Al Jazeera Correspondent

Sarah Mokhtar, an Egyptian journalist, is struggling to kick start her career but is running out of options and money. "Decent jobs are hard to find in other cities, except in Cairo. That's where I found a job and a place to stay with four women who are just like me. We're all working women, making our own way in life. But later, when all my team was laid off, I lost my job. That's when it got hard," Mokhtar says. But her online friendship with the woman known to her friends as the "Finance Minister of Facebook" presents Mokhtar with an opportunity to visit the ancient city of Luxor, in the heart of Upper Egypt. So begins a journey up the majestic Nile that is set to alter Sarah's perceptions of working, living and saving. Along her journey, Mokhtar meets Sayed Mohammad, a boatman yearning for the times when river cruisers would ferry numerous tourists down the Nile. Tourists still visit the area but not in the same numbers as before. "My job depends a lot on tourists but there just aren't any. We've really been harmed by this," Mohammad says. "I'm no longer able to meet my basic living costs." Mokhtar also meets a weaver, Zaynab Heider, operating in a field some members of her community see as a male domain. "Not just anyone can do this job. It's seen as man's work. My eyes are fixed on the loom even when people visit the workshop. I feel flattered when they admire the rugs and ask who made them," Heider says. Inspired by Heider's tenacity and infectious good humour, Mokhtar follows her to her weaving workshop where she explains her craft. "Each rug tells my story and represents my feelings. If I'm happy and laughing with my friend while I'm weaving then my rug design has happy colours like reds, greens, and yellows," Heider explains. Mokhtar meets another woman, who like Heider, entered a trade once expected to be male-dominated. Nosa Moawad, an automotive painter, was thriving in her work painting vehicles but now, due to a lack of demand, she struggles to raise enough money for her family. "My earnings have gone down. I worked hard to be where I am now. I saved money and started this business, then saved again and bought a house. But now there isn't enough work to make money and save," Moawad says. As Mokhtar travels along the Nile, she documents her encounters with a range of characters and hears their stories. And in doing so meets people who she would never have otherwise met. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Football moves masses and generates billions of dollars around the world. The United Nations is now using the popular sport as a new way of diplomacy. "Football for Peace", an initiative established in 2006 by FIFA and Chilean legend Elias Figueroa, wants to create a better understanding among people, communities, and governments. It was revamped six years ago by Kashif Siddiqi, a British footballer of Ugandan and Pakistani-Indian decent. Siddiqi wants to use his multi-ethnic background and experience to draw the world's attention to a cause dear to his heart: Kashmir - an issue that has pitted India against Pakistan for more than 70 years. "My personal mission is against extremism and terrorism ... For me it's advocating the power of football, Siddiqi says. "As much as I am a footballer playing on the pitch, outside of it I carry a message of peace. And if I can bring that to the youth of Kashmir that need it at such hard times ... I hope that me playing in Kashmir will send a really strong message to everyone." The 33-year-old footballer even decided to leave his team, Oxford United, and join Real Kashmir - carrying a message of peace to a region in conflict. "Many people have asked me over the past couple of weeks. They have said to me: Are you naive? Are you stupid? What are you doing? You know what my answer is: 'anyone who is trying to change the world, is a little bit stupid.'" Footballer Kashif Siddiqi talks to Al Jazeera about his upbringing, his career and the challenges he faced, Football for Peace and his decision to play for Real Kashmir. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Robert Kyagulanyi - a pop star-turned-politician who is known by the stage name Bobi Wine - is recognised as the new face of Uganda's opposition. But his rise to prominence has not been without its challenges. Bobi Wine's popularity is considered a threat to President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in office for more than 30 years. "I have never realistically experienced a Uganda with another president. And it is more than 80 percent of Ugandans that are in the same situation," Bobi Wine tells Al Jazeera. "That really gets us disturbed. We have been denied an opportunity to contribute to our country. We have been excluded as a new generation. And we desire to contribute to building our country, which we know we are going to live in." "Certainly, the people making decisions for us are not going to be there to either benefit or suffer from the decisions - which are evidently wrong - that they are making for us." The Ugandan government has arrested and prosecuted Bobi Wine several times, and the opposition figure has accused security forces of torturing him. But the 37-year-old is not holding back his ambitions. In fact, he is now directly challenging President Museveni in elections expected to be held in 2021. "We know that Museveni is planning to rig the election, he has done it in the past ... But we are banking on overwhelming him because a vote can easily be rigged if it's not overwhelming," says Bobi Wine. "And ultimately, if President Museveni tries to rig the election ... the people of Uganda will rise up and they will stop it ... They are tired of this operation and they are tired and they will not take it any longer." But Wine stresses that he does not believe in violence and that they are using and will continue to use "all legitimate and legal ways of defending our voice." "We are looking at breaking a dictatorship and having Uganda under civilian rule, which has never happened before." So, will his popularity be enough to get him elected? And what are his plans for the way forward? Bobi Wine talks to Al Jazeera. