Briefs Bound

Up to 1,000 migrants may have vanished in the Central Mediterranean during Cyclone Harry, far more than the 380 people officially listed as missing by maritime authorities, according to humanitarian groups working on the Tunisia–Libya route. The Italian NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans says testimonies from coastal communities around Sfax and from migrants’ families suggest dozens of boats sailed into the storm and never returned, turning what was reported as a series of shipwrecks into what advocates describe as a “hidden catastrophe” at sea.

Morocco’s Royal Palace has confirmed that King Mohammed VI is being treated for mechanical lumbosciatica, a lower‑back condition linked to muscle contracture, but has stressed that his situation is not considered serious. Doctors have prescribed medication and rest to ease the pain, and official statements have emphasized continuity of state affairs while reassuring the public that the 61‑year‑old monarch’s health problem is localized and manageable.

Morocco ended 2025 with a below‑average cereal harvest and higher food inflation, leaving the country more dependent on grain imports going into the 2025/26 marketing year, according to a new country brief from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The report notes that while late‑season rains improved conditions for the winter crop now in the ground, cumulative rainfall during the 2025 growing season was more than 60% below normal in key cereal‑producing areas, sharply curbing yields and forcing authorities to extend subsidy measures and step up import plans to secure supplies.

French prosecutors are investigating former Algerian justice minister and ex-International Court of Justice president Mohammed Bedjaoui over alleged tax fraud, money laundering, and unexplained wealth running into the millions. The case reaches from a controversial ICJ ruling in a Qatar–Bahrain maritime dispute to high-end property deals in France and corruption scandals around Algeria’s Sonatrach, raising broader questions about how international justice, energy contracts, and opaque financial networks can intersect.