Berlin - Moroccan Karim Belarabi, who has been called up by Germany's manager Joachim Löw, has chosen to play for Germany.

Rabat- Spanish national team coach Vicente Del Bosque ruled out F.C. Barcelona striker Munir Haddadi from the list of players who were called to participate in the Roja’s upcoming two matches against Slovakia and Luxemburg during the European Cup qualifiers.

When asked about the reason behind his decision, Del Bosque that the 19-year old player’s place is with Spain’s under-21 team.

“He is a talented player and his place is with the under 21 team, but he is not an indispensable option for me right now. I called him up last month because Costa was injured, and he might be with us in the future.

In a move that surprised Moroccans and Spaniards alike, Del Bosque decided to call Moroccan Munir Haddadi to join the Spanish squad against Macedonia in its first 2016 Euro Cup qualifying match.

Moroccan and foreign observers saw this decision as an attempt to prevent Morocco from using the young player in the future.

After he played his played his official match with the Spanish squad, Morocco lost every hope to see Haddadi wear the Moroccan jersey.

It remains unclear whether or not Haddadi will be called up by Del Bosque in the near future or will be kept off the squad. Will Haddadi regret his decision to choose to play for Spain? Time will tell.

Tinjedad, Morocco- Adioso featured the Moroccan waterfalls of Ouzoud, located in the province of Azilal, 150 km northeast of Marrakech, among the 10 Best Waterfalls in the World.

The waterfalls of Ouzoud, which received the Certificate of Excellence 2014 by the international travel website, TripAdvisor, are one of the most popular sights in Morocco, providing uplifting sightseeing.

The falls of Ouzoud, which is a Berber name meaning “the process of grinding grains,” lie in a beautiful and friendly small village. The falls provide visitors with stunning views and strenuous, rewarding experiences for hikers.

The diversity of Morocco’s landscapes, beaches, climate and culture makes it among lists of famous countries that appear regularly in best destinations and attractions lists in the world.

Last month, the website, Travel Freak, ranked Tistrin, the Moroccan pass, the most dangerous pass in the southeast, and the second most winding road in the world offering exciting driving experiences and breathtaking views for the passengers..

Tisdrin or Tistrin, a Berber name that means stairs, is located on the mountain range of Anti-Atlas between the oases of Boumalne Dades and Msemrir, a mountainous small village.

A few hundred kilometres to the northeast and far from the mountaineous winding roads of Tisdrin, lie vast and majestic dunes of golden sand known as Erg Chebbi.

In its August 2014 photo galleries, the famous magazine National Geographic featured a photo of the Erg Chebbi desert of Merzouga at the edge of the Sahara in Morocco as its second “Best Shot.”

The Erg Chebbi, whose tallest dunes reach a height of up to 150 meters, is as exciting as its legend that spawned it. According to lore, when a fortuned, but thrifty, family shut the door in the face of a poor woman and her son, God was upset, and punished them by burying the whole family under the mounds of sand called Erg Chebbi.

In August, Moroccan Legzira Beach, located about ten kilometers from the city of Sidi Ifni in the southern region of Morocco, ranked 29th among the 40 best beaches on earth, thanks to its uniqueness, which features four arches carved into the cliff by the tides.

Jerusalem- Israel has hit out at Sweden’s newly elected prime minister Stefan Loefven over his decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

Tinjedad, Morocco -Scholars from Egypt’s Al-Azhar Mosque questioned today the legitimacy of the Moroccan celebration of Eid Al Adha.

Unlike most Muslim countries, where the holiday was celebrated on Saturday, Morocco celebrated Eid Al-Adha on Sunday.

According to El-balad, Youssef Eid, Secretary General of the Fatwa at Al-Azhar Mosque, said that Morocco’s celebration of the first day of Eid al-Adha today “is religiously not permissible because it violates Muslim customs and break the consensus.”

The Egyptian scholar said that Moroccans should celebrate Eid Aladha on the same day as Saudi Arabia, which relies on astronomical calculation to determine the first day of the month of Doul Hijja.

