Hala gorani biography muslim marriage

[00:00 - 00:23] Welcome to What I Did Next from A&T Media. I'm Malak Fouad, the show's host. This show delves into people's life journeys from the point of view of twists and turns, shifts and pivots. We've all had them. Some are more visible than others and make a stop in our tracks, take note and maybe make a course correction. Other changes along our 

[00:23 - 00:47] path only come into focus with hindsight, when we look back and realize a particular moment in time was pivotal in our lives. These are the ideas that form the underlying current of What I Did Next. We kick off the season with a powerhouse broadcaster and journalist who until recently came into our living rooms most evenings to keep us informed about world events. I welcome Hala Gorani to the show. With over 25 years experience, Hala is an 

[00:47 - 01:08] award-winning anchor and correspondent, most recently with CNN, where she anchored Hala Gorani Tonight. She has covered natural disasters, wars and elections over the years and has interviewed key global leaders. Today, Hala has taken a sabbatical from TV and is currently working on her first book, a memoir that explores the subject of identity, which will be published 

[01:08 - 01:29] by Hachette Book Group in early spring 2024. We dig into her life's pivotal moments growing up in the US and France, how and why she chose to become a journalist and how she's working to better understand her multicultural identity in an increasingly complex world. Let's kick off our conversation with our trademark icebreakers and we've brought back an old favorite this 

[01:29 - 01:50] season. If Hela could host a fantasy dinner party, who would be around her table? So I would have my maternal grandmother, Berine Gorani, who died in 2009. Part of the reason, obviously, is because I miss her and she was a wonderful, lovely, warm human being. The other thing is, it's a little bit late in life that I decided to think about my family 

LONDON: Regional conflicts have negatively impacted the performance of Middle Eastern countries in this year’s Soft Power Index, according to findings by brand and marketing consultancy Brand Finance.

The 2025 results, unveiled at the annual conference in London on Thursday, revealed significant declines for nations embroiled in conflicts — including Israel, Lebanon, Sudan, Ukraine, and Russia — dragging down much of the broader region’s performance.

Despite the UAE maintaining its 10th-place ranking with a modest 0.7-point increase, other Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Israel, saw stagnation or setbacks after years of steady gains.

“After years of soft power gains, Gulf nations somewhat lose momentum in 2025, with the exception of the UAE,” said Andrew Campbell, managing director at Brand Finance Middle East. “While they remain admired for their influence and business-friendly policies, respondents from the wider Middle East, Africa, and Asia view the region less favorably than before.”

The index, which Brand Finance calls the “most comprehensive study on perceptions of nation brands,” surveyed 170,000 respondents across more than 100 markets.

Saudi Arabia, which had been one of the fastest climbers in recent years, slipped two places to 20th after rising eight spots since 2020. While the Kingdom stalled in key metrics such as familiarity, influence, and reputation, it continued to make strides in perception-based categories. Among these, Saudi Arabia showed a 0.7-point increase (out of 10) in education and science — an area highlighted by the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center’s recognition as one of the world’s top academic medical centers in a separate Brand Finance report earlier this year.

Soft power, a term coined by American political scientist Joseph Nye in the 1990s, refers to a nation’s ability to achieve influence throug

Hale Gorani, the Diva of CNN!

During the recent conflict in Libya, we have been glued to the “little screen” watching all channels, from TF1, the local French channel, to France 24, the English 24 hours French news channel, Al Jazeera English, Bloomberg TV, Sky News, but mostly CNN, which is the most dynamic in its presentation of international news.

But, mainly their excellence lies in their choice of reporters and war correspondents, who are amazing and outstanding, e.g. Nic Robertson, Ben Wedeman, Becky Anderson, Wolf Blitzer, Fionnuala Sweeney, Frederik Pleitgen.  But the one who stands out the most is…  The Diva – Hala Gorani.

Not only is she very attractive, but is also bright, intelligent, charming, as well as efficient and professional – also has a great sense of style, which she must have picked up while living in Paris.

Gorani is the anchor correspondent for CNN International, based in Atlanta, Georgia.  She was born in Seattle, Washington, to Muslem, Syrian parents – but considers Paris her home, since she was raised there, and graduated from its prestigious Institut d’Etudes Poliques (or Sciences Po).

Gorani covered and reported the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war, among many others, and also interviewed heads of state, politicians, and dignitaries, including Tony Blair, Queen Noor, Mohamed El Baradei, Rafik Hariri, Bernard Koushner, among others.

Hala covered the French presidential elections for CNN in 2002 and 2007, as well as The Hajj from Saudi Arabia for CNN in 2006, using her facility as a Muslim, to enter inside the holy city of Mecca, since only those of the Muslim faith can do so.

It is always exciting and challenging to watch her presenting – without any bias – the latest international news, and it is to her credit that she avoids discussions of a personal nature, regarding politics or religion.

Gorani is a breath of fresh air, amid the harsh reality and horrors of everyday reporting

American-Syrian journalist (born 1970)

Hala Basha-Gorani (; born March 1, 1970) is an American journalist, working as a correspondent for NBC News. Previously she was an anchor and correspondent for CNN International, based in London. She is also a war correspondent. She previously anchored CNN's Hala Gorani Tonight weeknights at 8 p.m. CET. Gorani co-hosted Your World Today with Jim Clancy until February 2009 and then International Desk until April 2014 from CNN's Atlantaheadquarters.

Since February 2022, Gorani has been a special war anchor based in Lviv, in western Ukraine during the Russian invasion. Although broadcast in the late evening to her American audience, the time difference means that she is coming live in the early morning from Ukraine.

On 28 April 2022, Gorani announced she would be leaving CNN, and would present her final episode of Hala Gorani Tonight that evening.

Early life

Gorani was born in 1970 in Seattle, Washington. According to her, she comes from "quite an international background. ... I'm a U.S. citizen with Syrian and French parents." Her parents emigrated from Aleppo, Syria in 1966. She has an older brother. Her father first worked as an engineer in Seattle where Gorani was born and then moved to St. Louis for three years and thereafter to Algeria when Gorani was 4 years old. They lived for two years in Algeri