Serbian Milovan Rajevac has been appointed the new coach of Algeria, the country&#39;s football federation has confirmed. 
 
Rajevac came close to helping Ghana, who became the first African side to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2010 and takes over from Christian Gourcuff, who resigned in April ahead of a move to French Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais. 
 
Rajevac, 62, will be expected to lead Algeria to the World Cup in Russia but faces a difficult qualification group that also contains Nigeria, Cameroon and Zambia. Only the top team advances to the finals. 
 
Algeria have already qualified for the African Nations Cup finals in Gabon starting next January. 
 
(Reuters)

He takes over from Christian Gourcuff who resigned in April ahead of a move to French Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais

Serbian Milovan Rajevac has been appointed the new coach of Algeria, the country's football federation has confirmed. Rajevac came close to helping Ghana, who became the first African side to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2010 and takes over from Christian Gourcuff, who resigned in April ahead of a move to French Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais. Rajevac, 62, will be expected to lead Algeria to the World Cup in Russia but faces a difficult qualification group that also contains Nigeria, Cameroon and Zambia. Only the top team advances to the finals. Algeria have already qualified for the African Nations Cup finals in Gabon starting next January. (Reuters)

Milovan Rajevac confirmed as new coach of Algeria

Morocco said today that it had arrested 52 suspected militants inspired by Islamic State and that it had foiled several attacks in the North African kingdom by seizing weapons and bomb-making materials. 
 
It is the largest group arrested in years and the latest of a series of cells that the authorities say they have found plotting attacks inside and outside Morocco. 
 
The North African kingdom, an ally of the West against Islamist militancy, has been on high alert since 2014, when Islamic State took control of large swathes of northern Iraq and Syria. The 52 arrested were among 143 people investigated in many Moroccan cities and towns, the interior ministry said in a statement. 
 
Many members of the group were planning to create an Islamic State province (Wilayat) in Morocco, the statement said. They intended to assassinate Moroccan security and military officers and tourists, as well as targeting prisons and festivals and other institutions in the country. 
 
Morocco&#39;s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation, the judicial part of the Moroccan domestic intelligence service, has tracked suspected militants since Islamic State established itself as a global threat. Morocco has dismantled 38 suspected militant cells with Islamic State ties since 2013, the statement said, adding 159 cells had been found since 2002. 
 
Hundreds of fighters from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria have joined Islamist militant forces in Syria. Some are threatening to return and create new jihadist wings in their home countries, security experts have said. 
 
Nearby Libya has become a major draw for jihadists from North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Islamic State has taken advantage of the security chaos there to build a base, operate training camps and take over the city of Sirte. 
 
Morocco has been the target of militant attacks, most recently in 2011 in Marrakesh, when an explosion in a cafe killed 15 people, mostly foreigners. 
 
(Reuters) 
&nbsp;

The 52 suspects arrested were among 143 people investigated in many Moroccan cities and towns

Morocco said today that it had arrested 52 suspected militants inspired by Islamic State and that it had foiled several attacks in the North African kingdom by seizing weapons and bomb-making materials. It is the largest group arrested in years and the latest of a series of cells that the authorities say they have found plotting attacks inside and outside Morocco. The North African kingdom, an ally of the West against Islamist militancy, has been on high alert since 2014, when Islamic State took control of large swathes of northern Iraq and Syria. The 52 arrested were among 143 people investigated in many Moroccan cities and towns, the interior ministry said in a statement. Many members of the group were planning to create an Islamic State province (Wilayat) in Morocco, the statement said. They intended to assassinate Moroccan security and military officers and tourists, as well as targeting prisons and festivals and other institutions in the country. Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation, the judicial part of the Moroccan domestic intelligence service, has tracked suspected militants since Islamic State established itself as a global threat. Morocco has dismantled 38 suspected militant cells with Islamic State ties since 2013, the statement said, adding 159 cells had been found since 2002. Hundreds of fighters from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria have joined Islamist militant forces in Syria. Some are threatening to return and create new jihadist wings in their home countries, security experts have said. Nearby Libya has become a major draw for jihadists from North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Islamic State has taken advantage of the security chaos there to build a base, operate training camps and take over the city of Sirte. Morocco has been the target of militant attacks, most recently in 2011 in Marrakesh, when an explosion in a cafe killed 15 people, mostly foreigners. (Reuters)

Morocco arrests 52 suspected Islamic State militants, foils several attacks

Algerian internet users flocked back to social media&nbsp;on Friday&nbsp;following several days of blackout as the government sought to prevent a repeat of leaks of high school test papers. 
 
