Trends on social media are changing the world. Part of that change is much-needed and long-awaited, but another part is virtual. It might be driven by real needs, but it might also be imposed by those seeking some kind of advantage or devised for reasons unrelated to the public good. The public in Egypt over the past eight years has been subjected to and sometimes deceived by such trends. However, people have also acquired the skill of being vigilant when a trend or tweet is going viral.

On February 10, Cairo will begin its presidency of the African Union (AU) during 2019, and this will be the beginning of a phase for different work on the level of the African continent’s countries. We will notice that Africa has been witnessing a strong Chinese presence for a while, leading to an American trot behind it trying to parallel with the Chinese presence and precede it! It is not a secret that China is the first big country in the world to be able to see in this continent what other great countries could not. It did so early and with great skill. When the United States was alerted, it came late, but acted with the logic of “better late than never”.

Twenty-five years ago, participants of the International Conference on Population Development (ICPD) sat in a convention hall here in Cairo and watched a video depicting 10-year-old Nagla undergoing female genital mutilation. The graphic footage sent shockwaves that are still reverberating today, pushing forward the fight against female genital mutilation in Egypt as UNFPA marks the 25th anniversary of the ground-breaking conference. The public outcry that followed the video prompted then Egyptian Minister of Health to decree that the procedure should be performed only in certain state hospitals. Shortly after, in 2007, another decree was issued to close the loophole, banning the practice altogether in governmental and non-governmental hospitals and clinics.

World leaders have committed to ending poverty everywhere for all people by 2030. Achieving this aim means facing up to the need for dramatic declines in inequalities – in income, in opportunity, in exposure to risk, across gender, between countries and within countries – over the next decade Inequality is a well-recognized barrier to poverty eradication, as well as many other development challenges. It features in multiple dimensions across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the universally adopted plan to promote prosperity and social well-being while protecting the environment.

On the surface, the world economy remains on a steady trajectory moving into 2019. Headline figures suggest that – while global growth has likely peaked – activity around the world will continue to expand at a solid pace. Several developed economies are operating close to their full potential with unemployment rates at historical lows. Yet, headlines do not tell the whole story. Beneath the surface, a much more worrisome picture of the world economy emerges. The newly-released World Economic Situation and Prospects 2019 illustrates how a combination of rising economic, social and environmental challenges hampers progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

One theme keeps recurring in different meetings in Brussels, the seat of the European Union. This is that Europe wants to be a “pole” in its own right – that is, a global power alongside the US, and almost certainly in the coming few years, China. With 500 million of the richest consumers on earth and a cohesive regulatory body, Europe is already an economic giant. But Europe also wants to be a political pole. Two factors work in its favour, but four pose serious challenges.

Everyone has a story of his own, but our stories are infinitely related to others. That s why we have one version of it, which is necessarily different than their version, and that s where the trouble begins!! How we see ourselves and how others see us is an entirely entangled issue. The factors that play into shaping our own awareness about who we are, are so much related to the way we are brought up and the factors that shaped that bringing up; parents, religion, attitudes, atmosphere, relatives, neighbors, schools and mass media, among other things, play the main part of who we are, yet we may not know exactly how we have turned out to be the way we are today.

President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi s statements during his joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reflected his confidence in the Egyptian people and clear understanding of their priorities amid very difficult domestic and regional circumstances. Since he took office nearly five years ago, Al-Sisi has been commanding a country at war on several fronts, overcoming one challenge after the other and steering the country towards stability and economic development.

Tensions between Iran and the United States are again on the rise on the fortieth anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Just three-and-a-half years ago, jubilant Iranians filled the streets of Tehran to celebrate the signing of the nuclear deal with the West in the hope that this would lead to a normalisation of Iran s relations with the US.

The true economic challenge confronting Egypt today does not concern either our fiscal or our monetary policy – both are well addressed by our economists and are advanced further by international experts. Egypt s fundamental economic challenge, which our government is not addressing efficiently, is the Egyptian workforce s low productivity. As a society, Egyptians need to adopt a work ethic that truly values hard work, diligence and productivity.

Egypt is currently undertaking a major reform of its education system. By declaring the year 2019 to be the Year of Education, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi has clearly underlined the importance of such an initiative as one of Egypt s top priorities for building a stable and productive society. In that regard, wisdom prevailed among the drafters of the Egyptian Constitution when they emphasised the importance of education by incorporating seven articles, 19 to 25, mainly dealing with the state s obligation to support the right of every citizen to education, notably by providing free education, encouraging technical education and scientific research, and eliminating illiteracy.

