Taroudant, Morocco - Muslim men in Kelantan, Malaysia, who are caught skipping Friday prayers three weeks in a row with no reasonable excuse may face a one-year jail sentence, according to the Kelantan Islamic Development Council, dakwah.

Mohd Nassuruddin Daud, chairperson of the Council, said, “Those who have reached the age of maturity and have no concrete reason for skipping Friday prayers can be charged.”

According to the Malaysia Chronicle, Muslims who are found skipping Friday prayers “will be charged under Section 104 of the Council of Religion of Islam and Malay Customs (Kelantan) Enactment 1994, which states that an offender can be fined RM 1,000 or face a one-year jail sentence.”

“Friday is a noble day. There is no reason for men to skip Friday prayers, which are only held once a week,” Mohd Nassuruddin told the Kelantan state assembly yesterday.

Mohd Nassuruddin said that anyone, including the imam (mosque leader) and the mosque’s committee members, could report people who fail to perform Friday prayers three weeks in a row, so that they can be charged.

“Those who want to file a complaint should fill in a form and submit it to the Kelantan Department of Islamic Affairs (Jaheik),” he said.

In conformity with the teachings of Islam, Friday prayer, a congregational prayer (?al?t) that Muslims hold every Friday, is one of the most important prayers for all Muslims.

“O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu'ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew.” Surat Al-Jumu`ah (The Congregation, Friday) 9.10

But nowhere in the Quran or Hadiths (sayings) of the Prophet is it stated that people should be forced to perform the prayer or other aspect of the religion.

Taroudant, Morocco - French company “la Société Capital Biotech” (biotech company) has developed a new product known as “Halal test,” a device that will allow Muslim consumers to detect the presence of pork or alcohol in food, according to Le Nouvel Observateur.

Created by Franco-Algerian duo Abderrahmane Chaoui, a 25-year-old graduate graduate student in business, and French entrepreneur Jean-François Julien, the device is designed to detect substances banned by Islam in foods, namely alcohol and pork.

For 6.90 euros, the device consists of a strip, which the consumer must put into a glass of warm water containing a sample of food in order to see whether it contains ingredients prohibited by Islam.

Muslims can easily test their food with this device. Once the consumer dips the strip into warm water with a sample of food, "The first bar then emerges on the strip. . . . And if another one appears, this means that the mixture contains pork," said Abderrahmane Chaoui, co-founder of the brand.

According to the same source, Chaoui said there is no test currently that allows Muslims to check whether the food they bought contains ingredients banned by their religion. The “Halal Test” is important to confirm that the food that Muslims consume is free of any ingredient, precisely pork and alcohol, forbidden by the Quran.

Because French law prohibits collecting statistics based on religious criteria, France does not have official statistics on the actual number of Muslims living in its territory However, Islam is widely considered to be the second most prevalent religion in France after Christianity. With France home to a large Muslim community, and the increasing demand for Halal food, the device is likely to gain popularity.

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Fez - Dr. Fatima Sadiqi is Professor of Linguistics and Gender Studies. She published her recent book "Moroccan Feminist Discourse" (260 pages) on September 18, 2014.

The central idea of this book may be expressed in the following way: Berber, a historically women-associated language, is made official in the Moroccan 2011 Constitution: an unprecedented and unique event in the modern history of the country. This recognition propels the Berber language and culture in the spheres of authority and calls for an enlargement of the intellectual scope of the Moroccan feminist discourses by including the missing Berber dimension. This inclusion will put an end to a longtime paradox in these discourses: although Berber women’s agency is commonly acknowledged as ancestral and ubiquitous in a country that counts the largest Berber community, it has never been recognized in the Moroccan mainstream feminist discourses, largely rooted in the coming of Islam, the harem, urbanization, and postcolonial modernity with little room for the living symbolism of the pre-Islamic eras, ruraliness, orality, art, and rituality. The dynamics of today’s overall socio-political, regional and global contexts, and the recent uprisings in the region are conducive to more inclusive Moroccan feminist discourses where the spectacular emergence of Berber is accommodated.

In an attempt to address the central idea of the book, five interrelated sub-themes are developed: (i) the significance and challenges of the twenty-first emergence of Berber identity in Morocco, (ii) the historicity (historical legitimacy) of Berber women’s agency, (iii) the sources of authority in Moroccan culture, (iv) the deficiency of the existing empowerment measures and the discourses that accompany them, and (v) the necessity of a larger-than-Islam framework for Moroccan feminist discourses. Each one of these sub-themes is addressed in a specific chapter. Together, the chapters underscore the fact that Berber women’s acknowledged historicity in a space-based patriarchy that uses powerful sources of authority is excluded from material empowerment strategies and the feminist discourses that accompany them. However, the nascent democratization process, the re-emergence of various Berber icons in today’s youth culture, and especially, the elevation of Berber to an official status force Berber women’s agency and experiental knowledge as part of a more inclusive symbolic empowerment, and opens the door to a larger-than-Islam framework for Moroccan feminist discourses.

