Features Headlines Libya

Libya : UN proposes “presidential council” with independent personalities

UN has presented a six-point proposal to end the stand-off between the two rival governments in Tripoli but it is yet to be accepted. The plan entails a “presidential council” with two deputies and “independent personalities not belonging to any party or affiliated with any group” to oversee the transitional period of the country during […]

Features Headlines Morocco

Morocco : Assassination of Public Figures among Terrorist Cell Plans

Just two days after it was officially set up, the Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation or BCIJ dismantled on March 22 a terrorist cell that was planning to assassinate military and political personalities as well as civil society activists on behalf of the Islamic State Group. The cell described by the Interior Ministry as […]

Features Headlines Tunisia

Tunisia: PM Essid fires officials after attack  

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid fired six police officers on Monday after last week attack on the Bardo Meseum that left 20 foreign visitors dead. The head of tourist security together with the Tunis district police chief, the traffic police commander, a Bardo museum security chief and a commander for the capital’s Sidi Bachir district […]

Business Emerging Markets Features

CFC Moves up Nine Places in GFCI Ratings

Casablanca Finance City has leapt up 9 places in the new ranking of the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) released on Monday in Busan, Korea. According to this new ranking, unveiled in the seventeenth Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 17) which rates 82 financial centers, Casablanca Finance City has moved up from the 51st rank […]

Features Headlines Libya

Western Powers Welcome Libya Talks in Morocco

Washington, Paris, London, Rome, Berlin and Madrid have hailed the resumption of the Libyan political dialogue in Morocco, expressing “strong support to the efforts of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, Bernardino Leon, and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya”. In a joint statement released this weekend, the six countries congratulated the […]

Features International

Israel: Netanyahu tries damage control, US to reconsider support  

White House has hinted that it could change its policy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after Netanyahu ruled out a two-state solution. Although Netanyahu has tried to soften his remarks after winning the elections, Washington said it has to “see what sort of policy and priorities the prime minister chooses” in his new government. On Thursday, […]

Features Headlines Morocco

Morocco: Abortion Regulating Text in the Pipeline

King Urges Stakeholders to Speed up Action After lengthy debates on the controversial issue of abortion or voluntary interruption of pregnancy, it became clear that it was necessary to amend the current Penal Code which allows abortion only in case pregnancy endangers the life of the mother. Discussions on illegal abortion and the need to […]

Features Headlines Tunisia

Tunisia: President calls for solidarity and vigilance after attack

Tunisia under its new government has suffered its first terrorist attack as armed men stormed on Wednesday the National Bardo Museum killing at least 22 people; most of them tourists. Security Forces managed to bring the situation under control after a three-hour hostage crisis. The attack has been condemned worldwide and analysts believe that it […]

Asia Features International

US Drone Downed by Syria or Suffered Malfunction?

Syrian authorities have said that their air forces have shot down what they described as “a hostile US surveillance aircraft in Latakia” province, the stronghold of Bachar al-Assad in north-west of Syria. The state-controlled Syrian news agency said “air defences brought down a hostile US surveillance plane in northern Latakia”, stressing that the hit aircraft […]

Algeria Features Headlines

Algeria wants global effort to end price fall

Algeria is trying to rally members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as well as non-members to work towards stopping the fall of oil prices. President Bouteflika has sent messages to more than 10 countries regarding the issue and Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi met with Angola’s Oil Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos […]