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Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 0 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 13412621 |
| Visitors Out: 25939 |
| Total Visitors Out: 314037 |
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| September Weather in Fez |
| 2011-09-01 05:25:00 |
September weather in Fez is set to be right on the average. With daytime maximums varying between 21 and 33 degrees Celsius and night minimums between 12 and 17, it will feel a lot cooler than August.Here are the forecast temperatures for the next few days. Click on the image to enlarge....
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| Oujda's fire-ravaged souk - 10 Million to rebuild |
| 2011-09-01 03:38:00 |
"The whole is a mass of ingredients marinated in soot and arranged in the geometry of ugliness and horror."Souk Melilla in Oujda is in ashes after a fire ravaged it in the early morning of August 26. The day before it had been crowded - a teeming bazaar filled with women clutching their offspring, circulating between lanes made too narrow due to the piled items, It was a festive sight, richly arranged, beautifully dressed models and items such as banners hanging above the heads of shoppers who came out in droves to buy or stroll. One day later it was was gone, destroyed by a fire that is believed to have started from a faulty electricity generator used to light some of the shops.According to witnesses the fire lasted for almost 23 hours and destroyed 1068 shops and over 300 othe...
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| The Call to Prayer ~ to amplify or not? |
| 2011-08-29 08:43:00 |
For a first time visitor to Morocco, one of the most immediate indications that they are in an Islamic country is the sound, five times a day, of the call to prayer. Because a majority of the mosques now use microphones and amplified speakers, the sound is all pervasive. And there lies a problem - not for visitors but for the locals. Each year the Moroccan Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs,the body in charge of all the mosques, receives hundreds of complaints about the noise level. According to residents in Fez, for example, the problem is that the proximity of the mosques means that there is a confusion of sound and that some mosques may be boosting the sound level to be heard above other nearby mosques.The problem is not just in Fez. The latest statistics provided by the Ministr...
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| Young Moroccan Wins Quran Recital Prize |
| 2011-08-28 05:28:00 |
A twelve-year-old Moroccan boy, Abdul Baset Abdel-Fattah Wurash , has won the QR 100,000 ($27,000 USD) top prize in the final of the World Holy Quran Recitation Competition of 2011 held in the Katara cultural village in Doha.Two other twelve-year-olds were also minor place winners. Amjad Yahya Nasser (Yemen) came second with QR75,000. Third prize went to a young girl, Nuralchhama Takya bint Nuri Najmy, from Malaysia, who bagged QR50,000.Some 2425 children from 46 islamic countries took part in the competition, which uses, for the first time, a multilingual Quran website and which aims at reviving the spirit of competition among children in Holy Quran reciting and introducing the brilliant ones and honouring them for their creative abilities.Abdul Baset Abdel-Fattah Rush (Morocco), Nural...
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| Italian Restaurant in Fez - Reopens |
| 2011-08-28 03:03:00 |
With Ramadan drawing to a close, eating a long lunch is again back on the agenda. So the news today that one of our favourite restaurants is opening again, comes as good news.
photo: Suzanna Clarke
The restaurant, L'italian, was only open for a short time before Ramadan, but nevertheless gained a reputation for its interesting menu and ambiance. The service is friendly and attentive without being intrusive. The team have worked hard to get things right and it shows. There is free Wi-Fi for the business types and they do great coffee as well. In the cooler months the front terrace is likely to be crowded.Entrees range from 50 to 90 dh; pastas and risottos from 60 to 120 dh; meat and fish dishes from 90 to 150 dh and pizzas from 60 to 100 dh. Desserts are around the 40 dh mark.Details:Restaurant L'italien is open from midday to midnight. It’s at Residence Longchamp, Av. Omar Ibn Khattab; just down from the corner of Av. du Pakistan, opposite the former Champs de Courses. Bookings and...
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| Morocco makes progress - despite regional turmoil |
| 2011-08-25 04:45:00 |
In spite of regional unrest and rising commodity prices, leading to an increase in the trade deficit, the prospects for the Moroccan economy are encouraging, according to Global Arab Network and the highly respected Oxford Business Group. They report that thanks to factors such as a strong harvest and broader diversification, the outlook for 2011 is promising. Inflation also remains low, as shown by figures for 2010 and the first five months of this year. The Gross Domestic Product grew by 3.7% in real terms in 2010, The Moroccan High Planning Commission (Haut Commissariat du Plan – HCP) announced in early June, marking the 13th consecutive year of growth. The final result was 0.5 percentage points higher than the estimate the HCP had given in March and that the International Moneta...
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| One Thousand and One Nights ~ in Edinburgh |
| 2011-08-25 03:36:00 |
Back in June, The View from Fez reported on the problems being encountered by the Tim Supple production of One Thousand and One Nights. The dramatisation from original Arabic texts, translated by Hannan al-Shaykh, is intended to present the ancient stories in authentic form. We had a keen interest in the play as the rehearsals were held in our city of Fez and it was heading to the Edinburgh Festival where much was expected of it. Sadly, the reception has been lukewarm.On its first outing in Canada, the six hour performance in two three-hour episodes, failed to ignite the critics. At the time the Variety reviewer, Richard Ouzounian, described it as a... "deeply flawed but potentially powerful piece of work which needs some major editing and re-focusing to achieve the success that was hoped...
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| How Organic is Moroccan Food? |
| 2011-08-22 02:48:00 |
To the legions of Western eco-tourists who descend on Morocco every year, the souk symbolizes a way of life distant from the ills of the modern food economy. If the supermarket, with its packaged goods and processed foods symbolizes the evils of the 'food-industrial complex', the souk epitomizes 'organic': produce is piled in haphazard pyramids, as if thrown there by the farmhands who picked it. Many fruits and vegetables are speckled with clods of dirt, too 'organic' to be cleaned before sale. However, these appearances are deceiving. Despite the quaintness and charm of the souk, Morocco is far from an 'eco-gastronomy' paradise.In a recent article on the Morocco Board News Service, Matt Schumann asks just how organic Morocco's agriculture actually is.According to the most recent data from...
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| Ramadan ~ the other side of the story |
| 2011-08-20 12:50:00 |
Travelling in Europe this August, it interesting to see so many Moroccan tourists. One of the reasons soon becomes apparent when you meet them in coffee shops, restaurants and pubs - they are "escaping Ramadan". In this article in our Ramadan series, Ibn Warraq takes a look at the issue of Ramadan and religious freedom."Our family always comes to Europe during Ramadan. It is a sensible choice for us as we do not think that the fast should be enforced on us if we do not want it" - Abdelhak, Rabat
Non-Muslims eat lunch on the terrace of a McDonald's in Rabat, Morocco, in front of a sign which reminds customers that Muslim adults are forbidden from being served at the restaurant during the day during the month of Ramadan. The sign says only children and non-Muslims will be served. In practice it means that Western foreigners will be served.(Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images)
As recently as two years ago, six Moroccans were arrested for having a picnic during Ramadan in protest at the l...
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| 287 Moroccan Prisoners Granted Amnesty |
| 2011-08-20 12:15:00 |
HM King Mohamed VI yesterday granted amnesty to 287 prisoners as part of activities marking the 58th anniversary of the 'Revolution of the King and the People', celebrated on the 20th of August in Morocco.Seven prisoners will be released immediately, while others will benefit from reduction of their sentences or penalties.The Revolution of the King and the People commemorates the offensive launched by the national movement after the deportation to Madagascar on 20 August, 1953, of Sultan Mohamed V (grandfather of king Mohamed VI), by the French colonial authorities.The Moroccan King regularly grants amnesty to detainees on the occasion of national and religious celebrations....
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