Designed to set the ground for the subsequent discussions in the book, the first chapter underlines the significance and challenges of the spectacular twenty-first century emergence of the Berber identity in Morocco.

Using the background emergence of Berber and the cultural canvas of authority, power and agency in Moroccan society provided by the first and second chapters, the chapter highlights the historicity of Berber women’s agency, namely, their agency in preserving the Berber language and culture and in the making of Moroccan history. From the pre-Islamic goddess Tanit and warrior Kahina, through the Islamic saints, to the modern female icons, Berber female agency is part and parcel of Morocco’s past, present and future in spite of its marginalization in official history.

The third chapter addresses the sources of authority in Moroccan culture. These sources are of two main types: primary and secondary. The primary sources have strong cultural weight and include patriarchy, religion, language, the geography/modernity nexus, and monarchy. The secondary sources have strong “relaying” weight and include family, the mosque, the school, street, the workplace, the Makhzen (king’s immediate political circle), the parliament, and the court of justice. The two sources of authority feed into and strengthen each other. The nature of these sources is relevant from the perspective of this book in the sense that it explains the dominant male readings of Berber women in the history of Morocco, the dynamics of women’s empowerment, and the nature of feminist discourses in this country.

The fourth chapter builds upon the conclusions of the preceding three chapters: the historicity/agency of Berber women and their subsequent marginalization and the combination of the patriarchy/authority background of Moroccan culture are reflected in a non-inclusive material empowerment of women and corresponding exclusive feminist discourses in the country. This chapter problematizes the dynamics of current women’s empowerment and the feminist discourses that accompany this empowerment.

The fifth and last chapter is a synthesis of the preceding four chapters. Granting that Berber women have long lived in a space-based patriarchy, which explains their absence from authoritative history and material empowerment and the corresponding feminist discourses, this chapter seeks a more inclusive alternative: a larger-than-Islam framework for the Moroccan feminists discourses where symbolic empowerment and a wider understanding of women’s knowledge make sense. The advent of democratization and the elevation of Berber to the rank of “official” language are conducive to such an alternative.

By including the missing language and culture perspective, this book departs from mainstream Moroccan feminist discourses (secular and Islamic) where socio-cultural issues are either backgrounded or presented as hurdles to women’s progress; it targets an overall view of Moroccan women that both includes and goes beyond the Islamic/ist perspectives. The language and culture perspective allows an exploration of Berber women’s agency and its impact on today’s feminist expressions of the self. This perspective is reinforced by the current trend to revisit the past in order to understand the present and the future, largely inspired by an emerging search for identity in an increasingly troubled world.

For Dr. Sadiqi, this book is "both scholarly and personal." She continues: 

Moroccan Feminist Discourses is a book I have always wanted to write. When I started writing about the Berber language and culture in the late 1970s,and about Moroccan women issues in the mid-1980s of the last century, I was attracted to both as two “separate” domains of reflection. From the early 1990s onward, I gradually began to sense the extraordinary link between the two, not only in theory but also in my own life: I originate from a monolingual Berber rural village and have become multilingual through education and movement to the city.[1] In this transition, Berber was my mother tongue, I learnt Moroccan Arabic in peer groups, Standard Arabic and French at school, and I chose English for my graduate studies. To do well at school I had to accommodate housework and homework and as child I refrained from using Berber at school lest my friends would make fun of me. I, therefore, experienced the pervasive power of patriarchy and language very early in my life. My other awareness of the pervasive power of Berber female icons in today’s “militant” voices was greatly enhanced by my twelve years experience in co-editing the anthology Women Writing Africa. The Northern Region (The Feminist Press, 2009). The Berber women’s oral and written texts I gathered and analyzed pushed me to reflect more on the impact of Berber language and culture on today’s feminisms. Overall, I have been involved with the ups and downs of Berber and the Moroccan feminist discourses for more than three decades, which makes this book both scholarly and personal, hence the introduction of each chapter with a short personal vignette.

Regarding terminology on the use of the term "Berber," Dr. Sadigi said: "As this book is written in English, I use the term “Berber” (a non-indigenous term) instead of the more politically correct term of “Amazigh” because unlike in Arabic and French, “Berber” is not a pejorative term in the Anglo-Saxon literature."

[1] My father was a military officer. A whole generation of rural women who could access school and ascend in the social ladder had military fathers. This breed of fathers had the characteristic of both clinging to their rural roots and seeing in education the only means to survive in the city. From a gender perspective, these fathers were interestingly more open and less conservative than many urban fathers. Their story is yet to be written.

Fatima Sadiqi is Professor of Linguistics and Gender Studies and Founder of the Center for Studies and Research on Women at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco. She is the author of Women, Gender, and Language in Morocco and the editor of Women and Knowledge in the Mediterranean,Women in the Middle East and North Africa: Agents of Change, and Women Writing Africa.