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Filmmaker: Nasser Farghaly Stories of Arab emigration often focus solely on refugees fleeing war and persecution. But this is only part of a much wider story. Over decades, millions of people from the Arab world have emigrated - some driven by conflict and persecution, others for economic and family reasons, settling in Europe, Australia, the Americas and Africa. Al Jazeera World with a series of films titled Arabs Abroad sources emigration success stories from all parts of the world. While each documentary is different, common to all is the effort involved with migration as well as the connection between the diaspora and their Arab roots. The Doctor Dr Pedro Tobias is a Lebanese gynaecologist turned politician in Brazil. Tobias moved from France to Brazil in 1979 to work as a doctor in Bauru, a city northwest of Sao Paulo whose most famous son is legendary footballer Pele. "I haven't yet mastered the language like its native speakers," Tobias says. In addition to being breast cancer specialist, Tobias entered Brazilian politics not, he says, for personal gain but to build a new hospital for his adopted community. "Being a doctor is my life. Anyone can become a politician but not everyone can operate on patients." Tobias has now built three hospitals and is a former regional president of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party. The film charts the choices he faces when supporting a candidate for Brazil's highest office, choices with the potential to alter his life profoundly. The Oilman Iraqi geologist Farouk al-Kasim became a pioneer of the Norwegian oil industry after he travelled from Iraq to Norway five decades ago. He was seeking specialist medical treatment for his baby son. "I ended up in Norway by chance. When my youngest son was born he needed medical treatment that wasn't available in Iraq. Doctors told me they couldn't treat him and I had to find another way," al-Kasim says. Back in 1968, there were very few foreigners in Norway and he struggled to settle. "Norway was like an island where people weren't used to seeing foreigners in their country." But that changed dramatically with the discovery of vast North Sea oil reserves. Al-Kasim advised the Norwegians on how best to develop their natural resources and 40 years on, they have achieved what many countries have failed to do, using oil to create jobs in a blue-chip industry without damaging the environment. The documentary reveals how a softly spoken Iraqi geologist became a pivotal player in an oil boom that has delivered a trillion-dollar windfall for the people of Norway. As a result, al-Kasim has a place in national history, honoured as a hero of Norway's economic success. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

In October 2019, Turkey launched a military operation in northeast Syria to drive the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) back from its border. Dubbed Operation Peace Spring, Turkey's push was also aimed at establishing a "safe zone" stretching at least 30km (19 miles) into Syria to resettle some of the 3.6 million refugees it currently hosts. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Turkish Minister of Defence Hulusi Akar discusses the operation in northeast Syria, Turkey's cooperation with Russia and Iran and Ankara's strained relations with the United States and NATO following the purchase of the S-400 air defence system from Moscow. The military operation in northeast Syria was condemned by the US, a NATO ally, and members of the international community, but for Ankara it was seen as necessary to ensure national security. The SDF is dominated by the People's Protection Units (YPG), labelled "terrorists" by Ankara because of its ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting the Turkish state for decades. "Our only wish, our only goal, our only effort is towards the security of our country. Who from? The YPG, the PKK, terrorists and Daesh (ISIL, or ISIS). Our goal is to establish the security of our borders and our people," Akar tells Al Jazeera. "This is not an invasion in any way. This is not an attack in any way. It is only an operation launched against terrorists and terrorism." Akar says if a peace corridor is established, it may enable people to voluntarily and safely return to their homes. "Yes, our president has been reiterating this issue for two or three years now," Akar says, referring to Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "He has been making calls on the US and Europe and he articulated many times that the creation of a safe zone is very important, vital for Syrians and that is the most reasonable, rational and humane way." Akar says that with the repatriation of Syrians, "it will be possible for them to start a new life, and this, in return, will significantly contribute to peace, stability and the normalisation of all conditions, I believe." Responding to criticism that civilians were targeted during the military push, Turkey's third in northern Syria, Akar says: "These claims about our operations targeting the civilians are against all facts. This is an unbelievable issue, because it's not the first time we conduct operations, not the first time we fight against terror." He adds: "What we are doing here ... is not arbitrary. We are not acting disrespectfully to any other party's territorial integrity. This is an activity we have been undertaking for the security of our country and to make sure peace is built for the whole region." Asked whether Turkey is still determined to activate the S-400 air defence system, the purchase of which has created a