Palais Mnebhi
Fez- a place of secret delights.
An article entitled Authentic Morocco by Jonathan Gregson writing for the Financial Times is a much better crafted piece than much of the gushingly Orientalist fare served up by the tabloids. Here is a short extract.
El Gusto
The U.S. Secretary of State is due to meet with the top officials of the visited countries to "discuss a wide range of bilateral and regional issues," the State Department added. In light of the unrest in tge Caucus region it will be interesting to hear if Ms Rice raises the thorny issue of Morocco's developing stronger ties with Russia.
King inaugurates professional training and elderly centres in Rabat
A centre for professional training and a social centre for the elderly, with a global budget of MAD 14 million ($1.8 million USD) were both inaugurated on Wednesday by King Mohammed VI.
The professional training centre is due to receive 300 male and female young beneficiaries, including the disabled, the non-schooled and job-seeking degree holders. Courses will be given in IT, business management, secretarial work, accountability, jewellery professions, and artistic gardening.
The centre's major goal is to help young people develop the most-sought after skills in the job market and to fight against social exclusion.
The building is part of a broader program to erect 10 similar centres across the country in partnership with the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity and the Office of Professional Training and the Promotion of Labour (OFPPT). Two of these centres are operational in Settat and Tangier.
A convention was established to identify the actions of the different players, and give the beneficiaries access to microcredits.
The social centre for the elderly will provide housing, food, and medical follow-up to the old people lacking family support and financial resources.
The centre aims to improve the life conditions of elderly people, and to develop good practice in terms of services offered to them. There will also be a “Regional Observatory for Aged People”.
The centre will provide 40 people with long-term accommodation and 10 people with one-week accommodation, while it will offer medico-social services to the non-resident elderly.
"Pulling the film at the last minute was better than showing a film which has already been screened elsewhere and which would have brought the festival into disrepute and offended visitors," said festival president Iris Nazmi.
In addition, scenes set in Egypt featuring gay characters were likely to offend Egyptians, Alexandria festival officials said.
"The film includes a lot of scenes in which insults are directed towards Egypt and Egyptians and which depict them as panders and rascals," Mamdouh Al Laithy, head of the Egyptian Cinema Writers and Critics Association, said.
Set in New York and Cairo, "Whatever Lola Wants" depicts the clash of cultures that arises from a romance between an American girl and an Egyptian young man. They meet in New York and fall in love, but the relationship fails. The man then decides to go back to Egypt and the girl follows him.
It is the costliest production in the history of Moroccan cinema, coming in at a hefty 10 million euros.
Egyptian critic Tarek al-Shenaoui told an Egyptian magazine that the sudden decision to replace the movie "makes Alexandria Festival management lose its credibility and proves that the Festival management has never seen the film".
Ramadan Television programming - is it better this year?I keep thinking that my family (in America) will visit me in Morocco during Ramadan - and am terrified they will want to experience the whole culture; i.e the execrable after-fast TV programming. I've seen many of these performers (at different times) under talented directors, including Nabil Ayouch: Great things can be certainly done with them...why Ramadan programming is so singularly atrocious in it's production values and abysmal in it's content is a one big question mark. The most pandering, shoddy, poorly produced garbage is to be found on 2m: topping or next to the worst of stoned college radio, high-school drama and children's entertainment anywhere else in the world. The talent is definitely here in Morocco : Abdul Haqq Zarwali, Mohammed Khouy, Touria Alaoui... It's just as my dear friends say here in Fes, the production teams just cannot "make the finish."A preliminary breakdown of the schedule published Wednesday (August 27th) by L'Economiste lists the following programmes: "Mbarak ou Massoûd", a new sitcom inspired by daily life; interviews by Rachid and Hicham of stars including Khaled, Alpha Blondy, Amel Bent and Chimène Badi; the return of sitcom "Sir Hta Dji", traditional programme "Rommana wa Bartal" and crime drama "Al Qadia".
Student Samira Boulfatah told Magharebia that television viewers are often "ashamed of Moroccan shows, which patronise Moroccans. The same faces come back every year with almost the same material, even repeating their mistakes."
At a time when most Western nations were foaming at the mouth over Russia's intervention in Georgia to protect the South Ossetian and Abkhazi minorities, it was refreshing to see several countries move towards strengthening ties and friendship with Russia. One of the first to step up was Morocco.
Foreign Minister, Taieb Fassi Fihri
Sergei Lavrov
"The Islamic world, which welcomes this blessed month in a perfect state of repentance and recollection, meditates on its sacred character and spiritual dimension and takes the just measure of values of solidarity, Islamic and human compassion . These are noble feelings shared by all Muslims who perform the obligations of fasting, praying and meditating with an ardent faith and sincere hope to receive blessings and divine indulgence." - HM Mohammed VI
