Friday, July 20, 2012

Suspended jail term for Tunisia Bouazizi's mother

The mother of Mohamed Bouazizi, the street vendor whose self-immolation sparked Tunisia's revolution, was given a suspended four-month jail term on Friday for insulting an official, the justice ministry said.

Manoubia Bouazizi, 60, was handed the suspended sentence after being convicted by a court in the central western town of Sidi Bouzid of insulting an official, ministry official Mondher Bedhiafi said.

Earlier, a court source told AFP that she was found guilty of "insulting an official while he was performing his duties and of indecent behaviour."

Bouazizi, who was arrested last week after an angry altercation with a judge in the Sidi Bouzid court, was freed on Friday following the verdict.

She had originally been at the courthouse to sign documents that would allow her to receive government compensation awarded to "martyrs of the revolution."

The popular uprising in Tunisia that touched off the Arab Spring began in December 2010 when Bouazizi's son Mohamed, a 26-year-old who was complaining of unemployment and police harassment, set himself on fire.


The Bouazizi family later had to leave Sidi Bouzid, as rumours circulated that Mohamed's mother had profited unjustly from his death.

Tunisia's mass protests forced long-time strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country for Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2011.

|AFP

Friday, July 13, 2012

PIXELS - ShortFilm

Though set in New York, Pixels is an example of the best from Europe and France. French filmmaker Patrick Jean had made several short animations before hitting the big time with Pixels. Adam Sandler (The Wedding Singer) liked it so much that he struck a deal with Jean to turn his simple, high-concept idea into a Ghostbusters-like action comedy. Pixels sees New York invaded by a bunch of classic 8-bit creatures (such as Donkey Kong and Pac-Man).

Written, directed by : Patrick Jean Director of Photograhy : Matias Boucard SFX by Patrick Jean and Onemoreprod


Moroccan activists Renew Call for Freedom To eat in Public During Ramadan

With this year’s Ramadan approaching, some “irreligious” Moroccan activists have launched a Facebook page where they call for people not to fast during Ramadan. Under the name “Masayminch: We are not fasting” the group explained that that they believe that “Any Moroccan who feels the urge to drink and eat during Ramadan must be allowed to do it.”

As seen during last year’s Ramadan, this Moroccan movement has been met with harsh condemnation, not only in Morocco but also from Muslins around the world.

“What needs to be condemned and criticized instead isn’t their movement, but rather the evil engulfing Morocco from all sides, such as corruption, usury, and prostitution,” the group said in response to resistance to the “Masayminch” movement. “Isn’t Islam critical of these things, too?” they questioned.

Zineb Elghzoui, a journalist and founder of the movement, explained that the aim behind urging people not to fast has never been to provoke Moroccans. She added that Muslims are undeniably free to fast.

It appears that the movement has appealed to some Moroccans, mainly secularists and irreligious people. One example of this is blogger Kacem El Ghazali, who has contributed to the Facebook page with his ideas, among which is announcing a private place where the activists and their followers can feel free to eat and drink.

The blogger has promised to launch a two-minute video showing the act of eating and drinking during Ramadan. “The participants are purely Moroccan, ” El Ghazali added.

In 2009, Moroccan authorities arrested six non-religious activists who attempted to eat in a public park in Mohamadiya city.

|moroccoworldnews.com

Digg acquired by Betaworks

Digg, once the darling of start-up world, Digg has sold its brand and its Web site to the New York-based technology company Betaworks. The deal closes the final chapter on the story of Digg’s meteoric rise and ultimate decline.

In a blog post announcing the deal, Betaworks — which makes the popular app News.me — said it will be returning the company to its roots.

“We are turning Digg back into a startup,” read a post on Betaworks’ company blog. “Low budget, small team, fast cycles.”

The news was no surprise to anyone who’s been following Digg in recent years. Facing competition from sites such as Reddit, Digg has changed its site layout, its business model and, ultimately, sold off critical parts of its company.

In May, SocialCode, a social media advertising firm and subsidiary of The Washington Post Co., hired 15 engineering employees from Digg.

In a May interview, SocialCode chief executive Laura O’Shaughnessy said the engineers will be working on products that compile and analyze data from social networks to help companies glean more information about their customers. (O’Shaughnessy is the daughter of Post Chairman Donald E. Graham.)

Thursday’s post from Betaworks indicated that Digg’s core assets will be merged with News.me, meaning that the service will see a rebirth as a news discovery and sharing site. The company had most recently been focusing on the advertising side of social news with Digg Ads, which gave users the opportunity to promote or demote ads based on their relevance.

In a post of his own, Digg chief executive Matt Williams said that this is the “next stage in Digg’s future” and that Betaworks’ first Digg project will be to offer a cloud-based version of the service to complement News.me’s apps for iOS.

Betaworks founder John Borthwick will be taking over for Williams, who in turn will be joining Andreessen Horowitz as its Entrepreneur in Residence to work with other new startups.

A report from the Wall Street Journal said that Digg’s final price was $500,000, though Digg chief executive Matt Williams told All Things Digital that the real figure is “significantly larger.” Google had reportedly been courting Digg

According to the All Things D report, Digg still gets more than 16 million unique visitors per month, while its Facebook app has nearly one million monthly active users.

|washingtonpost

Qatar's Royals Buy Valentino



Qatar's royal family is buying storied Italian fashion house Valentino, said a person familiar with the matter, in the latest sign of the tiny oil-rich country's appetite for prestigious luxury brands.

Valentino said Thursday it had been acquired by an investment vehicle called Mayhoola, which is backed by a private investor from Qatar. A person familiar with the matter said the buyer was the royal family of the Persian Gulf state.

The value of the acquisition wasn't disclosed, but the person said it was about €600 million ($731 million). Private-equity firm Permira has owned a controlling stake in Valentino since 2007.

The acquisition is one of a series made by investors from the oil-rich country in the luxury-goods business, as the industry has continued to deliver strong growth despite increasing economic head winds.

Qatar has used its immense wealth from oil and natural-gas exports to buy strategic assets all over the world, including London luxury store Harrods and several luxury hotels in France. Earlier this year, it emerged that the Qatar Investment Authority had amassed just over a 1% stake in French luxury-goods behemoth LVMH Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy .

The purchase of Valentino appears, however, to be a personal project for the royal family of one of the world's richest countries, rather than part of a wider investment strategy implemented by the Persian Gulf nation's sovereign-wealth fund.