He went on to add that Morocco’s Eid prayers and fasting on the day of Arafat, the 9th day of Doul Hijja, is invalid, since doesn’t coincide with the dates used by Saudi Arabia. It is a “breach of the consensus of the Muslims and religiously not permissible,” he claimed.

In the same context, Mohammed Shahat Aljundi, an Egyptian member of the Islamic Research Academy, said Morocco’s celebration of Eid al-Adha today, “has no religious support.”

Since the Islamic months are dated according to the Islamic lunar calendar, the dates of religious celebrations may vary depending on the time a country observes the moon.

Islamic countries resort to two main methods to set the date for celebration: either through astronomical calculations or direct observational method.

Morocco is one of the Islamic countries that relies on the sighting of the crescent, in conformity with the teachings of the Quran, the Muslims’ holy book.

Rabat- A member of the Republican Party known for his inflammatory opinions on a number of social issues has posted troubling statement on the way Ebola should be treated, as well as Sub-Saharan Africans.

In a number of Tweets posted on Saturday, Todd Kincannon, the former general counsel and executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party, said that every person who has been in contact patient should be simply executed.

People with Ebola in the US need to be humanely put down immediately. RT @AP: Dallas hospital: U.S. Ebola patient in critical condition — Todd Kincannon (@Todd__Kincannon) October 4, 2014

The protocol for a positive Ebola test should be immediate humane execution and sanitization of the whole area. That will save lives. — Todd Kincannon (@Todd__Kincannon) October 4, 2014

“The protocol for a positive Ebola test should be immediate humane execution and sanitization of the whole area. That will save lives.”

But the insanity of this controversial Republican Party did not stop there. He lashed out at Africans and labelled as cannibals.

.@SapiensUnited The people of Africa are to blame for why it's so shitty. They could stop eating each other and learn calculus at any time.

— Todd Kincannon (@Todd__Kincannon) October 4, 2014

“The people of Africa are to blame for why it's so shitty. They could stop eating each other and learn calculus at any time,” he said.

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is set to face Social Democrat Aecio Neves in a run-off election, leaving popular environmentalist Marina Silva out of the race, according to partial results and an exit poll Sunday.

With 88 percent of the ballots counted, Rousseff had 40.7 percent of the vote and Neves 34.7 percent, said the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

That left Silva, a one-time maid whose meteoric rise looked set to make her multi-racial Brazil's first black president just one month ago, on track to be eliminated from the race with 21 percent.

Neves, the scion of a political dynasty and business-world favorite, meanwhile survived a turbulent campaign that nearly relegated him to the dustbin of also-rans to reach a likely October 26 run-off against the incumbent, whose management of the world's seventh-largest economy he has sharply criticized.

The partial official results were backed up by an exit poll by survey firm Ibope, which gave the incumbent 44 percent, Neves 30 and Silva 22.

The race for the second spot in the run-off went down to the wire, with Neves, a popular ex-governor and handsome husband of a former model, battling back from third place to keep his presidential hopes alive.

Silva meanwhile suffered a spectacular setback from her whirlwind late entry into the race.

Silva, a one-time maid who vowed to be Brazil's first "poor, black president," upended the race when she replaced the Socialist Party's original candidate, Eduardo Campos, after he was killed in a plane crash on August 13.

Soaring in the polls, she was initially forecast to beat Rousseff in a runoff.

But Rousseff and Neves steadily reversed her lead, with the latter pulling ahead of her for the first time in the final three polls, released Saturday.

The same polls found Rousseff would defeat Neves in a run-off by more than five percentage points.

Taroudante - Surfing is one of the challenging sports that demands skills and physical efforts.

Yet, for beginners, there are some places in the world that turns this demanding sport into a very enjoyable experience for the advantageous factors they afford, such as warm water, soft waves, easy access, and loads of expert help.

