News Flash

Jakarta : Morocco wants to officially join Asean

Morocco has offered to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a regional intergovernmental organization comprising Southeast Asian countries which promotes Pan-Asianism and intergovernmental cooperation, as a sectoral dialogue partner, reports Jakarta Globe. «Morocco is making it a priority to collaborate with countries in Southeast Asia – we want to make a real positive impact in these countries,» secretary of state to the minister of foreign affairs and

Ex-Guantanamo detainee Younes Chekkouri acquitted by the court of Rabat

Younes Chekkouri, a former Guantanamo detainee was acquainted on Wednesday, 14th of February, by the Rabat appeal court, said the Joint Commission for the Defense of Islamist Detainees in a press release sent to Yabiladi. On the 4th of May, 2017, Chekkouri was sentenced to five years in prison. The Safi-native was granted bail in February 2016. He was being prosecuted for «joining a criminal organization», al-Qaeda, and «undermining the internal security of the

Bulgaria : The arrested Moroccan terrorist might be extradited to his country

The Haskovo Regional Court (Bulgaria) gave its instruction on Tuesday to keep the Moroccan national identified as Naufal Zahri, an alleged terrorist wanted by the Interpol, in custody for 90 days, reports the Sofia Globe on Tuesday. Wanted by Morocco via an Interpol warrant for terrorism, the defendant is prosecuted in the kingdom for setting up a group to commit acts of terrorism, the illegal use and possession of firearms directed against the national security and public order in Morocco,

A British national arrested in Marrakech for drug trafficking

Marrakech police arrested on Tuesday evening, a 39-year-old British national for belonging to an international network that is active in international drug trafficking. According to MAP news agency, an international arrest warrant was issued in 2014 by the French authorities against the suspect. The General Directorate of National Security said in a statement that the man was arrested immediately after arriving in Morocco via a flight coming from Doha airport in Qatar. According to the same

Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget proposal : Do the massive cuts include the Minurso ?

The White House presented on Monday, February 12th, the US fiscal 2019 budget proposal. Excluding the army, the budget proposes massive cuts, affecting defense and non-defense funding for government agencies, tax changes, and funding for social insurance and assistance programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps, reports Vox. Washington's financial contribution to peacekeeping operations is to be also affected by these cuts and the United Nations Mission for the

South Africa : ANC decided to sack Jacob Zuma

The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's governing political party, decided on Tuesday to «urgently» oust the country’s president, Jacob Zuma, after a 13-hour meeting held by the party’s executive committee, reports the BBC. According to local media sources, the 107 members of the party’s National Executive Council agreed that the removal should be «treated with urgency». The party has given Zuma a 48-hour time limit to step down. Cyril

El Bouchtaoui / Bouachrine : Freedom Now denounces unfair trials

In a statement released on Tuesday, Freedom Now, a Moroccan NGO that seeks to facilitate representation for arbitrarily detained individuals, denounced the lawsuit lodged against Taoufik Bouachrine, a journalist and publishing director of the Arabic-language daily newspaper Akhbar Al Youm, and the sentence pronounced against Abdessadek El Bouchtaoui, a lawyer and member of the Hirak detainees defense committee in Casablanca. The Committee for the Protection of Freedom of Press

Said Chaou's Movement invited to a Hirak meeting at the European Parliament [updated]

On February 28, the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels is expected to host a meeting on Hirak Rif. The event is organized by the «European Confederation of Support Committees of the Riffian Popular Movement». «A well-known European lawyer is invited to address the participants,» a source told Yabiladi. Meanwhile, the «18 September Movement for the Independence of RIF», financied by the Moroccan drug dealer living in the Netherlands Said

The number of road deaths falls to 2% in 2017

The number of deaths on Moroccan roads fell by 2.62% in 2017, State Secretary for Transport, Mohamed Najib Boulif, said Monday in Rabat. According to preliminary statistics, 3,499 deaths were recorded in 2017, compared to 3,593 in 2016, Boulif said at a meeting of the Road Security Standing Committee held on the occasion of the National Road Safety Day. 943 people died in road accidents in urban areas in 2017 recording a 4.17% year-on-year decrease, while 2,556 others were

