Bermuda shorts, beachwear and a local ban divide Algerian town
Chetaïbi, a town of 8,000 known for its turquoise waters, rocky coves, and forested hills, draws thousands of Algerian beachgoers each summer. Seasonal tourism is a cornerstone of the local economy.
'The mood is warm, welcoming, colorful, bustling — no hostility toward bathers, not in words, not in looks. People here have a tradition of hospitality,' said Salah Edine Bey, a longtime resident.
In his view, there was little sign of controversy, until there was.
Earlier this month, some vacationers and business owners were caught off guard when the town's mayor issued a decree banning beachgoers from walking around in Bermuda shorts, calling the attire indecent in contrast to the longer, looser shorts preferred by conservative male beachgoers.
'These summer outfits disturb the population, they go against our society's moral values and sense of decency,' Mayor Layachi Allaoua wrote.
'The population can no longer tolerate seeing foreigners wandering the streets in indecent clothing," he added, referencing visitors from elsewhere in Algeria.
The order sparked immediate backlash from officials, including in the regional capital Annaba, who called on the mayor to revoke it.
The mayor reversed the decree within two days. On Facebook, he insisted his order wasn't driven by Islamist pressure, but by a desire to preserve 'peace and tranquility' for both residents and guests.
Still, the episode tapped into deeper tensions over religion, identity, and public space in a country that remains haunted by a civil war that killed an estimated 200,000 people throughout the 1990s. The conflict began in 1991, when the army canceled elections that an Islamist party was set to win.
The so-called 'black decade' ended long ago. But it left unresolved some underlying friction between political Islam and Algeria's military-backed secular state.
'Even though Islamists lost the war in the 1990s, they never gave up on their invasive and intrusive ideological project, which has gained ground in society,' said sociologist Redouane Boudjemaâ.
For some, the beach debate echoed that earlier era, when Islamist-run municipalities tried to reshape public life in line with religious doctrine. For many Algerians, particularly in underserved regions, political Islam remains popular not out of extremism, but as a reaction to corruption, inequality, and distrust in state institutions. While Islamist parties have mostly fared poorly at the ballot box, they play a large role in daily life, filling social and moral voids.
In neighboring Jijel, residents have roped off parts of the beach for mass prayers, with videos of the scenes circulating online and dividing opinion.
For Halim Kabir, it's a stark reminder of the past. In the 1990s, Islamists who won local elections in Jijel imposed stricter rules on public behavior. Today, cars parked near the beach have been vandalized with warnings telling beachgoers to 'go sin elsewhere.'
'It's provocation,' Kabir said. 'An attempt to drive away visitors from other regions.'
Said Boukhlifa, a former senior official at the Ministry of Tourism, warned that conservative groups are exploiting Algeria's economic troubles, as falling gas revenues strain the state, to expand their influence. That, he said, could undermine the country's ambitions to grow its tourism sector.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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The Mainichi
3 days ago
- The Mainichi
Global Perspective: Expectations rising for African economic growth, democratization
By Akihiko Tanaka, Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo From Aug. 20 to 22, the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) will be held in Yokohama south of the Tokyo. Since TICAD's first gathering in 1993, Japan has been jointly organizing this conference with the United Nations, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank, and the African Union Commission (AUC). TICAD 9 unfolds as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the humanitarian crises and the danger of war in the Middle East raise concerns about the future of the international order. In such a world situation, what is the significance of thinking about Africa's development? What are Africa's challenges and possibilities? TICAD in August Africa is not a small region that can be described in short. On a Mercator projection world map, which looks small around the equator, Africa does not look so vast. However, the actual area is 30.1 million square kilometers, which is not much different from all of Asia, which is 31.96 million square kilometers. Africa is larger than North America, South America, and Europe, respectively. This comparison is based on the regional classification of the United Nations, in which Asia spans China, India, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, but not Russia. If it is difficult to talk about such a diverse Asia in one go, similar difficulties exist for Africa. Among African countries, Nigeria has the largest population of about 220 million, while the island nation of Seychelles has just 120,000 people or so. Algeria, the largest in area, is 5,178 times larger than the smallest Seychelles. Africa is also diverse in terms of climate, with rainforests and deserts, as well as savannah and Mediterranean climates. Some countries stand high above sea level -- Uganda and Rwanda are just below the equator or south of it, but the climate is cool. Poverty, conflict challenging With such diversity in mind, I would like to consider the economic and political challenges facing Africa. The first issue is the seriousness of poverty. Although the main purpose of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to reduce poverty, about 30% of people in Africa are estimated to live in extreme poverty (living on less than $2.15 a day). The situation has improved from 2000 when the figure was 47%, but there remains a large gap with the global average of about 10%. The second is the threat to human security due to armed conflicts and political crises. The Tigre conflict in Ethiopia, which broke out in 2020 and has since seen a rise in the number of casualties, reached a peaceful settlement in November 2022, but unstable areas still remain in the east African country. In Sudan on April 23 of this year, aA civil war broke out in Sudan in April, 2023, and