With nearly 3,500 miles of diverse beautiful coastline, Morocco, which stands as an ideal haven for any surfer, is ranked third five best places to learn to surf in the world.

According to GrindTv, the worldwide leader in adventure, action sports, lifestyle and travel, the Moroccan town of Taghazout in the southern city of Agadir is ranked third after Waikiki, in Hawaii and Surfer’s Point, in Barbados respectively.

Taghazout “offers a mix of easy beach-breaks a short walk from town and more challenging sand-bottom points just up the road,” the GrindTV said.

Though the surfing sports “used to be chaos,”, which has been "a mini-hippy surf city since the early ’70s", the town gained reputation recently as the best resort for surfers, said Abdullah Aitdir in Taghazout.

In winter, because of the cold and the wind, the European costliness don’t offer good conditions for wave riding. The quality of waves, pleasant climate, geographical proximity to Europe, and exciting waves that pound its Atlantic coastline turn Morocco into a destination for professional surfers.

Surfing in Morocco is increasingly gaining popularity and many “surf camps” with courses and accommodation packages sold by travel agencies have been installed in the coastlines of the kingdom.

Abdullah Aitdir has converted his father’s grocery store in the nearby village of Taghazout, into a surf school offering lessons and practical help for beginner surfers to enjoy the smooth waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

© Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed.

San Francisco - It’s no secret that Morocco’s economy relies heavily on tourism, and Morocco needs every bit of good news to keep the tourists coming.

What do Moroccan authorities do when the tourists are thinking twice before booking their ticket to Morocco in light of the beheading of the French citizen in Algeria, and the participation of France and others in the air strike against the terrorist group ISIS? The Moroccan answer is simple: they jailed a British man for four months for being gay according to his family.

Ray Cole, 70, was arrested while visiting his friend, or male lover, depending on whose telling the story. Not surprising, the Moroccan authorities had been reluctant to even reveal the whereabouts of the British tourist according to his son.

Now everyone in England and beyond is calling for boycotting Morocco. British Parliament members are already threatening Morocco with dire consequences if they do not release Mr. Cole immediately. This brings back memories of 2008, when a Moroccan teenager was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for allegedly writing, “God, Nation, Barça” on the blackboard at his school. Morocco's motto is, “God, Nation, King.” And remember the romantic kiss? To remind you, two Moroccan teenagers were arrested for being a 'danger to social order' after the photo they posted kissing on Facebook was picked up and printed by a local paper.

Is this the type of publicity that Morocco needs to bring tourists who are the source of income to thousands of Moroccan families?

Many will argue that Morocco is a Muslim country and everyone should go by the established rules. Fair enough, but let me remind you that in Morocco there are hundreds of bars, and Alcohol is haram - forbidden- just like homosexuality is haram in Islam. Are foreign-born homosexuals more dangerous to society than those Moroccans who get drunk and go beat their wives and children?

How can this British man be a danger to society when he simply went to visit his Moroccan lover? Why did the Moroccan authorities confiscate his phone without any due process? He's not the first nor the last who will visit Morocco for reasons other than seeing snake charmers in Jamaa el fna.

If Moroccan officials do not want people with different sexual orientations visiting the kingdom, they simply need to make it very clear in the laws in place, the same way it is done in Saudi Arabia or Iran, that if you are gay and you visit the country, you will be arrested, prosecuted, and jailed, and if you are lucky to make it out alive from jail, you will be sent back to where you came from.

It is wrong to tell people that we are the exception and fool them into thinking that we are a secular country, when in fact we are not. This current “Islamic” government needs to understand that it cannot jeopardize the lives of thousands of Moroccans who depend on tourism. Morocco is not Iran or Saudi Arabia. At least these two countries can afford to be thinking backwards—we can’t.

By arresting this British citizen, there will be a tremendous pressure on the king to “pardon” him. Why put the king in an embarrassing situation where he is forced to release people from jail for crimes that are not supposed to be crimes?