diplomatic crisis with the US and NATO, Akar says Ankara's position has been "very clear" from the onset. "Our president has shared the attitudes, actions and plans by the Republic of Turkey or what we have done or will do, with the rest of the world. "By the end of 1990s, we have started to scrutinise on-air missile systems to enable the air and missile defence of our county and nation, and have exerted efforts to have them procured and supplied. Yet due to various reasons, we have had a delay on these activities. In particular, when the Syrian crisis emerged in 2011, it became a must for us to own air defence missile systems. Following that, we continued with our efforts intensively. However, the talks we held with the US and in Europe and the activities for procurement unfortunately couldn't help make it happen." Akar adds: "Upon experiencing these all, it became apparently more clear that we were in need of a permanent air missile defence system. For this reason, we accelerated our supply-related activities and identified certain criteria. Within the framework of this criteria, we made contacts with Europe, the US and with Russia. The right response for these criteria came from the Russians. Therefore, that is how this started. It was a necessity." He says that the S-400 air defence system will be a "standalone system" that will not be integrated with other NATO systems. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

This is the story of fourteen cargo ships accidentally caught up in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and stuck in the Suez Canal while it remained closed for eight years. While their crews managed to maintain them, their decks became so covered in sand over time that they gradually merged with the landscape and were nicknamed "The Yellow Fleet". This film tells this unusual story through the eyes of the crews who manned the ships, on and off, for eight years. "I had an experience which I will never ever forget. I was 19 years old at the time. And it was quite a surprise to find myself right in the middle of a war, at the front seat, literally," Peter Richmond, who was on board the Agapenor in 1967, tells Al Jazeera. When the guns fell silent at the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Egypt closed the Suez Canal and while passenger ships were allowed to complete their journeys, cargo vessels were forced to remain, drop anchor and simply wait. Geopolitics and war brought together cargo vessels from the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Sweden, France, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and the United States into an accidental, international flotilla assembled in a wide section of the Suez Canal known as the Great Bitter Lake. The crews realised that their best option would be to create a spirit of international cooperation, in stark contrast to events in the wider world. So they established a club, the Great Bitter Lake Association, whose remit was to inject some much-needed humour into a difficult situation. The crews began to devise ingenious ways to make life on board less uncomfortable and established their own unofficial, mini-country, with its own traditions, sporting competitions, and even postage stamps. They developed a barter system between ships, trading cargos, meat for fruit and prawns for eggs. They even staged their own Olympic Games. "The idea came mainly from everyone, driven by our desire to do something. We heard about the Olympics so decided we'd do the same on our ships. We had games like weightlifting, high jump, sailing and football. There were prizes and medals for the winners. I kept a silver medal I received for a sailing competition," Uwe Carstens, former sailor on the Nordwind, says. In 1975, the Suez Canal was finally reopened but inertia had caused the engines to seize up and all but two ships had to be towed out of the waterway. Both German vessels started on first try, their turbines turning the propellers and setting them on course for Hamburg. In doing so, they set a record for the longest sea shipping voyage in history: Eight years, 3 months and 5 days. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

He's recognised by many as a symbol of left-wing movements in Latin America. Evo Morales became Bolivia's first indigenous president after his party, Movement for Socialism, won the 2005 election. During his amost 14 years in power Bolivia's economy grew at on of the highest rates in Latin America and poverty was almost halved. For the unity of Bolivia, I withdraw my candidacy. I only ask them to allow us to complete our mandate. Evo Morales, Bolivia's former president Taking advantage of his popularity, Morales decided not to complete his first five-year term and called for an early election in 2009. He easily secured a second victory. Then a new constitution limited presidents to two terms in office. Morales promised not to stand for re-election in 2014, but he successfully ran for a third term after a court ruled that his first election preceded the new constitution. The activist-turned-politician then planned for a fourth term in office, but Bolivians rejected his wish during a 2016 referendum - only to have a court rule against that referendum, saying the laws limiting the re-election of the president violated his political rights. Morales took part in the recent October elections. Results were immediately disputed because of accusations of multiple irregularities. People across Bolivia protested in the tens of thousands, and the crisis escalated when the Organization of American States (OAS) published a report saying the vote had forged signatures and that there had been data manipulation. