SAM METZ

Tunisian commentator sentenced to two years under controversial anti-fake news law
A well-known Tunisian attorney and commentator is facing two years in prison for remarks she made about Tunisia and its treatment of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
October 25, 2024
Morocco’s King lauds new allies in Western Sahara dispute after European court ruling
The disputed Western Sahara remains the driving force behind Morocco’s foreign policy, King Mohammed VI said in a rare speech on Friday.
October 11, 2024
A view of lakes caused by heavy rainfall between sand dunes in the desert town of Merzouga, near Rachidia, southeastern Morocco, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo)
Water gushes through sand dunes after a rare rainfall in the Sahara desert
A rare deluge of rainfall has left lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara desert. Some regions are seeing more water than they had in decades. Residents surveyed the scene in awe.
October 8, 2024
Election officials announce Tunisian president and candidate for re-election Kais Saied as the winner of the presidential elections, in the capital Tunis, Tunisia, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Anis Mili)
Tunisia’s Kais Saied wins landslide reelection, entrenching his power in Arab Spring’s birthplace
Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has won reelection in a landslide victory after a campaign that saw opponents jailed alongside journalists, activists and attorneys. The North African country’s election authority says Saied won 90.7% of the vote.
October 7, 2024
A wooden structure supports the Great Mosque of Tinmel which dates back to the 12th century and suffered significant damage during a 2023 earthquake, in the Atlas mountain village of Tinmel, outside of Marrakech, Morocco, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Brick by brick, Morocco rebuilds 12th-century mosque destroyed by 2023 earthquake
The Great Mosque of Tinmel had been undergoing a massive reconstruction project when an earthquake shook Morocco’s High Atlas mountains.
September 24, 2024
Abdessatar Messaoudi, right, attorney of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel, seen on the poster on the wall, speaks during a press conference after Zammel was sentenced to prison on fraud charges that Messaoudi decried as politically motivated, in Tunis, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Ons Abid)
A Tunisian presidential candidate sentenced to 20 months vows to campaign from prison
A candidate for president in Tunisia has been sentenced to 20 months in prison on election fraud charges that his attorney decried as politically motivated.
September 19, 2024
Tunisian take part in a protest against President Kais Saied ahead of the upcoming presidential elections, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in the capital Tunis. (AP Photo/Anis Mili)
Tunisian authorities escalate pre-election crackdown and arrest Islamists en masse
Dozens of members of Tunisia’s largest opposition party have been arrested this week ahead of the formal start this weekend of the campaign season for the country’s presidential election.
September 13, 2024
People walk past posters of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, after the presidential election results were announced, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in the capital Algiers. (AP Photo/Fateh Guidoum)
Algeria election results are being questioned by the opposition candidates and the president himself
Algerians expected an uneventful election that would bestow President Abdelmadjid Tebboune a second term. Instead, they got the president himself calling into question the vote count and legal challenges from his challengers alleging fraud.
September 11, 2024
Cars drive through a road that was damaged by floods caused by heavy rainfall in Tazarine, Zagora, southern Morocco, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Moroccan authorities say exceptional weather has killed at least 11 people and destroyed homes in southern Morocco. (AP Photo)
Flooding kills more than 20 people in Morocco and Algeria
Torrential downpours hit North Africa’s normally arid mountains and deserts over the weekend. They caused flooding that killed nearly two dozen people in Morocco and Algeria and destroyed homes and critical infrastructure.
September 10, 2024
People walk past buildings which were affected by the 2023 earthquake, in the town of Amizmiz, outside Marrakech, Morocco, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Rubble and grief: Morocco’s High Atlas marks one year since record earthquake
A year after a deadly earthquake struck Morocco’s High Atlas mountains, reconstruction efforts are slowly moving forward.
September 8, 2024
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Polio vaccine campaign begins in Gaza a day before fighting is expected to pause
Gaza’s Health Ministry says it has begun a multi-day campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus.
August 31, 2024
Supporters and relatives celebrate after watching Algerian boxer Imane Khelif advance to the women's 66-kg Olympic final, in Tiaret, Algeria, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)
Algerians rally behind gold medal hopeful Imane Khelif amid gender misconceptions
Olympic boxer Imane Khelif has become a hometown hero in Algeria, a conservative, Muslim-majority country where attacks on her gender have been interpreted as attacks on the nation.