the fighting continues to date. Coups have occurred in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, and there has been no transfer of power to the civilian government. The armed conflict involving Rwanda continued in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), but a peace agreement was signed on June 27 this year. In South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, internal forces continued fighting until they gave agreed on seeking peace but elections have not been held so far and the situation remains fluid. In addition, Somalia, northern Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Fado, among other countries, face terrorist activities by Islamic extremists. While poverty and armed conflict continue, positive movements are seen in a significant number of countries. The first instance is economic growth. According to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) "World Economic Outlook" released in April this year, the real gross domestic product (GDP) of the entire world economy is estimated to grow by 2.785% in 2025. In Africa, 41 countries are expected to grow above the global average. There are also political improvements. In some countries, democracy is taking root. According to Sweden's V-Dem Institute, which studies democracy globally, 15 African countries were classified as "democracies" in 2024, from 13 in 2000. The number increased even though it is modest. In addition to Senegal and Ghana in West Africa, it is impressive that many countries in Southern Africa, South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia in southern Africa, and Malawi, which is one of the poorest countries in terms of per capita income, have established maintained stable democracy. The advantage of young people Needless to say, the common characteristics of African countries are the momentum of population growth and the large number of young people. This is a factor that, if not managed well, can lead to poverty and conflict. However, if we can take advantage of the large young population, we can promote economic growth which can lead to political democratization. What is attracting attention is the increasing number of young African businessmen working on startups that creatively utilize information and communication technology (ICT) and other technologies to create new industries. Some of them have studied in Japan and started new businesses in Africa, and they have the potential of co-creating innovation through interaction with Japan entrepreneurs. I believe that Africa, with its diversity, is a region where the challenges and expectations of the world as a whole are concentrated. Japan has been addressing Africa's challenges and possibilities for more than 30 years through TICAD. Through development cooperation, Tokyo has made useful contributions to local communities in the areas of agriculture, public health, safe water supply, and education, as a support for human security. Improving the income of smallholder farmers and increasing rice production are projects unique to Japan has been promting in many African countries. Some countries, including Egypt, are trying to introduce Japan-style primary education. Africa is Japan's western partner in the "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" strategy. We must also steadily advance the construction of infrastructure to strengthen the overall connectivity of the Indo-Pacific. There is no continent with as many landlocked countries as Africa. Japan has contributed to the construction of corridors from the coast to the inland there, but cooperation should be continued further. It is very encouraging that private companies are increasingly interested in Africa. I think that by co-creating with young African power, we can further expand Africa's potential. People-to-people exchange is the foundation of co-creation. The activities of the Overseas Cooperation Volunteers of Japan are highly regarded in African countries, and after returning to Japan, the members are also active in regional revitalization in various parts of Japan. The ABE initiative and other invitations to international students from Africa to Japan have also been effective, connecting Japanese private companies and Africa. It is hoped that exchanges will be further expanded, including among young people in Japan.
Japan Today
26-07-2025
- Japan Today
For sale: Trump is leveraging power of his office to reap profits for family businesses
By BRIAN SLODYSKO and WILL WEISSERT If one theme has emerged in President Donald Trump's second term, it's this: He's leveraged the power of his office for personal gain unlike anyone before in history. From crypto coins to bibles, overseas development deals to an upcoming line of cellphones, Trump family businesses have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars since his election, an unprecedented flood of often shadowy money from billionaires, foreign governments and cryptocurrency tycoons with interests before the federal government. 'He is president and is supposed to be working in the public's interest,' said James Thurber, an emeritus professor at American University, who has researched lobbying, campaign finance and political corruption for decades. 'Instead, he is helping his own personal interest to grow his wealth. It's totally not normal.' The sums amassed by the Trump Organization, the collection of companies controlled by the president's children, are far greater than those collected by the family during the president's first term, when patronage of his hotels, resorts and golf courses was de rigueur to curry favor with the famously transactional commander-in-chief. The second time around, the Trump family's ambitions are far grander, stretching from cyberspace to far-flung regions across the globe. One of Trump's cryptocurrencies is conservatively estimated to have pulled in at least $320 million since January, while another received a $2 billion investment from a foreign government wealth fund. A third has sold at least $550 million in tokens. His sons have jetted across the Middle East to line up new development deals, while his daughter and son-in-law are working with the Albanian government to build a Mediterranean island resort. Even first lady Melania Trump has inked a $40 million documentary deal with Amazon, whose founder, Jeff Bezos, was a frequent target of Trump during his first presidency