Sunday, October 31, 2010
Special halloween > LOVEFIELD - Shortfilm
Friday, October 29, 2010
Al Jazeera TV's Morocco operations suspended
Morocco has suspended the activities of pan-Arab Al Jazeera television on its territory, Morocco's official MAP news agency reported on Friday, citing the Communications Ministry.The agency said the suspension would take immediate effect and that the accreditations of the Qatar-based televi...sion station's staff in Morocco would also be suspended.
> www.reuters.com
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
best movies ever Via zagat.com
The Zagat Survey says ‘The Godfather’ is the best movie of all time. And the second best. The publishers of the popular guidebooks to restaurants, recently released its “World’s Best Movies,” a new guide to the top 1,000 movies, as chosen by more than 20,000 moviegoers who voted on zagat.com.Leading the list of top 20 films is the 1972 hit, “The Godfather,” followed by the sequel, 1974’s “The Godfather Part II.”
No. 3 on the list is the 1942 classic, “Casablanca,”
while 1993’s “Schindler’s List” and 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia” round out the top five.
The rest of Zagat’s “Top 20” movies:
6. To Kill a Mockingbird(1962)
7. Star Wars (1977)
8. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
9. Lady Eve (1941)
10. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
11. Rear Window (1954)
12. It Happened One Night (1934)
13. Citizen Kane (1941)
14. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
15. All About Eve (1950)
16. The Pianist (2002)
17. The African Queen (1951)
18. The Third Man (1949)
19. Finding Nemo (2003)
20. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
> ajc.com
World Cup-Predicting “Paul the Octopus” Dies
The octopus that accurately predicted the outcomes of eight World Cup matches this year died peacefully on Tuesday in Sea Life Center aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany. The staff members responsible for his care say they’re “devastated” and are considering erecting a permanent monument to him on the aquarium grounds.Named “Paul” by the media and aquarium staffers, the octopus achieved international fame by picking the winner of every World Cup match he was presented with. His caretakers would place two boxes in the water, each with a flag representing one of the teams in an upcoming match, and he would swim to one of the boxes. Every time, he swam to the box representing the team that ultimately won the match.
Paul ranked highly in Twitter trends and was the inspiration for several Internet memes, many of which Buzzfeed has listed in tribute to mark the occasion of his death. He even had his own iPhone app. It allowed you to enter two choices and see which one the digital octopus would choose.
The octopus died of natural causes at a ripe old age — for octopuses, anyway. Thankfully, none of the German soccer players who threatened him with death over his (correct) prediction that Spain would defeat Germany were behind his demise. Neither was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called Paul an agent of “Western propaganda and superstition,” according to the New York Post.
> mashable.com
Monday, October 25, 2010
Medi1TV ON you're Tv This Saturday October 30
The Moroccan Tv Medi1sat Becomes MEDI1Tv , and start with it's new vision this Saturday October 30 .Lady Gaga First Artist to Reach 1 Billion YouTube Views
Mark down another first for pop singer Lady Gaga, who goes into the record books as the first recording artist to reach one billion views on YouTube.
"We reached 1 Billion views on youtube little monsters!" she wrote yesterday in a Tweet to her 7 million followers. "If we stick together we can do anything. I dub u kings and queens of youtube! Unite!"
If you're handicapping how long her Ladyship can hang onto her cyber title, keep in mind that Justin Bieber is not far behind with more than 962 million views
> CBS
"We reached 1 Billion views on youtube little monsters!" she wrote yesterday in a Tweet to her 7 million followers. "If we stick together we can do anything. I dub u kings and queens of youtube! Unite!"
