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Morocco bid to free boy from well reaches nerve-wracking final stages
By Hicham Rafih and Fadel Senna with Kaouthar Oudrhiri in Rabat Moroccan rescuers were in the nerve-wracking final stages Friday of a marathon effort to rescue Rayan, a five-year-old boy trapped down a well for a fourth night. The complex and risky earth-moving...
Migration: Migrants rescued off the coast of Morocco
The Moroccan navy on Tuesday rescued 63 migrants including 15 women and three children after their vessel started to sink as they tried to reach the Canary Islands, activists said. Alarm Phone, which provides an emergency hotline for migrants in trouble at sea, said...
Morocco: 43 drowned as migrant boat capsizes off Morocco
Forty-three migrants including three infants died after their boat capsized off the coast of Tarfaya in southern Morocco, Spanish organisation Caminando Fronteras said Monday. Ten people were rescued from the shipwreck, the organisation's spokesperson told AFP. The...
Human Rights: Moroccan journalist Soulaimane Raissouni maintains his innocence during appeal hearing
A Moroccan journalist sentenced to five years in prison for indecent assault in a controversial case proclaimed his innocence Monday at the start of an appeal hearing. Soulaimane Raissouni, 49, who was sentenced in July last year, is the latest journalist critical of...
Morocco businessman jailed over 29 deaths in factory flood
The owner of a Moroccan textiles workshop where 29 workers drowned, most of them women, in a flood in February was sentenced to 18 months in prison, a lawyer said Thursday. The workers were trapped as heavy rains flooded the basement factory in the northern city of...
Morocco: Former rights minister Mohammed Ziane to be tried for adultery
A Moroccan former rights minister who has become an outspoken government critic said Wednesday he was facing charges of adultery and contempt of court. Mohammed Ziane said he will go on trial December 9, more than a year after he accused the kingdom's security...
Western Sahara: Biden administration confirms its support of Morocco’s roadmap on Western Sahara
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered praise Monday for Morocco's proposal on Western Sahara, marking fresh support despite rising tension over the territory with Algeria. Former president Donald Trump last year broke global precedent by recognizing Morocco's...
Morocco: Tragedy at sea as more migrants attempt dangerous crossings
Moroccan coast guards have assisted more than 300 migrants in difficulty aboard various craft since Friday, the official MAP news agency reported on Monday. Most of the 331 were from sub-Saharan Africa, the agency said, citing a military source. Despite stepped-up...
Environment: Climate change could further destabilize North Africa
By Paul Raymond Tunisian olive farmer Ali Fileli looked out over his parched fields and crushed a lump of dry, dusty earth in his hand. "I can't do anything with my land because of the lack of water," he said. Fileli is just one of many farmers who have been left high...
Algeria-Morocco conflict: Two scenarios on the likelihood of an armed confrontation
Will then fight or will they not? Tensions between Algeria and Morocco continue to escalate following the killing of three Algerian truckers in the Western Sahara. The Algerian authorities suggested that a Moroccan drone was used to hit the trucks, promising a...
Morocco lifts Covid curfew
Morocco on Tuesday said it was lifting a nationwide pandemic curfew thanks to an improving health situation and widespread vaccinations. Infections had surged in the North African country after it initially eased the curfew -- imposed early in the pandemic -- and...
Organic farming in the Maghreb: Tunisia ahead, Morocco trails, Algeria is far behind
By Kaouther Larbi and Françoise Kadri Proudly displaying her freshly picked pomegranates, Tunisian farmer Sarah Shili says going organic is "the future of farming" -- and as demand surges in North Africa and beyond, the sector is blooming. Shili runs Domaine Elixir...
Morocco’s Western Sahara comments ‘fabrication’: Polisario
The Polisario Front independence movement on Sunday dismissed as "fabrication" comments by Morocco's king saying that the disputed Western Sahara territory was not up for debate. The Algeria-backed Polisario Front seeks independence for Western Sahara, but Morocco,...
Western Sahara: Tension in the Maghreb increases after killing of three Algerian truckers in contested region
Algeria-Morocco: Decades of tensions As Algeria accused Morocco of killing three of its truck drivers on a desert highway, we look at the North African neighbours' worsening relations. The disputed Western Sahara, which Rabat considers part of its kingdom but where...
Germany and Morocco continue to disagree on Western Sahara despite Rabat’s pressure to sway Germany’s position
Subscriber access: Despite Morocco’s pressure to convince Germany to support its claims on the disputed Western Sahara territory, Germany says no such influence could shift its views on the conflict.
Algeria to halt gas exports to Spain via Morocco
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday ordered state energy firm Sonatrach to halt gas exports to Spain through a pipeline that traverses Morocco due to tensions with Rabat. Algeria, Africa's biggest natural gas exporter, has been using the...
Morocco: Public investment to consumer $27 billion next year
Morocco will spend a record 23 billion euros ($27 billion) on public investment in the coming year to right an economy shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, the economy minister announced on Tuesday. The government is planning to "mobilise public investment of 245...
Business: Algeria puts an end to Maghreb pipeline
Algeria will from now on deliver its natural gas to Spain exclusively through an undersea pipeline, ministers from both countries reportedly said Wednesday, after Algiers abandoned use of a line through Morocco. In August Algeria cut diplomatic ties with its Maghreb...
Criminality: Drug baron Hambli arrested in Moroccan hospital
A notorious French drug baron who skipped bail in March this year has been re-arrested in a Morocco hospital where he is being treated for a serious facial wound, security sources told AFP on Monday. Sofiane Hambli, a 46-year-old Franco-Algerian, used false papers to...
Morocco: Rights activist Maati Monjib to resume hunger strike
Moroccan historian and rights activist Maati Monjib said Wednesday he was again going on hunger strike to protest a ban on leaving the country. "I am starting a hunger strike in protest at being prevented from travelling for medical treatment in France, where my...
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