Elections previously scheduled for 2022 were brought forward after Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune dissolved parliament and called for earlier polls.
Tunisia received its first major delivery of coronavirus vaccines, as 30,000 Sputnik V doses arrived in Tunis.
In-depth: Arab women played a pivotal role as activists, organisers and leaders during the 2011 uprisings, but a decade later the promise of greater gender equality remains unfulfilled.
Marking International Women's Day, Amnesty highlights the plight of women throughout the MENA, who struggle with added pressures deriving from the effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
In northwestern Algeria, floods caused by torrential rains caused the death of at least seven people, while three are still missing
A revived pro-democracy movement has taken root again in the North Africa country.
Comment: This International Women's Day, Malia Bouattia highlights the Algerian government's abject failure to protect women, and finds solace in the solidarity of the Hirak movement, and her own family.
Allegations that Algerian activists of a pro-democracy protest movement were tortured in detention have prompted rights groups to demand an urgent probe.
Three members of a "terrorist group" were arrested after a bomb was defused in Algeria's capital.
Macron said his admission was made 'in the name of France'.