A leak of the papers on social media meant 555,000 out of 800,000 high school leavers who took their final exams at the start of June had to retake them between&nbsp;Sunday&nbsp;and&nbsp;Thursday. 
 
Djamila, 45, a sales executive, said she was delighted to be able to connect &quot;normally&quot; at last. Social networks allow her, like many Algerians, to stay in touch with relatives overseas. 
 
From&nbsp;Saturday&nbsp;to&nbsp;Thursday, Algerians were blocked from accessing Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. 
 
Fraud in the exams &quot;cannot justify what happened,&quot; Ali Kahlane, an expert on information technology and communication, told AFP. 
 
&quot;This caused the blocking of a whole country,&quot; he said. 
 
Many tech-savvy Algerians were able to get around the block, connecting via VPN, a type of &quot;secure tunnel&quot; in the internet that allows users to appear to be connecting from a different country. 
 
As well as the social media block, internet access in general was slow and faced interruptions. The government denied having disrupted the country&#39;s entire internet service. 
 
But the cuts also hurt businesses. Hassen Khelifati, chief of an insurance company, said he had lost 50 per cent of his turnover for the week due to difficulties getting online. 
 
&quot;The problem is the surprise. We weren&#39;t prepared for the internet to be cut. The two first days, there was a total blackout,&quot; he said. 
 
Algeria has around 20 million internet users including 16 million who use mobile services. Sharing of messages, photos and video has become wildly popular since the launch of 3G services in 2013. 
 
(AFP)

Social media sites were blocked in Algeria after cheats uploaded baccalaureate exam papers online forcing half the students to retake exams

Algerian internet users flocked back to social media on Friday following several days of blackout as the government sought to prevent a repeat of leaks of high school test papers. A leak of the papers on social media meant 555,000 out of 800,000 high school leavers who took their final exams at the start of June had to retake them between Sunday and Thursday. Djamila, 45, a sales executive, said she was delighted to be able to connect "normally" at last. Social networks allow her, like many Algerians, to stay in touch with relatives overseas. From Saturday to Thursday, Algerians were blocked from accessing Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. Fraud in the exams "cannot justify what happened," Ali Kahlane, an expert on information technology and communication, told AFP. "This caused the blocking of a whole country," he said. Many tech-savvy Algerians were able to get around the block, connecting via VPN, a type of "secure tunnel" in the internet that allows users to appear to be connecting from a different country. As well as the social media block, internet access in general was slow and faced interruptions. The government denied having disrupted the country's entire internet service. But the cuts also hurt businesses. Hassen Khelifati, chief of an insurance company, said he had lost 50 per cent of his turnover for the week due to difficulties getting online. "The problem is the surprise. We weren't prepared for the internet to be cut. The two first days, there was a total blackout," he said. Algeria has around 20 million internet users including 16 million who use mobile services. Sharing of messages, photos and video has become wildly popular since the launch of 3G services in 2013. (AFP)

Algerians celebrate return of social media after blackout

Algerian authorities have temporarily blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to try to stop cheats posting high school exam papers online, state media reported on Sunday. 
 
Tens of thousands of high school students were retaking part of their baccalaureate exams after details were shared over social media. 
 
&quot;The cut in social media is directly related to the partial baccalaureate exams that are taking place on Sunday,&quot; an official source told the APS state news agency. 
 
&quot;This is to protect students from the publication of false papers for these exams.&quot; 
 
Access to the internet through 3G mobile network also appeared to be disrupted on Sunday. 
 
Earlier this month, authorities said police arrested dozens of people, including officials working in national education offices and printers, as part of an investigation into how parts of the 2016 high school exams were leaked onto social media. 
(Reuters)

Tens of thousands of students need to retake part of their exams after details were shared over social media

Algerian authorities have temporarily blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to try to stop cheats posting high school exam papers online, state media reported on Sunday. Tens of thousands of high school students were retaking part of their baccalaureate exams after details were shared over social media. "The cut in social media is directly related to the partial baccalaureate exams that are taking place on Sunday," an official source told the APS state news agency. "This is to protect students from the publication of false papers for these exams." Access to the internet through 3G mobile network also appeared to be disrupted on Sunday. Earlier this month, authorities said police arrested dozens of people, including officials working in national education offices and printers, as part of an investigation into how parts of the 2016 high school exams were leaked onto social media. (Reuters)

Algeria blocks Facebook and Twitter to keep cheats from posting high school exam papers online

The bodies of 34 migrants, including 20 children, who were abandoned by people smugglers while trying to reach neighbouring Algeria were found in the Niger desert last week, authorities said today. 
 
