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Algerian Former Police Chief Convicted of Money Laundering

Former police chief Abdelghani Hamel (AFP)
Former police chief Abdelghani Hamel (AFP)
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Algerian Former Police Chief Convicted of Money Laundering

Former police chief Abdelghani Hamel (AFP)
Former police chief Abdelghani Hamel (AFP)

Former police chief Major General Abdelghani Hamel was sentenced to four years in prison over money laundering charges.

During the trial in Blida Court, the Public Prosecution charged Hamel with “laundering money that a terrorist organization has benefited from”, and the misuse of police budget funds.

The investigations also revealed that Hamel was linked to extremist groups.

Former Algiers’ police chief Noureddine Berrashdi was also convicted in the same case.

Last May, Algiers’ misdemeanor court sentenced Hamel to 15 years in prison in a corruption case, as prosecutors pursued him on charges, including money laundering and illicit wealth.

Hamel and his family are accused of owning real estate and shops in coastal areas, and his three sons have been sentenced to several years in prison.

Hamel was one of the most prominent figures of the regime of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. He has been suggested to succeed Bouteflika who was unfit to rule due to illness.

Meanwhile, the leader of Rally for Culture and Democracy, Mohcine Belabbas, said that the gendarmerie informed him that he was wanted for interrogation on Sunday.

Algiers’ Attorney General issued a statement, stating that the gendarmerie launched an investigation into the death of a Moroccan citizen in a construction site of Belabbas’ house in the southern suburb of the capital.

Investigations have revealed the deceased was working without a permit. Circumstances of his death are still unknown.

The statement also confirmed that the project manager did not obtain the needed building permits, in violation of urban development regulations.

Legally, it is not possible to pursue Belabbas given his parliamentary immunity, but the Justice Minister can lift it if the prosecution proved he committed a crime.

Observers believe that Belabbas’ issues with the authorities began after he described the presidential elections which Abdelmajid Tebboune won, as a “coup”.

The Interior Ministry sent a letter to the Rally warning it against hosting periodic meetings of Democratic Alternative Forces, formed of five opposition parties, which is deemed illegal by the authorities.

Belabbas issued a statement saying the Ministry was asking the Rally to abandon its political activities, warning that it could dissolve the party otherwise. He claimed the correspondence was leaked by the Interior Ministry through the media arms of the "political police."

The government’s warnings are considered a violation of the constitution and the laws that rule political activity of any legitimate party, added Belabbas.

He added that Rally for Culture and Democracy is first and foremost an intellectual movement and a community project that thousands of Algerians believe in.

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World

Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will never surrender the right to enrich uranium, even if war "is imposed on us,” its foreign minister said Sunday, defying pressure from Washington.

"Iran has paid a very heavy price for its peaceful nuclear program and for uranium enrichment," Abbas Araghchi told a forum in Tehran.

"Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behavior," he said, two days after he met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman.

The foreign minister also declared that his country was not intimidated by the US naval deployment in the Gulf.

"Their military deployment in the region does not scare us," Araghchi said.

World

Washington Post Publisher Will Lewis Stepping Down Days after Big Layoffs

A person walks outside The Washington Post headquarters in Washington, DC, USA, 04 February 2026. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
A person walks outside The Washington Post headquarters in Washington, DC, USA, 04 February 2026. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
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Washington Post Publisher Will Lewis Stepping Down Days after Big Layoffs

A person walks outside The Washington Post headquarters in Washington, DC, USA, 04 February 2026. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
A person walks outside The Washington Post headquarters in Washington, DC, USA, 04 February 2026. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

Washington Post publisher Will Lewis said Saturday that he’s stepping down, ending a troubled tenure three days after the newspaper said that it was laying off one-third of its staff.

Lewis announced his departure in a two-paragraph email to the newspaper's staff, saying that after two years of transformation, “now is the right time for me to step aside.” The Post's chief financial officer, Jeff D'Onofrio, was appointed temporary publisher, The Associated Press reported.

Neither Lewis nor the newspaper's billionaire owner Jeff Bezos participated in the meeting with staff members announcing the layoffs on Wednesday. While anticipated, the cutbacks were deeper than expected, resulting in the shutdown of the Post's renowned sports section, the elimination of its photography staff and sharp reductions in personnel responsible for coverage of metropolitan Washington and overseas.

They came on top of widespread talent defections in recent years at the newspaper, which lost tens of thousands of subscribers following Bezos' order late in the 2024 presidential campaign pulling back from a planned endorsement of Kamala Harris, and a subsequent reorienting of its opinion section in a more conservative direction.

Martin Baron, the Post’s first editor under Bezos, condemned his former boss this week for attempting to curry favor with President Donald Trump and called what has happened at the newspaper “a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”

The British-born Lewis was a former top executive at The Wall Street Journal before taking over at The Post in January 2024. His tenure has been rocky from the start, marked by layoffs and a failed reorganization plan that led to the departure of former top editor Sally Buzbee.