Marrakech- A veiled woman was kicked out of Paris’s famous Bastille opera house on Monday under the anti-face-covering law that France adopted in 2011.

The woman was seated in the first row near the orchestra and in view of the performers on stage. At the end of the first act of La Traviata, the singers performing the opera threatened to not continue the show until she removed her veil and revealed her face or left the building.

Jean-Philippe Thiellay, director of the Bastille Opera, established by Socialist president Francois Mitterrand in 1989, said, “Some performers said they didn't want to sing” in her presence, and he confirmed that she was asked to leave.

He was quoted by the same source as saying. "I do not like the idea of expelling viewers from the exhibition hall, but the law is the law. Moreover, we are part of the public sector. And we were afraid to stop the show because some singers refused to continue to perform as long as we did not find a solution to this problem.”

“It was unpleasant to ask someone to leave,” he added. To avoid a similar situation happening again, France’s Ministry of Culture has sent a set of rules reminding all public cultural halls, galleries, and public museums that they must comply with the law of the country concerning the Burqa (veil).

France is the first European country to ban the full-face Islamic veil, and, as a result of this incident, is the first European country to expel a woman from an artistic performance because of her religious background.

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Rabat- Two Arab women are on trial for women trafficking by Dubai’s Criminal Court, according to the emirates247.

The two defendants were reportedly prosecuted for exploiting a Moroccan woman, who was lured into the UAE with promises of working in a beauty salon, but found herself forced into prostitution.

Upon her arrival in Dubai on January 24, the Moroccan victim learned that her job was prostitution. Working in a saloon of beauty was just a deceptive offer to entice her into accepting the proposal.

“I arrived at the building and went up to the fifth floor. I was surprised to see seven Moroccan women in the flat. AF took my passport and then told me that my job is in prostitution, not in a salon. I tried to get out of the flat but was prevented. The next day, AF took all the women including me to a hotel and offered the women to customers against Dh 1,500, ” the victim said.

Luckily, the victim was saved by her first client and bought her a ticket back to her own country. The trafficker took the Moroccan woman to a hotel where she was coerced to provide sexual services to “a Saudi National” for Dh 1,500.

“I cried and told the man that I am not a prostitute and narrated my whole story to him. The man accompanied me to the airport and bought me an air ticket using his Visa card. However, authorities did not allow me to leave the country as my contract had not been cancelled. I went to the airport police and reported this,” the victim told investigators.

The two defendants, who were recognized by the victim, have denied all charges against them in court. The next court hearing will be held on November 6.

Marrakech- French-Moroccan comedian Mustapha El Atrassi is among the 10 funniest people in the world due to his recent success in an international competition of stand-up comedy, in which 41 countries are participating.

El Atrassi managed to reach the semi-final of the competition launched by comedian Jamie Masada, owner of the American chain of comedy clubs "Laugh Factory."

Jamie Masada, who is himself a stand-up comedian, came up with the idea of a competition to use laughter to raise awareness about great causes. He brainstormed the idea of “Laughing against the war” after the recent Israeli-Palestinian conflict had reached its height.

While searching for the best comedians in the world, Jamie Masada, who is an Iranian Jewish philanthropist, selected El Atrassi among several candidates. El Atrassi had previously won the 15 Years-15 talents competition organized by Moroccan TV channel 2M in 2003.

El Atrassi is a television host and a French-Moroccan comedian. He was born on Aug. 30, 1985 in St. Doulchard in France.

He completed his studies of English in 2006. Later on, he took part in the columnist emissions of Laurent Ruquier On va s'gêner, on Europe 1 channel, On a tout essayé and On n'est pas couché on France 2.

He will participate with 9 other comedians in the next semi-final stage of Masada’s competition. The finalists will perform and then compete at Laugh Factory's sister club in Las Vegas. The winner will be announced on October 24.

Edited by Sahar Kian

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Riyadh - Female drivers in Saudi Arabia will be dealt with “strictly”, authorities said on Thursday before a right-to-drive campaign culminates at the weekend.

The kingdom is the world’s only country where women are not allowed to operate cars.

Activists said in early October they were revving up their campaign using social media.

But the interior ministry said it will “strictly implement” measures against anyone who “contributes in any manner or by any acts, towards providing violators with the opportunity to undermine the social cohesion”.

The statement was carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Activists have encouraged women to post pictures of themselves driving on Twitter under the hashtag #IWillDriveMyself, as well as on Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp.

More than 2,700 people have signed an online petition.

Activists told AFP that every day “two or three” women have shared pictures of themselves driving via WhatsApp.

But they say nothing special is expected for the campaign’s peak on Sunday.

“We just ask the ladies who need to drive, to drive as usual on the 26th” or on another day, said one activist, Nasima al-Sada.