A representative for Mayhoola said in a statement: "Valentino is ideally suited to form the basis for a global luxury goods powerhouse."

The brand, founded by fashion designer Valentino Garavani in 1960, has stores across the world from Singapore to Las Vegas and sells a range of high-end products including ready-to-wear garments, accessories and pricey haute couture outfits.



The trophy asset may not have all smooth sailing ahead. As the earnings season kicks off, the first luxury company to report its sales raised concerns among investors that the continuing luxury boom may be cooling. Burberry Group BRBY.LN +3.54% PLC, famed for its plaid-patterned accessories, reported an 11% rise in revenue for its fiscal first quarter, a much lower gain than a year earlier.

While luxury-goods makers generally have ridden out the financial crisis, Permira's ownership of Valentino has already undergone some volatility, with the company earlier renegotiating part of its debt.

Permira acquired in 2007 a controlling stake in Valentino Fashion Group, which included a majority holding in German company Hugo Boss AG, BOSS.XE +0.18% for about €2.6 billion. The market value of Hugo Boss, which excludes Valentino, is now approximately €6 billion.

The record of private investors and funds in the fashion world is patchy. Finding successful designers for fashion houses is difficult even for seasoned entrepreneurs, such as French luxury-goods titans Bernard Arnault and François Pinault. Permira struggled to find the right creative leadership for Valentino after founder Mr. Garavani retired in 2007, and while the label is still a red carpet favorite, it has never reclaimed the international cachet it once had.

"During the past few years, despite swings in the luxury markets, the company has operated with great intensity and remained focused on maximizing the potential of the Valentino brand," said Valentino Chief Executive Stefano Sassi, adding the company is "delighted" by the acquisition.

|WSJ

French disabled swimmer spans Europe and Africa

Frenchman Philippe Croizon, who has lost all of his limbs, continued his quest to swim between al the continents on Thursday by crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, an organiser said.

"He has just reached the rock on the Ciress beach near Tangiers, having swum 14 kilometres (8.7 miles) from Tarifa in five hours and 20 minutes," Anne Bayard, one of the organisers of Croizon's project, told AFP.

Completing the stretch between Tarifa in southern Spain and Tangiers in northern Morocco was the third leg of a challenge Croizon set himself after swimming the English Channel in 2010 to highlight the abilities of disabled people, and to convey a message of peace and solidarity.



His challenge to swim between continents began on May 17, when he crossed from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia.

In June, he swam between Africa and Asia, setting across the Red Sea from Egypt's Taba resort and arriving more than five hours later in the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

In August he plans on swimming between the islands of Big Diomede in Russia and Little Diomede in the United States.

Croizon had to have all four limbs amputated after he suffered an electric shock of more than 20,000 volts in 1994 as he tried to remove a TV antenna from a roof.

He uses flippers attached to prosthetic limbs to accomplish the challenge and is always accompanied by fellow French swimmer Arnaud Chassery.

|AFP

McDonald's Big Mac sauce revealed

Dan Coudreaut, executive chef for McDonald's fast food restaurants, has revealed the secret behind the Big Mac's secret sauce.

All you need to make the Big Mac sauce is store-bought mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, classic yellow mustard, white wine vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.

The paprika, Coudreaut said, "gives it a little flavor but it also helps to enhance the color a little bit."

Coudreaut recently made a video demonstrating that anyone can make the secret sauce in their own home.



"With food it's either contrasting flavors like sweet and sour," Coudreaut said, "or it's contrasting flavors like tomato and basil. Here with the Big Mac sauce it's contrasting flavors."

|Upi

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Yahoo confirms theft of 450,000 users' passwords

Some 450,000 Yahoo users' email addresses and passwords have been leaked because of a security breach, the company confirmed Thursday, adding that just a small fraction of the stolen passwords were valid.

The company said in a statement that an "old file" from the Yahoo Contributor Network was compromised Wednesday. Among the stolen emails and passwords were many from Yahoo's own email service along with those of other companies. The Yahoo Contributor Network is a content-sharing platform.

Yahoo said it is fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure, changing the passwords of affected Yahoo users, and notifying other companies whose users' accounts may have been compromised.



"We apologize to all affected users," the company statement said. Technology news websites including CNET, Ars Technica, and Mashable identified the hackers behind the attack as a little-known outfit calling itself the D33D Company. The group was quoted as saying it had stolen the unencrypted passwords using an SQL injection -- the name given to a commonly used attack in which hackers use rogue commands to extract data from vulnerable websites.

"We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call," the group was quoted as saying. Online security experts said Yahoo might have done more to protect the stored passwords, with Ohio-based TrustedSec describing the Internet giant's decision not to encrypt them as "most alarming."

Nevertheless, the haul does not appear as useful to hackers as they might have thought. Yahoo cautioned that only 5 percent of passwords associated with its account holders were valid.

It was not immediately possible to contact the Ukraine-registered website associated with D33D Company. Its contact form was inoperable Thursday, while an email address and a phone number attributed to the site's registrant appeared to be invalid.

|foxnews.com

Morocco's Taarabt extends QPR contract

Morocco forward Adel Taarabt has extended his contract with Queens Park Rangers for three years, the Premier League side announced on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old was heavily linked in the media with a move to French big-spending side Paris Saint Germain, but he moved to quell speculation and pledge his future to QPR.

"I am very pleased to have signed this contract," Taarabt told the club's official website.

"When I first arrived here I honestly thought it would be just for a short period but I love this club and the people here have really helped me and I am very happy to be here. I had a tough start to the season last year, but I worked hard and I have really enjoyed it under Mark Hughes.

"The club is getting bigger and bigger, with a new training ground and talk of a new stadium is very exciting.

"In the time I have been here, QPR's ambition has changed. Last year the aim was to stay in the Premier League. We achieved this and now we want to progress and improve. Nobody is speaking about what we can achieve but we really want to move up the Premier League."

Taarabt, who joined QPR in the summer of 2010, produced some fine displays last season, helping the club retain their top-flight status.

He expressed his delight after being handed the number 10 jersey, previously worn by the club' stars.

"This means a lot to me personally," he said. "I was happy with the '7' but I know '10' is very important at QPR. Special players like Bowles and Marsh have worn this. The club told me that the fans want me to have this shirt. So if this makes the fans happy too, it is even better for me."

|ahram.org.eg

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Moroccan activists demand sex before marriage

Moroccan Justice Minister Mustafa al-Ramid lashed out at a request submitted by a group of activists asking for the legalizing of sexual relations outside marriage and called the initiative a promotion of debauchery.

