First Independent Mena Newspaper
As Algeria braces for another controversial presidential elections scheduled for next month with incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika running for a fourth term, the country’s economic and social problems are building up with the drop in gas & oil output and revenues, heralding deep cracks in the country. According to Nourreddine Aït Laoussine, former CEO of […]
Tunisia and Russia are fostering their bilateral relationships with the visit of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the country. Discussions behind closed doors will be dominated by trade and commercial topics after trade between the two countries dropped during last year. Despite the immense attention that the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine has attracted, […]
Amid deep political turmoil, there is a mounting concern in Egypt as Ethiopia forges ahead with its plan to build the $4.8 billion Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile’s main tributary. The hydroelectric dam, to be Africa’s biggest, sounded the alarm bell for Egypt due to its possible impact on the flow of the river. […]
Over the past weekend, the Ukrainian government was ousted, Ukraine’s parliament reinstated the 2004 constitution and former President Victor Yanukovich is on the run in Russia. One might be forgiven to think of these developments in isolation. But it is in fact a reminder that reactionary regimes rarely deliver the sort of stability they are […]
Algeria could be on the verge of reviewing its gas export policy to Europe due to the rising domestic demand. Sonatrach, a state owned company, could be orienting more of its exportations to Asia rather than neighboring Europe where it faces “stiff price competition.” Algeria’s gas production has been on the decline thereby affecting the […]
As a result of Uganda’s latest discriminatory law against homosexuals, a number of EU countries have expressed their intention to cancel development aid for the country. Despite warnings of the international community, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, gave its ‘yes’ to an anti-gay bill that introduces an “aggravated homosexuality” offence, which is punishable by life imprisonment. […]
The Tunisian economy has finally begun to recover after having been postponed due to a protracted political crisis, which included both the formation of a new government and the completion of a new constitution. The governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, Chedly Ayari, said in his statements for media that the political reform made […]
The attack of last February 16 near the resort of Taba, claimed by Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, has heavily impacted Egyptian tourism as many Western countries have warned their citizens to avoid visiting Egyptian tourism sites, including in the Sinai and Taba. Meanwhile, Club Med has closed at least until the end of March […]
An Egyptian woman has been elected lately head of the Liberal Dostour party in a country where women still do not play a major political role in a patriarchal and Muslim-dominated society. She is called Mrs. Hala Shokrallah. She is a Christian and apparently she has broken the rules and become the Chief of her […]
More than 200 sub-Saharan migrants on Friday stormed the Spanish enclave Melilla, at a crossing point on the Spain-Morocco border. They scaled the triple 20-foot fence surrounding Spain’s North African enclave in another mass crossing of the heavily protected border, the Spanish government said. The migrants, many of whom were reportedly from Cameroon, Guinea and […]