Aziza al-Yussef, who says she runs errands in her car two or three times a week, said the campaign was about “raising the voice” and making their demand heard -- but not by doing anything illegal such as a demonstration.

Activists argue that women’s driving is not against the law.

Tradition and custom are behind the prohibition, which is not backed up by an Islamic text or judicial ruling, the online petition states.

Last year, activists also focused their demands on October 26 -- which they simply call a “symbolic” date as part of efforts to press for women’s right to drive.

At least 16 were fined for taking the wheel on that day.

Saudi women still need permission from a male guardian to work and marry, while restaurants are divided into “family sections” and separate areas for single men.

The ultra-conservative Wahhabi Islamic tradition is predominant in the kingdom, where it applies to both religious and political life.

Rabat- According to the Moroccan news source Al Massae the suitcases of a number of public figures were stolen upon their arrival in Casablanca airport.

In addition to the President of Cote D’Ivoire, a number of Mauritanian Ministers and a Mauritanian delegate for food security were also victims of theft at the airport. The airport authorities were taken aback when one of the victims reported the theft of his suitcase.

Al Massae recalls that the suitcases of Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and his accompanying delegation had disappeared before the police arrived. The newspaper points out that in recent months, cases of theft have become recurrent, which has prompted airport authorities to equip the targeted areas with cameras.

According to the daily Akhbar Allyoum which also reported the details on the case, among the stolen belongings was a royal gift offered to the Ivorian president after his participation at the African Summit in Marrakech.

The royal gift consisted of communications and next generation phones. The disappearance of these gifts sparked a state of alert at the airport Friday and Saturday. The use of GPS, installed on the phones, led to the discovery of the suspects, who reside near the airport; seven of whom are now behind bars.

According to the same source, Moroccan airport authority have conducted an internal investigation, using surveillance video leading to the suspension of 62 employees, including baggage handlers and security officers.

Investigation regarding this series of theft was entrusted to a senior officer of the Royal Gendarmerie who appointed a task force to investigate the cases. The task force has identified people suspected of stealing phones and souvenirs in diplomatic bags in the main cargo area.

Austin - When studying exotic communities in remote places, foreign anthropologists always face the problem of how to get beyond observable behavior and fathom the inner life of individuals, that is, their worldview. It usually takes years of close contact with a community before an anthropologist can achieve any reasonable understanding of their worldview.

My situation in America is not very different from that of a foreign anthropologist. Many people I know from Morocco ask about my opinion about Americans: are they nice, smart, hardworking, and so on and so forth. I guess they want to know whether Americans are as we believe them to be. People are usually inclined toward global judgments or general pictures which could enable them of grasping reality mentally. But social reality is so complex and illusive that any mental representation of it can only be a distorted representation. If a dedicated anthropologist is ready to spend years in order to understand what individuals mean by this or that behavior, ordinary foreigners are not as patient as that. They are not just observers; they are actors and for that, they are under pressure and don’t have the time that an anthropologist may have. They want a global picture for immediate needs. But with global pictures always come stereotypes, unwarranted generalizations and other social evils. For that reason, I can only talk about the observable.

Apart from the university, the bus is so far the only place where I can see people behave in meaningful situations, even though for a limited period of time. Buses certainly give a certain idea about a people. In Austin, the bus is usually on time. Passengers greet the driver first, and when they get off, they usually say to him/her “thank you”. Bus drivers are generally nice and helpful. I remember once I took the wrong line and ended up in a different part of the city. I had to ask many drivers and take a couple of lines before reaching my final destination. Some of them were very laconic: their brief answers were discouraging for me, but I wasn’t sure whether they should be taken as unwelcoming signs or not. One thing is certain: they were not explicitly impolite. Lady drivers are particularly warm. Some of them would ask a passenger: “How are you?” and the passenger would respond: “good, and you?” and then she would say: “good, good”. You might believe they know each other well, but in fact they needn’t in order for them to interact in such a way.

On the bus, you could see different races and different types of people. Whites are certainly more numerous, but Latinos are equally numerous in Austin. It’s not unusual to hear people talking Spanish or switching between Spanish and English. Many others speak English with an accent, which must be suggestive of their origins, at least for those acquainted with the languages of new immigrants to America. For me, the external side is the most salient sign of origin. There is, for example, this old man I frequently see on my way home; he wears a turban that most probably indicates his Indian (or Sikh) origin. On one occasion, I saw a young man wearing a similar turban. I wondered why a man should stick to such tokens even when he is far away from his community.

In the evening, the bus can be crowded. Those who take the bus on such time are more talkative than those I see in the morning. It seems to me that many of them are manual workers or hold small jobs. They carry bags in which they put everything they need for the whole day, including a bottle of water. Some of them are so tired that they fall asleep as soon as they take their seats and the bus sets off. Once, a young man fell asleep and started snorting. But those who draw my attention most are the black people. They are usually laughing and chatting loudly. Of all ethnic groups I’ve seen, they are the ones who remind me most of Moroccans in popular neighborhoods. Of course, I’m talking here about the black people I see on bus N° 5 heading toward South Austin.