&quot;Thirty-four people, including five men, nine women and 20 children died trying to cross the desert,&quot; Niger`s interior ministry said in a statement. 
 
&quot;They probably died of thirst, as is often the case, and they were found near Assamaka,&quot; a security source told AFP, referring to a border post between Niger and Algeria. 
 
&quot;(The migrants) were abandoned by people smugglers,&quot; the statement added, and only two of the bodies have so far been identified -- a man and a 26-year-old woman both from Niger.&nbsp; 
 
Temperatures in the region can reach a brutal 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit), with blinding sandstorms tearing across the desert. 
 
The hostile conditions mean that only a fraction of those who die trying to cross the area are ever found. 
 
Thousands of illegal migrants have arrived in Algeria in recent years, mostly from neighbouring Mali and Niger. 
 
Libya used to play host to the majority of migrants in sub-Saharan Africa, but since that country descended into chaos following the ousting of Moamer Kadhafi, Algeria has become the main destination for the region`s migrants. 
 
Many transit through Algeria headed for Europe, but more than 7,000 migrants from Niger, mostly women and children, were returned to their home country in 2015 as part of an agreement between the two countries` governments. 
 
Europe has recently turned its attention to trying to curb the number of illegal arrivals from Africa, after a deal with Ankara in March slashed the number of people trying to cross from Turkey. 
 
More than 2,814 people have drowned trying to reach Europe since January, according to the UN refugee agency, prompting urgent efforts to tackle the problem. 
 
A new proposal mooted last week involves using &nbsp;EU funds to promote &nbsp;private investment of up to 60 billion euros ($68 billion) in countries where many migrants come from -- Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, Mali and Senegal, as well as Jordan and Lebanon. 
 
The European Commission also wants to speed up readmission deals with African countries, and with Pakistan and Afghanistan, to make it easier to send back people who do not win refugee status. 
 
The Commission is also set to unveil a plan for a &quot;blue card&quot; system for skilled migrants to come to Europe legally. 
 
The aim is to reduce the incentive for people to try to smuggle themselves into the continent on flimsy boats and put their lives at risk. 
(AFP)

Officials say they were trying to get to neighbouring Algeria, were abandoned by human smugglers

The bodies of 34 migrants, including 20 children, who were abandoned by people smugglers while trying to reach neighbouring Algeria were found in the Niger desert last week, authorities said today. "Thirty-four people, including five men, nine women and 20 children died trying to cross the desert," Niger`s interior ministry said in a statement. "They probably died of thirst, as is often the case, and they were found near Assamaka," a security source told AFP, referring to a border post between Niger and Algeria. "(The migrants) were abandoned by people smugglers," the statement added, and only two of the bodies have so far been identified -- a man and a 26-year-old woman both from Niger. Temperatures in the region can reach a brutal 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit), with blinding sandstorms tearing across the desert. The hostile conditions mean that only a fraction of those who die trying to cross the area are ever found. Thousands of illegal migrants have arrived in Algeria in recent years, mostly from neighbouring Mali and Niger. Libya used to play host to the majority of migrants in sub-Saharan Africa, but since that country descended into chaos following the ousting of Moamer Kadhafi, Algeria has become the main destination for the region`s migrants. Many transit through Algeria headed for Europe, but more than 7,000 migrants from Niger, mostly women and children, were returned to their home country in 2015 as part of an agreement between the two countries` governments. Europe has recently turned its attention to trying to curb the number of illegal arrivals from Africa, after a deal with Ankara in March slashed the number of people trying to cross from Turkey. More than 2,814 people have drowned trying to reach Europe since January, according to the UN refugee agency, prompting urgent efforts to tackle the problem. A new proposal mooted last week involves using EU funds to promote private investment of up to 60 billion euros ($68 billion) in countries where many migrants come from -- Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, Mali and Senegal, as well as Jordan and Lebanon. The European Commission also wants to speed up readmission deals with African countries, and with Pakistan and Afghanistan, to make it easier to send back people who do not win refugee status. The Commission is also set to unveil a plan for a "blue card" system for skilled migrants to come to Europe legally. The aim is to reduce the incentive for people to try to smuggle themselves into the continent on flimsy boats and put their lives at risk. (AFP)

34 migrants, including 20 children, found dead in Niger desert

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