“Revoking the law that criminalizes sex outside marriage is a propagation of corruption that will deal a fatal blow to Moroccan values,” Ramid said Monday in parliament, answering a question about his response to the sexual freedom initiative.

A group of Moroccan activists called a few days ago for crossing out Article 490 of the Penal Code which punishes every man and woman caught having sex outside marriage even if the couple is consenting adults. According to those activists, adults should have the freedom to engage in sexual relations as long as there is mutual consent.

The harsh criticism directed at this demand was not confined to the parliament, but extended to clerics who saw the call for sexual freedom as a grave threat to the moral and spiritual wellbeing of Moroccans.

The Union for Quranic Houses, affiliated to the Salafi school of thought, issued a statement slamming the sexual freedom initiative which, it said, “came at a time when reformers and wise men are trying to rebuild the country and fight corruption.”

Al Arabiya obtained a statement by Moroccan Salafi Front in which it accused the activists behind the initiative of violating an indisputable law in the Quran.

“They are saying that by prohibiting fornication, the Holy Quran has caused people to suffer from sexual frustration.”

The initiative, the statement added, also flagrantly contradicts the Moroccan constitution.

“According to the constitution, personal freedoms cannot violate national values and the Islamic identity of Morocco.”

The reactions of Islamists, in turn, infuriated liberals. Secular activist Abdul Hamid Amin accused Islamists of ultra-conservatism and narrow-mindedness.

“They just attack anyone who has a different opinion; they want to impose their inflexible ideologies on society,” he said.

Amin refuted allegations that activists calling for the legalization of sexual freedom aim at Westernizing society.

“On the contrary, Islamists are the ones who have always been allied with the West.”

He also disagreed with Islamists’ argument that sexual freedom is bound to increase sexually-transmitted diseases.

“This is a lie that only reveals how hypocritical society is.”

@Alarabiya

Major Medical Groups Back Sweeteners as Diet Aid

Non-nutritive sweeteners like Splenda, Equal and Sweet'N Low may have a role to play in maintaining or even losing weight, as long as people don't use them as an excuse to treat themselves later with high-calorie goodies.

That endorsement of six sugar substitutes as a dietary aid came in a scientific statement released Monday by two major health organizations, the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association.

"There may be a benefit to people who use them smartly and who don't compensate later in the day and negate the benefit," said Christopher Gardner, lead author of the new scientific statement.

According to background information in the document, which is being published simultaneously in the journals Circulation and Diabetes Care, some 6,000 foods and beverages on the U.S. market contain at least one of the six available non-nutritive sweeteners.

Four of them -- sucralose (Splenda), acesuflame-K, neotame (made by NutraSweet) and saccharin (Sweet'N Low) -- are artificial sweeteners and are regulated as food additives by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Aspartame (Equal or NutraSweet) is composed of three amino acids and stevia is a plant derivative, so technically both are not considered "artificial," but they do have FDA approval, Gardner explained.

Regardless of where they come from, non-nutritive sweeteners have become increasingly popular. In 1965, only 3 percent of Americans used them in their diet; by 2004, 15 percent did.

That rise in popularity, however, has not been accompanied by a decrease in the consumption of added sugars, which contribute to obesity, diabetes and a host of other health woes, the scientific statement noted.

Overall, the scientific literature on non-nutritive sweeteners is scant, but there is some evidence that drinking a zero-calorie diet soda in place of a sugary soda may help reduce calories.

Neither beverage has any nutritional value, but people who drink diet beverages are not likely to compensate with cookies or other empty calories later in the day, Gardner said.

On the other hand, he added, people who eat foods containing non-nutritive sweeteners are more likely to compensate with sugar-laced items later in the day.

At this point, it's not clear what effect non-nutritive sweeteners may have on actual weight loss or gain or total calorie or carbohydrate intake or if they have any effect on other risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

But there is some evidence (largely anecdotal) that consuming products with non-nutritive sweeteners can help people with diabetes monitor their sugar intake, a key component of managing diabetes, Gardner said.

"Picking diet sodas over sodas or even picking foods with non-nutritive sweeteners can have a direct impact on sugar intake and [can be used] as a viable tool to get people to monitor their sugar intake," he said.

Similarly, if you're planning on having coffee anyway, "using a blue or yellow or pink packet, that'll help," Gardner said.

Overall, though, non-nutritive sweeteners are probably not the ultimate answer for keeping a healthy weight and staying healthy.

"I don't think they're the magic bullet for weight loss," said Nancy Copperman, director of public health initiatives at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.

Statement author Gardner agreed. "If people are counting on this as the way to control calories and sugar, this isn't it," he said. "The bigger impact has to be from an overall healthy diet. You're never going to turn a junk food into a health food just because you eliminated the sugar content. You never find non-nutritive sweeteners in carrots, broccoli or kidney beans, all the things we tell people to eat."

@health.usnews.com

Google to pay $22.5M fine over Apple Safari

A person familiar with settlement said the fine has yet to be approved by the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees online privacy issues in the US. If approved by the FTC's five commissioners, the $22.5 million penalty would be the largest the agency has ever imposed on a single company.

Google, however, has $49 billion in the bank and will generate revenue this year of about $46 billion.

The case, nonetheless, raises further doubts about the company's credibility as it grapples with broader regulatory investigations into whether it has been abusing its influential position on the internet to stifle competition.

"We do set the highest standards of privacy and security for our users," Google said in a statement Tuesday. The company emphasized the tracking technology inserted into the Safari browser didn't collect any personal information.

Google will not acknowledge any wrongdoing under the proposed settlement, according to the person familiar with the terms...

@ telegraph.co.uk

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Saudi Princess Seeks UK Asylum

Saudi Arabia’s Princess Sara bint Talal bin Abdulaziz is seeking asylum in the UK for herself and her children over fears they will not be safe back home.

In applying for asylum, the divorced mother-of-four says she faces persecution by members of her family and also some of Saudi Arabia’s authorities.

“My reputation has been besmirched in the media by a baseless and malicious smear campaign,” the princess said in press statement.

“For years I have endured all this in silence, while trying to resolve my situation with dignity through the normal channels, without fanfare or publicity. But my pleas to the Saudi authorities in the Kingdom have been obstructed and denied, and the Saudi embassy in London has turned its back on me.”

Princess Sara went on to say that she has “nothing but respect for my uncle King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and the people of Saudi Arabia”.