August 7, 2024
Kaylia Nemour, of Algeria, reacts after winning the gold medal during the women's artistic gymnastics individual uneven bars finals in Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
French-Algerian gymnast Kaylia Nemour may be a dual national, but her gold medal is all Algeria’s
Olympic gymnast Kaylia Nemour credits Algeria for her performance on the uneven bars, for which she won a gold medal on Sunday.
August 6, 2024
FILE - A Polisario Front soldier salutes during a military parade to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Polisario Front in the Aoussered camp, Algeria, Saturday, May 20, 2023. France has recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, shifting a decades-held position and adding itself to a growing list of countries to back Morocco while a United Nations-mediated peace process remains stalled, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote in a letter made public on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Guidoum Fateh, File)
France shifts Western Sahara stance, seeking closer ties with Morocco
France has backed Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed Western Sahara, shifting a decades-old position and adding itself to a growing list of countries to align with Morocco as a United Nations-mediated peace process remains stalled.
July 30, 2024
Omar Radi, a Journalist and activist is embraced by family member moment he was released from prison in Tifelt, Morocco, Monday, July. 29, 2024. Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Monday pardoned a group of journalists who were charged with sex crimes and espionage in prosecutions widely condemned by press freedom advocates as retaliatory in response to critical reporting. (AP Photo)
Morocco releases imprisoned journalists after pardons from King Mohamed VI
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has pardoned three journalists who were charged with sex crimes and espionage in prosecutions widely condemned by press freedom advocates as retaliation for critical reporting.
July 30, 2024
Heatstroke patients receive treatment at a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Life and death in the heat. What it feels like when Earth’s temperatures soar to record highs
As the warming Earth sizzled through a week with four of the hottest days ever measured, the world focused on cold hard numbers that showed the average daily temperature for the entire planet.
July 27, 2024
A Palestinian child inspects the rubble of a school destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An Israeli airstrike hits a school sheltering people in Gaza, killing at least 30 including children
Israeli airstrikes have hit a school being used by displaced Palestinians in central Gaza and killed at least 30 people including seven children.
July 27, 2024
A farmer works in a wheat field on the outskirts of Kenitra, Morocco, Friday, June 21, 2024. Golden fields of wheat no longer produce the bounty they once did in Morocco. A six-year drought has imperiled the country's entire agriculture sector, including farmers who grow cereals and grains used to feed humans and animals. (AP Photo)
Climate change imperils drought-stricken Morocco’s cereal farmers and its food supply
Golden fields of wheat no longer produce the bounty they once did in Morocco. A six-year drought has imperiled the country’s entire agriculture sector, including farmers who grow cereals and grains used to feed humans and animals.
July 23, 2024
FILE - Defence lawyer Mohamed Ziane speaks to the media outside the Court of Appeal of Casablanca, Morocco, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017. Ziane, a Moroccan former government minister, was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday, July 19, 2024, in a campaign finance case that his attorney described as retribution for outspokenness and work defending political prisoners. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar, File)
Moroccan ex-minister who defended government critics sentenced to five years
Mohamed Ziane, a Moroccan former government minister, has been sentenced to five years in prison in a corruption case that his attorney described as retribution for outspokenness and work defending political prisoners.
July 22, 2024
FILE - Tunisian President Kais Saied attends a signing ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, May 31, 2024. A Tunisian court on Friday sentenced presidential candidate Lotfi Mraihi to eight months in prison and banned him from contesting election for life in the latest move to stifle opponents of President Kais Saied in the upcoming October election. (Tingshu Wang/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Tunisian President Kais Saied to seek reelection in October after tumultuous first term
Tunisian President Kais Saied is saying that he will run for a second term. The announcement has been long expected and was made while many of Saied’s potential opponents languish in prison on charges their attorneys have described as politicized.
July 19, 2024
A man films the scene after a deadly explosion, from his rooftop in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Drone strike by Yemen’s Houthi rebels kills 1 person and wounds at least 10 in Tel Aviv
An Iranian-made drone sent by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck Israel on Friday, leaving one person dead and at least 10 wounded. The strike rumbled through central Tel Aviv, causing shrapnel to rain down and spreading shards of glass.
July 19, 2024
People inspect electric vehicles made by Chinese automaker BYD during an auto fair in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. Investment in electric vehicle manufacturing is booming in Morocco, a country that neighbors Europe and enjoys a free trade agreement with the United States. That's partially because Chinese firms see it as a side door to access the U.S. market and new Biden administration subsidies designed to shut them out. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
Chinese firms eye Morocco as way to cash in on US electric vehicle subsidies
Investment in electric vehicle manufacturing is booming in Morocco, a country that neighbors Europe and enjoys a free trade agreement with the United States.
