A committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, refused to grant citizenship to a Muslim couple after they rejected a handshake and refused to answer questions asked from people of the opposite sex, says Agence France-Press. «We found out that they were not integrated in the Swiss society», said Gregory Junod, mayor of the city located near the Geneva Lake. «When we require to be citizens of a certain country, we must comply with its laws and gender equality», he added. The
While two million people are expected to perform Hajj in Mecca, starting from Sunday the 19th, several mobile apps in different languages have been created to facilitate their arrival, says France 24. Dubbed «Smart hajj», this initiative will allow pilgrims to find their way or get emergency medical care from the Saudi Red Crescent, after sharing their location. The Ministry of Pilgrimage has created the «Manasikana» app, which operates as a translator for non-Arabic
On social media, Moroccans are urged to boycott American products to support Turkey. Meanwhile, the Justice and Development party ignores the campaign.
Houthies have urged Morocco to withdraw from the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. A senior Houthi official said that «there is no reason to kill the Yemeni people and support the intervention». This call comes as rumors circulating lately, suggested that Morocco will withdraw from the war. The Kingdom was one of the first countries to join the Saudi war against Iranian-backed Shiite militias in the country. «When Saudi Arabia made its decision,
A Swedish court has ruled in favor of a Muslim woman who refused to shake hands with her employer during a job interview, reports Euronews. The Labor Court found, on August 15th, that the 24-year-old woman, who was working as an interpreter in Uppsala (Southern Sweden), was indirectly discriminated against. The court ordered the company to pay her 40,000 Swedish Kroner (€ 3,829). «The Labor Court ruled that refusing to shake hands with someone from the opposite sex was a religious
Russia expressed its position on the Western Sahara conflict on Wednesday, backing the relaunching of direct negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario. Moscow, however, wants Algeria and Mauritania to be part of the talks.
A Moroccan-Spanish security team arrived in Syria three days ago to conduct an on-site investigation, regarding the repatriation of Moroccan women held in the north of the country. The information was revealed, Thursday, by Mohamed Ben Aissa, head of Morocco's Northern Observatory for Human Rights (ONERDH). «The team arrived in the area controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces and started interviewing Moroccan women, individually», he told Yabiladi on Thursday, 16th of
After being ranked 41st in the world in June, Morocco lost five places in the FIFA ranking in August. Leaving the 2018 World Cup after losing to Iran and Portugal, the Moroccan national football team is now positioned 46th, scoring 1418 points. The Atlas Lions are ranked behind Ghana 45th and ahead of Bulgaria 47th. Qualified for the international tournament, held during June and July in Russia, the team was ranked 4th in Africa. Morocco dropped in the list, moving to the fifth place in the
According to the World bank’s new report on global competitiveness, corruption and bureaucracy are the main problematic factors for doing business in Morocco. The survey ranks the Kingdom 71st in the world and first in North Africa.
The Polisario is pleased with the efforts made by the UN Special Envoy for Western Sahara Horst Köhler. «He was able to instill a new dynamic in the process of settling the conflict in the Sahara», Khatri Addouh, the Polisario’s «speaker of the parliament» told the Algerian press agency. «Since he was appointed as a personal envoy for Western Sahara, the issue has once again made it to the international scene», he added, reports the