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Washington Cancels Military Drills amidst Mounting Criticism of U.S. Stand on Egypt

While more and more voices, including those of Congressmen and editorialists, are criticizing the Obama Administration’s stand on the crisis in Egypt and denouncing as incoherent its foreign policy, President Barack Obama announced that the United States is cancelling its biennial joint military exercise with Egypt, initially scheduled for September. “While we want to sustain […]

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Mali, Anti-terrorism Struggle Top Agenda of 5+5 Dialogue Meeting

The situation in Mali, the fight against terrorism and the strengthening of trans-border security are on top of the agenda of the 5+5 Dialogue meeting convening in Nouakchott Tuesday. The Foreign Ministers of the countries forming this informal sub-regional body that brings together 5 Western Mediterranean countries (France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain) and their North […]

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EU extends further assistance to Palestinian people, refugees

The EU adopted on Wednesday the second part of its 2013 assistance package for Palestine worth €148 million. The funding from the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument is meant to ensure continuation of critical support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) […]

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The Drone Wars – A National Debate Long Overdue

The White House was caught off guard when the thirteen hour filibuster of Senator Rand Paul sparked a national conversation about the use of drones and the United States’ warfare in the larger Middle East. The filibuster was staged against the confirmation of John Brennan as the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), […]

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Toddler with HIV Cured, Hope in Fight against AIDS Rises

A two-year-old baby born with the HIV, in Mississippi State, appears to have been cured by US doctors, raising hope worldwide in the fight against the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS. This scientific breakthrough has been unveiled at the conference held lately in Atlanta to look into “Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections”. The infant is said […]

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Korea-EU FTA One Year On: Lessons for North Africa

The free trade agreement between Korea and EU came into force on 1 July 2011. Under the FTA, the EU agreed to eliminate or phase out tariffs on 96% of goods, and Korea for 99% of goods, within three years. Within five years, 98.7% of imports would be tariff-free. Beside tariff reduction, the FTA facilitates […]

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Libya & Tunisia Reopen Border Post of Ras Jdir

Libya and Tunisia have reopened lately their crossing border post of Ras Jdir which was closed over security concerns and infiltrations of armed groups that threatened the security in the two North African countries that have changed their despotic ruling regimes. The decision was made by Libyan Prime Minister Dr Ali Zidan and his Tunisian […]

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EU Wants Maghreb to Move forward in its Integration

The European Union is pushing the five countries of the Maghreb (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco & Tunisia ) to enhance their cooperation and foster their integration because the two regional blocs and shores of the Mediterranean share common interests. To reach that goal, the EU High Representative and the European Commission issued a Joint document […]

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Marrakech: Opposition Coalition Recognized as legitimate representative of Syrians

The fourth ministerial meeting of the international “Friends of Syria” group meeting in Marrakech on December 12 has recognized the newly formed Syrian opposition coalition as “the legitimate representative of the Syrian people”. The recognition is announced in the declaration endorsed Wednesday by the over 100 delegations that attended the meeting, including from the US, […]