Morocco's exports surge 5.3% to 331 billion dirhams  (Read more...)

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

Alstom to build 30 new-generation electric locomotives for ONCF

ONCF, Morocco's national railway operator, announced on Thursday that it signed a contract with France’s Alstom for the manufacturing of 30 «new-generation» electric locomotives to strengthen its fleet, said the company in a statement. Alstom is expected to spend MAD 1.4 billion to manufacture, supply and equip 30 electric locomotives through a loan granted by the French State with a grace period of 10 years and a 0.0016 per cent interest rate. This project is part of a

The UN thanks Morocco for paying its 2018 regular budget dues

Morocco is on the list of the 45 states that have paid their 2018 regular budget dues to the United Nations. On Thursday evening, and before starting his daily press briefing, the Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, Stéphane Dujarric thanked the kingdom for honoring its financial commitments. Strangely, the United States, Germany, Canada and Russia have not made it to the list of the countries that contributed to the UN 2018 regular budget. On

Hirak : The Al Hoceima appeal court confirms the sentences of seven activists

The Al Hoceima appeal court confirmed on Thursday evening the verdicts pronounced against seven Hirak activists, and which are ranging from five to 20 years in prison, for participating in unauthorized protests in the Rif, reports EFE. Two of the activists were sentenced to 20 years in prison. They are accused of putting fire to a police residence, using violence against the public forces on duty, disobedience and destruction of public property, and having participated to an

Sahara : Morocco is not having direct negotiations with the Polisario, according to El Khalfi

Morocco is not having direct negotiations with the Polisario, announced this afternoon the Minister of Relations with Parliament, and the government spokesman during a press briefing. On the same line as Nasser Bourita, Mustapha El Khalfi said «no meeting is scheduled,» reports Alyaoum24. The Polisario Front declared that it supports the relaunching of direct negotiations with the kingdom under the United Nations’s auspices. For the record, the first direct negotiations