Generally, you can’t get much from silent passengers. They are usually focusing their attention on their phones, surfing on the internet. Nevertheless, some of their faces have stuck in my memory. The young man with long straight hair pulled tightly into a knot on top of his head. He is calm and rarely turns right or left. Now and then, he would draw a comb and use it to keep his hair straight and tidy. Another young man has dyed his hair in different colors, one of them is pink. His jeans are torn at the knees. But most astonishing of all is this old crooked man with a large suitcase and many bags. It would take him quite some time to get on the bus and take a seat because of his luggage. Despite this, he would sometimes get on at one bus stop and get off at the next. He is never regular: sometimes he would get off at one station, and sometimes at different ones. He looks clean and always shaved, but he is probably homeless.

In comparison, passengers who talk to each other can communicate something about how Americans live their lives. Now and then, a couple of young people would engage in conversation about their weekends or their job or school relations. Once, a young man was telling his story to an old lady sitting opposite him. He seemed proud of his job promotion, and of being a self-made man. He said his father never gave him a cell phone, and even now that he had a job, he keeps only a cheap brand, which he drew out of his pocket to show it to her. On another occasion, an old woman asked a young lady with a headscarf opposite her: “What’s your name in Arabic?” The young lady answered “Hiba”. The woman rehearsed the name a couple of times, as if to taste it, and said: “It’s a beautiful name”. Soon after that, she introduced herself and they engaged in friendly conversation.

I have never witnessed any violent incident on the bus. People usually use magnetic cards to pay for the fare: there are no tickets and no conductors. I’ve never witnessed any attempt to escape payment. Once, an old man with a large bag and a blanket swiped his card and it turned out useless. The driver just let him on. Later on, I saw the man begging in the street. He was holding a plate on which the USA acronym was rendered: Unemployed Senior American. Yes, there are beggars in Austin. I was approached on a number of occasions by individuals who asked for a dollar to take the bus. Some of them were young and strong and capable of working.

Quite a world a bus can be!

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Marrakech - On the occasion of the last National Day of Women on October 10, 2014, the National Institute of Solidarity with Women (INSAF) called for addressing the problems facing single mothers.

According to INSAF, single mothers still suffer from discrimination in law and society in Morocco. While single mothers can be prosecuted under the law for extramarital relations, the men they had those relations with can escape liability from prosecution. Thus, INSAF is calling for the removal of Article 490 of the Penal Code that criminalizes extramarital relations. “These women, who are single mothers, can be prosecuted,”according to INSAF.

INSAF is also calling for a systematization of the DNA test, so that women will be protected and not bear the sole responsibility for children born out of wedlock.

Single mothers suffer also from societal stereotypes, and even from verbal abuse from administrative staff they have to deal with. More seriously even than this, single mothers cannot obtain the Moroccan “family book” (a background document to prove family ties that combine various family members that includes information concerning the dates and places of birth of family members). This lack of the basic citizen’s document can cause further administrative and legal problems for the mother’s children.

Some women engage in extramarital relations because they think by doing so, and by having a child, men will be obliged to marry them. In other words, they seek to secure husbands who will look after them.

However, Beatrice Beloubad, director of SOS Children's Village in Morocco thinks that the problem of having more and more single mothers is not only due to lack of education, but also to the prevailing mentality.

"We should not always cry over destiny of single mothers. Many relationships between men and women are entered into consciously. Girls are not all poor illiterates who know nothing, but think that if they have a child, they will keep the husband, and that marriage is synonymous with success.”

She adds "Of course, we must sensitize young men and women who happen to have an extramarital relationship to an awareness of not abandoning their children; no one is more responsible than the other.”

Photo courtesy of Association INSAF

Taroudant - Two mosques and a Muslim school were vandalized last weekend in the city of Perth, Western Australia, according to ABC news.

Islamphobic words like "Ban Islam" were spray painted on the walls of the mosques and the Islamic school and beer bottles were found in the surrounding area of another mosque in the city.

Commenting these heinous acts of Islamophobia, Burhaan Mehtar, an Australian imam, said that despite the good behavior of most Australians towards Muslims, anti-Muslim sentiments and these sorts of religious attacks were becoming more common.

The Australian imam thinks that the best way to deal with such xenophobic attacks is “perhaps to ignore this minority group that are terrorizing Australian Muslims, but there is a limit to what people can actually digest and they do become fearful at what happened."

The Australian Police who has been investigating the “graffiti attacks,” said that there “had been no recent increase in racially-motivated crime.”

"Western Australia is a tolerant and inclusive state, and people should respect the diversity in our community," the spokesman of the police said.