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Morales insisted there was no fraud in the October election and denounced the report of OAS, accusing it of being politically motivated. "I realised that it (the preliminary report) was politically motivated. I instructed the FM to call the OAS secretary-general to suspend the report's publication because it wsa going to create chaos in the country and more people were going to be killed. And that's wat's happening now. The OAS is also part of the military coup. I told then that the preliminary report was goin to bring us more deaths and create more confrontation, but they published it anyways," Morales said. "I had a lot of trust, or some trust. But now, I don't have any in the OAS. They should be called the Organization of the states of North America, not America. Morales called for a new election, but it was too late. The military urged him to step down to restore peace and stability. Morales announced his departure on Twitter writing: "It hurts to leave the country for political reasons, but I will stay in touch ... Soon I will return with more strength and energy." Morales has been granted asylum in Mexico. But what is his plan moving forward? Will he remain in Mexico, or return to Bolivia? "One can't stay outside of his own country. I'm used to being alongside the people as a union leader, president, doing work," said Morales, who has accused his opponents of conspiring against his government. "I miss helping them. I'm looking for legal backing to return to Bolivia, and I am sure, we will be back... I am not afraid. I have the right to return to Bolivia and defend myself and the people of Bolivia ... We will be back and join the fight to strengthen our social forces." The former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, talks to Al Jazeera. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Catalonia is a region in the northeast of Spain that is partially autonomous, but in recent years, independence sentiments have risen among Catalans. Two years ago, Carles Puigdemont, the former leader of the regional government, challenged Madrid and called for a referendum. The unofficial referendum went ahead on October 1, 2017, and the conflict escalated. There was a violent police crackdown with batons and rubber bullets used against voters. But when the ballots were counted Puigdemont claimed an overwhelming victory for secession. Puigdemont announced Catalonia's independence from Spain on October 27, 2017, but the declaration was suspended just eight seconds later, and instead he invited Madrid for dialogue. The invitation was not accepted as Madrid considered the referendum illegal and the then-Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy invoked constitutional powers and fired Puigdemont and his Cabinet. The deposed Catalan president fled to Belgium. Members of his government were taken into custody, including Puigdemont's number two, Oriol Junqueras. He was sentenced to 13 years for sedition and misuse of public funds. In May 2018, Catalonia's parliament elected Quim Torra, a close ally of Puigdemont, as the new Catalan president. Torra has continued with the pro-independence agenda. The Spanish electoral authority demanded he take down all separatist symbols from the government's headquarters. He did so but only after a court deadline had expired. Torra is now expected to be tried for disobedience on November 18. While most of the pro-independence protests have been non-violent, there were scenes of violence following the sentencing of the nine Catalan leaders in October which enraged many people. Torra has been criticised for being slow in condemning violent pro-independence protests, but he says it's just an argument used by the opposition. "The violence is not compatible with the independence process of Catalonia. It doesn't represent us," Torra tells Al Jazeera. "The situation now is very complicated ... People are angry because of the sentence against our colleagues ... We have to come back to what is the essence of the conflict of Catalonia. We have to find a political solution for this political issue that the Catalans want to decide for themselves their own future." Torra says he is trying to talk to Spanish prime minister Sanchez every day to suggest serious negotiations about the future of Catalonia. "From the Catalan government side, we are going to put on the table what we think could be the solution to the conflict. That is an agreed referendum, internationally validated, in order to give to the Catalan people to say if they want to be independent or not." Torra says. "And we strongly encourage the government of Spain to put their solution on this table of negotiations. That way, negotiations can start ... What is Spain offering to Catalonia?" While pro-independence protests continue in the region of Catalonia, Spain held a general election last week. The political crisis in Catalonia was one of the focal points for all candidates. Pedro Sanchez's Socialists emerged the winner, but far-right Vox party also made substantial gains. "This is maybe the worst problem that Spain has now, the rise of fascism in Spain. When you see the results of the general elections ... you see how important Vox is in Spain, but how unimportant Vox is in Catalonia. So who has the problem with Vox? ... We will urge the political parties in Spain to find a solution for this very critical issue," says Torra. So, what does this all mean for Catalonia on the way forward? And what does the future hold in store for President Torra after his upcoming appearance in court? "The independence of Catalonia will come. It's something that nobody will stop ... We are going to exercise the right of self-determination again. But we have learned something from the previous year ... The idea is, let's be stronger, let's build this great consensus between all of us, and let's go then with this horizon of exercising our right of self-determination," Torra says. The president of the regional government of Catalonia, Quim Torra, talks to Al Jazeera. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Filmmakers: Nasser Farghaly and Hani Bishr Over decades, millions of people from the Arab world have emigrated - some driven by conflict and persecution, others for economic and family reasons. They have settled in Europe, Australia, the Americas and Africa. Many of these are students from the Arab world, who have sought opportunities in overseas universities, moves that often become stepping stones to new lives in faraway countries. Al Jazeera World meets people who have built successful lives away from their Arab homelands while remaining connected to their roots and giving back to their countries of origin. The Innovator and Tech Entrepreneur Bachir Halimi left Algeria in 1975 to study computing at the University of Montreal. At the time, computer science was an emerging science and Halimi later found success as an innovative and visionary tech innovator. Described by many as a serial entrepreneur, Halimi founded three Canadian companies that won recognition within their respective industries for their innovative technology. "I didn't know anything about this field of study except that it was new and had a future. I knew you had to be very good at mathematics to study in this field and I was not that bad," Halimi says. In 1980, he launched his first company, which combined his computer skills with his mastery of Arabic, developing an algorithm that allowed computers to work in Arabic. Five years later Microsoft bought his company for its Windows operating system. He started again, developing a new business that was later acquired by Bell Canada. Halimi currently heads his third company, Speech Mobility, a world leader in advanced telecommunications office solutions. While Halimi is now a prominent entrepreneur, he also serves as an adviser to the Canadian Red Cross and is also involved in helping North Africans integrate into Canadian society, mentoring a new generation of young entrepreneurs to develop their business and entrepreneurial skills. The Translator Muhammad Abdel Haleem became a star pupil while in his native Egypt. "I was born in a village in the Nile Delta, part of Al Sharqia Governorate. I learned the Quran by heart in the village's religious school which allowed me to join the Zagazig Religious Institute, one of the biggest institutes in Al-Azhar. There I attended primary and secondary school. Later I joined the faculty of science at Cairo University and was ranked first, so I was appointed as an assistant lecturer in the faculty," Abdel Haleem says. After his appointment at Cairo University, Abdel Haleem moved to study at the University of Cambridge. He has fond memories of his student days in Cambridge, though he struggled at times to adjust to English culture and customs. "Cambridge and this faculty changed my life on a personal level. Like any student here I had to ride a bike. As an Azhar graduate, I never rode a bicycle in Egypt. Socially, it wasn't appropriate, and I didn't have the money either," Abdel Haleem says. He later adds: "I remember a funny story when I bought a pen and told my landlord, 'that's for you', as the tradition goes in Egypt. The British man took it seriously and thought I had bought him a pen. He thanked me and the next day, he bought me a new green scarf. That was a funny incident showing the difference in our cultures." Half a century later, Muhammad Abdel Haleem remains in the United Kingdom. In 1971 he was offered a teaching post at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in the University of London, where he continues to lecture. While at SOAS, he created a new complete English translation of the Quran, a task which took him seven years. He describes the translation as "the biggest achievement" in his life. Abdel Haleem is a Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of London, and also editor of the Journal of Qur'anic Studies. He is also designated a Hafiz, a Muslim scholar, who has memorised the entire Quran and in 2008 he received the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to Arabic culture, literature and to interfaith understanding. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

On August 6, 1945, a US B-29 bomber dropped the first-ever atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. At least 140,000 people were killed in the attack and tens of thousands more died later because of the effects of radiation. Ever since the end of the World War II, there's been an international consensus and effort to contain the spread of nuclear weapons. The global community has created several organisations and signed treaties to prevent potential nuclear attacks. "I think today, we are now facing the same situation as if we were the day after the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, because today, still the most crucial political, moral and social challenge is how to stop nuclear explosion from happening on this planet again," the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Lassina Zerbo tells Al Jazeera. As of today, nine countries have admitted to possessing nuclear weapons. But only five - the US, Russia, the UK, France and China - are part of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which calls on its signatories to open their doors for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA is one of the organisations promoting the peaceful use of nuclear technology - while a 1996 treaty, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty banned all nuclear tests for civilian and military purposes. But there are 12 states which have neither signed nor ratified that treaty. Among them are three with nuclear weapons: North Korea, India, and Pakistan. With North Korea launching missiles and the growing conflict between India and Pakistan, can the world prevent a nuclear attack? "When I hear the word 'pushing the button', it frightens me. My biggest hope is that when we get close to any catastrophe, we come to our sense somehow," says Zerbo. "I think I see no way in this civilised world, no way in this 21st century any decent government or decent political leader thinking about pushing the button of the nuclear weapon because they know how devastating that could be. Because it's not a war that anyone can win. It's for all of us to lose." The Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization Lassina Zerbo talks to Al Jazeera about North Korea, the collapsing Iran nuclear deal, Saudi Arabia's nuclear programme, India-Pakistan tensions, a new nuclear arms race, and the global threat of nuclear war. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Filmmaker: Mariam Shahin As the crippling blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt continues, poverty levels continue to rise in the territory, a narrow strip of land along the eastern Mediterranean coast. Gaza is home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians, half of them under the age of 15. Unemployment stands at 52 percent, according to the World Bank. Gazans face poor water and sanitation conditions and overstretched hospitals, among other adversities, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. This film follows five strong-willed women who are doing their utmost to make a difference in Gaza in different walks of life - medicine, social work, photojournalism, music and local government. Despite the socio-economic conditions in Gaza, the five of them work to make life better for their families and communities. Filmmaker Mariam Shahin tells Al Jazeera: “Nour, Mona, Itimad, Haifa and Heba represent a new generation of Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip who have freed themselves psychologically of restrictions that society placed on them.” She says that they defy stereotypes of women in the Arab world and have carried out a “quiet revolution” by using their work and activities to follow their chosen paths. “They have also chosen to carry men with them rather than stand against them, in an effort to reform their society without causing major upheaval,” Shahin adds. Nour Halaby is a photographer who has documented the experiences of many Palestinians, including some of the women in this film. Itimad Al Tarshawi is a local politician used to work in the Ministry of Social Affairs but has now moved to the Ministry of Labour. Haifa Farajallah is a singer trying to make her way in the creative sector as well as being a young divorcee. Dr Mona Kiskin is a neurosurgeon at Al Shifa Hospital who is also a mother of three. Heba Mahmoud Abu Shalouf was badly injured in an Israeli attack but married, has two children and trained to be a trauma therapist. “Seven years ago, people looked down on injured and disabled people. People said that girls with injuries should just stay at home and do nothing. Now things have changed. Every home has someone injured or disabled. Children with disabilities weren’t allowed into regular schools. They were kept at home. This has now changed. Schools, organisations, and universities now admit disabled people,” Shalouf tells Al Jazeera. Four years after the original filming of The New Women of Gaza, filmmaker Mariam Shahin returned to see how these five women in Gaza were coping with the continued blockade. This film reflects the changes in their lives since and the work they have done to improve the lives of others in Gaza. “It is great to be able to enter the world of others with the camera and document their lives. It is even greater to be able to capture the changes that take place after the initial film is finished,” Shahin explains. “Returning to the women we documented in 2015 gave them a sense of comfort and the knowledge that we did not ‘steal’ their stories but continue to be interested in allowing their voices to be heard and their continued struggles not to be forgotten.” - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Filmmaker: Sherif Fathy Egyptians top the world at squash. No other country comes close to their recent global dominance and no other sport in Egypt matches the success of squash. The sport was introduced to Egypt by the British in the 1920s. Amr Bey was an Egyptian diplomat and squash player who won the British Open six times in the 1930s and is generally considered to be the first major, international squash player. Today, in 2019, seven of the top-ten ranked players are Egyptian, including the world number one. In the last two decades, six Egyptian men and two women have topped the world rankings. Their juniors have won 25 individual titles and Egypt has won 23 team titles across all categories. International stars Tarek Momen and Raneem El Welily say it is all about hard work from an early age. "I started playing squash when I was five. It was forced on me. It was the day when my parents came with this racket. I thought it was like a tennis racket but smaller. They said I'd start squash the next day. I was just a kid and knew nothing about squash," Momen tells Al Jazeera. He adds: "I wasn't sure why we played in a closed room and hit the ball at the wall. I trained against my will for almost two years." At the time of writing, Momen is ranked number three in the world. Egypt nurtures young squash talent and has pioneered international competitions for squash players as young as age nine. Former professionals turn to coaching and parents also help their kids succeed in a highly popular sport. "My parents saw that squash was a sport that Egypt could succeed in locally and abroad. The first time I went to the squash club wasn't to train but for my brother's trial lesson. My parents agreed with the coach for my brother to start. I used to watch my brother play after my swimming class. A year later the squash coach asked me to try," El Welily explains. Now she holds the number one world ranking for squash. One leading coach suggests Egyptian success is based on breaking the mould, meaning