If you're handicapping how long her Ladyship can hang onto her cyber title, keep in mind that Justin Bieber is not far behind with more than 962 million views
> CBS
American swimmer dies during World Cup race in UAE
In a tragic incident, a 26-year-old American swimmer died during an open-water, long distance race in the United Arab Emirates.Francis 'Fran' Crippen, a world open water championship bronze medalist, died during the marathon 10 km swimming World Cup race in the emirate of Fujairah.Crippen went missing during the competition. A frantic search followed with other swimmers, divers and Coast Guard boats deployed to action.After his body was found, adding to the shock and dismay of the whole incident, the other swimmers started weeping openly.While officials in the United Arab Emirates pin overexertion as the cause, world governing body FINA maintains that the cause of death is still under investigation.The award-winning swimmer in both pool and open water events grabbed a bronze in 10km race in 2009 world championships in Rome, followed by a 5km bronze in 2010 in Canada.Crippen switched from freestyle swimming to open water swimming in 2006.United States Olympic Committee has expressed condolences to Crippen’s family and friends.
> OneIndia News
Tribute to french cinéma
After Morocco, Spain, Italy, Egypt, Great-Britain and South Korea, the International Film Festival of Marrakech will pay tribute to France during its tenth edition, which will take place from December 3rd to December 11th 2010. Birthplace of motion pictures, French cinema exerts a major influence on the European and the world film industries. Several distinguished international filmmakers, for whom France is a significant cinematographic reference, will programme a special retrospective of French films during the tenth International Film Festival of Marrakech.Medi1Sat relooking
The Moroccan TV Medi1Sat going to terrestrial broadcast.The High Council of Audiovisual Communication (CSCA) has given its authorization.
Medi1Sat promises that change with a new schedule to be presented Monday, in addition to a complete change of its identity.Medi1Sat, private Moroccan channel created in 2006, transmits its programs from Tangier,Become 100% Moroccan in April 2008 .Medi1Sat 24/7 in Arabic and French.
> bladi.net
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Latifa Ahrar undressing! Body Art or streaptease?!
The Moroccan actress Latifa Ahrar surprised the spectators who attended her last theatrical piece in Dar Takafa, Daoudiate (Marrakech) by putting herself to undress on stage in a show full of audacity!Latifa Ahrar fortunately decided to keep her underwear in front of Moroccan public of all ages and sexes, but especially for that facial expressions, and nudity in the theater is a strange culture! The public part of which has expressed his annoyance at once, screaming or leaving the scene completely.
> www.biladi.ma
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Relief agency: Morocco abandons migrants
Doctors Without Borders says Morocco has expelled hundreds of illegal immigrants, including women and children, to a no-man's-land without food or water after violent raids in several cities in the North African kingdom.The humanitarian group claims 600 to 700 people were arrested during raids from Aug. 19 to Sept. 10 and abandoned near the Morocco-Algeria border. It claims police sometimes destroyed immigrants' shelters with bulldozers.
Doctors Without Borders says it cared for 186 immigrants, including 103 who had lesions or injuries connected to the violent arrests.
An official said Morocco's government spokesman was not available to comment on the report.
Morocco is often used by migrants as a stepping stone from Africa to Europe.
> AP
Etisalat sees Morocco opportunities shrinking: paper
Etisalat sees shrinking investment opportunities in Morocco after France Telecom beat it in the race to acquire a stake in local operator Meditel, a company executive was quoted as saying.Etisalat had said it was interested in acquiring a stake in Meditel, Morocco's second-biggest telecoms operator, but France Telecom last week signed a deal to take a 40 percent share for 640 million euros.
"After the Meditel deal, I believe investment opportunities in Morocco have shrunk compared to the past, especially as the three Moroccan telecom operators now have strategic partners," Morocco's al Watan weekly quoted Etisalat First Deputy Chairman Ahmed Ben Ali as saying.
Etisalat, based in the United Arab Emirates, has been expanding aggressively overseas after losing its monopoly in its home market. It is present in 18 markets globally, in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Meditel competes in the Moroccan market with former monopoly Maroc Telecom, in which French group Vivendi owns a majority stake, and with Wana, in which Kuwaiti telecoms firm Zain has a minority share.
