Latest news with #AADL
CBS News
21-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Lobby Shops to bring local retailers inside downtown Ann Arbor library
Long gone are the days when you could only rent books from the library. Now you can borrow tools, plant seeds, and even a space to grow your business. The library in downtown Ann Arbor says you can expect three new retail stores to open on its first floor. After you check out your book at the AADL, soon you'll be able to stay and shop at a couple of local businesses without having to leave. "Friends of the Library moved out last year, freeing up this small space in the downtown lobby. There wasn't really much we could do with it," said Ann Arbor District Library Director Eli Neiburger. Neiburger says they wanted to see if any entrepreneurs could make better use of the rooms. He says that led to using these spaces to pilot business incubators, which in turn led to more than 50 applications. "It's an opportunity for small local businesses to get some retail space that would otherwise never be available to them," he said. Instead of paying full price for commercial rent in downtown Ann Arbor, these businesses will only pay between $100 and $250 a month for a six-month term, according to Neiburger. That includes the owners of Silky Grooves, who say $200 is what they might spend for a vendor slot at just one show. Now, that's roughly the cost to have their storefront for a whole month. "You can't get real estate at that price in Washtenaw County, let alone downtown Ann Arbor. So it's a really great opportunity for someone to incubate a small business and for the library to support that work," Neiburger said. He says these lobby shops will also pilot how first-floor retail spaces could perform if an August 5 vote on expanding the library's footprint with a mixed-use development next door is approved. "One of the great uses of that space would be for the retail incubators to be over there, because then they could have their own entrances and still be managed by the library," he said. Those six-month leases can extend an additional six months if both the businesses and the library are seeing success at the lobby shops. At the end of the term, Neiburger says they'll reopen applications to give a new business a chance to occupy that space and test the market.
Zawya
12-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Algeria launches project to build 200,000 houses
Algeria has launched the third stage of an ambitious housing programme for citizens involving the construction of 200,000 units in the capital and other cities. The Housing Ministry said at the weekend it has signed an agreement with the National Housing Bank and other establishments to fund the project. AADL 3 is part of the AADL housing programme approved by the cabinet last year to build in excess of two million houses for citizens. The Algeria press agency said six national banks would provide funding of up to 62 per cent to citizens wishing to buy houses. 'Citizens should provide the remaining 38 percent in five instalments..,this plans is intended to ensure housing for citizens at affordable prices and contribute to tackling the housing crisis in urban areas,' the agency said. (Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon) (
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Algerian housing project falsely associated with Burkina Faso's military leader
'Burkina Faso is being transformed, intense construction going on. Ibrahim Treore is great (sic),' reads the caption of a Facebook reel circulating in Nigeria since March 16, 2025. Shared more than 8,000 times, the video's voiceover claims that 'for some time now, Burkina Faso has been quiet, and now they [the government] have started doing massive construction of low-cost houses'. The post was shared by an account called 'The Inspirational Ark', which posts video content about social issues in Nigeria and highlights projects purportedly undertaken by countries within the Alliance of Sahel States (abbreviated as AES in French) — a bloc comprising Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. AFP Fact Check found that the account also published five other short clips showing the same construction site (as seen here, here, here, here and here). Together, these five clips make up a longer video that also features in the account's timeline as part of a post that claims the apartments 'will be given to the citizens of Burkina Faso for them to live in'. After Traore took power in September 2022, posts have regularly popped up on social networks – some using media generated by Artificial Intelligence tools – falsely linking him to projects and policies found elsewhere in the world (archived here). This coordinated misinformation has been attributed to Russia's influence operations in Africa (archived here). AFP Fact Check found that the high-rise buildings in the video are, likewise, unrelated to Burkina Faso. Using Google Lens to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video, AFP Fact Check found a TikTok account with dozens of clips shot at the same construction site (archived here). We were able to match elements from the Facebook Reel to these TikTok videos, most notably the design of the buildings. The distinguishing architecture is seen 30 seconds into the Reel and in the first second of one of the videos published on December 4, 2024, on the TikTok page (archived here). AFP Fact Check also found that the Facebook Reel and the TikTok videos feature the same distinctive mountain ridge in the background. The same building design is seen in many other videos on the TikTok page, each captioned with hashtags like '#aadl', '#tiziouzou', and '#algerie'. A search of the hashtag keywords revealed that AADL is the abbreviation for 'Agence Nationale de l'Amélioration et du Développement du Logement', which means National Agency for Housing Improvement and Development. According to its website, AADL is an Algerian government agency established in 1991 under its housing ministry (archived here). A search combining the keywords in the caption revealed that the building site is one of AADL's ongoing projects in Tizi Ouzou, the capital of Tizi Ouzou province in northern Algeria. We also found a Facebook group where people who have bought apartments in the housing project ask questions and share updates. On October 7, 2024, a group member posted videos and pictures featuring the same architectural design seen in the previous videos, captioned 'AADL Irdjen 4/10' (archived here). Irdjen is a town to the west of Tizi Ouzou.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Algerian housing project falsely associated with Burkina Faso's military leader
'Burkina Faso is being transformed, intense construction going on. Ibrahim Treore is great (sic),' reads the caption of a Facebook reel circulating in Nigeria since March 16, 2025. Shared more than 8,000 times, the video's voiceover claims that 'for some time now, Burkina Faso has been quiet, and now they [the government] have started doing massive construction of low-cost houses'. The post was shared by an account called 'The Inspirational Ark', which posts video content about social issues in Nigeria and highlights projects purportedly undertaken by countries within the Alliance of Sahel States (abbreviated as AES in French) — a bloc comprising Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. AFP Fact Check found that the account also published five other short clips showing the same construction site (as seen here, here, here, here and here). Together, these five clips make up a longer video that also features in the account's timeline as part of a post that claims the apartments 'will be given to the citizens of Burkina Faso for them to live in'. After Traore took power in September 2022, posts have regularly popped up on social networks – some using media generated by Artificial Intelligence tools – falsely linking him to projects and policies found elsewhere in the world (archived here). This coordinated misinformation has been attributed to Russia's influence operations in Africa (archived here). AFP Fact Check found that the high-rise buildings in the video are, likewise, unrelated to Burkina Faso. Using Google Lens to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video, AFP Fact Check found a TikTok account with dozens of clips shot at the same construction site (archived here). We were able to match elements from the Facebook Reel to these TikTok videos, most notably the design of the buildings. The distinguishing architecture is seen 30 seconds into the Reel and in the first second of one of the videos published on December 4, 2024, on the TikTok page (archived here). AFP Fact Check also found that the Facebook Reel and the TikTok videos feature the same distinctive mountain ridge in the background. The same building design is seen in many other videos on the TikTok page, each captioned with hashtags like '#aadl', '#tiziouzou', and '#algerie'. A search of the hashtag keywords revealed that AADL is the abbreviation for 'Agence Nationale de l'Amélioration et du Développement du Logement', which means National Agency for Housing Improvement and Development. According to its website, AADL is an Algerian government agency established in 1991 under its housing ministry (archived here). A search combining the keywords in the caption revealed that the building site is one of AADL's ongoing projects in Tizi Ouzou, the capital of Tizi Ouzou province in northern Algeria. We also found a Facebook group where people who have bought apartments in the housing project ask questions and share updates. On October 7, 2024, a group member posted videos and pictures featuring the same architectural design seen in the previous videos, captioned 'AADL Irdjen 4/10' (archived here). Irdjen is a town to the west of Tizi Ouzou.
