BBC News Middle East

AFPCopyright: AFP

Tunisia has withdrawn from cinemas a new film starring the Israeli actress Gal Gadot.

The decision had been taken following protests by activists who say Gadot served in the Israeli army and supports Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, the Culture Ministry said.

The film, a new adaptation of the murder mystery Death on the Nile by the British author Agatha Christie, has already been banned in Kuwait and Lebanon.

Tunisia, which hosts some major festivals to celebrate Arab and international films, also banned the 2017 film Wonder Woman, which featured Gal Gadot in the lead role.

Tunisians living in Ukraine have urged their national airline, Tunisair, to arrange an evacuation flight as fears grow of an outbreak of war in the region.

The head of the Association of the Tunisian Community in Ukraine, Tariq Alaoui, said that Tunisians have been struggling to leave Ukraine due to international airlines cancelling flights.

Mr Alaoui told Tunisia's state news agency that anxiety had heightened within the community following Russia's announcement to recognise Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.

Mr Aloaui said there were about 1,500 Tunisian nationals in Ukraine, including some 500 students.

Many of them reside in Dnipro and Kharkiv, near the Russian border, he said.

Other countries, including Morocco, had begun repatriation efforts, Mr Alaoui added.

The Tunisian foreign ministry on 20 February called on Tunisians to leave areas of Ukraine where there was significant tension and to maintain continuous contact with the Tunisian embassies in Moscow and Warsaw.

The ministry also said Tunisian nationals wishing to be repatriated could register with the Association of the Tunisian Community in Ukraine, without clarifying if the ministry would coordinate an evacuation.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Protests broke out in cities across Morocco on Sunday against rising prices and to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the launch of a major reform movement.

February 20th was a pro-reform and anti-corruption group born out of the Arab Spring uprisings that rocked the Middle East in 2011.

Hundreds of people demonstrated in the North African country's city of Casablanca, brandishing banners calling for the release of political prisoners.

Many speakers addressed the crowds, and lamented that none of their demands for social justice, gender equality among others, have been achieved in 11 years.

There were similar protests in the capital, Rabat, and in Tangiers.

Morocco's economy has been hit hard by drought and the coronavirus pandemic.

A similar campaign has been taking place on social media platforms under the hashtag "no to price hikes".

Some posted video footage of themselves on their bikes having abandoned their cars as they could not afford the higher petrol prices.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The World Health Organization has announced that six African countries will be given the revolutionary mRNA technology to set up their own vaccine production centres - helping the continent acquire self-reliance against the Covid pandemic.

Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia will get the technology used in the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna jabs developed in Europe.

The Senegalese president said the aim was to have 60% of vaccines administered in Africa produced in Africa as well.

In the future, the new African vaccine hub might also produce jabs for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.

A ceremony marking the mRNA technology transfer will be held later in Brussels at a summit between the European Union and the African Union.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Algeria's president says the government will introduce unemployment benefits for young adults as the country struggles with high rates of joblessness.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune told journalists that the payments to jobseekers aged 19 to 40 would begin in March.

Those who are eligible will be able to collect the payments of about a $100 (£73) a month, as well as some medical benefits, until they find work.

Making the announcement, Mr Tebboune said that Algeria was the first country outside Europe to introduce such a benefit.

He added that there were now more than 600,000 unemployed in Algeria.

Satellite image ©2021 Maxar TechnologiesCopyright: Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies

The head of the Egyptian authority managing the Suez canal has said that work is under way to extend the two-way section of the waterway by 10km (six miles).

The Suez Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabie said that it would be too expensive to expand the entire canal, which is a vital trade link between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

Last year a massive container ship - the Ever Given - became stuck in the canal for several days, causing considerable disruption to global shipping traffic.

Israel has clinched a $500m (£370m) deal to supply Morocco with an air defence system.

The contract with Israeli Aerospace follows the signing last November of a memorandum of understanding on defence collaboration by the two countries.

Morocco agreed to normalise relations with Israel in a US-brokered deal in late 2020.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Dozens of refugees have protested in Tunisia – complaining about their treatment and demanding to be evacuated.

The migrants – mostly from Sudan and sub-Saharan countries – held a sit-in in front of UN offices in the southern port of Zarzis.

Some held up banners reading "stop the violence against us."

The Tunisian coastguard intercepted nearly 20,000 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe during the first three-quarters of last year.

An Algerian court has sentenced the country's 82-year-old former energy minister to 20 years in prison and fined him $14,200 (£10,510) in absentia.

Chakib Khelil, who was found guilty of corruption, served under former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Mr Khalil fled Algeria in 2019 after the resignation of Mr Bouteflika, according to the AFP news agency.

A human rights organisation is preparing to take France to the International Criminal Court over compensation for victims of nuclear tests in Algeria during the 1960s.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Algeria claims many people suffered cancerous and genetic diseases following six years of nuclear explosions.

The French government has failed to respond to repeated demands for those affected to be compensated, the organisation says.

Algeria’s President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune has backed the compensation calls.