> reuters
Morocco Officially Submit Application To Host 2015 Or 2017 AFCON
Non-Officiel LogoA close associate of FRMF President Ali Fassi Fihri and federal bureau member Karim Alem has confirmed that Morocco have presented an application to CAF which details Morocco’s interest in hosting either the 2015 or 2017 edition of the African Cup of Nations.
“We have submitted a complete dossier to CAF that fully meets their specifications. Only four stadiums are required by CAF. We’re very largely ahead of what’s demanded. We organized the AFCON 22 years ago and that gives very strong legitimacy to our candidacy. We’re going to do everything we can while staying within the rules,” he explained while speaking to Mountakhab.net.
Meanwhile, the country’s Minister of Sports, Said Belkhayat, seemed certain that Morocco would be awarded one of the upcoming editions.
“With this dossier that we’ve presented to CAF, the AFCON that will be hosted in Morocco will be the best edition in the history of this competition. Morocco is determined to organize these games in the best way possible,” he said.
Reports last week suggested that the Moroccans were only interested in the 2015 AFCON but it appears that they have also thrown their names in the hat for 2017 since there were doubts raised about whether CAF would award the 2015 edition to a north African country right after Libya will have hosted it in 2013.
> www.Goal.com
Morocco: 21.5 % increase in goods exports
Morocco's goods exports stood, in the year to August, at 93.14 billion dirhams (1 USD = 8.18 MAD), up 21.5% on the same period of 2009, according to the Office des Changes, Morocco's exchange rate monitoring body.Exports of phosphates and derivatives grew 79%, reaching 22.3 billion dirhams, as against 12.4 billion dirhams a year earlier, the office said in its monthly indicators of Morocco's foreign trade.
Phosphates sales reached 5.48 billion dirhams compared to 3.29 billion dirhams, up 66.3%, said the office, which added that phosphoric acid exports jumped 67.3% to reach 8.97 billion dirhams, with a volume up 37.7%.
As to natural and chemical fertilizers, they stood at 7.8 billion dirhams over the reporting period against 3.79 billion dirhams in the same period of 2009, with a volume up 48.6%.
Regarding goods exports, they stood at 194.9 billion dirhams, compared to 173.9% a year earlier, with a rise of 12.1%, which resulted in a deficit in the balance of trade, estimated at 101.8 billion dirhams, against 97.2 billion dirhams in 2009.
> Map
Northern Ireland to play Morocco in Belfast friendly
Northern Ireland are to play Morocco in a friendly match at Windsor Park in Belfast on Wednesday 17 November.Morocco will be preparing for 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Algeria, Tanzania and the Central African Republic.
Northern Ireland see the game as useful as they do not have European qualifiers between the Faroe Islands on 12 October and Serbia on 25 March.
Northern Ireland are 45th in the Fifa rankings, 50 places above Morocco.
The teams have met just once before with Colin Clarke and Jimmy Quinn scoring in Northern Ireland's 2-1 home win in a warm-up match ahead of the 1986 World Cup finals.
Nigel Worthington's men, who won their opening Euro 2012 qualifier away to Slovenia, play Italy at home on 8 October before the Faroes match four days later.
> www.bbc.co.uk
Morocco to fund new hospital in Rafah
The Moroccan government will fund construction of a hospital in the city of Rafah, sources in the Gaza government said Saturday.Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh reportedly allocated 50 dunums (50,000 square meters) of Gaza Strip lands west of Rafah to build the facility.
Sources in the government said the location was chosen following studies, which indicated the district was in most urgent need of a medical care facilities for the 200,000 residents of the city.