Was he hurting anyone like the Spanish pedophile who was "mistakenly" released from Moroccan jail? Was he really a danger to society? Ignorance is the danger to society, and those who are holding Morocco hostage to their backward thinking are the danger to all of us.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy

© Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed

New York- A shocking picture attacking Islam that was posted on Facebook on Thursday is creating a buzz on social media. The picture shows a truck, allegedly from Oklahoma, with a message that reads: “Muslims go home and take Obama with you.”

The shocking picture, which insinuates that Obama is a Muslim, elicited a huge number of angry reactions from social media users. A number of Americans who don’t share the same racist and anti-Islamic views of the truck owner expressed their embarrassment.

“I am not Muslim and am from Oklahoma and can say that this is just embarrassing. It is so sad people feel this amount of hatred towards people they’ve never met,” one Oklahoma resident commented on the picture.

A woman who apparently has converted to Islam dismissed the hate speech in the picture and said how blessed she feels after becoming a Muslim.

“Bless their heart, those poor ignorant folk who own that truck! I pray that Allah comforts these troubled souls and guides them to a more loving understanding of our world! I feel so blessed to have come to understand the joy and beauty of Submitting to Allah and finding peace! Masha Allah!” she said.

Marrakech- The Danish Foreign Ministry has warned its citizens from travelling to 28 Muslim countries following the announcement on October 2 that Danish fighters would attack Isis targets in Iraq and a threat from Isis to kidnap and possibly kill Danish citizens.

The Danish Foreign Service citizen services department advises Danish citizens to use caution when visiting Muslim countries, avoid travelling alone, and avoid spending too much time in places where Westerners congregate, like airports. A government spokesman said that this warning reflects concerns over terrorist threats against coalition partners taking part in air strikes in Iraq, as well as general perceived threats in countries with large Muslim populations where terrorists may focus on Danes.

Countries on the warning list are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Last week, an article in the Moroccan newspaper L’Economiste noted a 60% rise in cancellations for French tourists going to Morocco following the beheading of a French tourist in Algeria.

Marrakech- British citizen Ray Cole, aged 70, was arrested in Marrakech while on holiday, according to his son. His son said he had difficulty in getting any information from the police as to his whereabouts, according to an article in the British daily newspaper the Guardian.

According to media reports, police searched his mobile phone, email, and Facebook account. They found photographs on his mobile phone that they used to prosecute him in court.

Charlie Elphicke, a Conservative MP for Dover, branded the charges “medieval” and said it showed British tourists “were not safe in Morocco.”

The Guardian quotes him as saying “I have been doing all I can to help free Mr. Cole from these appalling charges. I am deeply concerned about his safety and it is clear that if you visit Morocco you are at serious risk of facing trumped up charges for medieval crimes. The message is clear – Morocco is not safe for British tourists.”

“I am gravely concerned by the state of Moroccan prisons, and the care and the safety he will have in jail,” Elphicke added. “I’m raising it with ministers, asking them to intervene more directly on his behalf. It is a shocking and appalling situation for a British national to be in and it is really important to get him back to the UK.”

The British Embassy said it was providing consular assistance.

Homosexuality and any sexual relations outside marriage are against the law in Morocco. The British Foreign Office and tourism organizations generally make it clear that homosexuals are not welcome in Morocco and are in danger from police sting operations. The legal system in Morocco is conducted in Arabic with poor translation, and it is impossible for the ordinary European tourist to understand.

This incident shows the difference between what is legally permissible in the West based on international notions of human rights and what is legal in Islamic societies, which take a different moral standpoint.

France- Kurdish militia fought off a fresh assault by the Islamic State group on a key Syrian town early Monday, after one desperate woman defender carried out a suicide attack against the jihadists.

IS militants attempted to storm the town of Kobane on the Turkish border from both east and west of a strategic hill to the south, but Kurdish fighters repulsed the attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A Syrian Kurdish official inside Kobane said the town had come under heavy bombardment by the jihadists and there had been fierce clashes as the Kurdish fighters fought off the assault.