July 3, 2024
FILE - Wrecked boats that carried migrants are seen in the coastal city of Monastir, Tunisia, on April 16, 2018. Tens of thousands of migrants are trapped in an increasingly violent limbo in camps In Tunisia, blocked from reaching Europe but too poor to go home, and facing backlash from local residents. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)
Stranded migrants confront violence and despair as Tunisia partners to keep them from Europe
Europe’s efforts to partner with neighboring countries to curb migration have resulted in thousands of migrants being stranded in Tunisia.
June 9, 2024
F16 fighter jet perform a maneuver as part of the African Lion military exercise, in Tantan, south of Agadir, Morocco, Friday, May 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
US military completes major exercise in Africa and works to deepen partnerships
Military forces from the United States and nearly three dozen countries have wrapped up the largest annual joint training exercise in Africa after two weeks in Tunisia, Ghana, Senegal and Morocco.
June 2, 2024
Gen. Michael Langley, USMC, Commander, U.S. Africa Command, attends the 20th African Lion military exercise in Agadir, Morocco, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
US military defends Africa strategy in light of coups and a drift toward Russia
The head of the United States military’s Africa Command is pushing back against Russia’s efforts to broaden its influence in Africa, blaming the country’s disinformation efforts for the spate of military coups that has swept the region in recent years.
May 30, 2024
Tunisians take part in a protest against the presence of sub-Saharan migrants who have found themselves stranded as the country ramps up its border patrol efforts, in Jebeniana, Tunisia, Saturday, May 18, 2024. Anti-migrant anger is mounting in olive-growing towns along the Tunisian coastline that have emerged as a launchpad for thousands of people hoping to reach Europe by boat. Banner in Arabic reads "Deportation now." (AP Photo/Houssem Zouari)
Tunisians stage anti-migrant protest as the number of stranded in transit to Europe grows
Hundreds of anti-migrant protestors have marched through the streets of a Tunisian town where many migrants are living while waiting to try and travel by boat to Europe.
May 18, 2024
Tunisian lawyers take part in a protest against the recent arrests of their colleagues, in Tunis, Tunisia, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Anis Mili)
As crisis escalates in Tunisia, lawyers strike over arrested colleague they say was tortured
Lawyers in Tunisia took to the streets on Thursday to protest a string of recent arrests that have convulsed the country over the past week and provoked international outcry.
May 16, 2024
FILE - Tunisia's President Kais Saied speaks during a media conference at an EU Africa summit in Brussels, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. Two Tunisian journalists are kept in pre-trial detention as authorities continued a wave of arrests targeting perceived critics of President Kais Saied's government. Borhen Bsaies and Mourad Zeghidi remain behind bars after being apprehended. They were accused of violating a cybercrime law against fake news. (Johanna Geron, Pool Photo via AP, File)
2 journalists in detention in Tunisia as authorities launch wave of arrests against critics
Two Tunisian journalists are kept in pre-trial detention as authorities continued a wave of arrests targeting perceived critics of President Kais Saied’s government. Borhen Bsaies and Mourad Zeghidi remain behind bars after being apprehended.
May 16, 2024
Cars are placed on a production line inside a Renault factory outside of Tangier, Morocco, Monday, April 29, 2024. Morocco has grown its automotive industry from virtually non-existent to Africa’s largest in less than two decades. The North African kingdom supplies more cars to Europe than China, India or Japan, and has the capacity to produce 700,000 vehicles a year. (AP Photo)
Morocco’s automotive industry shifts gears to prep for electric vehicle era
Morocco has grown its automotive industry from virtually non-existent to Africa’s largest in less than two decades.
May 15, 2024
Activists demonstrate outside the delegation of the European Union to Tunisia against migrant deals with EU, in the capital Tunis, Thursday, May 9, 2024. Tensions in Tunisia are ratcheting up as authorities increasingly targeting migrants communities from the country's shoreline to its capital, where protestors staged a sit-in in front of European Union headquarters on Thursday. Banner in Arabic reads "Speeches in Carthage, decisions in Rome." (AP Photo/Anis Mili)
Tent camps razed and activists arrested as Tunisia clamps down on migrants
Tensions in Tunisia have ratcheted up as demonstrators seeking better rights for migrants staged a sit-in before European Union headquarters, capping a week in which Tunisian authorities targeted migrant communities from the coast to the capital with arrests and the demolition of tent camps.
May 9, 2024
Load More