Just three years ago, in September 2015, all United Nations Member States approved the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The eradication of hunger and all forms of malnutrition (Sustainable Development Goal number 2) was defined by world leaders as a cardinal objective of the Agenda, a sine qua non condition for a safer, fairer and more peaceful world. Paradoxically, global hunger has only grown since then. According to the latest estimates, the number of undernourished people in the world increased in 2017, for the third consecutive year. Last year, 821 million people suffered from hunger (11 percent of the world population - one in nine people on the planet), most of them family and subsistence farmers living in poor rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

It is to the vibrant cultural scene of cosmopolitan Alexandria, home to a melting pot of nationalities and ethnicities and to the poets, writers, architects, merchants and industrialists who found inspiration and opportunity in this fascinating city, that Egyptian cinema owes its beginnings. By the mid-1920s, Alexandria had become a filmmaking hub, attracting artists and entrepreneurs from all backgrounds. To this day, Alexandria, the city where I grew up and of which I have my fondest memories, remains the city where the magic began.

Some colleagues who recently went to Europe were appalled by what they heard from various officials there. “They still do not understand the true nature of the Muslim Brotherhood. They are still unaware of our predicament,” these colleagues said. I discussed the issue with them, and many preferred an explanation emphasising European bad faith.

I was amazed to find that French media coverage of the life of the legend of French chanson, Charles Aznavour, who passed away 1 October, mentioned nothing on his frequent visits to Egypt. Reports spoke at length of his worldwide tours: to the US, Japan, all European countries, as well as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. But Egypt was left out, although he visited it at least three times. The first time was in 1952, before he made his ascent as one of the most celebrated singers in France. He was accompanying the French Umm Kalthoum, Edith Piaf, for whom he was a songwriter. Piaf performed a single concert, in that visit, at the American University in Cairo s Ewart Hall. Aznavour s last visit to Egypt was in 2008. On that occasion, I invited him and his family to stay at my small farm in Dahshour, amidst the palm groves in that idyllic rural area near the foot of the eternal Dahshour Pyramids and remote from all the to-do of hotels, the theatre and formal parties. The French artist s connection with the Arab world and its artists remained uninterrupted between that first and last visit. He was infatuated with Umm Kalthoum whose music, he told me, he first heard during a visit to Morocco. He was a friend of Farid Al-Atrash and he met Fairouz and her husband, Assi Rahbani, during a visit to Lebanon. He related to me the occasion of his visit to their home in Bikfaya. By the time Aznavour came to Cairo in 2008, aged 84, he had become as much a symbol of France as Umm Kalthoum was a symbol of Egypt and Louis Armstrong (who also visited Egypt) was an American symbol. His concert at the Cairo Opera House thrilled and enchanted audiences and, the following day, he expressed how much this pleased him as we strolled beneath the winter sun amidst the Dahshour palm groves. He began to take pictures of Sneferu s pyramid, which is unlike any of the other Egyptian pyramids. “At my age, this camera is my memory which doesn t forget anything,” he said. In response to his question about Sneferu, I said that he was the father of Khufu, the first to build a true pyramid after the phase of stepped pyramids in the Old Kingdom. Khufu used his father s “Red Pyramid” as a model for the Great Pyramid of Giza. “I know the son, of course. But not the father,” Aznavour said, adding: “Which shows you how young I am!” Some may not know that Aznavour had a difficult time at the outset of career when he was ridiculed for his short stature, unattractiveness, and that gravelly quivering voice that grated on ears familiar with the then popular silky vocal style of French crooners such as Jean Sablon and Tino Rossi. Aznavour, the son of Armenian immigrants from Georgia in the Soviet Union and originally named Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, told me that he was so pained by the attacks against him in his early career that he decided to leave France. He chose Canada as the place of his voluntary exile and spent the next five years honing his talents and simultaneously expanding his intellectual horizons through reading. When he returned to Paris, Edith Piaf was the first to notice his unique musical and poetic gifts. She performed some songs that he wrote for her which, in turn, drew attention to him. He then began to sing his own compositions. But it was La Mamma, which he wrote in the early 1960s, that catapulted him to the front ranks of French vocalists, after which he quickly acquired worldwide fame. In addition to the warmth and emotive impact of his unparalleled voice, he enthralled audiences with the originality of his music, which drew on many classical music techniques, and the lyricism of his lyrics, which are works of poetry in their own right. During his visit here, he gave me an anthology of short stories that had authored and that had appeared in France a few months earlier. As he presented me with that gift, he said, “I write literature like you. Are you going to try to sing like me?” Like any great artist, Aznavour had a patriotic side which led him to support the cause of the people whose ethnicity he shares, the Armenians. He admitted to me that he knew very little about Armenia before 1963 when he visited it for the first time during a concert tour in the Soviet Union. However, it was not until the catastrophic earthquake in 1988 that he began to emotionally identify with Armenia. The devastating quake with its epicentre at Spitak killed at least 50,000 people and left another half a million homeless. “The earthquake awakened in me the memory of the massacre of Armenians by the Turks, so I established the Aznavour for Armenia charity to help Armenians in the Soviet Union. My greatest joy was in 1991 when Armenia became independent from the Soviet Union, which was something that I had never imagined would happen in my lifetime.” At the time when Aznavour died at the beginning of this month, he had been booked to perform in Yerevan some days later. If the French press ignored Aznavour s visits to Egypt, and his last visit in particular which, he told me, he would remember for the rest of his life, his connection to this part of the world was more extensive and deeper. He performed in the Jarash festival in Jordan and gave several concerts in Beirut. During his stay at my farm in Dahshour, I discovered another link between Aznavour and the Arab world. Some members of his family had accompanied him on that visit, including his son, Nicolas, and his wife about whom I learned that one of her parents was from Morocco and the other from Tahiti. Also, his daughter, Katia, is married to an Algerian, Rashid. But the French press had little time for such details.