IS fighters seized part of Mishtenur Hill, which overlooks Kobane, late on Saturday, but US-led air strikes slowed their advance.

The Syrian Kurdish official said IS fighters were just one kilometre (less than a mile) from the town and that air strikes alone were not enough to stop them.

Idris Nahsen complained there was no coordination between coalition commanders and Kurdish fighters on the ground.

In a sign of the Kurdish defenders' mounting desperation, a female suicide bomber blew herself up at an IS position east of Kobane on Sunday, the Observatory said.

- Suicide bombings not strategy -

It was the first reported instance of a female Kurdish fighter employing a tactic often used by the jihadists, said the Britain-based watchdog, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.

The Kurdish official confirmed the suicide bombing but was non-committal about whether there would be more.

"I don't know. It is related to the situation. We don't have this strategy," Nahsen said.

Sunday's fighting around Kobane -- also known as Ain al-Arab -- killed at least 19 Kurdish fighters and 27 IS jihadists, the Observatory said.

Under assault by IS for nearly three weeks, the town has become a crucial battleground in the international fight against the jihadists, who sparked further outrage at the weekend with the release of a video showing the beheading of Briton Alan Henning.

The video -- the latest in a series of on-camera beheadings of Western hostages -- included a threat to another hostage, US aid worker Peter Kassig.

Kassig's parents have issued a video plea for their son's release, urging his captors to show mercy towards the 26-year-old former US soldier who is a Muslim convert.

His parents have also revealed that Kassig wrote them a letter in June expressing his fears of death and concern for his family.

"I am obviously pretty scared to die but the hardest part is not knowing, wondering, hoping and wondering if I should even hope at all. I am very sad all this has happened and for what all of you back home are going through," Kassig wrote in the letter.

IS began its advance on Kobane on September 16, seeking to cement its grip over a long stretch of the Syria-Turkey border.

The offensive prompted a mass exodus from the town and surrounding countryside, with some 186,000 people fleeing into Turkey.

One mortar round hit a house on Turkish territory just a few kilometres (miles) from Kobane on Sunday, wounding five people, medical sources said.

The source of the fire was unclear, but residents of two small border villages were ordered evacuated as a precaution.

The Turkish parliament last week authorised the government to join the campaign, but so far no plans for military action have been announced, to the dismay of Turkey's own large Kurdish minority.

- Iraq air war quickens -

Extremist Sunni Muslim group IS has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, declaring a "caliphate" in June and imposing its harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

The group has been accused of carrying out widespread atrocities including mass executions, abductions, torture and forcing women into slavery.

It has also released videos of the on-camera beheadings of two US journalists, a British aid worker and on Friday of Henning, a 47-year-old British volunteer driver who went to Syria with a Muslim charity.

After first launching strikes against IS in Iraq in August, Washington has built a coalition of allies to wage an air campaign against the group.

In Iraq, the pace of the coalition air campaign against IS picked up on Sunday with the first strike by Belgium and maiden combat sorties by Australia and The Netherlands.

Britain, France and Denmark have also committed aircraft to the campaign against IS in Iraq, where a fightback by Kurdish forces in the north has made slow progress while federal troops have come under renewed assault by the jihadists west of Baghdad.

In Syria, Washington relies on the support of five Arab allies -- Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Washington DC -- While the Moroccan public disappointment with Munir El-Haddadi's decision to play for La roja is understandable, the Barcelona star’s choice is logical.

Munir was born and raised in Spain, he went to school in Spain and learned soccer in a Catalan academy. Beside the fact that his father is Moroccan, El-Haddadi has nothing to link him to Morocco. He is Spanish and has every right to play for Spain’s national team. Thus, the Moroccan public should respect Munir's decision and Moroccan officials should review their failed outreach policies toward Moroccans Residing Abroad ((MRE) as it is known in French).

Instead of doubting the young star’s patriotism, Moroccan officials should ask themselves the real question: Is the Kingdom doing enough to keep the second and third generations of Moroccans living abroad “attached” to the old country?  The Answer is an emphatic NO.

