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Algeria News

  • Marrakech Biennale – The convergence point of art in Africa

    CASABLANCA, 2016/03/20 The event, first held in 2005, has this year drawn artists from the Arab world, the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Algeria Year in Review 2015

    ALGIERS, 2016/02/11 While the drop in oil prices has put pressure on Algeria’s export revenues, the impact has been cushioned by large foreign currency reserves and steady increase in non-oil sectors. Low oil and gas prices weighed on the Algerian economy in 2015, with hydrocarbons revenues falling by 50% to an estimated $34bn In spite of external headwinds, Algeria’s economy was expected to expand by around 3% in 2015, according to the IMF. While down from the 3.8% increase recorded in 2014, this tracks with broader prospects for world increase, which stood at 3.1%, and ranks well above the MENA average of 2.3%.
  • Algeria: Parliamentarians to Vote On Draft Revised Constitution

    ALGIERS, 2016/02/09 The draft constitutional revision, initiated by President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, will be submitted Sunday to a vote by the two Parliament Houses, to sit in appropriate session at the Palais des Nations in Algiers. The parliament will have to vote on the draft Constitution in its entirety, which contains 74 amendments and 38 new articles. The voting plenary session will be chaired by Abdelkader Bensalah, Chairman of the Council of the Country, in his capacity as President of Parliament, in accordance with the law establishing the organization and functioning of both Houses of Parliament.
  • Africa,Protect Refugees With Mobile Banking

    BOTSWANA, 2016/02/08 "Mean spirited", "inhumane" and desecrating the spirit of the Refugee Convention are some of the milder criticisms levelled at Denmark's harsh new asylum laws, passed last week. Part new measures is a decision to strip new arrivals of any cash and valuables worth additional than 10,000 kroner (US$1,450), purportedly to pay for their upkeep. Switzerland and some southern German states have introduced similar policies. It's a move that reflects the fragmenting world of European migration policy, lacking in solidarity, empathy and basic human decency. But what of the financial implications for asylum seekers?
  • African Union merges science and education bodies

    BOTSWANA, 2016/01/13 The Africa Union has merged its science and education bodies in a move designed to improve sectoral relationships, effectiveness and efficiency. The African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology and the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union will presently operate as one entity. “The decision of the heads of states was as well motivated by the need to streamline ministerial conferences, limit their number and confer the power to convene them to the African Union Commission and save costs,” Dr Mahama Ouedraogo, the African Union’s chief of human resources, science and technology, told University World News.
  • Euro-Mediterranean virtual energy university endorsed

    EGYPT, 2016/01/12 Five North African nations – Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia – along with 38 European and Mediterranean states stand to benefit from a new initiative to set up an ‘energy university’ that will provide free, specialised education for energy professionals via an online platform. Senior officials of the 43 member states of the Union for the Mediterranean, or UfM, endorsed the new university during a conference in Barcelona, Spain, that was held next a high-level UfM conference entitled “Towards a Common Development Schedule for the Mediterranean” on 26 November.
  • Algerian-African Economic Meeting in 2016

    ALGIERS, 2016/01/11 Partnerships between Algerian economic operators and their counterparts from forty African nations will be the focus of a conference the Business Leaders Forum (FCE) intends to hold in October 2016, a representative of the organization announced Wednesday. "Algeria has excellent diplomatic and political relations with African nations, but in economy, these relationships have not capitalized. The conference under the FCE will include dozens of business leaders in these nations with their counterparts Algeria to boost our economic relations and launch significant partnerships," President of the International Relations Committee in the FCE told APS.
  • New York Times asks Who Runs Algeria?

    ALGERIA, 2016/01/05 Finally, the International media has begun to pay attention to the volatile political and security situation in Algeria. In its December 23 edition, the influential American daily the New York Times published an article “doubting that the ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika” is running his country. As French news outlets keep avoiding this subject, it is presently up to the Moroccan and American media to highlight the dangers of a potential collapse of the Algerian national on oil prices, war on terrorism and stability in North Africa, Southern Europe and the Sahel. Citing the jailing of three generals, inclunding General Hassan, the deputy chief of the intelligence service responsible for counterterrorism, and the dismissal of several dozen officers since the summer, the New York Times states that “the power struggle within the closed circle that has ruled Algeria for decades has spilled into the open in recent weeks, with accusations of a soft coup, as questions intensify about the health of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.”
  • Global growth will be disappointing in 2016: IMF's Lagarde

    AFGHANISTAN, 2016/01/02 World economic increase will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has as well deteriorated, the chief of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide. Added to that, increase in world trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material prices is posing problems for economies based on these, while the financial sector in a lot of nations still has weaknesses and financial risks are rising in emerging markets, she said.
  • Crowds flood Algerian independence hero's burial

    ALGIERS, 2016/01/02 Tens of thousands gathered in an Algerian village Friday for the burial of Hocine Ait-Ahmed, one of the fathers of the country's struggle for independence and a key opposition figure. Ait-Ahmed died last week in Switzerland aged 89. His remains arrived Thursday in Algiers for a national funeral before being transferred to his home village, which bears his name. Ait-Ahmed was the last of the nine so-called "sons of Toussaint" who launched an uprising against French policy on November 1, 1954.