The day began with a flag ceremony and ceremonial ribbon cutting at noon where attendees heard from the organizers of the event and the Moroccan Ambassador to the United States Rachad Bouhlal, and the preceding day, from the former U.S. Ambassador Edward Gabriel.  (The ribbon cutting was performed by Easton Mayor Robert C. Willey and Moroccan Ambassador Bouhlal.)  The presentations set the stage for the rest of the day which continued with a souk featuring Moroccan tea, cookies, music, rugs, and clothing, and more. It was a perfect day to wander along Harrison Street in historic downtown Easton, Maryland, and peruse the Moroccan wares that were being sold.

Washington / Morocco News Board --- In the intercepted phone calls, Moroccan-born "ruby" El Mahroug, now 19, is heard saying to her father in fkih-Ben-Salah: "I know Silvio and now the fact is coming out that I'm a lover of Silvio. He's crazy about me. I've been seeing him for a year now. It's in all the papers. He's told me to pretend I'm crazy."
The conversation will be used by prosecutors as evidence of illegal sexual relations and of the lengths to which Mr Berlusconi and his aides were prepared to go to cover them up.

Fes / Morocco News Board ---   My recent article about Morocco's identity as an Arab nation caused a bit of a stir, particularly, and not surprisingly, among Moroccans.
To state that Morocco is an 'Arab nation' is not accurate because it ignores two important realities. The first is that Amazigh peoples, previously and impolitely known as Berbers, make up a majority of the population. Many Amazigh grow up speaking one of several Berber dialects, and many, importantly, are not native Arabic speakers.

The author took time off to wander the Medina in the city of fes, Morocco, to watch the artisans at work.

Scott Abernathy
I bought a new Blackberry Curve mobile phone so i could access the internet as well as making phone-calls. I went to Maroc-Telecom in Agadir, where I asked for 3G Internet usage. I was told I couldn't have 3G that day and had to pay 60 MAD for a small plastic covered pack. "Bring this back tomorrow and you can have 3G." I was told. It didn't make much sense at the time but what does down here; all depending on who you talk to?

Washington / Morocco News Board----  No one denies that Algeria, and I mean here the army Generals and the Algerian state, have been one of the most important factors in the conflict between Morocco and the [Western Sahara Separatist group] Polisario. The latter’s goal , since its formation, was to oust the foreign occupier from The Southern provinces of Morocco but all of a sudden its aim changed with Algeria’s interference even though that it maintains no territorial claim over Western Sahara but continues to be the Polisario backer militarily, financially, diplomatically and morally.

Washington/ Morocco News Board-- A homemade video detailing the plight of the Moroccan communities in the USA and Canada in securing decent and fair-priced flights to their homeland is going viral on the Web. A Moroccan immigrant living in the USA made the video in question. The responses to the pleases on the video have been overwhelming with hundreds of Moroccans living in the United States and Canada posting disparaging comments criticizing their national airlines Royal Air Maroc (RAM). This Video came on the heels of the publication of the results of a Government inquiry into the finances and reports of mismanagement and abuse in Morocco's state-controlled airline.

Washibgton/ Morocco News Board --- After my Fulbright grant ended last July I traveled to America to visit family and friends for about two months before returning to Morocco to study Arabic. Of all the people I saw, I looked forward the most to reuniting with my undergraduate advisor, a professor in the Religious Studies department at Rice. For three years, he was my guru, especially in Arabic. He guided me through Classical Arabic, its broken plurals, irregular masdars, ma / min constructions, and instilled in me a great appreciation for the language in its most intricate forms.