I booked for my long weekend trip to Vienna and Prague in 2022, almost 30. C'est la vie!
Sara dreamed of doing voiceovers for Ratatouille.
Khader was supporting his son's wish to become a footballer like Messi.
Mohammed was to fly to Ireland for an art residency-on Oct 7.
All are trapped in Rafah as Israel begins its invasion.
My latest:
A special shoutout to
@anealla
, who's been a great mentor ever since I cold-pitched her a story as a freelancer when I was living in Denmark at the height of the pandemic in March 2020. Makes me excited to get to know and work with other talented AJ editors and journalists!
Tear gas, masked protesters wielding the Kenyan flag, crowds chanting in unison – these are the scenes of anti-govt protests in Kenya.
But US ally, Pres Ruto, made a fiery charge: that the protesters are funded by the Ford Foundation
My dive into why⤵️
One month of covering daily news
@businessinsider
. I didn't think my war and conflict specialization during my Master's would be relevant so soon. . .
In
#Khartoum
's al-Mayqoma orphanage, the tiny limbs & corpses of the 70+ children who died have been wrapped in white sheets, bundled together awaiting burial.
But those who've still survived are finally safe outside the capital, the ICRC told me:
#Sudan
✨My year in journalism ✨
Started the year by taking on my biggest writing project yet: my master's dissertation, where I looked into how objective Reuters and AP journalists are when reporting on conflict (hint: very objective!). The best part was interviewing the journalists.
What’s Israel’s Hannibal Directive?
The controversial policy to avoid the capture of Israeli soldiers isn’t formally in place now. But echoes persist in the war in Gaza, say some analysts.
I spoke to a former Israeli soldier to tell me more 👇
An "English sport for English people"?
Pakistani-British cricketer
@AzeemRafiq30
is at the center of a national conversation around racism in English cricket.
I spoke to some others who have felt discriminated in the sport.
Mine for
@AJEnglish
👇🏽
One man is Mohamed, a Syrian refugee who had to leave his AC business in Khartoum, and is now selling falafel in Port Sudan to provide for his family.
He expertly assembles the sandwiches with a smile, despite the heat and his circumstances.
Photo:
@ahmadz249
#sudan
#السودان
Here today covering the
@DohaForum
for
@AJEnglish
, an annual event bringing together world leaders, focusing on issues of security and diplomacy in the Middle East and beyond!
Looking to get in touch with British Pakistanis about their experiences with the slur 'P*ki' for an
@AJEnglish
story - DMs open or email 📩urooba.j
@gmail
.com 📩
#journorequest
Reminder I'm open to interesting tips on the biz beat, for ex, on everything from technology's impact on marginalized communities, to stories about how the food crisis has been exacerbated by the Ukraine conflict, and everything in between. 📩 ujamal
@insider
.com 📩
#journorequest
“In the name of Allah,” the Islamic sermon began, like any other. It wasn't written by an imam—but by
#ChatGPT
.
@AsimKhan21c
was stunned, left wondering how this new bot can help—or hinder—Muslims.
Mine for
@onlinehyphen
on how religion & AI intertwine:
The thing about working for an international newswire that never gets old: seeing my stories get picked up by places like
@business
,
@washingtonpost
,
@Independent
, etc.!
Applying to j-grad programs in 2018, the advice I got a lot? If you go, go to the place that gives you the most $. Grateful for
@MundusJourn
entirely funding my 2 years. I graduated in May with *savings*, not debt, making it poss for me to try to "make it" in a city like London.
First day, first byline! Grateful to my new colleagues for their warm welcome, advice and edits.
A ship that's totally autonomous and AI-controlled just took off today — and it aims to revolutionize marine research:
I got the chance to interview 2000s hiphop icon
@jarule
& biz partner
@MetaWearables
!
The duo want to put Black NFT artists center stage—in the footsteps of jazz & hip hop legends—after realizing they were the only Black people at
#NFT
events.
Read👇
I spoke to Vitaliy Semenets, a Ukrainian man who discovered his AirPods had been stolen after his apartment was looted by Russian troops.
He then used Apple's "Find my" feature to track the troops' movements.
@BITech
👇
Looking to get in touch with a couple of experts who can explain what Musk's takeover of Twitter means for hate speech protections on the platform for a
@BusinessInsider
story. DMs open or 📩ujamal
@insider
.com 📩
#journorequest
I've been wanting to visit The Alhambra for at least a decade - y'know, ever since I got into decolonial, epistemic perspectives to subvert Western linear and Eurocentric historiographies, as one does at 20. Luckily, as a journalist now, I use far less jargon.
✨Granada, Spain✨
.
@ebrahimsharif
still recalls seeing blood on the walls of the prison he was jailed in for taking part in Bahrain’s Arab Spring protests, he tells me.
Hundreds of these political prisoners today are staging the country's largest hunger strike.