and whose companies contract extensively with the federal government. The dealmaking is a rejection of Trump's first-term pledge to 'drain the swamp' in Washington and dwarfs the influence peddling efforts of former President Joe Biden's family, whom Trump and his allies attacked as the 'Biden Crime Family.' While Democrats have condemned Trump for his overlapping roles as a beneficiary and president, he is not likely to face any immediate repercussions for such extensive conflicts-of-interest. Congress is controlled by fellow Republicans, and his administration is stocked with loyalists who have dismantled many guardrails of oversight. Last summer, the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority cemented by Trump, ruled that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. Even in the rare cases where Trump's allies have urged caution, the president has ignored them. That's what happened when he accepted a $400 million 'beautiful, big, magnificent, free airplane' from the Qatari government. Trump said the Boeing 747 'would go directly' to his presidential library upon leaving office. 'It's the Mount Everest of corruption' said Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat. Since Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace, presidents have gone to great lengths to avoid the appearance of such conflicts. Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan kept assets in a 'blind trust,' while George H.W. Bush used a 'diversified trust,' which blocked him from knowing what was in his portfolio. His son, George W. Bush, used a similar arrangement. Barack Obama was an exception, but his investments were mostly a bland mix of index funds and U.S. treasuries. During his first term, Trump even gave a nod toward ethics. He issued a moratorium on foreign deals. But instead of placing his assets in a blind trust like many of his predecessors, he handed the reins of the Trump Organization to his children, which kept his financial holdings close. This time, he has made no such gesture. His sons, Eric and Donald Jr., are again running the business while Trump is in office. And though the White House says he is not involved in its day-to-day decisions, the trust he has established continues to profit. He promotes his resorts, merchandise and the family's crypto ventures while residing in the White House, often from his account on Truth Social, the social media company he and his allies launched. He's also touted a line of Trump shoes, a Bible, which is made in China, and Trump guitars, one of which is a $1,500 Gibson Les Paul knockoff, featuring 'Make America Great Again' fret inlays. Conservative groups and Republican committees have spent at least $25 million at Trump properties since 2015, with most of it coming from Trump's own political organization, campaign finance disclosures show. Yet, those ventures pale in comparison to his exploits in cryptocurrency, which offers perhaps the clearest example of the conflicts of interest that have come to dominate Trump's second term. Trump was once a crypto skeptic who declared that cryptocurrencies were 'not money,' were based on 'thin air' and seemed 'like a scam.' By the time he was running again for president, however, he'd become a proponent of the industry. 'The difference now is he has realized that it can be his scam,' said Hilary Allen, a law professor at American University who specializes in banking and cryptocurrencies. Trump has pledged to turn the U.S. into the 'crypto capital of the world' and promised to roll back oversight of the industry. Deregulation, of course, will help his own businesses. At the height of the campaign, Trump announced the launch of his own crypto coin and World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm that would be run by his sons and several business associates. Among those partners was Steve Witkoff, now one of Trump's top diplomatic envoys. The Trump Organization and World Liberty Financial declined to comment. But it was also rooted in his 2024 campaign. At a crypto event at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in May 2024, he received assurances that industry figures would spend lavishly to get him reelected, The Associated Press previously reported. Asked recently at the White House if he'd consider having his family business step back from its crypto investments to avoid questions about conflicts of interest, Trump said: 'We've created a very powerful industry. That's much more important than anything that we invest in." 'I don't care about investing. You know, I have kids and they invest in it, because they do believe in it," Trump added of crypto. "But I'm president, and what I did do there was build an industry that's very important. And, if we didn't have it, China would.' Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, reiterated that Trump's crypto boosterism isn't driven by self-interest. He 'is taking decisive action to establish regulatory clarity for digital financial technology and to secure America's position as the world's leader in the digital asset economy,' Fields said. 'The Trump administration," Fields added, "is fulfilling the president's promise to make the United States the crypto capital of the planet by driving innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans.' Trump on Friday signed new cryptocurrency legislation that had been sought by the industry. Among the provisions is a ban on members of Congress issuing their own 'stablecoins,' a particular type of cryptocurrency. The prohibition does not extend to the president. Fields said it was unfair to equate critics' charges of conflicts of interest against Trump with the president's own suggestions that Biden's family benefited financially while he was in office. He said Trump's policies haven't benefited the president personally and have nothing to do with his family's financial concerns — and said Trump entered the White House an already successful businessman who didn't need a political career to become rich. Even so, Trump's family is poised to benefit financially from the crypto industry's growing clout. It holds a majority ownership stake that entitles them to 75% of earnings from their first coin, released last September, according to World Liberty Financial's website. The coin, $WLFI, was not an immediate success. Then, after the president's election, sales took off. Days before his inauguration, Trump announced a new meme coin, $Trump, during the 'Crypto Ball,' a Washington gala intended to showcase a regulatory sea change he vowed to usher in. 