“All I have ever sought is my legitimate rights, so that my children and I can resume our lives with dignity and I can resume my civil society and development work.”

According to the Sunday Telegraph, a Saudi embassy diplomat said: “The embassy has been involved in settling her visa issue and residency issue in the UK. We have tried to settle this issue.

“This matter is of a personal nature so there is only so much the government can do. It’s not a political matter.”

@therightperspective.org

Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes reach divorce settlement

Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes settled their divorce on Monday, taking less than two weeks to end a nearly six-year marriage that captivated the world and prompted questions about raising their daughter in the Church of Scientology.

“Mission: Impossible” star Cruise, 50, married Holmes, 33, who first gained fame on television drama “Dawson’s Creek,” in a glamorous wedding in an Italian castle in November 2006. Suri was born about six months earlier.

The couple and their young daughter became a favorite of celebrity magazines and seemed happy until late last month when Holmes filed for a divorce in New York. Her move surprised fans and even Cruise, who was in Iceland shooting a movie.

Since then, the media have speculated that the pair differed on raising 6-year-old Suri as a Scientologist, although neither they nor their attorneys would comment on the matter.

“The case has been settled and the agreement has been signed. We are thrilled for Katie and her family and are excited to watch as she embarks on the next chapter of her life,” Holmes attorney Jonathan Wolfe of New Jersey-based firm Skoloff & Wolfe said in a statement.

Cruise lawyer Bert Fields also released a statement saying, “Tom is really pleased we got there, and so am I.”

But there was no direct comment from either of the stars. Instead, they issued a joint statement ahead of the announcement.

“We are committed to working together as parents to accomplishing what is in our daughter Suri’s best interests,” the pair said in the statement. “We want to keep matters affecting our family private and express our respect for each other’s commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other’s roles as parents.”

As reports surfaced on Monday with purported details of the custody agreement, lawyer Wolfe released a new statement saying the deal was being kept under wraps.

“There are numerous inaccuracies in the reports regarding the purported contents of the agreement reached between the parties. The agreement is confidential and its terms will not be disclosed,” Wolfe said.

@Torontosun.com

Morocco pick Kharja for Olympics

Fiorentina striker Houssine Kharja is one of just two overage players in Morocco’s squad for the men’s Olympic football tournament.

The other overage player chosen by coach Pim Verbeek is Nordine Amrabat.

Kharja, who was Morocco captian, and Amrabat both part of the Atlas Lions squad at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

Goalkeeper Mohamed Amsif and Abdelhamid El Kaoutari were also at the Nations Cup and are in the Olympic squad.

Italy-based

Omar El Kaddouri is also included in the squad following his recent nationality swap from Belgium.

However injury forces Montpellier midfielder Younes Belhanda to miss the tournament.

Eight of the players who helped Morocco qualify for the Games,by finishing as runners-up at the inaugural African Under-23 Championship,are in the final 18-man squad for London.

Morocco will be making their seventh appearance at the Olympic men’s football tournament, where they open their Group D campaign against Honduras on 26 July.

Three days later they play Japan before a final game against Spain.

The Morocco squad will prepare in the Netherlands from next week.

Squad:

Goalkeepers:

Mohamed Amsif (FC Augsburg, Germany), Yassine Bounou (Atletico Madrid, Spain)

Defenders:

Mohamed Aberhoune (MA Tetouan), Zakarya Bergdich (Racing Lens, France), Abdelhamid El Kaoutari (Montpellier, France), Zouhair Feddal (Espanyol, Spain), Yacine Jebbour (Stade Rennes, France), Abdelatif Noussair (FUS Rabat)

Midfielders:

Abdelaziz Barrada (Getafe, Spain), Omar El Kaddouri (Brescia, Italy), Driss Fettouhi (Istres, France), Rayane Frikech (Angers, France), Houcine Kharja (Fiorentina, Italy), Imad Najah (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands)

Forwards:

Nordine Amrabat (Kayerispor, Turkey), Soufiane Bidaoui (Lierse, Belgium), Soufian El Hassnaoui (De Graafschap, Netherlands), Zakarya Labyad (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal)

@timesofnews.com

Miracle Fish ///Short film

8 year old Joe has a Birthday he will never forget. After friends bully him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality.

Oscar nominated short film written and directed by Luke Doolan.

Produced by Drew Bailey.

Cast: Karl Beattie, Brendan Donoghue, Tara Morice & Kieran Darcy-Smith.


WWF's 'Horrifying' and 'Frightening' Ads


While Sharks Aren't Really 'Horrifying', a World Without Them Sure Is The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) is known for its ads (which are sometimes pretty surreal and strange, like the Fish Head ad reproduced below for your viewing pleasure). I don't really find sharks anything close to 'horrifying', in fact, I'd say that I find them really fascinating. But I understand what they were going for with the ad, and why they needed to write that to make the concept work. Same thing with the bird of prey ad below.

Top predators have important roles to play in ecosystems, and while they might not seem as cuddly as other endangered animals, that shouldn't stop us from protecting them just as vehemently as we would protect other creatures!
Here's the strange Fish Head ad:





@treehugger.com

Sit less, add more years to your life

Restricting the amount of time spent seated every day to less than 3 hours might boost the life expectancy of adults by an extra 2 years, a new study has revealed.

The findings also suggests that cutting down TV viewing to less than 2 hours every day might extend life by almost 1.4 years.

Numerous previous studies have linked extended periods spent sitting down and/or watching TV to poor health, such as diabetes and death from heart disease/stroke.

The researchers used data collected for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 2005/6 and 2009/10, to calculate the amount of time US adults spent watching TV and sitting down on a daily basis.

The scientists trawled the research database MEDLINE, looking for published studies on sitting time and deaths from all causes, and pooled the different relative risk data from the five relevant studies, involving almost 167,000 adults.

The database was then reanalysed, taking account of age and sex.

They combined these data and the NHANES figures to come up with a population attributable fraction (PAF) - an estimate of the theoretical effects of a risk factor at a population, rather than an individual level - to work out the number of deaths associated with time spent sitting down.

The PAFs for deaths from all causes linked to sitting time and TV viewing were 27 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

The results of life table analyses indicates that cutting the amount of time spent sitting down every day to under three hours would add an extra two years to life expectancy.

Similarly, restricting time spent watching TV to less than two hours daily would extend life expectancy by an extra 1.38 years.

