المغرب

16 مايو 2012

"There's a lot of potential in the Arab world and all these shows help in bringing them in the spotlight," said Ali Jaber.
13:56 بتوقيت جرينتش

The singing competition The Voice is coming to the Arab world, with scouts scouring the region for talent.

12 مايو 2012

Arabs Got Talent: The show must go on!
21:34 بتوقيت جرينتش

The fifth episode of Arabs Got Talent (AGT) was the penultimate of the recorded auditions to qualify for the live semi finals. It was marked by a good deal of talent and was not short on comedic elements to lighten the intensity of the competition either.

4 مايو 2012

Arabs Got Talent, Episode 4 leaves viewers on the edges of their seats
13:15 بتوقيت جرينتش

The Arab variety show that is Arabs Got Talent is finding its stride by the 4th episode, gearing up for the 5th which promises yet more surprise factor if the second season's drama is anything to go by.

27 نيسان/إبريل 2012

Iraqi-Moroccan Shatha Hassoun defends Elissa
16:05 بتوقيت جرينتش

Reports are rife of Lebanese singer Elissa rudely kicking the fans and entourage of Iraqi singer Shatha Hassoun out of the Amman hotel in which both stars stayed in Jordan. Shatha protests Elissa's innocence.

25 نيسان/إبريل 2012

Arabs Got Talent has returned to our screens for the second season
18:16 بتوقيت جرينتش

From Jordan, through Morocco, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, here are some of the highlights of last week's 3rd episode of Arabs Got Talent. From the judges side though, while mildly entertaining, it's more a case of "Still haven't found what I'm looking for."

25 اذار/مارس 2012

Carmen Suleiman: Winner takes all did not apply. Both finalists wished each other the prize in a saccharine  display of graceful sportsmanship combined with Arab warmth, ahead of the final showdown. Consensus agreed that both girls, the Moroccan talent voicebox, and the Egyptian young starlet were deserving winners that did the Arab world proud.
10:41 بتوقيت جرينتش

The final show-down for Arab Idol was not without all the drama and Arab sentiment that such a show fittingly warrants. Egypt's deserving winner was Carmen Suleiman. Here is a round-up of the best bits in pictures.

23 اذار/مارس 2012

Ahlam gets judged at trouser-gate: The UAE judge got the Arab judging treatment, with viewers all trouser talk! Her unseemly tighter than tight 'Cameltoe' trousers (pants) got more mentions than the singing stars. Her answer to the media the morning after: 'Are you here to watch & vote for the talented contestants or to comment on my clothes?'
10:30 بتوقيت جرينتش

Here are some reminders of the talking points, ahead of today's final showing of Arab Idol.

15 اذار/مارس 2012

North Moroccans protest
11:14 بتوقيت جرينتش

Morocco's sleepy awakening could be about to get its caffeine fix and join in the revolution of its North African brothers and Levant rebels.

28 شباط/فبراير 2012

Credit cards
06:49 بتوقيت جرينتش

At the end of 2011, the number of credit cards in circulation in Morocco rose by 13.6 percent compared to 2010, reaching 8 million cards issued,

23 شباط/فبراير 2012

Agadir
07:41 بتوقيت جرينتش

The Moroccan tourism sector remained stable in 2011 in spite of the Arab Spring and the instability it has created.

18 شباط/فبراير 2012

As Bashar al Assad follows in father's footsteps (the late Haafez al Assad had blood on his hands from Hama '82), keeping a deathly watch over his people as they are slaughtered, we ask what became of his Hippocratic oath. Assad Junior trained to save lives & sight as an eye doctor: medical care not military devastation was his calling.
22:31 بتوقيت جرينتش

Firmly into 2012, how are the Arab revolutions developing? We check in with some of the Arab protest pictures to gauge to what extent they have reached revolution saturation, or on the contrary are just getting started.

6 شباط/فبراير 2012

Sabeen Atallah, the hot Lebanese act, is dazzling the fans and seducing 2012 already with her music. She has in the past been professionally involved with the Rahbanis (Ghassan and Elias) and has also collaborated with Marwan Khoury.
15:08 بتوقيت جرينتش

The latest happenings from the celebrity circles of the Middle East in pictures and words!