that their players are resourceful, creative, and "attacking". Ashraf Hanafi, who has more than 35 years of experience as a player and a coach, tells Al Jazeera: "People ask about the secret of Egyptians getting into the top 10 in the men's, women's and junior categories. The secret is a magical mix of many things." "They start playing at a very young age and produce strong results." But how long can Egyptians stay at the top of squash? High salaries abroad, especially in the United States, are luring some of their best coaching talent away and many believe this, as well as a lack of funding at home, are threats to Egypt's dominance. But Momen and El Welily have found more than just playing and financial reward success through squash. They became friends on the international circuit and got married in 2014, becoming the highest-profile married couple in Egyptian sport. The couple continues to appear in major tournaments around the world. "A year into marriage she [El Welily] beat Nicole David who was the defending world champion for nine consecutive years. Raneem has become the first Egyptian sportswoman to be world number one," Momen says. "That's a big achievement for us. It's made me happy." - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Filmmakers: Hani Bashir and Mohammad Amr Over the decades, millions of people from the Arab world have emigrated - some driven by conflict and persecution, others for economic and family reasons. They have settled in Europe, Australia, the Americas and Africa. But the stories most often told are those of refugees fleeing war and persecution, stories that can be incomplete. Al Jazeera World meets people who have built successful lives away from their Arab homelands while remaining connected to their roots and giving back to their countries of origin. The British-Palestinian campaigner Essam Mustafa Yousef came to the United Kingdom in the 1980s as a student and now, more than three decades later, he is still there, working as an activist and campaigner. Driven by a commitment to his native Palestine, he established an aid organisation with the primary goal of helping Palestinian communities. "I came to Britain primarily to study. I'd planned to stay for a couple of years but I ended up staying for 35," Yousef tells Al Jazeera. He explains that after he arrived in Britain, he began to raise funds for those in the Occupied Territories at the local mosque in Cricklewood, an area in northwest London. Eventually, he moved his relief work to an office nearby. Yousef is now the co-founder of the British charity the Palestine Relief and Development Fund, better known as Interpal. For over 25 years, it has provided humanitarian and development aid to Palestinians in need, focusing on relief to orphans, people with disabilities, the sick and the poor. In 2003, the US Treasury designated Interpal as a 'terrorist entity,' alleging it was using its charitable status to channel funds to Hamas, a charge that Interpal and its trustees vigorously denied. Nonetheless, it continues to operate as a registered charity in the UK. The Charity Commission, the official regulator of charities in Britain, has investigated Interpal several times and has found no reason to alter its charitable status. "We go through a long process to vet the aid organisations we work with and to ensure they operate within the law. Each centre supervises and ensures their allocated funds reach people in need in their areas. Since these centres know the situation [on the ground] very well they act on our behalf to deliver aid we send from Britain. They are the agencies on the ground while we are the fundraisers," Yousef says. The Syrian astronomer and stargazer living in Hawaii As a child in Syria, Dr Sahdia Habbal looked to the skies with curiosity and wonder. Today she is one of the world's leading astronomers. Habbal was born in Damascus and developed a love for physics at school. "Education was always important for my family," Habbal tells Al Jazeera. "I was 12 when I read a biography of Marie Curie, the pioneer of radioactivity. I was very impressed by her and wanted to be just like her." Habbal later won a coveted place in a scientific doctorate programme at the University of Cincinnati, the only woman in an all-male department. "I wasn't just a woman but also a Syrian woman. They were surprised to see a woman from that part of the world with scientific ambitions", Habbal says. After gaining a prestigious spot at a research centre in Boulder, Colorado, Habbal developed expertise in 'solar wind'. Before long, her work came to the attention of NASA. Her career eventually led her to the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy. Habbal is now an 'eclipse chaser', monitoring total solar eclipses in over 10 countries including India, Guadalupe, China and French Polynesia. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), says his organisation's budget has doubled in the past few years as it deals with the scale of conflict and displacement in the world today. The organisation's work is based on the Geneva Conventions, a set of international treaties signed in 1949 that defines the international legal standards for the humane treatment of civilians and prisoners of war during times of conflict. "It is all about preserving humanity in war," Maurer says. The Conventions allow the Red Cross to provide its services to those engaged in conflict, including ensuring humanitarian assistance for victims of war, responding to emergencies, and promoting respect for international humanitarian law. But with the scale of current global conflicts - and the increasing battle for influence - how does the ICRC make sure the Geneva Conventions are followed? "Nobody can discard the stark reality that the Geneva Conventions are violated by a lot of parties in today's conflicts," Maurer tells Al Jazeera, but he stops short of directly calling