Somehow, it all seems to be coming together at once. Over the weekend, a Trumpian-style, right-wing politician surged into a runoff election for presidency of Brazil, only narrowly missing the 50% vote in the first round that would have meant instant victory. In Germany, the neo-fascist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is poised to claim its first seats in Sunday s regional elections for the Bavarian parliament, which would mean representation for the party in 15 of the 16 regional German parliaments.

A new global warming report shows it s still not too late to avert the worst impacts of climate change. It just boils down to whether we can muster the will to do so, thinks DW s Sonya Diehn.The IPCC report is pretty clear: Half a degree makes a huge difference. We ve already warmed the world about 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times — with disastrous effects. Our coral reefs are dying, sea levels are rising, species are going extinct and extreme weather is on the rise.

Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi writer, vanished on Tuesday after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain paperwork so he could marry his Turkish fiancée. He has not been seen or heard from since. As a columnist for the Washington Post, Khashoggi was a frequent critic of the Saudi regime. Khashoggi was living in self-imposed exile in the United States.

It was also a laugh that the world -- or at least its leaders -- had at the expense of President Trump. Beginning his speech at the United Nations General Assembly this week, Trump didn t appear to expect the humorous interlude as he launched into a recital of his achievements in office to date. There was no serious stumble, but a short pause, perhaps taking in what was happening. Trump: World leaders were laughing with me 01:38

News about a proposed new alliance called the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA) has surfaced from the White House and particularly Tim Lenderking, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Gulf affairs. Lenderking has conducted shuttle visits to a number of countries in the Middle East in preparation for the announcement of the new alliance in January 2019.

In his remarks before the UN General Assembly Tuesday, 25 September, US President Donald Trump talked about a regional strategic alliance for the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jordan and Egypt to counter the Islamic State group and other terrorist organisations in the Middle East. Two days later, the foreign ministers of these countries met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the meeting dealing with the threats and challenges facing Middle Eastern countries, with special emphasis on defeating terrorism and containing Iran.

Education is back as one of the hottest and widely discussed topics around the world. Since 2010, there has been more than $2.3bn invested in education technology companies in the US alone, while global investment within the sector reached over $9.5bn. With almost 40% of American employers saying they cannot find people with the skills they need and UK. organisations spending almost £6.3bn on temporary workers, recruitment fees, and training, as a result of skills gap in the UK market, it is clear to everyone that the current education system is broken and needs a clear and deep fix. An action needs to be taken!

