By Omar Bihmidine Morocco World News Sidi Ifni, Morocco, May 23, 2013 Five million Moroccans log onto the giant social network Facebook, reported national channel Medi 1 TV.  Whereas some Moroccans have admitted that they are inveterate users of Facebook and regret wasting their quality time navigating through it, others believe otherwise, arguing that Facebook has helped them make the acquaintance of many ...

By Mohammed Mouad Chahbane Morocco World News Marrakesh, May 23, 2013 Contacts are believed to be underway between the PJD leadership and one of the leading parties of the opposition over the possibility of forming a new coalition government. According to the Moroccan daily Al Alam, the official newspaper of the Itsiqlal Party (IP), contacts are underway between the Party of Justice and Development’s leader ...

By Youssef El Kaidi Morocco World News Fez, May 23, 2013 After retiring from politics, a number of former presidents and government officials turn giving highly paid speeches into their newly found career. Over the past two decades, speaking for money has been a very lucrative business for many ex-presidents and government officials. After leaving office, these officials embark on extensive travels around t ...

By Loubna Flah Morocco World News Casablanca, May 22, 2013 Morocco's top business leader criticized the head of the government for "mishandling the economic crisis and for taking reform measures without consulting with the different stakeholders. Ms. Meriem Bensalah, the President of the General Confederation of Companies in Morocco (known as the CGEM), has leveled sharp criticism against Benkirane’s govern ...

 GENEVA, May 22, 2013 (AFP) Switzerland, currently in the process of restituting assets to several former autocratic countries, is working on a new law aimed at simplifying the process of freezing and unblocking such funds, the government said Wednesday. The law under construction would regulate "the administrative confiscation and restitution of dictator assets," the government said in a statement. Bern pr ...

By Loubna Flah Morocco World News Casablanca, May 22, 2013 Sources close to the Moroccan daily Al Khabar revealed that the Istiqlal Party is going through an internal crisis. A number of the IP senior members, as well as the presidency council led by the IP former secretary general, Mr. Mohammed Boussetta had requested Mohammed Chabat to reconsider his decision to quit the coalition government. According to ...

TUNIS, May 22, 2013 (AFP) Ansar al-Sharia spokesman Seifeddine Rais, detained in the Tunisian city of Kairouan at the weekend as police enforced a government ban on its annual congress, was released on bail on Wednesday, the Salafist group said. "God be praised, our brother Seifeddine Rais has been freed," the group said on its Facebook page. Lawyer Anouar Ouled Ali told AFP his client still faces charges o ...

  BRUSSELS, May 22, 2013 (AFP) EU leaders agreed Wednesday to send a civilian border assistance mission to Libya which should begin operations next month, AFP reported. The mission, dubbed EUBAM Libya, will help the country re-establish effective controls at its land, sea and air borders. "EUBAM Libya is an important mission for Libya and the entire region but also for the security of EU borders," EU foreig ...

TRIPOLI, May 22, 2013 (AFP) Libyan army special forces have arrested an armed group in the eastern city of Benghazi in possession of hundreds of anti-tank mines and material for making explosives, the LANA news agency reported on Wednesday. A security source was quoted as saying "220 anti-tank mines as well as equipment for manufacturing explosives were seized" and that one of the soldiers was wounded in cl ...

Rabat, May 22, 2013 (MAP) The government performance and relations between officials and the media are the major topics commented this Wednesday by editorialists. In an editorial titled “what’s the use of governments”, Le Soir Echoes surveys the history of governments in Morocco since independence in 1956, stressing that education reforms have made Morocco waste several years as they deepened social gaps wh ...

By Youssef El Kaidi Morocco World News Fes, May 22, 2013 The number of states withdrawing their recognition of the so called “Sahraoui Republic” has been on the rise in the last two decades and the latest country to withdraw its recognition of the Polisario’s so-called republic came from the Republic of Seychelles. The Seychelles Foreign Minister Jean Paul Adam, reiterated Tuesday, May 21st in Addis Ababa h ...

TEHRAN, May 22, 2013 (AFP) Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday he will ask supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to reverse what he branded the unjust disqualification of a close aide from next month's presidential election. The conservative-dominated Guardians Council on Tuesday eliminated both the aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, and ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from a list of eight ...