Algeria

Algeria confirmed it bought almost a million tonnes of wheat on Wednesday and ordered an urgent speeding up of grain imports, a move seen heading off unrest over food prices as protests swept north Africa.

Algeria expects oil production to remain steady in 2011, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply contracts will be met despite reduced capacity, the head of state-owned energy giant Sonatrach said on Tuesday.

Algeria's state-run power utility plans to spend at least 8 billion euros on the construction of 10 power plants by 2018, the official APS news agency reported on Tuesday.

India’s official entry to the Oscars in the best foreign language film category, Peepli Live, is now out of the race as the movie failed to reach the final list of nine films.

In an effort to prevent the kind of unrest currently engulfing Tunisia, the government of Jordan has unveiled a $230-million economic package to help the nation’s poor by cutting the prices of essential consumer goods and by creating jobs.

Egyptian Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said on Tuesday that Egypt had adequate wheat stocks and had not changed the pace at which it was buying the grain.

Tunisia's prime minister appointed opposition figures to a new unity government on Monday, trying to establish political stability after violent street protests brought down the president last Friday.

Combative telecoms partners Telenor and Altimo squared up for yet another battle on Monday, over a proposed bid by their Russian mobile phone firm Vimpelcom for Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris' telecoms assets.

Saudi Arabia has taken in Tunisia's fallen strong man, but the oil wealth of the kingdom and its neighbours should ensure the poverty-driven unrest which ousted Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali does not follow him to the Gulf.

Mohamed Bouazizi, the unemployed 26-year-old Tunisian whose self-immolation sparked the riots in that country and ultimately toppled the president, has apparently inspired a series of copycat across North Africa, according to media reports.

Marine Le Pen, the daughter of France’s extreme right-wing icon Jean-Marie Le Pen, has been chosen to lead the country’s National Front political party, succeeding her father who led the group for almost 40 years.

Food price protests sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East reached Jordan on Friday, when hundreds of protesters chanted slogans against Prime Minister Samir al-Rifai in the southern city of Karak.

The embattled Congress-led coalition government failed to announce major policy decisions on Thursday to tackle soaring food prices after days of wrangling, taking only minor measures seen as unlikely to make a major impact.

Libya has abolished taxes and custom duties on locally-produced and imported food products in response to a global surge in food prices, Oea online newspaper reported.

Deadly rioting in the North African nations of Tunisia and Algeria underscore a clash between peoples’ anger over harsh economic realities and totalitarian governments’ clampdown on any dissent.

Moon takes a bite out of the Sun, as the colloquial saying goes, during the start of the year 2011. This year's first partial solar eclipse will be seen on Tuesday, in view from much of Europe, North Africa and central Asia.