> www.maannews.net
Morocco's Largest Arabic Newsweekly to Fold Under State Pressure
The publisher of Nichane, the most widely read Arabic-language newsweekly in Morocco, is set to announce today that the provocative publication will close its doors due to insurmountable pressure from the country's restrictive monarchy. While the Moroccan government does not directly control media, it often pressures critical or counterculture outlets, particularly Nichane, by imposing fines, imprisoning journalists, destroying thousands of print copies, and sometimes sending police to shut down publication altogether. Nichane ultimately succumbed to a years-long advertising boycott led by the Omnium Nord-Africain Group, a massive holding company that dominates much of the Moroccan economy and is run by the royal family.Ahmed Benchemsi, the award-winning Moroccan journalist who publishes Nichane and has written for Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times, says that advertising companies never tried to keep the boycott a secret. "They tell our advertising agents, 'We had received a direct order not to give you advertisements,'" he said. Because Moroccan businesses must deal frequently with the state-run ONA Group, none were willing to violate the boycott. Without advertising revenue, Benchemsi says he had no choice. "It's a matter of survival."
Benchemsi also publishes TelQuel, the country's most-read French-language newsweekly. Nichane was launched in 2006 as an Arabic version of TelQuel, which has generated international attention since its 2001 launch for its liberal secular ideology and its editorial mix of sex, religion, and political criticism. TelQuel and Nichane earned their wide readerships by provoking conversation in a society with many taboos and by pushing boundaries in a region not known for free speech. The magazines, which flaunt bold covers that could be called lewd even by American standards, confront controversial subject head-on, and spare criticism of no one, will look immediately familiar to anyone who has ever read a New York City tabloid.
Nichane provoked the monarchy's ire with such cover stories as "Sex and Homosexuality in Islamic Culture," "Inside Moroccan Secret Services," and "How Moroccans Joke About Islam, Sex, and the Monarchy." Benchemsi himself was briefly imprisoned in 2007 after publishing an editorial questioning King Mohammed VI's leadership. In December 2009, Moroccan police destroyed 100,000 copies of Nichane in retaliation for printing the first-ever approval poll of King Mohammed VI. Run jointly with Le Monde and professional polling firms, the survey reported 91 percent approval, which Benchemsi swears is legitimate. However, despite even the high approval, state officials announced that the poll was an insult and a crime because the king is above polling.
TelQuel, though also targeted by the advertising boycott, will continue to publish. Because many French-language advertisers are based outside of Morocco, the boycott has had a limited effect on TelQuel, which Benchemsi says remains profitable. I asked him whether Nichane's closing will cause him to reconsider the editorial policies that contributed to the newsweekly's demise. "When you see your colleagues harassed, when you're harassed yourself, when you have to close a newspaper, I have to tell you its painful," he answered. "Before writing anything you have to think about it twice. We are more careful now than we were four years ago." But, he added, "Of course we're still critical, we're still independent."
When asked why the government did not simply shut his doors, Benchemsi replied, "You know, Morocco is not North Korea. They can't just do whatever they want. They have to preserve some kind of facade. Appearances of a free press are preserved." Morocco is widely perceived in the West as one of the Arab world's freest for journalism and speech, and Benchemsi readily concedes there is truth to this. The country has attracted significant foreign investment on this image, including the World Economic Forum (known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland), which will convene in Morocco later this month.
As the Moroccan government cracks down on press freedoms, it risks repelling some of the foreign investment capital that has helped to keep it one of North Africa's stablest nations. But this is not only a Moroccan concern. In the Arab world, journalists are increasingly the vanguard of liberal, secular grassroots movements. The U.S. has struggled for years to steer Arab societies away from militant religious conservatism, something that authoritarian regimes have utterly failed to do. Unlike the autocracies that try to oppress conservative movements, which usually only inflames them, liberal grassroots replace them entirely by offering young Arab people a different way to look at the world and their place in it. The U.S. understands this, which is why it has dumped over $500 million into Al-Hurra, a liberal secular Arabic TV station that is watched by virtually no one. Meanwhile, legitimate, influential, and widely read liberal secular outlets like Nichane are closing because they cannot stand up to the state on their own. It's unlikely that anyone at the U.S. State Department will nudge Morocco to ask that the advertising boycott be lifted. That's too bad, because after nearly a decade of sacrificing U.S. lives and resources, it would be a nearly cost-free opportunity for to further our generation-long mission of establishing strong relations in the Arab world.
> www.theatlantic.com
