Rabat, Morocco | AFP | FIFA inspectors arrived in Morocco on Monday ahead of a three-day assessment of the north African country’s ability to host the 2026 World Cup, the local bid committee said. The five-member FIFA Task Force will begin its inspection on Tuesday, visiting stadiums, training facilities, fan …
Read More »UN disputes Morocco’s claims of incursions in W. Sahara
United Nations, United States | AFP | The United Nations on Monday disputed claims by Morocco that the Polisario Front had carried out incursions in a buffer zone of Western Sahara, where a UN mission is monitoring a ceasefire. Morocco wrote to the Security Council on Sunday to report that …
Read More »Four migrants found dead off Spain, others missing: rescuers
Madrid, Spain | AFP | At least four migrants were found dead off Spain on Sunday, with others who had been on board a make-shift boat missing, rescuers said. The bodies were recovered in the waters of the Strait of Gibraltar between Morocco and southern Spain. Rescuers found one survivor …
Read More »Man arrested after Morocco sexual assault video
Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Morocco announced Wednesday the arrest of a man allegedly seen in an online video sexually assaulting a girl in broad daylight, a scene that sent shock waves across the country. The interior ministry said the unnamed 21-year-old was arrested for attempted rape of the girl …
Read More »Police investigate as sexual assault video shocks Morocco
Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Moroccan police on Tuesday announced an investigation into a video showing a teenage girl being pinned down, stripped and assaulted in broad daylight after it stirred a wave of anger. In the footage circulated online an assailant kneels on top of the teen touching and …
Read More »Morocco seizes more than 500 kg of cocaine
Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Moroccan authorities said Sunday they had seized nearly 541 kilos (1,200 pounds) of cocaine in a container from Latin America which arrived in Casablanca. Six people including a Brazilian suspected of being the “mastermind of a criminal network” were arrested, according to the Central Bureau …
Read More »HRW urges review of Moroccan activist’s jail sentence
Tunis, Tunisia | AFP | Human Rights Watch called on Morocco Tuesday to urgently reexamine the sentencing of an activist to five years in prison based on a confession that it said may have been coerced. El Mortada Iamrachen, a 31-year-old member of a protest movement in Morocco’s neglected northern …
Read More »Bodies of 16 migrants recovered off Morocco coast
Nador, Morocco | AFP | Moroccan rescue services have recovered the bodies of 16 migrants off the coast of Spain’s enclave of Melilla, Moroccan and Spanish officials said Sunday. Three women were among the dead taken to a morgue in the Moroccan city of Nador, a medical official there told …
Read More »LIVE: Morocco hammer Nigeria 4-0 in CHAN final
FT: Morocco 4 Nigeria 0 Casablanca, Morocco | AFP | Ayoub el Kaabi scored his ninth goal of the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) as Morocco became the first hosts to triumph by thrashing 10-man Nigeria 4-0 Sunday in a Casablanca downpour. With Nigeria in disarray and the match long …
Read More »Thousands protest in Morocco over new coal mine ‘martyr’
Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Thousands of people staged a protest Friday in an impoverished Moroccan city over the latest fatality in the region’s “mines of death”, the third such victim since December, witnesses said. The protest was staged outside the morgue of the hospital in the northeastern town of …
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