One year ago, the Korean Peninsula had a rendezvous with history. After almost 12 months of threats of an impending doomsday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un surprised the world with a conciliatory message to South Korea on the occasion of the new year, 2018. One month and a half later, the sister of the supreme leader of North Korea travelled to South Korea as head of the North Korean national team taking part in the Winter Olympics.

It came as a cruel surprise to EU Ambassador to Washington David O Sullivan to find his name at the end of the list when foreign diplomats were called up to pay respects at former president George Bush Sr s funeral in December. As the longest serving ambassador in Washington, he had expected his name to be among the first called. This was not a slip-up. The State Department had degraded the EU delegation s diplomatic status from member state to international organisation.

On New Year s Eve, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi launched the Decent Life Initiative on his official social media accounts, whereby under his auspices ministries, community associations and non-governmental organisations alike are to focus on providing a decent life for the underprivileged groups in society. Here is his tweet in its entirety. “As I looked at last year in search of the real hero of our nation, I found that the Egyptian citizen deserves the title. Egyptians bravely confronted the battle of survival and construction, in addition to bearing the cost of economic reforms so as to achieve a better future for the coming generations.

The invention of the printing press by German inventor Johannes Gutenberg in 1440 marked the end of a dark historical period and paved the way for the European Renaissance in which books became a commodity that could be acquired by the masses. There is no doubt that the printed word is the foundation of modern civilisation. Just 60 years after Gutenberg s invention, the massive spread of the printing press had meant that some 20 million books had been printed in Europe by 1500.

In a few days, Egypt will take up the presidency of the African Union (AU) for 2019, signalling the trust of the African countries in the credibility and transparency of Egyptian leadership. The AU Assembly of heads of state and government has already elected Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi for a one-year term succeeding Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

In my dialogues with Noha, my daughter, she keeps repeating that one of the greatest achievements accomplished by the President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi was overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood from power. I replied that 6 January 2019 will be included in the list of great achievements. Noha responded by saying that in order to ensure these positive results, education is the guarantor. The president took the burden of reclaiming the Egyptian identity from the first moment when Egyptians saw him at the helm and heard him repeat "long live Egypt," not once, but thrice. Egyptians embraced this cheer after having lost it in the flood of names our country was called during different political eras where the name “Egypt” was absent. Egyptians have embraced the cheer out of love for the homeland.

In his classic book Polyarchy, the American political scientist Robert Dahl maintained that political regimes can be categorised according to two sets of criteria: pluralism/contestation and participation/inclusion. Liberal or constitutional democracies are distinct in that they are designed to allow for both high levels of pluralism/contestation and high levels of inclusion/participation, he said. In short, they are based on the twin pillars of liberalism and democracy.

Two days before being sworn in to the US Senate, Mitt Romney wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post outlining his concerns about President Donald Trump “not rising to the mantle of the office.” Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, did not exactly break new ground. His column mostly rehashed concerns that many Republicans have long held about Trump’s temperament and international relationships while stopping short of an active commitment to addressing the many problems Romney sees in the Trump administration. The op-ed also includes the kind of language that was standard from pre-Trump presidential candidates: “I remain optimistic about our future. In an innovation age, Americans excel. More importantly, noble instincts live in the hearts of Americans.” Romney has since said that he won’t run against Trump, but that he won’t necessarily support him either. It is difficult to read Romney’s column and not think that he won’t at least be part of any conversation about which Republican might be able to take on Trump for the Republican nomination.

One year ago, the Korean Peninsula had a rendezvous with history. After almost 12 months of threats of an impending doomsday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un surprised the world with a conciliatory message to South Korea on the occasion of the new year, 2018. One month and a half later, the sister of the supreme leader of North Korea travelled to South Korea as head of the North Korean national team taking part in the Winter Olympics.

What do you predict for the Middle East during the year that has just begun? What do you think will be the major currents that will govern this year and that will continue to flow into the next? Are there certain countries that offer the hope we seek? Often scholars seeking answers to questions of this sort have homed in on Iraq. The reason is that, despite all the upheavals, violence and bloodshed, that country managed to hold national elections twice and it now stands at a crossroads.