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Morocco restoring military service

Morocco's government is moving to restore military service, with men and women between the ages of 19 and 25 expected to serve a year in the army, navy or air force. King Mohammed VI's ministerial council on Monday approved the draft law that is expected to comfortably win lawmakers' backing...

Italy threatens to send stranded migrants ‘back to Libya’

Italy's far-right interior minister threatened Sunday to send "back to Libya" nearly 180 people stranded for three days on an Italian coastguard ship if the EU did not step in to resolve another migrant row with Malta. The 177 people have been sat off the coast of the Italian island of...

Tunisia anti-litter activist takes up 300-km, 30-beach challenge

Bin bags at the ready, "long-distance activist" Mohamed Oussama Houij moves methodically along a beach in Tunisia's Mediterranean town of Nabeul, scooping up all kinds of trash as he goes along. The 27-year-old sanitary engineer set out in July to walk a 300-kilometre (185-mile) stretch...

Spain and Germany seek EU aid for Morocco over migrants

The leaders of Spain and Germany agreed Saturday to push for greater EU help for countries such as Morocco, a major point of departure for migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe. "Fourteen kilometres separate the coast of Spain - and therefore Europe - from those of North Africa...

Libya's sovereign wealth fund to move offices after abductions, threats

Libya's sovereign wealth fund has decided to move from its main office in Tripoli due to security breaches after a number of staff were threatened or abducted, it said in statement on Wednesday. The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), which holds about $66 billion-worth of mostly frozen...

UN says Libya recovered some 100 bodies of migrants in 2018

The United Nations refugee agency says Libya's coast guard has recovered some 100 bodies of Europe-bound migrants off its coast in 2018. A statement from UNHCR late Sunday also said that as of July 31, the Libyan coast guard had also intercepted or rescued 12,633 migrants near its...

Duterte says may deploy warship to save Filipino captives in Libya

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday he might send the navy's most modern frigate to waters off Libya in a bid to "save" three Filipinos and a South Korean kidnapped last month from a water plant in the north African country. South Korea has redirected a vessel taking part in...

Morocco's King Mohammad VI sacks economy minister

Morocco's King Mohammad VI has sacked the country's economy minister, his office said Wednesday, after the monarch demanded "urgent action" on social issues in the North African nation hit by unrest over unemployment and graft. The king decided to dismiss Mohammad Boussaid after...

Armed raid on Tunisian bank treated as terrorism-related: officia

An armed group robbed a Tunisian bank in the town of Kasserine near the Algerian border on Wednesday in an attack with a "terrorist background," a Tunisian security official said. Eleven men, some armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, had hijacked a car and four then stormed the bank and...

Migrants stranded without aid as Tunisia refuses to let ship dock

A Tunisian boat carrying around 40 African migrants has been stranded off the country's coast without aid for more than a week after authorities refused to let them disembark there, the Red Crescent said on Monday. Monji Slim, an official of the Tunisian Red Crescent, said the...

Migrant charity files manslaughter complaint against cargo ship, Libya

The charity Proactiva Open Arms has filed a complaint, including of involuntary manslaughter, with the Spanish police against a cargo ship for failing to help migrants adrift on a destroyed dinghy in the Mediterranean. The captain of the charity's rescue boat said on Saturday he also plans...

Libya: 156 undocumented migrants rescued in open waters

At least 156 undocumented migrants have been rescued off Libya's northwestern coast, the country’s navy said early Thursday. In a statement, naval forces affiliated with Libya’s UN-recognized unity government said the migrants were rescued 26 miles off the coast of the northwestern...

Libyan coast guard rescues some 160 Europe-bound migrants

Libya's coast guard says it has intercepted some 160 Europe-bound African migrants, including dozens of children and women, in the Mediterranean Sea near its shores. Spokesman Ayoub Gassim says a boat carrying 158 passengers including 34 women and nine children was stopped Monday off...

UN envoy warns 'handful' of powerful Libyans can block elections

A "handful" of powerful Libyans are ready to do "whatever they can" to block elections from taking place in the north African country, a UN envoy warned the Security Council Monday. The United Nations is hoping that presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in Libya later...

Eight migrants found dead in lorry container in western Libya

Eight migrants including six children were found dead Monday after suffocating from petrol fumes while packed into a lorry container on the west Libyan coast, authorities said. Another 90 migrants recovered from the container were in critical condition and had been taken to a local...

Food sent to migrants off Sicily as Italy awaits EU offers

Another day's worth of food and beverages was being sent Sunday to a pair of military ships off Sicily as Italy waited for more European nations to pledge to take a share of the hundreds of migrants on board before allowing the asylum-seekers to step off onto Italian soil. Germany agreed to...

UN official: Algerian migrant expulsions resume in desert

A U.N. migration official said Saturday Algeria's government has resumed expelling migrants into the Sahara Desert to die. The head of the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration in Niger, Giuseppe Loprete, tweeted that 391 migrants from 16 countries were abandoned at the...

Islamist-backed candidate becomes first woman mayor of Tunis

Islamist-backed candidate Souad Abderrahim defeated a city official who served under ousted despot Zine el Abidine Ben Ali on Tuesday to become the first woman mayor of the Tunisian capital. "I dedicate this victory to all Tunisian women," Abderrahim said. "My first task will be to...