Air Arabia eyes growth this year in Morocco

Air Arabia PJSC, a low-cost airline headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, said that it expects Morocco to be a growth driver this year after the company reached its highest profit on record, reports Bloomberg. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Adel Abdullah Ali, Air Arabia’s Chief Executive Officer stated that this year «good spots for us would be Morocco, which is going from strength to strength, and we’re putting more capacity on those lines». Indeed, the

Morocco receives an exceptional number of tourist arrivals in 2017

2017 was an «exceptional» year for the Moroccan tourism sector with a strong growth in the number of non-resident tourist arrivals, overnight stays in classified hotels and receipts in foreign currency, said the ministry of Tourism, Air Transport, Handicrafts and Social Economy. In a statement, the ministry noted that the number of arrivals of tourists at border posts was 11.35 million in 2017, up 10% compared to 2016, i.e. more than 1 million additional tourists. This rise

A Moroccan national arrested near the Turkish-Bulgarian borders over terror links

A Moroccan national, who is suspected of being an Islamic State terrorist, was arrested near the Turkish-Bulgarian borders, the Bulgarian news agency reported Monday. The suspect was trying to enter the Bulgarian territory using a fake French identity at his arrest. Identified as H.Z, the man is wanted by the Moroccan authorities through an Interpol warrant for terrorism-related activities and membership of «ISIS». According to the same source, quoting the Interpol, the arrested

Diplomats from the Nordic countries and Australia to visit Laayoune soon

Two months after the visit of an American delegation to the Sahara, another delegation, including officials from the foreign ministry of Sweden, Denmark and Australia, accompanied with political advisers from their embassies in Rabat, are expected in Laayoune on the 14th of February. This visit is expected to take the same path as the American one. The delegation will attend a meeting with the head of the Minurso and the Peacekeeping General. For the record, Sweden is a permanent member of

541 Kg of cocaine seized in a container at the Casablanca Port

Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) seized 541 kg of cocaine concealed in a shipping container from South America at the port of Casablanca. This operation which took place on the basis of accurate information provided by the general directorate for national territory surveillance (DGST) led to the arrest of 6 people, including the mastermind of this criminal network, a Brazilian national, BCIJ said Sunday in a statement. A sample of the drug was sent to the

Literature: Three Moroccans rewarded by the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity

Three Moroccans are among the 19 winners rewarded by the 21st edition of the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity, organized by the Sharjah's Directorate of Culture and Information. Mourad El Messari won the first prize (novels category) for his book Achajara wa l'asifa (The tree and the storm), while his compatriot Abdelatif Sekhiri was awarded (criticism category), for his study «Entre la poésie et la prose dans l’expérience de Mahmoud Darwich». Meanwhile,

Spain : A university to publish a Spanish-Moroccan dialect dictionary

The University of Murcia announced on Friday that it has published a Spanish-Moroccan dialect dictionary, entitled «Al-Madyaq» and signed by the researcher Lahoucine El Ghazouani. This dictionary, published by Editum, the publishing house of the university, responds to the great interest expressed by Spanish universities, whose Arabic language departments opt for an integrated method for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, said the university on its website. The objective

Spain : A man sentenced for trying to stab a Moroccan national

A Spanish national was sentenced to one year and a half in prison for attempting to stab a Moroccan man in the city of Reus (Terragona province). He was sentenced to five other months for threatening another Moroccan with a knife, reports Diari de Tarragona, an online newspaper. The public prosecutor's office initially required eight years' imprisonment for attempted homicide and an additional 21 months for each of the two threats related offenses. The judge prohibited the attacker

A Moroccan national passed away on a Saudi airplane in Egyptian airspace

A Moroccan national died Thursday in Alexandria after feeling unwell on a Saudi airplane, Morocco’s embassy in Cairo said. M.M (62) was returning from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and heading to Casablanca, the source said, adding that the plane crew decided to make an emergency landing at Alexandria’s airport to provide the necessary health care to the passenger. The deceased was returning to Morocco after performing the Al-Umrah rites, it added. The embassy took the necessary measures