The spokesman of the police added that Australia is a country of “tolerance and respect for diversity where many religions coexist together in respect and harmony.”

In France, similar acts of Islamophobia targeted Mosques in the county.

Last August a mosque in the city of Cognac, France, was subject to racist and profane acts for the second time. The walls of the mosque was tagged with Swastikas, Celtic crosses, and slices of ham were thrown in its entrance.

Washington -  A man reported to have Islamic "extremist leanings" attacked police officers in New York City with a hatchet Thursday, injuring two before being shot dead, police and a monitoring group said.

The man, identified in the U.S. media as Zale Thompson, had posted an array of statements on YouTube and Facebook that "display a hyper-racial focus in both religious and historical contexts, and ultimately hint at his extremist leanings," the SITE monitoring group said.

Four police officers in the city's Queens Borough were posing for a photograph at the request of a freelance photographer when the man walked up and without saying a word attacked them, a city hall statement said.

One officer was hit in the arm and another in the head before the officers shot and killed the man, according to police commissioner Bill Bratton.

He said police were investigating the motive for the attack, Bratton said, adding that it was too early to determine whether it was terror-related.

A 29-year-old bystander was accidentally hit by a bullet in the lower back and taken to a hospital, while the man who took the photograph was cooperating with police and was not considered a suspect, Bratton said.

Police described the assailant as being around 32 and having dark skin.

SITE, which monitors radical Muslim groups, said that in a comment Thompson had posted to a pro-Islamic State video on Sept.13, 2014, he described "jihad as a justifiable response to the oppression of the 'Zionists and the Crusaders.'"

Rabat - The controversial Saudi grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said that Twitter, the micro blogging social media site, is nothing more than “a source of lies” and evil, according to AFP.

Twitter is “the source of all evil and devastation,” the mufti was quoted as saying.

 “If it were used correctly, it could be of real benefit, but unfortunately it’s exploited for trivial matters,” Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said on his “Fatwa” television show broadcast on Monday.

The Grand Mufti argued that most of young people are wasting their time using Twitter only for trivial matters, denying the fact that Twitter could be a source of credible information and news.

“People are rushing to it thinking it’s a source of credible information but it’s a source of lies and falsehood.”

This is not the first time, he Saudi scholar criticizes Twitter. Last year, he harshly criticized the social media website Twitter, calling it a “council of clowns” and a place for those who “unleash unjust, incorrect and wrong tweets.”

 With more than 2.4 million active Twitter users, Saudi Arabia has the highest number of Twitter users in the region, accounting for 40 percent of all active Twitter users in the Arab world.

Olathe, Kansas- The annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) (November 19-21, 2014), in Marrakech, will feature a workshop that will focus on the advancement of women entrepreneurs.

King Mohammed VI and President Obama determined that the annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit would be hosted in Morocco this year, showcasing Morocco’s marvelous history, heritage, and growing economic engine, on the world stage.

This fifth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit will convene thousands of participants and will highlight the impact of technology on modern entrepreneurship. The 2014 Summit takes place during Global Entrepreneurship Week, making it the largest of the thousands of entrepreneurship events taking place around the world that week. Entrepreneurship creates opportunity. It is a key to unlocking economic growth, creating jobs, and empowering populations.

“Accelerating Success: Mentoring Workshop for Women Entrepreneurs” will be presented on November 21, 2014. The goal of this Workshop is for each participant to gain a strong understanding of the power and process of mentoring, to optimize their business success. Mentoring provides a structured relationship that brings people together with experienced individuals who offer guidance, support, and encouragement. It can be a highly effective way to improve business performance. A business mentor is someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.

The Mentoring Workshop will bring women entrepreneurs (or “would-be entrepreneurs”) together with women already established in their fields. Mentors provide practical information, advice, and support to their Mentees. The orgaizers will address what Mentorship is, what makes a successful mentoring relationship, goal setting, and boundaries. Then, most importantly, they will conduct a Mentoring Rotation, providing participants with an opportunity to meet with mentors, share their business challenges, and implement what they have learned in the workshop.

The “Accelerating Success: Mentoring Workshop for Women Entrepreneurs” will be presented by Laura Owen, CEO of Ponscio (former Secretary of Commerce for the State of Kansas), and Yasmine El Baggari, Founder of Voyaj (native of Morocco).

“Women are at a tipping point, worldwide, to launch and grow their businesses, and attain great success” stated Laura Owen, CEO of Ponscio. “Mentoring can ignite a business and serve as its compass, to optimize an entrepreneur’s success.”

Women (and men) who wish to attend the Mentoring Workshop can register at: http://bit.ly/1tRoI7p

Experienced businesswomen who wish to participate as Mentors in the Mentoring Workshop are encouraged to submit their bios (or resumes) to info@ponscio.com for consideration. This Workshop provides successful women with a way for them to pay it forward, and help other women envision and achieve their success.