My latest:
Could Hamas’s rival, the PA, return to rule Gaza? Would Palestinians even accept it?
We spoke to both Hamas and PA officials to find out.
My deep dive analysis on the hypothetical future of Palestinian politics 👇
Today marks 1 year since Al Jazeera journalist
#ShireenAbuAkleh
was killed by an Israeli sniper.
Below, a poster calling for justice for her killing at Al Jazeera HQ here in Doha.
Here, a timeline of her first broadcast in 1997 to her last in 2022:
I often joke to non-journalist friends that being a journalist is like being an actor or a singer waiting for your big break, and nothing exemplifies that more than me being under-employed for yet another year but also almost getting a job with The New York Times twice in 2022 🫠
Dr Zouhair Lahna has worked in conflict zones globally –Syria, Libya, Yemen, Uganda, Ethiopia – but he has never seen anything like the Israeli war on Gaza.
“It’s not human,” he told me, pained by the sick, wounded and dying he saw daily.
My latest:
Have a compelling story to share about using dating apps throughout this pandemic? Has the pandemic changed how you use them? I’d love to speak to you for an
@AP
story I’m working on! DMs open or email me📩ujamal
@ap
.org
#journorequest
Do you travel for business? Has anything changed for you since the pandemic began? Looking to speak to business travelers for an
@AP
story. DMs open or email me📩ujamal
@ap
.org
#journorequest
Why is the word P*ki so painful? It has a violent history - still used against British Pakistanis till today.
"There’s a special type of humiliation when you’re insulted about something...you have...no power over," one told me.
Mine for
@AJEnglish
👇🏽
When Red Cross couldn't reach a stranded group in Khartoum, a civilian network organised through Twitter sprang to action, helping them flee on foot.
I spoke with the network to explore how Twitter is helping those in
#Sudan
:
#Sudan_updates
#السودان
Don Banks had 2 interviews with Wells Fargo that he never heard back about.
A
@nytimes
report later found he was interviewed to fill diversity quotas.
"It made me feel less than human," he said.
Read his experience, as he told it to me👇
@FinanceInsider
Feasted well tonight! (Pakistani) biryani & aloo mattar by me; (Japanese) gyoza & nasu dengaku by my Japanese-Parisian flatmate. Not pictured: our Algerian, Italian-French, Greek desserts. Enjoyed by us alongside our other Mexican-American & French flatmates! I love this life. :)
Hit my 30th country at age 30 — and my first trip in the region, Oman!
Loved its mountainous terrain, its peoples hospitality, and its lush canyons and gorges 🇴🇲
And a story from there coming soon for
@AJEnglish
Ibrahim Assalia's visit to
#Gaza
from the UK was urgent: His father had cancer and needed treatment in Jordan.
But Israel’s bombing made it impossible to leave.
His father died last week.
Now Assalia & his family are trapped in Gaza. My latest 👇
My first
@AP
feature: optimism about the future of travel in
#Europe
has been shored up by both the imminent return of U.S. travelers, as well as the EU’s issuance of a health passport that may scrap protocols like coronavirus tests & quarantines.
Fighting under way in Khartoum as the UN warns that Sudan is at a humanitarian “breaking point” as the rival military forces accuse each other of new violations of a ceasefire they had just agreed.
🔴 Follow our LIVE coverage:
Today marks 6 months since I began working at
@AJEnglish
— which coincided with a launch of our new newsroom strategy.
We got cupcakes and mine matched my nails 😊
Excited to continue ‘taking you deeper’, as I focus on lots of original features and analyses in the coming months!
Motaz is here at the Al Jazeera headquarters in Doha, and has done a live segment with our Arabic channel about his account - both personally and professionally - of 107+ days of war in Gaza 👇
I left Gaza with a broken heart and eyes filled with tears.
There was no other option after 108 days of continuous massacres against us.
It’s time to move somewhere else so I can do more work and I pray that I can be a reason to stop this war and help rebuild Gaza again.
I’ve
Apps that hire gig workers are on the rise: a response to the ways economies are rebounding from the pandemic recession.
Some foresee a threat to workers in the long run. In the meantime, the apps appear to be filling a niche.
My latest
@AP
feature👇
My final (for now!)
@AP
feature: about the young workers globally who began their careers entirely remotely, having never worked in an office before.
Story and photos by me.
#Ryanair
made
@thestripedcouch
, a South African in the UK, take a test he says is traumatic for those who lived South Africa's apartheid.
The airline said it's issuing it to screen against fake passports.
Read his experience, as he recounted it to me:
I was nervous to share this - but after the responses I've received here, on my insta and my LinkedIn, I'm so glad I did! Thanks for all the support and words of encouragement - it has been much, much easier to process because of it.
For the last few months, I had been interviewing for a dream role…at the New York Times. After making it to the final 3 from 750+ applicants, I learned yesterday I didn't get it. I'm gutted - it's so hard to get so close to a dream. I don't remember ever wanting anything more.