First Independent Mena Newspaper
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 […]
Houcine Rahmouni, Deputy General Manager of the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade has highlighted the significance of Libya becoming a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The call was made at the ongoing Economic Diversification conference being held in Tripoli. He said the government needs to join the organization to turn the “inexistent” […]
Because of the mounting security situation in the region of Sahel, closer cooperation and integration in Maghreb is needed. According to the final concluding remarks of the 11th Morocco-EU Association Council, the EU28 stressed the salience of tight cooperation between the MENA and Sahel-Sahara region. The effort of closer collaboration between Sahel and Maghreb was […]
Prime Minister Zeidan has stated that Libyans “now believe that militias are dangerous” and should be disarmed. The government has been faced with the uphill task of asserting its authority in a weapon infested country. Zeidan said that the “revolution ended with the end of Ghadafi” and there is need to establish a state now. […]
Tunisia’s new Prime Minister expected to lead the country to new elections has made his first comments since his designation. Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa affirmed that he has already started consultations to form a new government which will be free of politicians belonging to political parties. Dialogue between political parties took more than a month […]