Participants that have paid the registration fee to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit ($100) can attend this Workshop at no additional cost. It is recommend that participants preregister for the Workshop. University students (with university IDs) may apply to have this entry fee (to GES) waived.

Rabat - The Faculty of Law of Mohammed V University at Souissi in Rabat was the locus of an engaging workshop hosted by the Marti Ahtisaari Centre (a Presidential initiative of Former Finland President & Nobel Prize Winner Marti Ahtisaari), in conjunction with the Ministry in charge of Relations with Civil Society & Parliament, on September 26-27, 2014.

Under the theme “Public Participation in Policy-Making: Stocktaking of the Commission of National Dialogue on Civil Society,” this inaugural international workshop helped set a platform for dialogue and multi-stakeholder reflections on the National Dialogue recommendations to develop an inclusive framework for enabling civil society’s public participation in policy-making. A special focus was given to the experience of l'Instance Centrale de Prévention de la Corruption [The Central Authority for the Prevention of Corruption] as well as Moroccan Diaspora Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

With a focus on public consultations, the breakout sessions addressed the linkage between public consultations and socio-economic development and analyzed Article 12 of the Moroccan Constitution and ways to codify it in texts of law so as to catalyze the engagement of civil society in public policy-making. Day II highlighted Nordic good practices in the area of public consultations through the strengthening of civil society engagement in public policy making/monitoring processes.

Overall, the program was met with strong interest, hosting many participants representing civil society organizations; academics; international organizations; and policy makers. The inauguration of the Forum featured notable speakers including: Minister El Habib Choubani, of the Ministry in charge of Relations with Civil Society & Parliament; Moulay Ismail Alaoui, President of the National Commission of Policy Dialogue on Civil Society and New Constitutional Roles, as well as other high-level Moroccan policy-makers and international personalities.

The national and international organizers, “shared the same vision in terms of inclusiveness and the need to conduct a dialogue to ensure multi-stakeholder ownership and confidence building in the Commission’s recommendations," said Leila Hanafi, a Moroccan-American lawyer and member of the National Commission.

The multi-stakeholder workshop addressed the following objectives:

- Dissemination of National Dialogue outcomes/recommendations to develop an inclusive framework for enabling civil society consensus building & ownership

- Stock taking on the National Dialogue process

- Increased understanding of the groups that did not participate in the Commission's consultative process in the value of the new constitutional framework

- Raised awareness on mechanisms to influence policy making in Morocco, with a focus on socio-economic issues (i.e., access to basic social services, youth unemployment, diaspora interests)

- Sharing of best practices, including Nordic models.

Overall, there was a general consensus among participants that intensifying dialogue surrounding the recommendations of the Commission is integral to civil society’s implementation of them. At the conclusion of the two day forum, several recommendations ensued from the discussions including, but not limited to:

- Continuing dialogue with key national authorities in constructive dialogue forums such as universities to enable a demand-driven approach to hearing the concerns of civil society inside and outside of Morocco.

- As the number of CSOs of Moroccans residing abroad increase, so does the need to integrate them further into policy-making processes and to allow them exercise their constitutional rights.

- Follow-up on the draft public consultation law to promote participatory process for policy formulation.

National Commission of Policy Dialogue on Civil Society and New Constitutional Roles

The main objectives of the National Commission of Policy Dialogue on Civil Society and New Constitutional Roles are to: facilitate the development of an enabling environment for dialogue between government and citizens to come up with a participatory joint vision of the new role to be accorded to civil society, as part of the societal plan mapped out by the revised Constitution.

The Commission represents an unprecedented opportunity to encourage dialogue with senior representatives from Moroccan government agencies, parliament, academia, civil society, and international organizations on the implementation of the constitution to promote a strong and fair lawmaking process, and, ultimately, greater confidence in the constitution as a blue print for future public policy reform through inclusive participation.

The Commission in the last year held more than 18 meetings that drew nearly 10,000 people. The Commission’s work was, officially, praised by the King of Morocco by marking March 13th as National Day of Civil Society. Regional organizations such as ISESCO and the Council of Europe have adopted the Moroccan experience of the Commission’s National Dialogue for sharing among their constituencies.

Fez - Anissa Blondin, a young model of Moroccan origin, will represent Belgium at the 64th edition of Miss World pageant, Miss World 2014, which will be held on December 14 in London, according to the Belgian website Lavenir.net.

Born to a Moroccan mother and a Belgian father, Anissa will replace Miss Belgium 2014, Laurence Langen, who opted out of the competition for personal reasons, the same source added.

Some 120 models from around the world will compete to win the world beauty crown.

The 22-year-old young woman from Dworp, is a student in Commercial Engineering and she is fluent in French, Dutch and English.

Rabat- The French far-right party “Front National” (FN) suspended one of its members after he converted to Islam and sent a video to his colleagues praising the virtues of his new religion.

