Year: 2017

HoR, HCS dialogue committees continue meetings in Tunisia

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The Joint Drafting Committees of the House of Representatives (HoR) and the High Council of State (HCS) held a second meeting on Wednesday at the headquarters of the United Nations Mission in Tunis. On its website, the UNSMIL stated that the two sides discussed the articles of the political agreement relating to the restructure and the powers of the Presidential Council and the Government of National Accord. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Libya, Ghassan Salame participated in the meeting. Libya Observer

Tunisia foils the departure of 555 migrants to Europe in September

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The Tunisian navy has arrested more than 550 Tunisian and African migrants trying to sail to Europe in September, nearly three times more than last month, official data showed. Human traffickers increasingly use Tunisia as a launch pad for migrants heading for Europe as Libya’s coast guard, aided by armed groups, has tightened controls. Tunisia’s navy stopped boats with migrants departing from beaches in the south and north of the country, arresting 555 people in September, the data showed. In August only 170 people had been caught trying to depart…

Five Chevening scholarships awarded to young Tunisian leaders

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The British Embassy in Tunisia announced the selection of five young Tunisians as this year’s Chevening scholars. The scholarships will allow them to pursue one-year postgraduate study in the UK from September 2017 in order to obtain a Master’s degree from a British university of their choice. Chevening scholars are distinguished by their leadership potential and their commitment to Tunisia’s development within their areas of expertise. Their study in the UK will provide them with the tools needed to make a difference in Tunisia once they return to their country.…

Haftar holds security talks with Italian officials

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Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar met Italy’s defense minister and security chiefs in Rome on Tuesday, bolstering his stature as a key player in international efforts to stabilize his troubled country. Forces under Haftar’s command provide backing for a Tobruk-based adminstration that controls much of the east and south of the oil and gas-rich country. Former colonial power Italy has hitherto been the strongest backer among Western allies for the UN-recognized Government of National Unity, which is based in Tripoli and sees Haftar as an arch foe. But that did…

Algeria to increase gas exports to Europe

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Algeria’s state-run energy company Sonatrach has announced that it will boost its annual gas export to Europe by 10 billion cubic meters. The announcement was made by Sonatrach’s chief executive, Abelmoumen Ould Kaddouras, during his visit to Medgaz gas pipeline, which is located in Algeria’s western coastal city area of Beni Saf. Kaddouras explained that the company’s current the production capacity amounts to 8 billion cubic meters, stressing that it can be increased by additional two billion cubic meters. “The Medgaz gas pipeline can produce 10 billion cubic meters of…

Rick Perry tells climate hecklers the oil industry is ‘saving lives’

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Energy Secretary Rick Perry scolded climate change activists at an oil conference on Monday by telling them that the oil industry saves lives. The two activists heckled Perry while he was delivering remarks in Washington, D.C., to the National Petroleum Council, including one who said, “people’s lives are on the line,” alluding to the impact of fossil fuels on the Earth’s temperature. Many scientists blame the burning of fossil fuels for heating the planet with potentially disastrous consequences.  But Perry said the oil industry is helping, not hurting. “This industry…

UN rights experts encourage Tunisia to follow up lifting of marriage ban with more action on equality

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Tunisia is being encouraged to do more to tackle discrimination by a group of UN experts* who have welcomed the abolition of a ban on Muslim women marrying men who are not of the same faith. “Tunisia has now taken a further step towards achieving its constitutional guarantee of equality between women and men,” said the experts in response to the lifting of the ban on 13 September. Civil servants have been forbidden by administrative circular dating back to 1973 from registering any marriage between a Tunisian woman and a…

Libya groups start talks in Tunisia to launch new UN plan

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The opposing sides of a conflict in Libya have begun a series of negotiations in neighboring Tunisia to officially launch a new plan by the United Nations to end the six-year-old turmoil in the country. Reports said the meeting, which got closed to the press, began on Tuesday in Tunis after a speech by UN envoy Ghassan Salame, who urged the two sides to set aside their differences and complete their work in a timely fashion. “All Libyans are fed up. They are going from transition to transition with no…

Nostalgia for the present in Tunis’s belle-époque downtown

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Dusty light filters through dirt-smeared windows in a hammam apparently frozen in time. Upstairs are the apartments of the family who owned it, redolent in faded, turn-of-the-century drapings. Carved, wooden, art nouveau doors open up onto rooms knee-deep in discarded items, some of them treasures: elaborately handwritten 19thcentury manuscripts containing instructions on how to cast spells; a vintage mid-20th century Peugeot car, one inquisitive headlight peeking from a half-open garage door; a canvas by a famous Tunisian painter well-appreciated in his time; and black-and-white portraits of immaculately-presented men and women topped…

The Raft goes deeper than refugee crisis headlines, actor says

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Despite three of its cast members being denied visas in early September, The Raft is on the bill of this year’s Impact theatre festival. The play tells the story of Arab and African refugees escaping North Africa on a raft, travelling across the Mediterranean toward Italy. Actors scheduled to perform at IMPACT 17 in Kitchener denied visas “People embarking on these boats, they’re just told one day before that they need to be prepared. So, it worked somehow in my imagination,” said Zied Touati of Montreal, who is filling in for one of…