Morocco looks for economic development, taxation Morocco is stepping up efforts to make law-abiding taxpayers out of the retailers and service providers in its informal economy, according to Trade and Industry Minister Ahmed Reda Chami. To rein in the informal economy of unregulated entrepreneurs, the government will create management centers within local chambers of commerce, Chami announced in Parliament on January 20th. He said the centres would provide the informal sector with simplified accounting procedures, test existing products, and create industry standards. Algeria criticizes US over watchlist Algeria's foreign minister hit out Monday at the United States' decision to put it on a terror watchlist as part of new aviation security measures, accusing Washington of “double standards”. Mourad Medelci said he had told visiting US diplomat Janet Sanderson in talks in Algiers that “Algeria regrets that methods used by certain countries to ensure their security correspond to a policy of double-standards.” Sanderson, the US State Department's deputy assistant secretary for the Gulf, began an official visit on Sunday. Tunisian Islamic TV persona held on terror charges The head of the Islam Channel, Britain’s most popular Muslim television station, has been arrested in South Africa and faces deportation to Tunisia over terrorism allegations. The Times disclosed more than a year ago that Mohamed Ali Harrath, a Scotland Yard adviser against Islamic extremism, was wanted by Interpol because of his alleged activities in his homeland. His arrest on Sunday after a flight from London is being blamed by supporters on a security clampdown by the South African authorities in the run-up to this summer’s World Cup. Libya buys 1.43 percent of RusAl's IPO North African country Libya's sovereign fund has bought the most shares in world’s largest aluminum producer, Russia’s RusAl's initial public offering. Libyan Investment Authority bought 1.43% of RusAl stock for $300 million while Russia's national development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) paid $663 million for a 3.15% stake in RusAl. RusAl sold 10.6% of its shares in the IPO and raised $2.24 billion. RusAl's IPO was the first share offering by a Russian company in Asia. Sudan report says most Darfur deaths result of illness New research on the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region shows that more than 80 percent of the 300,000 deaths since fighting began in 2003 were the result of disease, not violence. The findings, published Friday in the medical journal The Lancet, suggest many among the millions of people uprooted by the conflict could remain at great risk of succumbing to the malnutrition, diarrhea and waterborne diseases that have ravaged their squalid refugee camps even as fighting has ebbed. Paris coming to Lebanon's rescue Paris has pledged to protect Lebanese infrastructure should Israeli forces decide to launch an attack on its northern neighbor, sources said. Lebanese lawmakers told London's pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was attempting to enact preventive measures in preparation for any possible Israeli attack. US wants Syria role in peace process US envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday met President Bashar al-Assad and said Syria had an important role to play in the search for peace in the Middle East. Mitchell reaffirmed President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's commitment “to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East that includes peace between Israel and Palestinians, Israel and Syria, Israel and Lebanon. “It also includes the full normalization of the relations between Israel and the Arab states,” he said after arriving in Damascus from talks with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman in Beirut, where he pressed home the same message. BM
