First Independent Mena Newspaper
Malta played host this weekend to the Five-plus-Five summit, gathering five Maghreb and five European countries whose heads of state or government came together to discuss ways to foster inter-Mediterranean ties. The Five-plus-Five forum, which brings together leaders from Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, the five countries forming the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) along […]
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched an appeal to aid donors to raise $ 800,000 to enable the intergovernmental organization provide reintegration support to up to 1,000 stranded Sub-Saharan African migrants who want voluntarily to return to their home on flights provided by the Moroccan government. The IOM assistance will be provided to […]
The terrorist threat posed by Al-Qaeda’s branch in North Africa was at the center of secret meetings held lately by the White House, says the Washington Post, noting the U.S. administration has started seriously considering the possibility of launching a strike against that extremist Jihadist group. The secret meetings looked into ways of helping regional […]
There was no breakthrough in the East China Sea island dispute between China and Japan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Foreign ministers Koichiro Gemba and Yang Jiechi were reported to have had a “severe” exchange. This is bad news for business in the region as the row with China […]
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has asked UN to grant Palestinians the status of “non-member observer state”, stressing that a “Palestinian state must be realized” One year after his bid for full membership of the United Nations failed because of a lack of support in the Security Council, Mr. Abbas returned to the UN General Assembly. […]
The uprising in Syria has led the European Union (EU) to employ an instrument it rarely uses in the Mediterranean: sanctions. Since May 2011, the EU has deployed its sanctions toolbox in support of the anti-regime uprising in Syria. The objective of the EU is to increase pressure on the Assad regime to end repression, […]
The summer has been hot in Hong Kong this year, and not only because temperature reached 32 degrees amid intense humidity. 100 000 people, mainly Hong Kong students, have been taking to the streets, and demonstrating in front of the government headquarters to oppose a new education curriculum, called the “moral and national education”. […]
France, fearing a backlash after a French satirical magazine published provocative cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, has decided to temporarily close on Friday its diplomatic missions, cultural centers and schools in 20 Islamic countries and asked the authorities of these countries to tighten security measures around these compounds. In some countries, French schools were shut […]
Brazilian universities are required as of this academic year to devote an increased percentage of their admission capacity to poor students enrolled in public schools and to increase the number of university students of African descent. This new policy of “affirmative action” or “positive discrimination” as it is sometimes called is stipulated in a new […]
The number of people on the dole in Spain will near 6 million in 2013, i.e. more than a quarter of the workforce in the country. The gloomy unemployment figures were disclosed this week by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) which underlined that the labor reform adopted by the government will not curb […]