Morocco's Arrabet and Skaleet partner for a new neo-bank offering in Africa  (Read more...)

One of the Hirak’s lawyers has been summoned by the police

Abdessadak Elbouchattaoui, a member of the Hirak detainees' defense committee, said on Wednesday night on his Facebook page that he was summoned by the police in Tetouan. «Each voice is targeted and every activist and human rights activist is targeted,» he said, indicating that the reason why he was summoned by the police is linked to «his declarations to the national media and his opinion regarding the Hirak movement in the Rif region». Contacted by Al Aoual,

Luxembourg : Morocco among the countries to apply for asylum the most

Moroccan nationals are the fourth nationality to seek asylum in Luxembourg, according to the daily Luxemburger Wort. Out of a total of 1,369 people who sought international protection, 120 are Moroccan. The Syrians (224) were the first to seek asylum there, followed by Serbs (150) and Algerians (195). The country registered more applications this year than in 2016, which amounted to 1,025. This year, Luxembourg has granted refugee status to 619 people and subsidiary protection to 11 people.

700 Sub-Saharan migrants attempted to enter Ceuta

700 migrants have tried to force their way into Ceuta in a failing attempt, Associated Press, an American nonprofit news agency, said today. According to the Interior Ministry’s office in Ceuta «migrants also tried to scale the six-meter-tall barbed –wire fences around Ceuta after the early Thursday crossing attempt at the Tarajal post failed, but were again repelled by Moroccan and Spanish police». On Wednesday, the Moroccan and Spanish authorities have closed the

Dubai : Three Saudi nationals get a 10- year-sentence for raping a Moroccan woman

Three Saudi nationals were sentenced yesterday in Dubai to ten years in prison for raping and sexually assaulting a Moroccan woman, reports the Emirati newspaper The National. In January 2017, three men aged between 24 and 27 had accompanied a 32-year-old woman to their hotel room to «party». One of them raped her and forced her to «pleasure to his brother and his friend.» «We spoke for a while and I told them I was heading to another club but they invited me to

A Moroccan woman robbed and injured in India by two unidentified men

A Moroccan woman living in Bengaluru, the capital of India’s southern Karnataka state was mugged by two men who broke into her apartment last week, The Times of India said yesterday. Identified as Mouna Boujmal, the 27-year-old national works for IDEX, a corporation based in the USA and is engaged in the development, design, and manufacture of fluidics systems. She was given an apartment as part of her training period where she lives. According to the same source, Boujmal heard a

Moroccans set a record on daily electricity consumption between the 7th and 8th of August due to excessive heat

Morocco has set a historical record on the daily consumption of electricity, respectively on the 7th and 8th of August due to the intense heat wave that the kingdom witnesses these days, The National Office of Electricity and Potable Water (ONEE) said on Wednesday. «Morocco has set a historical record of the electric power demanded, both in the morning and the evening of Monday 7th of August 2017 as well as the daily consumption of electricity on Tuesday 8th of August 2017», ONEE

Morocco : Vegetable exports to EU increase in the first semester of 2017  

  Vegetable exports to the European Union have grown by 17 percent in the first semester of 2017 compared to the first six months of the previous year, the Chinese news agency, Xinhua reports today. The revenues generated from these exports have amounted to 551.8 million Euros (648 million USD) in the first half of the current year as compared to 2016 when it only stood at 470.6 million Euros (553 million USD), stated the same source quoting the Moroccan financial daily

Ceuta : The border temporarily closed due to migratory pressure

The delegation of the Spanish government in Ceuta, in coordination with the Moroccan authorities, decided to suspend for a week the passage of goods and porters at the Tarajal border post, according to the EFE agency. The reason why is linked to the migratory pressure that took place at the border between the two countries. An agreement between the Spanish government delegation and the Moroccan authorities, which includes both the closure of the Tarajal II passage reserved for porters, as well

Morocco could host the 2025 IAAF World Championships

Morocco is likely to be entrusted with the organization of the world athletics championships in 2025. It is expected that an African country will host the World Championships of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) , according to Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, president of the Confederation of African Athletics, reports Inside the Games. According to him, six African countries are likely to host this high-mass sports : Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South

