Morocco stands out as the leader in the Maghreb, ranking 68th globally with access to 72 countries without a visa or with a visa on arrival, according to the Henley Passport Index 2024. On a continental scale, the kingdom is in 14th position, behind countries like Mauritius and South Africa, while European and Asian passports dominate globally with very extensive access.
On Thursday, Algeria anticipated the official announcement of French support for the Sahara autonomy plan. In a statement, the Algerian Foreign Ministry rebuked Paris, holding it «entirely responsible for the consequences resulting from this decision».
Algeria is attempting to mobilize African Union members to defend the Polisario's presence at meetings with international partners, criticizing the practice as some, including China, Russia, Italy, India, South Korea, the United States, and Saudi Arabia, exclude the Polisario from their guest lists.
On Saturday, July 19, the Rabat Court of Appeal sentenced the former President of the Bar, Mohamed Ziane, to five years in prison and a fine of 5,000 dirhams. The lawyer was prosecuted following a complaint lodged by the Rabat section of the Free Liberal Party (PLL) for «misappropriation and squandering of subsidies granted by the State to the party». He headed the party from 2002 to January 2021. The court also handed down the same sentence to the ex-treasurer of the PLL, while a
Youssef Badr, a French-Moroccan magistrate, has transformed a difficult adolescence, marked by discrimination and academic challenges, into an exemplary career in the service of justice. As the First Deputy Vice-President in Bobigny, he founded the association «La Courte Échelle» in 2021 to offer young people from disadvantaged backgrounds better opportunities and to encourage them to pursue their studies in the field of law.
As her term ends, US Ambassador to Algeria Elizabeth Moore Aubin addressed the US position on Western Sahara in a recent interview with Algerian media. She acknowledged the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara by former President Donald Trump in 2020. «This proclamation hasn't been changed by the Biden administration because it's considered a historical fact», she explained. However, Ambassador Aubin emphasized the Biden administration's different approach.
Morocco's Nadia Annouz, Vice-President of the National Authority for Probity, Prevention and Fight against Corruption, was elected to the African Union Advisory Board on Anti-Corruption (AUABC) on Friday. The election took place during the 45th session of the AU Executive Council held in Accra, Ghana. Annouz will serve a six-year term. Running for the position reserved for the continent's northern region, Annouz secured a strong victory with 35 votes. This result, according to Moroccan news
The recent ordinary session of the African Union's Executive Council in Accra, Ghana, facilitated a meeting between Algeria's Foreign Minister, Ahmed Attaf, and his Polisario «counterpart», Mohamed Sidati. On July 19th, the two officials held a private working session away from media scrutiny. According to the Polisario Front's press agency, the discussion focused on topics related to the African Union session's agenda, developments in the Western Sahara issue on the diplomatic
Following the presentation of their joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup, Morocco, Spain, and Portugal have unveiled the number of stadiums that will be hosting the games, according to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). Spain is proposing 11 stadiums, Morocco 6, and Portugal 3, thus respecting the limit of 20 sites set by FIFA. Among the proposed venues, Spain plans to use two stadiums in Madrid (Bernabeu and Metropolitano) and two in Barcelona (Camp Nou and Cornellà-El
A recent study by the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, suggests a different culprit for the September 2023 Al Haouz earthquake: hot, molten rock rising from deep within the Earth, known as mantle upwelling.