North Africa

The Tunisian media regulator has shut down Nesma TV and religious station Quran radio for failing to provide a full broadcasting licence. The two stations are known to be critical of President Kais Saied after his decision to suspend parliament in July. Nesma TV is owned by former presidential candidate …

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has announced that the state of emergency which has been in force since April 2017 in the country is now lifted. In a Facebook post, President Sisi announced that he would not be extending the state of emergency because Egypt had become “an oasis of …

The Egyptian activist Mozn Hassan who had been accused of receiving foreign funding to harm national security says the authorities have closed the case against her, after more than five years of an asset freeze and travel ban. A judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to press charges against …

Libyan oil minister Mohamed Aoun sacked Mustafa Sanallah, chairman of the national oil company NOC, and appointed a new acting director. The board of directors of the company will meet to elect a new chairman, a decree from the ministry said. Recall that in September, Mr Aoun had suspended Mr …

Egyptian Council of State has announced that 98 women had been appointed judges in one of the country’s main judicial bodies, for the first time. The judges were sworn in before the council’s chief judge in an event in the capital Cairo on Tuesday. Their appointment comes months after President …

The European Union has urged the Tunisian President Kaïs Saied to restore democratic order in the country and reopen parliament. During a parliamentary session, European Union’s foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell told EU lawmakers that the Tunisian parliament “cannot stay closed indefinitely”. “It is crucial for the future of the …

Government in Egypt has announced that it will bar unvaccinated public service workers from entering its buildings from mid next month. A cabinet notice on Sunday said workers would have to be vaccinated or take a weekly Covid test to be allowed into government buildings from 15 November. Egypt has …

The former provisional president of the Republic of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki reacted on Thursday evening to the withdrawal of his diplomatic passport, decided the same day by Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed. “I am not at all surprised by the measures announced by the coup regime against me,” said Marzouki, in …

A big fire has swept through the main square of a landmark concert hall and conference centre in Egypt where the country’s top film festival is due to open on Thursday. A plume of black smoke rose from where the opening and closing ceremonies of El Gouna film festival are …

The Francophonie summit, scheduled for November on the Tunisian coastal island of Djerba, was officially postponed for a year on Wednesday, October 13. At a meeting of the Permanent Council of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) the day before, the representatives of the 88 member and associate states …