Simon Henderson Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud is a man who wears many hats. One of the richest men in the world, he has recently been accused of being one of the financiers behind the planned Islamic center in downtown Manhattan by Fox News -- which is owned by a company in which, ironically, he is also a major stakeholder. Jon Stewart'sDaily Showlampooned the incongruity of this earlier in the week, joking that the only way to stop Al-Waleed from funding the Islamic center was to stop watching Fox.
Given that the prince is the frequent subject of magazine profiles and even an authorized biography, it is strange that we seem know so little about him -- and get so much of it wrong. The following is a brief, irreverent, account of everything you need to know about Prince Al-Waleed.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - In his recent article, prominent Spanish reporter, Chema Gil unveils to the public opinion in Spain, which is often misled, the reality of Western sahara separatist group, polisario, "a non-democratic group which does not tolerate any opposition."
According to the author, the "polisario and Algeria have, for more than thirty years, been violating the human rights of thousands of Saharawis, who aspire for a decent life today; however, this reality is unknown to a fair number of Spaniards, who are still influenced by the events that took place in the late 60s and mid 70s."
Six Rice students with the Baker Institute for Public Policy's Energy Forum spent a month helping a team with a project that harvests potable water from the fog that envelops parts of the Atlas Mountains.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2010) — Some rural Moroccans have to trek for miles every day because their arid environment doesn't provide enough drinking water. Or does it?
Six Rice students with the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy's Energy Forum spent a month helping with a project that harvests potable water from the fog that envelops parts of the Atlas Mountains. The students were joined by Amy Myers Jaffe, a fellow in energy studies at the Baker Institute and associate director of the Rice Energy Program; Ronald Soligo, professor of economics; and Eugenia Georges, professor and chair of anthropology. They worked with the Dar Si Hmad Foundation in Sidi Ifni, Morocco, to move forward an engineering program to capture tiny droplets of water with a polyethylene mesh in the mountainous Boutmezguida region of southern Morocco.
Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler may have had Jewish and African ancestors, according to DNA tests.
Saliva samples taken from 39 relatives of Hitler show he probably had biological links to the Jewish community and people from North Africa, such as the Berbers of Morocco – the “subhuman” races he vowed to exterminate during the Holocaust.
Investigative journalist Jean-Paul Mulders was able to probe Hitler's DNA after taking a serviette dropped by the Fuhrer's great nephew Alexander Stuart-Houston, 61, who lives in Long Island in New York. He also got a sample from an Austrian cousin of the dictator, a farmer known as Norbert H.
Yonni Sebbag sent letters to hedge funds offering inside trading info on Disney
NEW YORK — (AP) – A man charged with selling secrets about finances at Walt Disney Co. pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to wire fraud charges and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
Yonni Sebbag, a citizen of Morocco, and his girlfriend, former Disney employee Bonnie Hoxie, were arrested in California last month in the insider trading case filed in New York.
"I agreed with others to commit securities and wire fraud," Sebbag, 30, said in court, reading from a statement. "As part of this, I disclosed material and non-public information about the Walt Disney company to outside investors."
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Washington / Morocco Board News Service ---- The Moroccan police arrested two minors in Marrakech because they were eating in the street during daylight hours this month of Ramadan, reported the Moroccan daily "Assabah" .
According to the newspaper, the juveniles were arrested and are waiting to be brought in front of a judge. The newspaper quoted an eyewitness, who said that the minors were arrested after an officer of the security forces saw them eating in public in plain view of several people.
Nouaddine Mouaddib, president of the International University of Rabat, in front of a model of the new university Phot: A. Senna
Rabat, Morocco --- Noureddine Mouaddib left Morocco to pursue his university studies in France over 30 years ago. He became a professor of computer science at the University of Nantes and a member of the French national council for higher education and research.
Yet Mr. Mouaddib's thoughts turned often to his native country, where, he says, emigration has remained unavoidable for those who want to pursue higher education. "In the global South, as soon as you graduate from high school, you wonder: Where will I go? Canada, France?" he says. "If you look at world rankings, there isn't a single internationally visible university in Africa, with the exception of South Africa."