Ceuta : 30 Algerian an Moroccan migrants found hidden in fairground rides

The Spanish police found on Tuesday 30 Moroccan and Algerian migrants, including ten miners, hidden in fairground vehicles, AFP reported. Officers used heartbeat detectors and dogs to locate the migrants, hidden in bumper cars and a «ghost train». The vehicles intended to transport these rides were waiting to board ferries bound for mainland Spain, according to the Civil Guard. «They try to use attractions that are only half covered up to jump in and hide inside,» a

World Championship London 2017 : Soufiane El Bakkali wins silver medal in 3,000 steeplechase

Moroccan athlete Soufiane El Bakkali won a silver medal in 3,000m steeplechase at the world athletics championships held in London from the 4th  to the 13th August. El Bakkali finished second with a 8min 14s 49/ 100th, behind the Kenyan Consesus Kipruto who won the world title and a gold medal after having crossed the finish line in 8 min 14s 12 / 100th, the American Evan Jager finished third (8: 15.12) wining a bronze medal. Fifteen Moroccan athletes take part in these world

BMCE Bank of Africa : An investment seminar dedicated to Moroccans living abroad in Saidia

The city of Saidia will host on Friday 11th of August, a regional investment seminar by BMCE Bank of Africa dedicated to Moroccans residing abroad (MLA). Following the success of the 2015 and 2016 editions, BMCE BOA Group is renewing its program of regional investment seminars at the national level. The bank's objectives are to encourage MLAs to invest in Morocco and to sustain economic and financial ties with their country of origin, explain the promoters of this initiative. The organization

Jbel Irhoud to be classified as an international archaelogical and historical site

Jbel Irhoud, an archeological site located 50 kilometers southeastern the city of Safi, is set to be classified as an international archaeological and historical site, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday quoting local media. The area got famous during the last couple of months for being home to the world’s oldest homosapien fossils. «The ministry is working to classify Jbel Irhoud among the national and world historical sites, given its certain archeological value for the

Even on the internet, Moroccan schools and universities are at the bottom of the ranking

The ranking of Moroccan schools and universities on the internet is disappointing. Webometrics Ranking of World Universities has released its latest ranking in July. Conducted by Cybermetrics Lab, which belongs to the Council of Scientific Research (CSI), the Spanish public research organization has included more than 8,000 universities on the internet. It also used four criteria to evaluate these establishments, namely : visibility (50%), the number of web pages (20%), number of documents

Human Rights Watch : Mahdawi’s arrest «violates his right to peaceful speech»

Following the arrest of the Moroccan Journalist, Hamid Mahdawi, Human Rights Watch, an American-founded international non-governmental organization has issued a report denouncing the charges put against him. Sentenced to three months of prison on the 25th of July 2017, HRW indicated that this «violates his (Hamid Mahdawi) right to peaceful speech». Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa Director at Human Rights Watch declared that «disagreeing with a state policy

The family of the Moroccan sailors kidnapped in Nigeria calls the government to intervene

The family of a Moroccan navy merchant, believed to be kidnapped by Nigerian pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, has called the government in a statement to react to the incident that took place a week ago, reports Al Arabiya. According to the same source, the Moroccan online newspaper, Hespress was handed a letter on Monday from the family of one of the two Moroccan sailors allegedly kidnapped. «In the letter the family demanded that the Moroccan authorities intervene through the Foreign

Canada : Muslims will finally have their cemetery in Quebec

Muslims in the Quebec city will finally have their own cemetery, the municipality announced on Friday after months of procrastination, La Croix reports. This cemetery was promised after the massive shooting at a mosque in Quebec late January, when six worshipers were killed by a student. The Muslim cemetery is supposed to take part of a land adjoining the present cemetery of the city. According to the same source, the city of Quebec «accepted (...) an offer of purchase filed by the

FC Barcelona closes its football academy in Casablanca

FC Barcelona announced today in a statement the closing of its football academy in Casablanca, FCB Escola, following two years of operations, according to Spanish sports information website Be Soccer. The club did not indicate the reasons behind the termination of its contract with the local company in charge of the management of the academy. It has been disclosed however, that the club did not have, at the moment, any «official sporting project on Moroccan soil», and proceeded to