The researchers emphasise that their analysis assumes a causal association rather than proving that there is one. But they point to the evidence showing the detrimental effect of a sedentary lifestyle on health.

And they also caution that their findings should not be interpreted as meaning that someone who leads a more sedentary lifestyle can expect to live two or 1.4 years less than someone who is more active.

"The results of this study indicate that extended sitting time and TV viewing may have the potential to reduce life expectancy in the USA," the Daily Mail quoted them as writing in their study.

"Given that the results from objective monitoring of sedentary time in NHANES has indicated that adults spend an average of 55% of their day engaged in sedentary pursuits, a significant shift in behaviour change at the population level is required to make demonstrable improvements in life expectancy," they concluded.

The research was published recently in the online journal BMJ Open.

@indiatimes.com

Russian Wikipedia shuts down site to protest law

Wikipedia has shut down its Russian-language site for 24 hours to protest a law that would give the government sweeping powers to blacklist certain sites.

Lawmakers say that the bill, which is to be reviewed in parliament today, is designed to protect the well-being of children. It enables the government to block sites that show child pornography, promote teen suicide, or spread information about drugs.

But both Internet users and human rights activists have loudly protested the law. The Presidential Council of Human Rights said that the law provides too wide a scope for the government to "subjectively" select which sites to blacklist.

The Wikipedia protest comes after a similar shutdown of the English-language site in January to protest the anti-pirating Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. Congress.

@AP

Imprisoned Moroccan rapper announces hunger strike

Morocco RapperA Moroccan rap artist imprisoned for writing a song alleging police corruption has gone on hunger strike to protest prison conditions, his brother said Monday.

Moroccan rapper Mouad Belghouat - known as El-Haqed, "The Enraged" - was convicted May 11 of "showing contempt" to public servants with his song "Dogs of the State".

Aderrahim Belghouat told The Associated Press that his brother "is forbidden from using the phone in prison, is harassed by the other prisoners and the guards are constantly searching his stuff - often very late at night."

The strike "is a warning for the prison administration," he said, adding that the fast will last for 48 hours.

Lawyers for Belghouat appealed his conviction in a court hearing Monday, but the case was adjourned until July 23 to grant the rapper more time to prepare his case.

Belghouat was active in the pro-democracy February 20 movement. He wrote songs attacking the king for his wealth and lyrics that highlighted the inequalities in Moroccan society, but "Dogs of the State" created the most uproar.

Police particularly objected to a video montage posted online with the song which included an image of a police officer with the head of a donkey.

"You are paid to protect the citizens, not to steal their money," the lyrics read. "Did your commander order you to take money from the poor?" Other lyrics ask the police to arrest the wealthy businessmen, who Belghouat raps have divided the country for themselves.

New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch in May condemned Belghouat's conviction, highlighting that even as he was being imprisoned for his music, Morocco was hosting international music artists - including Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz - in a star-studded Mawazine festival.

The conviction was Belghouat's second. The singer, who comes from a sprawling Casablanca slum in western Morocco, was jailed for four months last year for getting into a fight with a regime supporter in the gritty, low-income suburb of the city where he now lives. His supporters say the charges were trumped up. He was released Jan. 12 in a case that mobilized the country's activist community.

Morocco was swept with pro-democracy demonstrations like many other countries in the Middle East last year, but King Mohammed VI managed to defuse popular anger with a series of reforms.

@AP

Twenty six people killed in bus crashes in Morocco

At least 26 people were killed and 40 others injured in two separate bus accidents in Morocco on Monday, official media reported.

Ten people died and 33 others were injured, five of them critically, when a passenger bus crashed near the northern city of Nador, state news agency MAP reported.

Later on Monday, 16 people died and a dozen others were injured when their bus fell into a ravine near the town of Tamanar, 530 km (330 miles) south of Rabat.

MAP did not give the nationalities of the victims.

Road accidents are common in Morocco, but have been on the rise after car ownership nearly doubled in the ten years to the end-2011.

@Reuters

Friday, July 6, 2012

Morocco wins Arab Nations Cup 2012 title

Morocco was crowned on Friday the winner of the 9th Arab Nations Cup 2012 for the first time in its soccer history after grabbing a tough 3-1 win over Libya with penalty kicks, in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.

The golden win marks the first Arab title for the Moroccan national team.

By coming in the second place, Libya won the silver medal, while Iraq won the bronze medal after it snatched the 3rd place with a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

@Alarabiya

Morocco to host next Friends of Syria meeting

Morocco is to host the next Friends of Syria meeting, the over 100 nations taking part in the current encounter in Paris on Friday said in their final statement.

"The participants were pleased that Morocco is available to host the next meeting of the Friends of the Syrian People. Italy has said it is ready to host the following meeting," it said.

@AFP

Rihanna's father gives blessing to Chris Brown relationship

RIHANNA's father has given his pop star daughter his blessing to embark on a relationship with her ex CHRIS BROWN.

The pair split after a well-publicised fight in 2009 and Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting the Umbrella hitmaker the same year, but speculation surrounding the nature of the couple's relationship has mounted in recent months (12) following news they had reunited in a studio to record two new songs.

Despite their turbulent past, Rihanna's dad Ronald Fenty insists he is happy for her to rekindle the romance, because he's convinced Brown is a wiser man than he was when he lashed out at his daughter.

Fenty tells Britain's Grazia magazine, "Chris has matured a lot. I think everybody has to put the past behind them. And they seem to have done that.

"Being a couple is all up to her. Every decision is her decision. I just wish her the best. I hope things will work out. Everyone is entitled to make a mistake. Her fans are hoping it will happen. They see them as a perfect couple."

His remarks don't appear to be shared by Brown's father, Clinton, who recently urged his son to stay away from his ex and concentrate on his career.

The worried dad told America's Star magazine, "I do not condone everything that goes on with Chris, but I love my son with all my being. I am always concerned about him... He can make his own decisions. But, as a concerned parent, I would rather they not have any involvement... Sometimes you need to cut the strings and move beyond the past."

@newsnet5.com

Solar plane leaves Morocco for Spain

A solar-powered aircraft left the Moroccan capital on Friday for Madrid on its return journey to its home port in Switzerland.

Piloted by Bertrand Piccard, the Solar Impulse, an experimental plane which flies without fuel, took off shortly after 6am (1pm Singapore time), heading towards Barajas airport in Madrid.

The hi-tech aircraft, which has the wingspan of a jumbo jet but weighs no more than a medium-sized car, is fitted with 12,000 solar cells feeding four electric motors driving propellers.