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - The Caribbean states of Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia decided to withdraw recognition of the Western Sahara separatist "Republic" or SADR, said a statement from the Moroccan Foreign Ministry, on Monday.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - Saudi Arabia is not the only ones discriminating against Moroccan visitors, Jordan, Egypt and syria also have special treatment for Moroccans
Here are their laws regulating treatment for Moroccan Visitors:
Jordan
National Morocco (MA) / Destination Jordan (JO) visa on arrival at the airport, free of charge (extension possible at the nearest police station). However, females between the age of 17 and 35 years of age require prior approval obtained from the Ministry of Interior, except if accompanied by their husband, father or brother, or they are a member of an official delegation or they are a daughter of high ranking personnel.
Anouar Boukhars Washington / Morocco Board News Service - In North Africa trade between all five countries ranks among the lowest of any region in the world. The establishment of the Arab Maghreb Union in 1989 was supposed to jumpstart a promising regional partnership. However, the lack of leadership and the deep-seated animosity between Morocco and Algeria deprived the region of an estimated $3 billion in foreign investment and instead caused a loss estimated at 2 percent of average annual GDP for each country.
Ursula Lindsey Rabat, Morocco------ To expand North Africa's research capabilities, a project financed by the United States plans to connect the region's universities and science institutes to a "digital library" that could eventually stretch from Morocco to Libya.
The U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation, a nonprofit created by the U.S. government to promote international science programs, is leading the effort and is initially working with Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia to increase their access to the latest international research, give scientists greater opportunities to collaborate, and hopefully bolster their scientific work and scholarly publishing.
Brahima Ouadraogo & Rukimin Callimachi
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (AP) - Two Spanish aid workers kidnapped almost nine months ago by an al-Qaida affiliate were freed Monday in Mali after a multi-million-dollar ransom was reportedly paid -- a sign of the terrorist group's growing sophistication in bankrolling operations through kidnappings, experts said Monday.
Aid workers Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta were abducted last November when their convoy of 4-by-4s was attacked by gunmen on a stretch of road in Mauritania. They were whisked away to Mali, whose northern half is now one of the many stretches of remote desert where al-Qaida of Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, has stretched its tentacles.
The UN special envoy, Christopher Ross, is doubtful that a settlement can be reached on the Western Sahara conflict and wants Madrid, Paris or Washington to intervene with Morocco and the Polisario, a Spanish newspaper said Friday.
The UN special envoy to the region, Christopher Ross, said in a letter that neither Rabat nor the Polisario "possess the political will to enter into genuine negotiations on the future of the Western Sahara or to give priority attention to confidence-building measures".
The letter was sent to the five members of the so-called Group of Friends that is trying to resolve the conflict -- Britain, France, Russia, Spain and the United States.
...Washington / Morocco Board News Service ---- Due to the controversy over the Mosque at Ground zero in NYC, and a new, mostly negative, survey from time Magazine about Americans view and sentiments on Muslim Americans. However, Islam is a fast growing religion in the country and the size of the Muslim American population is estimated to be between 6 to 8 million or at least 2 percent of the US population.
In an interview with CNBC, Moroccan American Mostapha Saout, CEO of Allied Media Corp., a company that helps both government and corporations outreach to Muslim Americans among other ethnic groups, spoke about the importance of the muslim community in terms of education, and buying power.
A citizen with fewer Rights Chakib Oudad For Those who call the (MALI) group (privileged and spoiled kids) should know that the group members have different backgrounds, Moroccans who have never left morocco, Moroccan who can’t express Themselves in French, people of modest means, Moroccans who have had enough of being ostracized by society for their Beliefs, People who could care less for eating in public,
They are fighting for the abolishment of section 222 of the Moroccan Penal Code Which makes a criminal out of “any Moroccan, of the Muslim faith, who eats in public, during Ramadan”.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service ---- In Morocco, breaking the fast in public during the month of Ramadan is punishable by imprisonment. Ms. Ibtissam Lachgar (35), a Clinical Psychologist in the Moroccan Capital city of Rabat, is the co-founder of "the Alternative Movement for individual freedoms" (Mali). In September 2009, "MALI" has organized a public "picnic" to protest against the criminalization of Public eating on daylight hours, during Ramadan. This unique form of protest received worldwide attention and focused a light on one of the esoteric side of the Moroccan Law, a set of laws that affect only those citizens that are assumed to be muslim.
Question : Will you repeat the picnic protest this year?
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