'Time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!' Trump posted to his X account. 'Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.' Often created as a joke with no real utility, meme coins are prone to wild price swings that often enrich a small group of insiders at the expense of less sophisticated investors. $Trump soared to over $70, but its price soon collapsed, losing money for many. It has hovered around $10 since March. Trump did well, though. By the end of April, the coin had earned over $320 million in fees, according to an analysis by the crypto tracking firm Chainalysis. A third cryptocurrency, a stablecoin called USD1, launched in April. There appear to be upsides for Trump's cryptocurrency investors and associates. Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire, has disclosed investing nearly $200 million in the Trumps' various crypto ventures. Amid this spree, the Trump administration paused a securities fraud case against him. In June, Sun announced he was taking his crypto company, Tron, public after securing financing through a deal brokered by Eric Trump. Then, last week, Sun posted on X that he was purchasing an additional $100 million worth of Trump's meme coin. Sun is not the only one. Changpen Zhao, a convicted felon who founded the crypto exchange Binance, was part of a megadeal in which a United Arab Emirates-controlled wealth fund invested $2 billion in the Trump stablecoin, USD1, which it used to purchase a stake in Zhao's Binance. The deal gave outsized publicity to World Liberty Financial and instantly made the stablecoin one of the top in the market. It will also allow the Trump family and their business partners to reinvest the $2 billion and collect interest, estimated to be worth as much as $80 million a year. Soon after the purchase was announced, Trump granted the UAE greater access to U.S. artificial intelligence chips, which it had long sought. Binance and Zhao benefited, too. Binance is restricted in the U.S. and entered a settlement with the Biden administration that sent Zhao to jail in 2024 after he pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an anti-money-laundering program. Prosecutors said he looked the other way as criminals used his platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism. In May, Trump's Securities and Exchange Commission dropped the final federal enforcement action against Binance. Zhao, who goes by CZ, is now seeking a pardon. The White House says no decision has been made on issuing such a grant of clemency. Trump announced several months ago a new promotion that would trade on his presidency: He was hosting a dinner at his Virginia golf club for the top 220 investors in his meme coin, $Trump, with a special White House tour for the top 25. That fueled a temporary rise in the coin's value. It also helped enrich the Trump Organization, which is entitled to collect fees when the coin is traded. A month later, Trump addressed attendees of the dinner, standing before a lectern with the presidential seal. The White House said at the time that it had nothing to do with the meme coin. For decades, campaign contributions and lobbying have been governed by laws that place limits on how much donors can give, require a degree of transparency and limit how politicians can spend the money they raise. Trump's venture into cryptocurrency effectively sidesteps these laws, legal and finance experts say. 'It's a lot like the Trump Hotel from the first term, but what crypto has done is dispensed with the need for the hotel,' said Allen, the law professor. 'Because crypto assets can be made out of thin air, he has found a way of creating an unlimited supply of assets to offer to people who want to give.' Associated Press writer Aaron Kessler contributed from Washington. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Yomiuri Shimbun
26-07-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Tunisians Protest against President Kais Saied's Authoritarian Rule on July 25 Anniversary
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisians took to the streets Friday to protest President Kais Saied, marking four years since he made moves to consolidate his one-man rule in a country once known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings. On July 25, 2021, Saied suspended parliament, dismissed his prime minister and invoked a state of emergency to begin ruling by decree. Though some cheered his efforts, critics called the moves a coup and said the events marked the beginning of Tunisia's descent toward authoritarianism. Crowds on Friday marched through the capital chanting 'no fear, no terror, power to the people,' carrying portraits of political prisoners and a cage that organizers said represented the state of political life in Tunisia. The country's most prominent opposition figures are behind bars, including Rached Ghannouchi, the head of the Islamist Ennahda party, and Abir Moussi, leader of the right-wing Free Destourian Party. Women led much of the chanting, demanding the release of imprisoned opposition figures from across the political spectrum, including Moussi and attorney Sonia Dahmani. The two are among those who have been imprisoned since Saied's power grab as Tunisia's once-vibrant civil society has gradually been suppressed. Activists, journalists, dissidents and opposition figures have faced jail time, including many who have been charged with undermining state security. July 25 also marks the anniversary of Tunisia's declaration as a republic in 1957. It later became the rallying cry of the pro-Saied 'July 25 Movement,' which pushed for a crackdown on the country's largely unpopular political class. Samir Dilou, a former government minister and member of Ennahda, said Saied had forever changed the day's meaning. 'July 25 used to mark the Republic's founding. Now, it marks its dismantling. Absolute power is absolute corruption,' he said. Tunisia's political turmoil has unfolded against a backdrop of economic hardship and deepening public disillusionment. Amnesty International in a report last June wrote that the country's authorities have intensified their crackdown on opposition voices and used vague legal justifications to target marginalized groups.