Strong winds had grounded the Swiss-made aircraft in Morocco on Tuesday, after it arrived in Rabat a week ago following a successful flight over the Moroccan desert.



@Afp

Coca Cola Denies the Existence of Alcohol in its Beverages

Earlier last week, a new research conducted by the National Institute of Consumption (INC) in Paris raised controversy among Coca Cola’s consumers, especially among Muslims. The research claims to have found low traces of alcohol in several popular soft drinks, such as Coca Cola and Pepsi.

The research, which was published in 60 Million Consommateurs magazine, showed that some of the most recognizable brands in cola showed positive traces of approximately 0.001 percent of alcohol per liter, which was not mentioned in the ingredients label.

According to 60 Millions, the presence of other “controversial” ingredients such as phosphoric acid or ammonia-sulfite caramel E150D food coloring was detected. The latter is listed as carcinogenic in California.

The cola companies changed their recipes after the discovery in California but have no plans of doing so for Europe.

In a statement issued by Coca Cola branch in Morocco, the company denied any presence of alcohol in its products and beverages. “Our beverages are non-alcoholic drinks and we do not add any alcohol as an ingredient to any of our products,” the statement says.



The company added that all their products in Morocco are compatible with the regulations of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture in Morocco. It also added that the production and sale of its Coca Cola beverages have been approved by the competent authority in all Muslim Countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey and Morocco.

These two conflicting statements can create a big deal among Muslim consumers of non-alcoholic drinks who want to make sure that what they eat and drink is halal and in accordance with their religious teachings.

@MoroccoWorldNews

El-Hamdaoui set for Fiorentina move after all

The transfer of sidelined Ajax striker Mounir El-Hamdaoui to Italian side Fiorentina appears to be back on track after the two clubs reached a deal on Wednesday evening, the Telegraaf reported on Thursday.

The two sides had agreed a €2m transfer fee and bonuses of up to €3m at the beginning of this year but Fiorentina did not meet the deadline to deliver a guarantee, the paper said.

The new terms have not been made public but will give Ajax room to bring in Luciano Narsingh, currently with Heerenveen, the paper said.

El-Hamdaoui was out of the first team all last season because of a dispute with coach Frank de Boer. He was bought by previous coach Martin Jol from AZ for €5m.

@dutchnews.nl

Katie Holmes says she is entering 'new phase' of her life

The actress appeared to have been secretly planning the divorce with Cruise for some time.

She may have hinted at it in an interview conducted six weeks ago, which is only due to be published in Elle magazine on July 17.

She deflected questions about her husband and told the interviewer: "I'm starting to come into my own. It's like a new phase. He has been Tom Cruise for 30 years. I know who I am, and where I am, and where I want to go, so I want to focus on that."

She added: "I definitely feel much more comfortable in my own skin. I feel sexier. I think in my 20s, it’s like you’re trying too hard to figure everything out."

Meanwhile, the estranged niece of the head of the Church of Scientology has warned Holmes that the organisation is "no place for an innocent child" like her daughter Suri...

@telegraph.co.uk

FIFA OKs goal-line technology, headscarves

Soccer gave its stamp of approval Thursday to goal-line technology and headscarves for female Muslim players.

Also adopted was a proposal for a five-referee system to officiate matches - placing an additional assistant beside each goal.

The three decisions will be "long-lasting and resonate throughout the world," said Patrick Nelson, chief executive of the Northern Ireland association.

FIFA said it will introduce the goal-line mechanism at the seven-team Club World Cup in Japan in December, with plans to use it in Brazil at the 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup.

"We want to make sure that the systems at the World Cup work at 150 percent, not 90 percent," said Jerome Valcke said, secretary general for the governing body.

FIFA will use both Hawk-Eye and GoalRef systems in Japan, after they won "unanimous" support from the International Football Association Board panel, Valcke said.

The English Premier League is expected to adopt one of the systems - which probably will cost up to $250,000 per stadium - during next season.



The ruling on headscarves reversed a ban on the Islamic hijab that has been enforced in FIFA competitions since 2007. Soccer rules prohibit equipment that is dangerous or makes religious statements.

The IFAB gave its OK after FIFA's medical committee decided two scarf designs do not threaten the safety of female players.

FIFA vice president Prince Ali of Jordan led a yearlong campaign to overturn the ban and allow Muslim women to play the game.

@sfgate.com

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Living alone ups death risk from 45 to 80

An study of stable outpatients at risk of or with coronary disease found those ages 45-80 who lived alone had an increased risk of death, U.S. researchers say.

Dr. Jacob A. Udell of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined whether living alone was associated with increased mortality and cardiovascular risk in a global study involving 44,573 people -- 19 percent of whom lived alone.

The study, published in Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, found those living alone were associated with higher four-year mortality of 14.1 percent versus an 11.1 percent rate for those living with someone.

The study found heart patients ages 45-65 who lived alone were associated with a 7.7 percent higher risk of death versus a rate of 5.7 percent when they lived with others.

Those ages 66-80 who lived alone also had an increased risk of death, but there was not an increased risk of death for those age 80 and older who lived alone.

"Younger individuals who live alone may have a less favorable course than all but the most elderly individuals following development of cardiovascular disease, and this observation warrants confirmation in further studies," the study authors said in a statement.

@UPI

Morocco, Libya in Arab Nations Cup final

Morocco and Libya will be playing the final of the 2012 Arab Nations Cup on Friday July 6 at the Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after both teams qualified from the semifinals played earlier this week.

Libya knocked out host team Saudi Arabia 2-0 on Tuesday to book their place while Morocco humbled Iraq 2-1 later in the day to reach the final.

The 10th edition of the Arab Nations Cup began on June 22 with 11 nations from two confederations, including hosts and defending champions Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Sudan, Lebanon, Yemen, Palestine and Libya.

The eventual winner will receive $1 million (R 8m) as prize money, while the runner-up will go home with $600,000 (R 4.9m). The third placed team will get $300,000 (R 2.4m) and $200,000 (R 1.6m) will go to each of the other participating teams.

@supersport.com

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

EU Parliament rejects ACTA anti-piracy treaty

The European Parliament overwhelmingly defeated the international ACTA anti-piracy trade agreement Wednesday after concern that it would limit Internet freedom mobilized broad opposition across Europe.

The vote — 39 in favor, 478 against and 165 abstentions — means that as far as the EU is concerned the treaty is finished, at least for the moment, though other countries may well participate.

Supporters had said ACTA — the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement — was needed to standardize international laws that protect the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion goods and other products that often fall victim to piracy and intellectual property theft. Opponents feared it would lead to censorship and a loss of privacy on the Internet.

Many other countries — including the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea — also have signed the trade agreement, though no one has ratified it yet, and the EU vote won't affect them.

David Martin, a member of the Parliament from Scotland and the person who reported to the European Parliament on the proposal, said before Wednesday's vote that the agreement was dead. "No emergency surgery, no transplant, no long period of recuperation is going to save ACTA," Martin said. "It's time to give it its last rites. It's time to allow its friends to mourn and for the rest of us to get on with our lives."

But EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht did not sound ready to give up altogether. He said in a statement after the vote that he would push ahead with his plan to have Europe's highest court determine whether the agreement, as written, would curtail any fundamental European rights, and would consider his next move in light of that opinion.

"It's clear that the question of protecting intellectual property does need to be addressed on a global scale — for business, the creative industries whether in Europe or our partner countries," De Gucht said. "With the rejection of ACTA, the need to protect the backbone of Europe's economy across the globe: our innovation, our creativity, our ideas — our intellectual property — does not disappear."

But the overwhelming vote Tuesday would seem to indicate that the agreement in its current form has no chance to be approved.

The treaty was unanimously approved by the 27 EU heads of government in December. But EU efforts to ratify it ran into deep trouble almost immediately. For the EU to become a party to the treaty, all 27 member countries would have to formally approve it.

Protests erupted on the streets of several European cities. A petition against ACTA garnered 2.8 million signatures.

It began to look increasingly unlikely that all 27 countries would ratify the agreement — so much so that in February the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, suspended ratification efforts and instead asked the European Court of Justice to render its opinion. The hope clearly was to stall for time and try to resume ratification efforts, armed with a favorable court opinion, in a calmer atmosphere.

The failure to ratify the treaty is a humiliation for the EU, which was one of the prime movers in the multi-year effort to negotiate the agreement. EU officials had maintained that ACTA would change nothing in European law, but would be simply an instance of the EU leading by example and exporting its strong copyright protection laws to other countries where safeguards are weaker.

@ajc.com

Morocco Named "2012 Offshoring Destination of the Year"

Morocco Named 2012 Offshoring Destination of the Year\" by the European Outsourcing Association / Martyn Hart, Chairman of the European Outsourcing Association and Armand Angeli, Vice-président, EOA France, present EOA’s 2012 Offshoring Destination of the Year Award to Abderrafie Hanouf, Directeur General of MEDZ Sourcing Morocco and Larbi Bouattaf, Economic Counselor to the Embassy of Morocco to the United Kingdom.

Morocco and MEDZ Sourcing have been named "Offshoring Destination of the Year" by the European Outsourcing Association (EOA), which presented its 2012 awards on Wednesday evening at the Law Society in London. The award recognises Morocco's attractiveness as a platform for providing business, information and communications technology services to European organisations seeking cost competitive solutions for deploying their sourcing strategies. Morocco beat five other destinations shortlisted for the award including South Africa, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Egypt.

The EOA judges cited Morocco's success in establishing an attractive nearshore outsourcing industry, with strong backing of testimonials from European companies, such as Dell, Logica, Deloitte, HP and Attento, who are benefitting from doing business from Morocco.

"Being chosen as EOA's Offshoring Destination of the Year is a great testament to the daily contributions of the 55,000 women and men working in Morocco's world class outsourcing centres", stated Abderrafie Hanouf, Director General of MEDZ Sourcing, operator of dedicated business parks including Casanearshore Park, Rabat Technopolis and Fès Shore, which opened officially on 20th of June. MEDZ Sourcing, was cited along with Morocco as recipient of the 2012 EOA Offshoring Destination of the Year Award.

"This is a great honour. In Europe, EOA is considered the most important association of professionals and experts in the outsourcing industry. Receiving their award validates our value proposition, which is to offer world class infrastructure, stable, competitive costs, and well-trained human resources, in combination with Morocco's geographic, cultural and linguistic proximity to Europe", continued Mr. Hanouf.

@.prnewswire.com


Anderson Cooper: ‘The fact is, I’m gay’

Anderson Cooper, who has been reluctant to talk about his personal life in public, revealed that he is gay in an essay posted online.

The CNN journalist said he had kept his sexual orientation private for personal and professional reasons, but came to think that remaining silent had given some people a mistaken impression that he was ashamed.

“The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself and proud,” he wrote in a letter to Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Beast.

Cooper, the son of Gloria Vanderbilt, had long been the subject of rumors about his sexual orientation. He said that in a perfect world, it wouldn’t be anyone’s business, but that there is value in “standing up and being counted.”


“I still consider myself a reserved person and I hope this doesn’t mean an end to a small amount of personal space,” he wrote. “But I do think visibility is important, more important than preserving my reporter’s shield of privacy.”

@AP

Quick HIV test approved for home use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved OraQuick's In-Home HIV Test for sale directly to consumers over-the-counter, officials said.

Douglas A. Michels, president and chief executive officer of OraSure Technologies, said his company's product is the first rapid diagnostic test for any infectious disease that has been approved by the FDA for sale over-the-counter.

He said it can detect antibodies to both HIV-1 and HIV-2 with an oral swab in an in-home testing option in 20 minutes.

"Approval of the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test represents a major breakthrough in HIV testing," Michels said in a statement. "For the first time ever, individuals will have access to an in-home oral test that will empower them to learn their HIV status in the comfort of their home and obtain referral to care if needed. This new in-home rapid test -- the same test doctors have used for years -- will help individuals at risk for HIV who otherwise may not test in a professional or clinical setting."



The OraQuick In-Home HIV Test is expected to be available for purchase in October at more than 30,000 U.S. retail outlets and online.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said approximately 1.2 million people in the United States have HIV and approximately 240,000 of them do not know it.


@UPI

Yasser Arafat 'poisoned with Polonium'

Yasser Arafat may have been killed with a lethal dose of the highly radioactive substance Polonium, it was claimed on Tuesday.

Tests performed by a Swiss laboratory found significant traces of Polonium-210 on the late Palestinian leader's clothes, adding a new twist to a case that has obsessed the Arab world for years.

Polonium-210 is the same substance used to poison the Russian dissident Alexader Litvinenko in London.