According to RTL, Maxence Buttey, 22, a National Front councilor from Noisy-le-Grand (Seine-Saint-Denis) recently converted to Islam.

But the young man was suspended from his party when he sent a video to his colleagues praising the visionary character of the Quran, Islam’s holy book.

The video was described as proselytizing by Jordan Bardella, the departmental secretary of the FN in Seine-Saint-Denis who decided to suspend the young elected from his responsibilities within the departmental office.

“Religion is a private choice, which I respect but it should not interfere with our political activities. The video he sent is proselytizing and unacceptable. That's why I've decided to suspend from his responsibilities,” Jordan Bardella was quoted by RTL as saying.

Though the decision made by the regional office of the Front National is temporary, the young convert could be excluded from his party.

Buttey is accused by his party members of using videos to convince them to convert to Islam.

Marrakech - Spurred on by their leadership, and education and citizenship maxims of "Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will remember" and "Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach him to fish, he eats every day,” respectively, Moroccan Enactus engineering students headed to China and became the pride of their country.

Morocco took part along with 35 other countries in the Enactus World Cup of social entrepreneurship on October 22-24, 2014, in Beijing, China. Morocco was represented by Enactus Mohammedia School of Engineering which had earlier ranked among 12 semifinalist countries the previous year. This year, Morocco ranked second in the Enactus World Cup 2014, coming only after China, the host, which won the trophy.

The World Cup "Enactus" is a competition in which young researchers in various countries offer the simplest and most effective ways to invest in entrepreneurial projects to change people's lives for the better.

Enactus is a community of students, leaders of the academic and economic world, that is committed to using entrepreneurial action to promote progress in the world. It was created in 1975, and launched in Morocco in 2003. With respect to access to water, the participating Enactus students launched their “Vernet” project this year, and headed to China to showcase their presentation with passion and enthusiasm for saving lives in Africa by promoting accessibility to clean water.

Inspired by the words of Thomas Edison, “How could I transform the need for light into a huge business,” and being close to the basic needs of people in terms of water, Enactus’scMoroccan students thought of how to transform those needs into a huge beneficial business for the society.

“Life is all about water, as it can affect everything, education, health and living standards,” according to the introductory speaker.

“The time they [people in Africa] spend in gathering water is a time they can spend to read, write, and earn income, or just take care of their children.”

While all of the incredible procedures to get water are valuable, they do not necessarily assure clean and healthy water. “The little water people have collected is not clean; it causes diarrhea, dehydration, and even death,” said one of the presenters.

The Mohammadia School of Engineers created projects to enter into the contest in the World Cup this year to address these problems. Among them is the aforementioned "Vernet project” for the manufacture and marketing of products for purifying water. The project is to provide job opportunities for the benefit of people who suffer from destitution, and to improve water quality for the benefit of the African continent.

The student engineers created two technical solutions to purify water using basic materials that handle the target areas where the project is implemented.

The first one involves filtering water from sediment and visible clay particles, while the second focuses on the elimination of invisible particles, such as microbes. The two technologies are dependent on environmentally friendly and low-cost techniques.

The third project tackles the collection and recycling of used plastic bags, and turns them into pieces and decorative products, or into sturdy and eco-friendly bags.

Video of the competition 

Rabat - An Algerian woman has caused an uproar in social media in Morocco after she accused it of being a country of sorcery. The allegations were made live during an episode of Star Academy, a reality show broadcast from Lebanon.

Kenza Morsli, an Algerian participants appears to be telling one of her colleagues in the show that “Moroccans are known for doing sorcery.”

The broadcast of the episode was cut off as soon as the Algerian woman made this allegation. Later in the show, Kenza appears telling a male colleague that her mother asked her to mingle only with Egyptians and Lebanese and avoid Moroccans.

Kenza was apparently annoyed by the success of her Moroccan rival Ibtissam Taskat who enjoy popularity with the public of the show.

The allegations made by the young Algerian came a couple of weeks after she brought up the question of the Sahara conflict during a dinner that gathered all the participants of the show. As the participants were having dinner, she referred to the conflict using the phrase “Western Sahara,” which is commonly used by Algerians and others who support the Polisario to stress that the territory does not belong to Morocco.

The footage of the show created an uproar and being shared and commented by Moroccans who launched a Hashtag on Twitter called “Red line” in Arabic. The users of the Hashtag call on every Moroccan to share it widely and to express their disapproval and condemnation of the accusations leveled at Morocco by the Algerian participant. They also called on the Moroccan embassy in Beirut to take the necessary steps to push the organizers of the show to exclude Kenza Morsli.

The allegations made by Kenza came in a context of deteriorated relations between Morocco and Algeria. The already strained relations between the two neighbors were compounded last week after the Algerian army opened fire on a group of Moroccans at the borders between the two countries. The incident left one Moroccan man seriously injured.