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Egyptian businessman said Rishi Sunak had shown himself to be 'very capable'

Bureau chief Damien McElroy on six years of covering the big stories in Westminster, Brussels and beyond

SHARE Shadia El Dardiry has been on a journey of discovery in London since arriving nearly seven years ago but one scene from her impromptu walking tours stands out from the rest. The unexpected sight and sound of two boys speaking Arabic in a Syrian dialect as they passed by halted El Dardiry in her tracks as she tried to figure out why she recognised them. Oblivious to her stopping and staring, they walked on without a glance but it dawned on her that she had helped the younger of the sibling...

SHARE In the arid mountain terrain of the Sinai Peninsula after living with Bedouin shepherds and their herd for months, Amal Khalaf abruptly turned her back on her dream job at the age of 22. Khalaf, as an integral member of a small television team recording the annual migration of a Tarabin tribal family, was no longer stuck in an office in London doing research but directly involved in the story as it was constructed in the desert. The talents of her fellow documentary makers aside, however,...

SHARE In the summers of her youth, Mona Nemer would escape the sweltering heat of Beirut with her family to seek out the cool mountain air of Wadi Chahrour. The small village in Mount Lebanon provided respite away from the bustling city just a dozen kilometres north, a place of tranquillity to indulge her boundless curiosity. “It was really very quiet and peaceful, which gave a lot of time for reading and perhaps dreaming,” she tells The National. “I guess I was just curious and asked ma...

With a Lebanese name and a Cairo birthplace in the background, Gabriel Makhlouf is steering Irelands financial recovery

SHARE Plenty of people witter away their waking hours seeking fame, but what if it came to you unbidden and you neither wanted nor needed its financial rewards? That’s the story of Royal Jordanian, a man with no real name and no face – just a helmet – who accidentally became a “motovlogging” superstar after posting videos of his two-wheeled exploits on YouTube for his mother to watch. Known by his fans as RJ, he has turned down the fortunes of fame, refusing all offers of sponsorship...