First Independent Mena Newspaper
In order to deal with the envisaged decline in state revenues, Tunisia is planning to introduce tax hikes and subsidy cuts in the budget for 2014. Not surprisingly, this unpopular call has already triggered a wave of controversy, while economists agree that all in all the entire draft of the 2014 budget is inevitably facing […]
New protests in the Libyan capital are calling for the departure of Prime Minster Ali Zeidan. The protesters blocked the entry to several ministries and other important state institutions in a bid to pressure the Prime Minster into tendering his resignation. The office of the Prime Minister, the oil, finance, transport, foreign and justice ministries […]
A day after declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, Egypt has embarked on the arrest and detention of supporters belonging or supporting the group on the basis of suspicion of being linked to a terrorist organization. Security in the capital has been increased after a second bomb attack in this week. General Al-Sisi said […]
Threats of terrorists’ attacks on New Year’s Eve are being issued by the Interior Ministry but it seems as if Tunisians are busy preparing for festivities. The end of year is usually marked with celebrations all over the world and it is also seen by businesses as an opportune moment to offer promotional packages. Minister […]
Former Algerian billionaire tycoon, Rafik Khalifa, has been extradited to his homeland after living in Britain for more than a decade. Once considered the “golden boy” of Algeria, the 47-year-old Khalifa rose from obscurity to build an empire including a bank, an airline and television stations, at one point employing an estimated 20,000 people in […]
Morocco’s opposition blocked the passage of the draft of the Finance Law in the Parliament, which caused a major upheaval. According to the leader of the Parliament’s Istiqlal Party, Mohamed Ansari, the finance act did not deliver a clear economic and social policy. For instance, the number of jobs that should be created by the […]
The spokesman of the 21 political parties engaged in talks, Mohamed Mahfoudh, has announced that the 14th of January 2014 will be the deadline for the adoption of a new constitution. Tunisia has been meddled in political crisis since the departure of Ben Ali. Elections returned the country to relative calm but tensions reached new […]
Libya and Egypt have been hit with unprecedented deadly attacks over the last three days. First, seven people were killed at a security checkpoint near Benghazi in the first known suicide bomb attack in Libya since the fall of Colonel Gaddafi. Then on Tuesday (24 December) a car bomb attack at a security building in […]
The ruling UPR party has emerged victorious in the second round of the legislative elections after winning more than 50% of the parliamentary seats. The elections have been criticized in several quarters and some opposition political parties preferred to boycott it. Tawassoul, a party participating for the first time, won majority of the seats among […]
Tunisia has recently commemorated the deportation of 5,000 Jews from the country during the Second World War between 1942 and 1943 – an act that astonished many Tunisians. According to the general societal feeling though, the commemoration of the Holocaust – among Jews known as “shoah” – is an interesting step that comes at a […]