The claims are likely to renew Palestinian suspicions that Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, assassinated Arafat, who died in a Paris hospital in 2004.

The Institute de Radiophysique in Lausanne found a level of 180?millibecquerels of Polonium-210, more than 20 times the dose needed to kill a human, in bodily fluid on Arafat's clothes. "I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported Polonium-210 in the belongings of Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids," Dr Francois Bochod, the director of the institute, told Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab television station.

Al Jazeera sent Arafat's clothes to the institute for testing after obtaining them from his widow as part of a nine-month investigation into his death.

Many theories have been advanced in the past for the cause of his death, and his case notes - which are alleged to show that he had suffered cirrhosis - have never been released.

A former speech writer for George W Bush claimed he had contracted Aids from a homosexual relationship with one of his guards, while aides of Arafat have alleged that he was poisoned by Mossad with Thallium, another radioactive element.

Some of Arafat's symptoms, including vomiting, cirrhosis and coma, are compatible with Polonium-210 poisoning, which results in a long and agonising death. But it is not thought that Arafat suffered hair loss, which is thought to happen in half of cases of significant exposure to the element.

The dose allegedly ingested by Arafat was much smaller than the amount that killed Litvinenko.

British police dealing with the Litvinenko case have alleged that only a sophisticated, state-backed intelligence agency could source Polonium-210 in a form that could be used as poison.

 @dnaindia.com

CERN gripped by Higgs boson fever

Higgs boson fever has gripped Cern, the particle physics laboratory in Switzerland that is home to the Large Hadron Collider, colleagues say.

Two teams of physicists at Cern will announce the results of their latest efforts to discover the particle, first proposed in 1964 by Edinburgh University physicist Peter Higgs.

Researchers say it is the most sought-after particle in modern science.

The Guardian said rumors and leaks from CERN suggest researchers have seen compelling evidence for the particle, though perhaps not enough to claim an official discovery that would be proof of an invisible energy field that fills the vacuum of space.

The theory is the Higgs energy field switched on a trillionth of a second after the big bang that flung the universe into existence.

"If something significant and new is found on Wednesday that would be fantastic, but we're not going to know firstly that it's a Higgs boson, or secondly what kind of Higgs particle it might be, until we've made a much more thorough investigation of how it behaves," Tara Shears, a particle physicist from Liverpool University who works at the lab, told the newspaper.

@UPI

Morocco's El Ahmadi joins Aston Villa

Moroccan international Karim El Ahmadi has completed his move from Dutch club Feyenoord to Aston Villa after signing a three-year deal, the English Premier League side said on Monday.

Midfielder El Ahmadi, 27, played a major role in Feyenoord's second-place finish in last season's Eredivisie, which earned the club a place in the Champions League.

"It was always a dream of mine to play in the Premier League," El Ahmadi said on Aston Villa's website (www.avfc.co.uk).

"I think this is the best league in the world. It will be a challenge to show people what I can do."

El Ahmadi is new Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert's first signing as he looks to strengthen the squad that could only manage 16th in the Premier League last season.

"Karim will help the team, I have no doubt about that," Lambert said.

"He's a really good footballer and he's played well in a good team, a big team, and I'm looking forward to working with him."

@Reuters

MOROCCAN IMAM INVESTIGATED AFTER CALLING FOR JOURNALIST'S DEATH

A Moroccan court has ordered the investigation of a controversial imam, Abdellah Nhari, for inciting hatred, reports Le Soir Echos.
In a video posted on YouTube (see below), Nhari suggests that Mokhtar Laghzioui, editor-in-chief of the Arabic newspaper Al Ahdath Al Maghribia, "must be killed" in reaction to his appearance on the new pan-Arabist news channel Al Mayadeen, where he defended individual rights for Moroccan people, especially pertaining to sexual liberties.
The imam also criticizes the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), which has previously launched an appeal to legalize sexual relations outside of marriage. "These types of secular organizations are corrupt and financed by Europe and the West," Nhari said.
As AFP reported, the court in the Moroccan city of Oujda, declared Sunday that Nhari's speech is "likely to lead to crime, incitement of violence through preaching."
The weekly French-language Moroccan newspaper La Vie éco reported Tuesday that the Moroccan Union of Newspaper Editors (FMEJ) was "concerned and shocked" by the video, declaring that journalists should have the right to express their opinions within the framework of the law.
Mokhtar Laghzioui said: "I am relieved the authorities have taken this threat seriously. This is not about any one person. This is a real danger to individual freedom in Morocco."

@worldcrunch.com




Gay Cruise Ship Turned Away by Morocco Docks in Spain

Nieuw Amsterdam.jpgThe cruise ship Nieuw Amsterdam, on its present voyage catering to a gay clientele, docked Sunday in the southern Spanish port of Malaga after Moroccan authorities prohibited it from making its scheduled port of call in Casablanca.

The vessel, carrying 1,564 passengers and 869 crew members, docked about 7:25 a.m. and was scheduled to depart from Malaga later in the day, Malaga Port Authority spokesmen told Efe.

The RSVP Vacations travel agency, which specializes in organizing tourist trips for gay and lesbian customers, said Saturday in a letter to its clients that its agent in the port of Casablanca had reported that "the authorities have cancelled the scheduled July 1 visit despite having previously confirmed it."

The agency said that they considered this to be "disappointing news" and added that the decision was made after the "visit of a gay cruise ship" turned into "a public and potentially controversial matter."

Despite the cruise ship's claims, Morocco's Tourism Minister Lahcen Haddad denied that the ship was somehow prevented from docking.

"We don't ban cruise ships here and we never ask our visitors about their sexual preferences," he told Reuters.

The minister also reiterated that the cruise line can dock in Morocco for future trips.

In Morocco the same-sex relationships are unlawful and punishable to up to three years in jail. Their penal code also bans sex outside marriage, and buying alcohol. The ship, which belongs to the U.S. company Holland America Line, had scheduled a program for its stay in Casablanca that included a visit to the Hassan II Mosque and to several souks - or traditional marketplaces - in the city.

After the stop in Casablanca, which was supposed to last for about 12 hours, the cruise ship was due to sail to Cadiz, also in southern Spain, and then to continue on to Ibiza in the Balearic Islands, then to the eastern Spanish city of Valencia and finally to end its journey in Barcelona.

Organizers emphasized the "historic welcoming tolerance for gay tourists" in Morocco, despite the fact that the religion - Islam - and the laws of the North African country punish homosexuality.

@foxnews.com

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