South Korean President Moon Jae-In was in Pyongyang last Tuesday, 18 September, the guest of Chairman Kim Jong-Un of North Korea. It was their third summit this year. The two Korean leaders signed a joint declaration that renewed the momentum for a peace deal in the Korean Peninsula that would end the state of war that has lasted from 1953 till today.

Reformist trends in the Arab world, in general, are caught in a vice between two kinds of radicals. The first hails from the political right, from its ultraconservative to religious fascist stripes, and is opposed to any change whatsoever unless it propels society backwards. It cares nothing for progress and has little interest in the world at large and the major currents of change that generate the transitions from one era to the next.

For the first time ever, Egypt has launched a national anti-bullying campaign in schools, with TV advertisements, bill boards and social-media materials all drawing attention to the need to tackle bullying among the country s children. The campaign was launched under the auspices of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) and in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MOETE) and the UN children s agency UNICEF with funding from the European Union.

The debate over whether Ashraf Marwan had been working for or against the State of Israel has been an Israeli–Israeli conflict since the Agranat Commission was established in November of 1973. One seeking the truth need not look outside Israeli reports, analysis, and official documents. Until this day, there have been two opposing camps in Israel debating on whether Marwan was a true spy of Israel. The Egyptians chose to remain silent on this issue.

Comparing my window view of Cairo over twenty years ago with today, I can see that its weather has changed dramatically. It is also clear to me, having visited many countries since, that Cairo is not alone in these changes. The global implications of climate change on the environment have become obvious – even to non-experts.

I spent my childhood and youth, up to the time I graduated from university, between Rod Al-Farag, where our family home was located, and Shobra, where I went to school. Both neighbourhoods (though Shobra above all) are foremost among those historic districts of Cairo that physically embody the unique, cohesive national fabric of the great Egyptian people, both Muslim and Christian.

Throughout history, the concept of time has constantly been changing. It differs from culture to another and from age to another. Scientists and philosophers have discussed the concept of time, whether it is linear or circular, with an end or without, or subjective or objective. Moreover, in the topology of time, there are questions always raised for study and discussion. For instance, can time be represented as a line, if it is, where does it begin and where does it end? Is it only one line or not?…etc. Indeed, the concept of time is dealt with differently in these two philosophical movements: modernism and postmodernism. The last four years are seen as a revival of modernism concept of time, which has been adopted by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

It would be mistaken to reduce the current political conflict in the US to the clash between the current occupant of the White House and the US press establishment. President Donald Trump, in no time at all since coming to power, has succeeded in antagonising a vast circle of domestic and international parties, the only exception being Zionist circles in the US and in Israel.

I remember vividly the terrible day when our lives (our world) changed forever. I was listening to the radio in my apartment, a few blocks from Ground Zero, when the plane hit the first tower. I could hear the cries from the street below: “Oh, no, no, no!” “Oh, my God!” I ran downstairs just in time to see the second tower crumble like a sand castle. It was 9:59 am. I joined others rushing to the spot when a large group of people came running back shouting: “Go back, go back, for God s sake, go back!” We rushed back only to discover later that it was a false alarm, that there would be no more attacks on the towers after the second plane hit. Without fully understanding the significance of events, I felt that a relatively peaceful way of life had been replaced by a darker, more sinister one. A great sadness came over me. Soon after, we learned the details of what had happened, and heard stories and saw pictures of those who had thrown themselves voluntarily to their certain death rather than remain trapped inside an inferno. Richard Drew, who photographed one of the iconic images of that fateful day, the “Falling Man,” the lonely image of a man falling to his death with one of the towers in the background, said recently that for him it was the image of the Unknown Soldier. An estimated 7% of those killed in the attack on September 11 did so by jumping into the void from their offices.

September 13, 2018, marks 25 years since the first of the Oslo Accords was signed by Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn amid great fanfare. Many Palestinians hoped that they would finally be free of Israel s then-quarter-century-old military rule and have a state of their own. Having taken part for two years in the Madrid and Washington Palestinian-Israeli negotiations preceding the Oslo accords, and having seen the obduracy of the Shamir and Rabin governments about allowing the Palestinians anything resembling self-determination, independence, and statehood, I had few hopes for Oslo. Sadly, my pessimism proved all too well-founded.