His initial choice to take over for Buzbee, Robert Winnett, withdrew from the job after ethical questions were raised about both he and Lewis' actions while working in England. They include paying for information that produced major stories, actions that would be considered unethical in American journalism. The current executive editor, Matt Murray, took over shortly thereafter.

Lewis didn't endear himself to Washington Post journalists with blunt talk about their work, at one point saying in a staff meeting that they needed to make changes because not enough people were reading their work.

This week's layoffs have led to some calls for Bezos to either increase his investment in The Post or sell it to someone who will take a more active role. Lewis, in his note, praised Bezos: “The institution could not have had a better owner,” he said.

“During my tenure, difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future of The Post so it can for many years ahead publish high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day,” Lewis said.

The Washington Post Guild, the union representing staff members, called Lewis' exit long overdue.

“His legacy will be the attempted destruction of a great American journalism institution,” the Guild said in a statement. “But it’s not too late to save The Post. Jeff Bezos must immediately rescind these layoffs or sell the paper to someone willing to invest in its future.”

Bezos did not mention Lewis in a statement saying D'Onofrio and his team are positioned to lead The Post into “an exciting and thriving next chapter.”

“The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity,” Bezos said. “Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success. The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus.”

D'Onofrio, who joined the paper last June after jobs at the digital ad management company Raptive, Google, Zagat and Major League Baseball, said in a note to staff that "we are ending a hard week of change with more change.

“This is a challenging time across all media organizations, and The Post is unfortunately no exception,” he wrote. “I've had the privilege of helping chart the course of disrupters and cultural stalwarts alike. All faced economic headwinds in changing industry landscapes, and we rose to meet those moments. I have no doubt we will do just that, together.”

Business

Egypt to Establish Middle East’s 1st Sodium Cyanide Plant for Gold Extraction

CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Mohamed el-Gawsaky, received a delegation from DrasChem Specialty Chemicals (Egyptian Cabinet)
CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Mohamed el-Gawsaky, received a delegation from DrasChem Specialty Chemicals (Egyptian Cabinet)
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Egypt to Establish Middle East’s 1st Sodium Cyanide Plant for Gold Extraction

CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Mohamed el-Gawsaky, received a delegation from DrasChem Specialty Chemicals (Egyptian Cabinet)
CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Mohamed el-Gawsaky, received a delegation from DrasChem Specialty Chemicals (Egyptian Cabinet)

The Egyptian government has announced the establishment of the first sodium cyanide production plant in the Middle East in Alexandria Governorate on the Mediterranean coast, with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons and investments of $200 million in the first phase.

In a statement, the cabinet said on Saturday that CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Mohamed el-Gawsaky met with a delegation from DrasChem Specialty Chemicals, a Private Free Zone company, to discuss the steps required to establish the company’s sodium cyanide production facility at the Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Complex in Alexandria.

The DrasChem project plans to begin production in 2028 following the completion of the facility’s first phase, with initial investments estimated at $200 million. This phase targets the production and export of 50,000 tons of sodium cyanide annually, a key input in gold extraction.

The second phase will focus on either doubling production capacity or manufacturing additional sodium cyanide derivatives, while a third phase will target the production of sodium-ion battery components.

El-Gawsaky said the project aligns with the country’s developmental priorities, particularly those related to increasing exports, transferring and localizing advanced technology, deepening local manufacturing and creating sustainable job opportunities.

The CEO also noted that the plant would benefit from the results of Egypt's economic reform program, which has caused significant improvements in investment, trade, and logistics indicators.

El-Gawsaky urged Egyptian companies, including DrasChem, to adopt integrated, export-oriented industrial strategies, with a particular focus on African markets.

He said the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade aims to increase exports by $4 billion. The focus will be on sectors with high competitive advantages, particularly the chemicals sector.

He also highlighted that DrasChem’s sodium cyanide products are of strategic importance to gold mines in Africa, which account for about a quarter of global gold production.

Bassem El-Shemmy, Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at Austria-based Petrochemical Holding GmbH, the largest shareholder in DrasChem, said project partner Draslovka of the Czech Republic will, for the first time, transfer its proprietary technology - developed at its facilities in the US - to Africa and the Middle East.

This move, he said, will help position Egypt as a regional hub for gold extraction technologies and sodium-ion battery manufacturing, a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

For his part, Andrey Yurkevich, Deputy Managing Director for Strategy and Business Development at Petrochemical Holding GmbH, said the DrasChem facility will create up to 500 direct jobs and generate approximately $120 million in annual foreign-currency revenues.

He said that the project will enhance the stability and sustainability of local supply chains and strengthen Egypt’s regional standing as home to the first sodium cyanide production facility in both Egypt and the Middle East.