Day: February 19, 2017

Merkel’s visit to Algeria aims at strengthening economic cooperation

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s official visit on Monday to Algiers constitutes an opportunity to assess the Algerian-German economic relations and to reinforce the partnership avenues for a strong relation economically. This second visit of Merkel following that paid in 2008 will be notably marked by the holding of the 6th session of the Algerian-German Joint Committee and the Business Forum between the two countries’ operators. It also follows the visit Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal has paid to Berlin in January 2016, during which the two parties had identified about thirty…

A 27-Year-Old Just Became The First Woman To Visit Every Country On Earth

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I travel the world, reporting on inspiring people and places. In July 2015, Cassie De Pecol flew to the sovereign nation of Palau. But this wasn’t just any vacation. The 27-year-old from Connecticut was embarking on the journey of a lifetime: to be the fastest person and first documented woman to travel to every single one of the world’s 196 sovereign nations and break a Guinness World Record. In February 2017, this brave adventurer achieved her goal, making the voyage in 18 months and 26 days. She broke the previous record and also became the first woman to visit every country on earth.…

Libya crisis: Tunisian, Algerian and Egyptian FMs meet in Tunis

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Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui met with his Algerian and Egyptian counterparts, Messrs. Abdelkader Messahel and Sameh Shoukry, respectively, on Sunday in Tunis. The meeting is part of following up the initiative of President Beji Caïd Essebsi to reach a comprehensive political resolution of the crisis in Libya. Speaking to reporters after the one-hour meeting, Jhinaoui merely indicated that he would inform the Head of State of the outcome of the meeting before disclosing its results. Libya’s neighbouring countries are having a marathon of meetings to overcome the crisis that has…

First signs of revival in number of European visitors to Tunisia, especially French and Britons (January 2017)

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Some 231,336 tourist entries were recorded in January 2017, up 10.5% compared to the same month in 2016, as the early signs of a recovery in the number of European tourists to Tunisia, in particular French and Britons emerge, according to the latest statistics of the Tunisian National Tourist Office (ONTT). The configuration of the tourist market remains unchanged, with 58.4% of tourists arriving during the month of January 2017 being Maghreb, numbering 182,514 people (+ 7.9% compared with 2016). Algerians accounted for 97.778 entries, followed by Libyans with 80,696…

Tunisian orphans are living in ‘tragic’ conditions in Libya’s jails

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Human rights campaigns have called on authorities to rescue 13 Tunisian children who have been living in terrible conditions in Libyan prisons after their parents were killed fighting amongst terrorist groups in the country. In a statement to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, the President of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, Mustafa Abdul Kabir, said: “There are 13 children aged between two and eight years old living with their mothers in tragic situations in Libyan prisons, after their fathers died fighting with Takfiri groups who have been eliminated during the American strikes in the cities of Sabratha…

Visiting Tunisia and Sardinia on a Mediterranean cruise

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This is the second part of Janet Landfried’s series on a winter cruise in the southern Mediterranean aboard the Viking Sea. The Viking Sea was one of the first cruise ships to return to Tunis since the massacre of 22 tourists at the Bardo Museum in March 2015. A few months later there was another attack on a beach near the city that resulted in 38 deaths. Both were the result of terrorists in Tunisia, a Muslim country, and the attacks specifically targeted tourists. The Bardo Museum is one of…