North Africa

A British man from Bournemouth has been jailed for 10 years in Morocco for possessing and distributing counterfeit money while on holiday in Marrakech with his friend. The 29-year-old and his friend went to a nightclub on the last night of their holiday and were arrested by the Moroccan police …

The opposition Ennahda party in Tunisia said its headquarters were raided by police hours after its leader, Rached Ghannouchi, was arrested. Mr Ghannouchi is the latest critic of the authoritarian Tunisian president, Kais Saied, to be detained. There’s been no news from him since his arrest in Tunis on Monday. …

Twenty-seven migrants from sub-Saharan Africa died or were missing after two shipwrecks on Friday and Saturday off the coast of Tunisia, a spokesman for the court in Sfax, in the center-east of the country, told AFP. These are at least the sixth and seventh shipwrecks since the beginning of March, …

Tunisian President Kais Saied has appeared in a video posted on his official Facebook page, dismissing “mad” reports over his health following almost two weeks with no public engagements. The North African country’s main opposition coalition had pressed the government earlier to explain Saied’s public “absence”, saying it had information …

More than 2,000 mummified rams’ heads dating from the Ptolemaic era have been discovered in the Temple of Ramses II in the ancient city of Abydos in southern Egypt, authorities said on Sunday. Mummies of sheep, dogs, goats, cows, gazelles and mongooses were also exhumed by a team of American …

European Union is concerned about the deterioration of political and economic situation in Tunisia and fears a collapse of the country, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell declared on Monday. “The situation in Tunisia is very dangerous,” he warned after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. The …

Tunisia’s new parliament sat for the first time on Monday but the opposition coalition said it would not recognize its legitimacy after an election with a turnout of just 11%. President Kais Saied shut down the previous elected parliament in July 2021, ruling by decree in a move that opposition …

At least two people died and 16 others were injured in a train crash in the town of Qalioub, north of Cairo, on Tuesday, the Egyptian health ministry said. Initially, the ministry reported in a press release “one death and 16 injured”, six of whom have already been treated. It …

A smiling two-dimpled limestone sphinx has been discovered in Egypt, in a Byzantine pool inside a two-tiered tomb, local media reported, citing the Egyptian ministry of tourism and antiquities. “The sphinx was discovered alongside a Roman stele engraved in demotic and hieroglyphics,” the ministry said Monday. The stele still needs …

The mission of Morocco’s ambassador to France ended without a successor being appointed, in a climate of diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Paris, local media reported on Friday. “In accordance with the High Royal Instructions, it has been decided to terminate the functions of Mr. Mohamed Benchaâboun as Ambassador of …