Morocco's development policy commended in Arab Economic Summit The development policy launched in Morocco under the leadership of HM King Mohammed VI was commended during the preparatory meetings for the 2nd Economic and Social Arab Summit, held in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt), Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fihri said on Tuesday. “HM the King has always stressed the need to cooperate and encourage Arab investments in addition to the setting up of a human development policy in the region with a view to giving a concrete economic dimension to the purposes of the common Arab action,” Fassi Fihri told the press following a ministerial meeting. Petrofac Wins Algerian Contract From BP, Sonatrach Petrofac Ltd., the U.K. oilfield services and engineering provider, won a $1.2 billion contract to develop southern gas fields in Algeria, adding to the company's record order book. The award is for engineering, procurement and construction services at the In Salah Gas project, a venture between Algeria's state oil company Sonatrach, BP Plc and Statoil ASA. The work will increase production at the fields to 9 billion cubic meters annually after 2013, Petrofac said in a statement in London today. Clashes erupt in Tunisia as government fractures It was demonstrations like this one, unfolding across the country over the past month, that led to the downfall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the autocrat who ruled Tunisia with an iron fist for 23 years. His departure for Saudi Arabia on Friday electrified the Arab world, dispatching fear into the region's other autocrats while inspiring countless who have long dreamed of an uprising of their own. But for the young men and women behind what they call the Jasmine Revolution, the battle is far from over, their nation still a long way from the democracy, freedom and jobs they crave. On Tuesday, they protested the inclusion of Ben Ali's old guard in the cabinet of a day-old unity government, intended to pave the way for elections this year. Read full story here. Libya's oil revenues hit US $32 billion The Libyan revenues from oil climbed to 40.5B Dinars (US$32.43B) in Y2010, up 61% from a year earlier, the news agency Libya Press reported on Tuesday, citing Libya's Central Bank.In Y 2009, Libya reported oil revenues of 25.1B Dinars (US$20B). The Crude Oil revenues make up 92% of the country's Y 2010 revenues, which jumped to US$43.6B Dinars (US$35B) about 35% higher than the Y 2009 revenues.The agency attributed the rise to a remarkable rise in Crude Oil prices. Darfur death toll mounts amid new war fears The Darfur conflict claimed more than 2,300 lives in 2010, according to new UN figures released with Western powers expressing renewed alarm over the war. With growing numbers of abductions and attacks on UN peacekeepers, some diplomats accuse Sudan's government of stepping up its offensive in the remote western region while international attention is focused on the self-determination vote in south Sudan. The Sudanese military has frequently refused permission for UN peacekeepers to go to areas where trouble is reported, according to UN officials. Read the full story here.