out any of the offending parties. Discussing violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen, he says it is "a glass-half-full, half-empty" situation. "While the pattern of implementation of the Geneva Conventions in a context like Yemen is of course a big challenge - and we see violations continuing - we also see big efforts from all the belligerents to engage with us and to improve." Other deeply entrenched or fragmented conflicts are a growing concern for the organisation, Maurer says. He calls this time "a difficult period" that reflects the "impossibility at the moment of big powers to move to consensus on how exactly to settle ... some of the biggest conflicts in the world". This includes Syria, which is the ICRC's largest ongoing operation. The conflict continues despite diplomatic efforts, which Maurer agrees has involved a discrepancy between words and actions of the countries involved. "For eight years we have heard political leaders talking about the fact that there is no military solution while pursuing on-the-ground military solutions," he says, later adding: "We have even more been distressed by the repetitive violations of international humanitarian law in the conduct of hostilities, in use of weapons, in the treatment of detainees." "I think we can only hope that in a foreseeable future we find at least ceasefire-type arrangements which give reprieve to the civilian population which has so much suffered in that Syrian context," he says. Outside of the Middle East, Maurer says large-scale violence is also afflicting people in Africa's Sahel and Lake Chad basin regions - but with far less international attention. "When you visit the region it pops to your eyes that there is long-standing developmental reasons which contribute to the fragility of this context. There is climate change-induced migration and population displacements which comes on top of a very war-torn and violent situation," he says. "The Europeans only look through the eyes of migrants coming to them, and maybe insufficiently look at the complexity of the origin of fragility and population displacements in the Sahel and the Lake Chad." He says climate change will continue to drive instability. "When you look at the list of countries most at risk from climate change, and you look at my priority list of conflict, war, and violence, these almost match. Eight out of 10 places in the world which are top priorities to ICRC to respond to war [are] at the same time the most fragile in terms of climate change. So there is obviously a link between climate change-induced fragility and violence-induced fragility." - - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

From 1948 to 1967, residents of Egyptian Sinai and neighbouring Gaza considered the area as a single territory. But in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel captured Sinai and the Gaza Strip. Twelve years later, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty which returned control of Sinai to Egypt; but the Israeli occupation of Gaza continued. In 1982, a wall was built to separate the two territories - a wall which still stands today. "They started building the wall at midday," says Alaa Attiya Issa, recalling that day in April 1982. "I was at my uncle's house on the Palestinian side of Rafah. At 11:15am my uncle said 'They'll close the border at midday. You'd better go home now so you don't get stuck'. I said goodbye and cried." "We hadn't expected that to happen," he says. "A wall was built and the Palestinian side of Rafah was separated from the Egyptian side. Those on the Sinai side stayed there, and those on the Palestinian side stayed there. It happened just like that." Issa, a former footballer, once played for Rafah FC in Sinai. But because of the wall, he decided to move back to Palestine, settle in Gaza and give up football. From the start, the wall divided families, split communities and carved some towns in two. Routines were disrupted, trading relationships undermined, health and education affected - whole ways of life turned upside-down. The life of Samya al-Agha, an Egyptian, was affected by the wall soon after her marriage to a Palestinian from Gaza. The border wall went up just 20 days after they were wed, separating her new home from her Sinai family in Arish. "One half of the family lives in Egyptian Rafah and the other half in Palestine," she says. "My father used to work in Palestine. He used to move freely between the two countries ... He used to come here to farm. It was all one piece of land. He even used to go to Friday noon prayer in Gaza. He and my grandfather used to ride a camel to the Grand Mosque in Khan Younis. They didn't even realise these were two different countries. They thought it was all one." Bedouin tribes living between the territories also saw their lives change overnight. "After the wall was built, our al-Tarabin tribe was divided into two parts," says Najeh al-Hamidi, a Bedouin born in Gaza but now living in Sinai. "People call them Palestine's al-Tarabin and Sinai's al-Tarabin though we're one tribe and one family going back to the same great-grandfather." "The problem is not the people," he says. "The problem lies with international law. It doesn't take humanity into consideration." Although the region’s peaceful social coexistence ended in 1982, older residents on both sides of the wall hold on to their memories of life as it was before they were separated. In spite of the metal and concrete barrier and the harsh political reality it represents, they remain firm in their belief in the unity of the spirit of those on either side. "I'm now standing here, only 10 metres away from the Sinai side of Rafah but I can't go there," says Issa, looking beyond the wall. "This is not just an occupation. It's a responsibility. We're supposed to be one people and one country." - - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/