Category: opinion

Algeria has moved from a category three to a category two in human trafficking according to a report by the US State Department on trafficking in human beings. This improvement on ranking comes with an observation list and brings Algeria back to the same position it occupied in 2010 amongst the 188 countries surveyed. According to the report, which was unveiled yesterday in Washington by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Tunisia, Morocco and Afghanistan have ranked better than Algeria which is grouped with Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The US…

The international economic order does not look kindly on hints of self-sufficiency or agricultural independence. Just ask Tunisian farmers. The man confessed that he had often questioned his decision to abandon his village near the Tunisian-Algerian border to seek work in Italy, where – contrary to popular belief, he declared – there was little proper food to be found. In his village, he said, his family grew everything they needed. He launched into an enthusiastic run-down of the bread-making process. Unfortunately for my little-while friend and other global inhabitants, however,…

New survey reveals that the Euro-Med region, including a vast majority of Italians, does not believe in the myth of clash of civilisation. The results of a new survey on Intercultural Trends in the Euro-Mediterranean region, carried out by Ipsos-Mori in 13 countries, were presented on Friday by the Anna Lindh Foundation at the Italian Parliament in Rome. Involving more more than 13,000 people across 13 Euro-Mediterranean countries – Austria, Croatia, Finland, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and The Netherlands) and five Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEM) countries (Algeria, Israel, Jordan,…

Seychelles has been ranked 2nd in Africa and 14th worldwide on a list of the world’s most expensive cities for expatriate workers to live in, a 2017 survey revealed. Angola, the capital of Luanda, was ranked 1st in Africa followed by Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, according to the survey. N’Djamena in Chad ranked 3rd, while Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo ranked 4th. The annual cost of living survey conducted by Mercer, the world’s largest human resources consultancy firm, found that African,…

Tunisia’s political reforms since the Arab Spring, though incomplete, have created consensus among the governing elite that trying to reform the current system is a better approach than trying to challenge it. As Tunisia’s government has moved on to implementing policy changes, internal divisions in the Nidaa Tounes party and its ruling coalition, which includes the Islamist party Ennahda, have paralyzed the process. Nevertheless, the country will keep pushing to decentralize the political system, reform the economy and fight corruption. The Arab Spring shook North Africa to its core. In…

Fasting for the odd day can be a challenge for some but what about the whole month if you are a non-Muslim? A year on from completing 30 fasts, Lewis Todd has been fasting throughout the month of Ramadan again.Speaking today as Ramadan comes to an end Lewis told us, “I have stuck to the same regime as last year. “I have to say I did put some weight on for a while but then it came off. That was mostly due to eating too much fried food when I…

Vancouver has surpassed Toronto as Canada’s most expensive city, according to Mercer’s latest cost of living survey. Up thirty-five places from last year, Vancouver (107) has overtaken Toronto (119) to become the most expensive Canadian city in Mercer’s 2017 Cost of Living Survey ranking, followed by Montreal (129) and Calgary (143). Ottawa (152) is the least expensive major city in Canada. “The Canadian dollar has appreciated in value triggering the major jumps in this year’s ranking,” the report said. The survey covers 209 cities across five continents and measures the comparative…