FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter opened two artificial pitches at Morocco’s National Football Centre in Mâamora, near Salé on Sunday 29 April 2012.

Accompanied by FIFA vice-president and CAF President Issa Hayatou and the President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), Ali Fassi Fihri, Blatter inaugurated the pitches near the Moroccan capital Rabat as part of the Goal Project.

“I’d like to congratulate the Royal Moroccan Football Federation for the remarkable work that has been done here. These wonderful facilities will accelerate football’s development and benefit the children of the future,” said the FIFA President.

“I am delighted that the Federation organised a women’s match on inauguration day,” Blatter said before providing further proof of his pleasure by giving the match a ceremonial kick-off.

Following the inauguration, the FIFA delegation visited the Mohammed VI Football Academy, a top-notch training centre for youths aged 13 to 18, many of whom have been selected for the national side at underage levels.

On Monday 30 April, President Blatter will meet with the Minister for Youth and Sport, Mohamed Ouzzine, before holding discussions with representatives from the FRMF at Federation headquarters.

A meeting with International Olympic Committee member Nawal El Moutawakel is also planned, before the FIFA President brings his Moroccan trip to an end with a press conference.

FIFA held its first-ever Congress on African soil in Marrakesh back in 2005, and the FIFA Club World Cup will be staged in Morocco in 2013 and 2014. Morocco have also qualified for the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament London 2012, where they will take on Spain, Honduras and Japan in the group stage.

The FIFA delegation will then head on to Algiers for a two-day tour that will include the opening of the new Algerian Football Federation headquarters, also built with support from the Goal Project.

Located in northern Morocco, to the East of Fes, the Taza wind power project will be equipped with 50 wind turbines made by Alstom of 3 Megawatts each.

Wind energy in Morocco: EDF, Mitsui selected for 150-MW Wind Farm
A consortium led by French state-controlled power utility Electricite de France SA, in association with Japan-based Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (8031.TO), has been selected as preferred bidder by the Moroccan national electricity office for the Taza wind power project, which has a capacity of 150 MegaWatts, EDF said Monday.

The move comes after Morocco’s government lodged an official protest with the government in Vienna and prosecutors admitted that they were investigating the campaign for incitement of racial hatred.

The man behind the campaign, August Penz, head of the party in Innsbruck said over the weekend that all 33 posters have now been removed and added that he had not intended to insult anyone.

He said: “It was my idea and I must take full responsibility.”

But the controversial poster campaign is not the first time that the Freedom party has used similar tactics. Chicago’s mayor even complained about the poster campaign saying that Vienna should not end up like Chicago – referring to the era of Al Capone which the mayor said had not existed in the city for decades.

The FPOe, led by the charismatic Heinz-Christian Strache, is neck-and-neck in national opinion polls with Chancellor Werner Faymann’s Social Democrats, with Faymann’s federal coalition partners, the People’s Party, in third place.

The FPÖ is hoping to win seats in Innsbruck city council, where it is currently not represented, in local elections on 15 April. The next national vote is not due until 2013.

In January Strache provoked outrage after he had allegedly said that the “persecution” of members of the far-right attending a controversial Viennese ball made them “the new Jews.”

The ceremony, held at the Center for Jewish History in lower Manhattan, marked a renewal of friendship and cultural ties between the ancient Moroccan Hebraic community and the Kingdom of Morocco. Described by Benchimol as an “illustrious and glorious past,” the history of the Moroccan Jewish community is rich and the community has long maintained strong diplomatic ties with local authorities; indeed at the time of Morocco’s independence from France, which was marked just days earlier on March 2, Jews served in parliament and held at least one ministerial post.

Yet today only 1% of the estimated 600,000 Moroccan Jews worldwide live in the North African country, with the overwhelming majority immigrating to Israel and other western countries.

Rabbi Benchimol, who was born in Rabat, Morocco and studied in Chabad Yeshivas both in Rabat and the United States, dedicated himself to servicing the North African country’s Jewish community and shepherding its members abroad.

He is known for his vigorous Torah studies and outreach programs, and is the founder of the Aleph Learning Center, which is devoted to teaching Jewish studies, including Talmud, Kabbalah and Hassidic philosophy to Jews of all ages and backgrounds.

Serge Berdugo, president of the Jewish Community of Morocco, represented the King of Morocco in awarding Rabbi Benchimol at the well-attended ceremony, and was joined by dignitaries Moroccan Ambassador to the United States, Rachad Bouhal; Chairman of the American Sephardi Federation, David Dangoor and Special Advisor to the Secretary General to the United Nations of Yemen, Jamal Benomar.

In his speech Berdugo stated, “Moroccan Jews, even after leaving their country, retain attachment to and love for Morocco, as confirmed by the beautiful words of the late Yitzchak Rabin: ‘Moroccan Jews are the only Jews that never renounce their country, nor were they rejected by their country.’ ”

In response, Rabbi Benchimol, on behalf of the American Sephardi Federation, presented a magnificent traditional silver crown of a Torah scroll as a tribute to “a remarkable country,” the Kingdom of Morocco.