The case of Munir highlights the failure of the Moroccan government policy to create considerable cultural, linguistic, religious and political influences in countries with heavy diaspora presence. Despite dozens of official, semi-official and independent organisms active around the world, MRE associations remain disorganized and divided. Morocco’s Ministry of MRE and its sponsored bodies seem ineffective and non-existent in some countries.

After dozens of unproductive meetings in Morocco and overseas and the creations of several study groups, Governmental entities that were created to address MRE demands remain unresponsive to the diaspora needs, including transparency in the methods of choosing MRE representatives, direct and aggressive outreach campaigns, and a clear budgetary process.

The work of the Council for the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) is a case in point. Seven years after its birth, the CCME has sponsored several visits and counter visits between Moroccan and foreign dignitaries, but didn’t produce tangible results that would in fact affect the lives of Moroccans overseas.

Most of the CCME activities are irrelevant to the struggles and worries of the MRE. The money spent on visits and meetings should have gone to investments that would strengthen the cultural and linguistic bonds between the Kingdom and generations of young Moroccans born on foreign lands. This valuable generation rich in experience and “connections” will ultimately be the face of the MRE communities.

For now MRE remain alone in their quest to preserve some of their heritage and keep their children’s Moroccan identity alive. Munir El-Haddadi can hardly speak Moroccan, and thus he can’t relate to many aspects of his Moroccan identity.

Furthermore, second and third generation Moroccan immigrants tend to assimilate to their countries of birth rather than identify with their father’s homeland. This “normal” attitude makes the task of retaining the linkage to Morocco even harder. As Munir put it: “I never had doubts about playing for Spain. I was born here and am very happy to have done it. To play for Spain was my own decision. I knew what it meant to do so."

The truth is that El-Haddadi parents left Morocco to find a better life in Spain. Morocco has done little for them and hardly anything for Munir, while Spain invested in his education and Barcelona empowered his soccer talent. The young star has every right to return the favor.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy

© Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed

Rabat - King Mohammed VI, accompanied by Prince Moulay Ismail, inaugurated, on Tuesday in Rabat, the Mohammed VI Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art, a leading project which will contribute to preserving and spreading Morocco's artistic and civilizational heritage.

In a speech on this occasion, chairman of the National Foundation of Museums Mehdi Qotbi underlined that the implementation of this project shows the sovereign's will to make culture a real engine for human, social and economic development and his resolve to equip the country with high-level cultural facilities that encourage creativity and promote the principles of cultural democratization.

Worth 200 million dirhams, the new facility is the first museum institution dedicated entirely to modern and contemporary art and meets international museum standards, he said, adding that the new facility is aimed at building bridges with foreign foundations and institutions.

The Museum was designed to raise awareness and initiate the public, mainly youth, to contemporary artistic creation, and promote participation in the country's cultural life as well as openness on international creation. It will also offer trainings and conferences to well-informed audience as graduates of architecture schools and of fine arts, and art historians.

The three-floor facility includes mainly an auditorium, exhibitions named after renowned Moroccan artists (Chaibia Talal, Jilali Gherbaoui, Meryem Meziane, Ahmed Cherkaoui, Farid Belkahya, Hassan Glaoui, André Elbaz, Mohamed kacimi), a pedagogical workshop, a laboratory for art restoration, a library, and a VIP lounge.

The Mohammed VI Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art will host, on the occasion of its opening, an inaugural exhibition entitled "1914-2014: a century of creation" about Morocco's artistic evolution.

The inauguration ceremony was marked by the screening of a documentary on the Museum directed by Noureddine Lakhmari.

The King chaired, on this occasion, the signing ceremony of three agreements. The first is a partnership agreement between the National Foundation for Museums and the National Education Ministry. It was signed by minister of National Education Rachid Benmokhtar and Mehdi Qotbi.

The second agreement is a partnership between the National Foundation for Museums and the Employers Association (CGEM). It was inked by head of CGEM Miriem Bensaleh Cheqroun and Mehdi Qotbi.