“The king recognizes the merits of Moroccan Jews, wherever they settled,” he said, “by honoring them with the highest medals of his kingdom. This special ceremony of recognition and of mutual respect between two peoples, Jewish and Muslim, is just another testament to how unique and distinct Morocco is, and how exceptional the royal family is. Although we left Morocco, Morocco never leaves us.  It is deeply engraved in our hearts. “

The company also plans to extend supply from the Moroccon manufacturing unit to other African countries in the coming years. With the addition of Morocco, Ranbaxy now has three manufacturing facilities in Africa; the other two being in Nigeria and South Africa, respectively. Shares of Ranbaxy Laboratories were trading at Rs.418.50 apiece on the BSE.

About 1,000 people turned out for a sit-in at Casablanca’s main square. In the capital Rabat, at least 1,500 marched through the center of town chanting slogans and singing songs.

The demonstrations last year prompted the king to amend the constitution to curtail is powers and hold early elections, which were won by an Islamist opposition party promising reforms. Since then, demonstrations petered out.

Activists say many of their demands remain unmet, including fighting corruption, releasing prisoners of conscience and decreasing the absolute power of the king.

While activists in Casablanca acknowledged that their numbers were down, they pointed out that a protest such as this, filled with young people, would have been unthinkable a year ago.

“It is not bad to be able to do a sit-in for two days and discuss issues in the open air,” said Larbi Menouzi, who has attended nearly every one of the weekly demonstrations held in Casablanca for the past year.

The main square of Morocco’s largest city, flanked by the central bank, city hall and main post office, was filled with people enjoying a sunny winter’s day, along with the knot of protesters, a few dozen of whom spent the night on the square in tents.

Banners above their tents demanded the new parliament be dissolved, those stealing public money be prosecuted and all prisoners of conscience be released.

Activists say the sit-in will continue until their demands are met, a conscious echo of the sit-in at Cairo’s Tahrir Square at the center of Egypt’s uprising.

“Before people were too scared to speak and now they do. The February 20 movement has been a catalyst and people are now mobilized everywhere,” Souad Guennon said.

Placards and photos around the square testified to the breadth of movements across the country, describing striking villagers at a distant silver mine, residents bulldozed out of informal housing and clashes with police in a mountain town.

Omar Radi, an activist with movement, took heart in the turnout in Rabat, which was higher than it had been in months, though still far below the large demonstrations that characterized its early days.

“This is the biggest demonstration in Rabat in a while, which gives us hope,” he said activists chanted around him. “Like all movements, this has had its ups and downs, but the spirit of the February 20th is all over the country.”

The New York-based Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, condemned the trial of activists of the February 20th movement arrested for advocating a boycott of the Nov. 25 elections.

Royal pardons are customary each year to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Mawlid, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad which fell this weekend, but it is unusual for the monarch to pardon such high-profile detainees.

Morocco, a pre-tournament outsider, can no longer reach the last eight after Group C losses to Tunisia and Gabon.

“I was expecting these kinds of rumours if we failed but they have no foundation,” Kharja said on Monday.

The north African neighbours’ last Nations Cup meeting came in the 2004 final won by Tunisia, who also denied Morocco qualification to the 2006 World Cup.

And the Carthage Eagles claimed the bragging rights again with goals in either half from Khaled Korbi and Youssef Msakni, with Houssine Kharja getting a dubious late consolation for Morocco.

Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi said: “This was a precious victory that will help us. We played well as a team…but the competition is long, this is just one victory, we have lots of matches in front of us, I hope we can progress.

“We were better in defence than – when you look at the quality of players we have available – in midfield and in attack.”

Captain Karim Haggui added: “We deserved to win, I hope our new generation of players will write their own history now.”

Morocco coach Eric Gerets said that his side had to bounce back against co-hosts Gabon.

“This is the Nations Cup, it’s full of surprises, that’s life, now we’ve got to show the mental strength we’ve displayed over the past year,” said the Belgian.

The absence of the Islamists from the protests will further weaken the reform movement, whose power has greatly diminished since an opposition party won elections on November 25 in the kingdom.

The Justice and Charity group has been a stalwart presence at the weekly democracy protests organised by February 20th pro-democracy movement that shook the country earlier this year.

“At the beginning of the demonstrations, we agreed with the demands for the end to despotism and corruption and only the street would decide the limit of the demands,” said the group’s spokesperson Hassan Bennajeh.

“With time, we found many elements want to impose the parliamentary monarchy as a limit – we do not agree.”

Constitutional reforms

Some members of the religious group, which is banned from politics but tolerated by authorities, have called for Morocco to become a republic, while the February 20 movement would only like to relegate the king to a figurehead role in a parliamentary monarchy.

The movement’s name comes from the date it hit the streets after a wave of pro-democracy protests that have rocked many Arab countries this year.

Omar Radi, a prominent member of the organisation said that while the decision of the Islamist group’s will have an effect on the movement it will not, however, mean the end of February 20th.

“The movement will continue because all the reasons for the anger still exist in Morocco,” he said.

Morocco’s king moved swiftly to meet some of the demonstrators’ demands when the protests began and proposed a series of constitutional reforms that gave more power to the elected government.

The country drafted a new constitution and on November 25 an Islamist party, long in opposition, won the poll.

Pro-democracy activists say all the changes are merely a decor and that most power is still in the hands of the king and his advisers.

The new head of government, Abdelilah Benkirane of the Justice and Development Party, has offered dialogue with the February 20 movement but they have refused.

The Justice and Charity group, meanwhile, said it still believed in the legitimacy of the democracy movement’s demands and called for a change in the “archaic regime”.