The third is a partnership agreement between the National Foundation for Museums and the Smithsonian Institution. It was signed by Director of the Office of International Relations at the Institution Molly Fannon and Mehdi Qotbi.

By Majid Morcili

San Francisco - The British citizen who was jailed for being a homosexual is now free and on his way out of Morocco and most likely never to come back.

A statement released by his family said Ray Cole, 69, was boarding a flight from Marrakech. “We would like to thank everyone here and in Morocco who has helped our campaign to secure the release of our wonderful father. And we would like to thank the Moroccan authorities for showing clemency and compassion.”

This incompetent and predictable move on the part of the Moroccan authorities will cost Morocco dearly as was predicted recently by British parliamentarian Mike Freer.

What happened should not have happened in the first place. Morocco has now sent a message to the whole world that if you are a westerner, you may come and visit Morocco, and if you wish to break the law — even an obscure law that no can fully interpret or comprehend — but you happen to be unlucky and get arrested, you do not have to worry much:  if you are not released immediately, all you have to do is ask your friends and loved ones to initiate a tweet threatening Morocco with dire financial consequences and the higher authorities in Morocco will eventually hear about the uproar on Twitter or Facebook and go into panic mode.  They will have no choice but to immediately release you.

Mr. Cole was not released based on clemency or compassion on the part of the Moroccan authorities; if anything, Mr. Cole and his family showed class and tact refusing to embarrass the Moroccan authorities that put him in this horrible ordeal.

There is no doubt in my mind that many will lose their jobs over this fiasco. Let us hope for the million times that a lesson is learned and that Moroccan authorities should at least have people who are qualified to consult with before applying a law that is not at all clear.

Let us also hope that in the end, they understand that they are hurting no one but those Moroccans whose lives depend on people visiting the country.

I do have to credit whoever decided to release Mr. Cole so quickly before this drags on.  One thing is sure; the decision to release Mr. Cole was not made by Mustapha Ramid, the Minister of Justice and Liberties in the Moroccan government. Someone who knows the dire consequences of prosecuting someone based on illegally confiscating his phone made this intelligent decision.

Last but not least, if you are a much older westerner hanging with a Moroccan kid in his early twenties, you will trigger the suspicion of anyone in Morocco.  People will certainly not think that it is just a friendly or a business relationship.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy

© Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed

Rabat- The Wedding of Moroccan Prince Moulay Rachid will take place on November 13, the Moroccan daily Assabah reported in its Wednesday issue.

According to the same source has been postponed twice for protocol reasons.  The wedding is expected to be attended by high dignitaries from a number of countries.

Prince Moulay Rachid, brother of King Mohammed VI, sealed his union with Miss Oum Keltoum Boufarès last June.

Oum Keltoum Boufares is the daughter of Mamoun Boufares who was the governor of Marrakech when King Mohammed VI ascended the throne in July 1999.

Moulay Mamoum Boufarès, is the son of Princess Lalla Khadija, daughter of Sultan Moulay Youssef, who is the father of the late king Mohammed V, the grandfather of King Mohammed VI. Moulay Mamoum Boufarès retired in 2009.

New York- A group of Moroccan hackers reportedly hacked the official website of Egypt's Al Azhar University in response to the University questioning Morocco’s celebration of Eid al Adha.

A group called Kuwat Radea Maghribia, or Moroccan Forces of Deterrence conducted the hacking. It came as a reaction to a Fatwa issued over the weekend by al Azhar scholars questioning the validity of the Eid Al Adha holiday in Morocco.

The group left a message on the hacked page calling on Egyptians to address the problems facing their country.

A message posted by the hackers says: “Wasn’t it useful for you and your people to address the problem of the bloodbath, murder, poverty, the number of hungry citizen in country, sexual harassment, and killing of souls by your putschist leader?

But the hacking of the website did not last more than an hour, as the University's' engineers managed to bring it up.