10 كانون الثاني/يناير 2012

A Moroccan man of science -  Head of the Moroccan Institute of Studies and Research - no less, this year put out the fatwa (a shade on the morbid side of life) that a husband may still sleep with his wife even if she’s dead...We can only imagine what he has to say about marital rape then.
14:09 بتوقيت جرينتش

Here's a look back at some of the year's bizarre and controversial fatwas. Weird is the word! Some are a source for debate, others an invitation for mockery or bashing, and still others, fit into a class of their own as 'bogus' fatwas. Like the Saudi Muslim Sheikh who tried to ban an airport on account of its phallic design...

8 كانون الثاني/يناير 2012

Mike Feghali: Keeps his telling eyes on Lebanon: 2012 sees electricity surge - better prices, less cuts. A Jewish heritage site will be discovered in Aqar; A religious miracle brings wondrous visitors to Lebanon; Even Liban is not immune to the smoking ban's reach. He foresees an international crime, on a scale bigger than 'Harriri'.
13:30 بتوقيت جرينتش

A run-down of the top predictions from the prominent men and women in their field of regional 'predicting' and fore-casting. These Arabian 'predictors', primarily for the Arab world but also for the global future, share some of their ominous foresights for the year ahead.

3 كانون الثاني/يناير 2012

Abdelilah Benkirane
15:24 بتوقيت جرينتش

As expected, the King of Morocco appointed on Tuesday the members of the new government following the win of Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) in elections held late November.

31 كانون الأول/ديسمبر 2011

The Syrian crisis has been escalating, and the last Friday of 2011 saw a climactic spate of protestor killings, using nail bombs. The opposition is defiant, and as the death toll rises so does the volume of protests - fortified in the knowledge that the Arab League (following sanctions) are in town on their mission to halt the regime crackdown.
16:41 بتوقيت جرينتش

As the year comes to close, many are relieved that a year of stormy clouds and unabated anger is behind us. Things can only get better or is there still worse to come? In 2011, it turned out that we could not forecast the range of violent weather, nor could we predict the rage of people. From the Gulf to the Caucuses, and from the USA to Japan the world felt pain in 2011.

27 كانون الأول/ديسمبر 2011

Morocco king
08:25 بتوقيت جرينتش

The Central Bank of Morocco expects an economic growth of 4% to 5% next year.

18 كانون الأول/ديسمبر 2011

Morocco
07:16 بتوقيت جرينتش

Since the outset of this year, small French and Spanish firms have raided the Moroccan market.

26 تشرين الثاني/نوفمبر 2011

Morocco
06:39 بتوقيت جرينتش

The turnout at the first parliamentary elections in Morocco following the approval of a new constitution in July reached 45%

30 آب/أغسطس 2011

Morocco king
07:37 بتوقيت جرينتش

The 2012 fiscal law may be ready before the early legislative elections which are expected to take place on 25 November.

16 آب/أغسطس 2011

Morocco protest
11:22 بتوقيت جرينتش

Morocco's interior minister declared early legislative elections have been scheduled for Nov. 25.

27 تموز/يوليو 2011

Ramadan is upon us. It is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. This year is set to have the longest fasting day 
of the fasting month in 26 years, according to experts. That is, 16 hours and 1 minute in Jordan. 
Also set for the hottest month of this summer with soaring temperatures.
11:02 بتوقيت جرينتش

As the Muslim world welcomes Ramadan 2011, set to start early next week, we wait with baited breath to see if the world will witness a time of peace and thanksgiving in the Middle East or an escalation in the unrest.

26 تموز/يوليو 2011

Morocco plane
13:12 بتوقيت جرينتش

A Moroccan military transport plane crashed Tuesday in a mountainous southern region, the information ministry said.

24 تموز/يوليو 2011

toilets
16:04 بتوقيت جرينتش

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the American foundation founded by billionaire Bill Gates, launched an initiative to reinvent toilets.

19 تموز/يوليو 2011

The global financial crisis, political turmoil in the region and the Marrakesh cafe bombing have brought Moroccan property activity to a halt
14:27 بتوقيت جرينتش

Morocco's holiday home market was decimated by regional events, leaving several large-scale developments stalled.

4 تموز/يوليو 2011

Moroccans took out loans totaling 83.3 billion dollars by the end of 2010, an increase of 7.1% from 2009 (Photo: Jan Voich)
07:18 بتوقيت جرينتش

This summer, thousands of Moroccan families are visiting loan companies and specialized financing institutions to take loans for travel and vacations.

2 تموز/يوليو 2011

Morocco
08:01 بتوقيت جرينتش

A new constitution which was introduced last month by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI was approved by 98 percent of voters in a referendum Friday.

18 حزيران/يونيو 2011

 King Mohammed VI
07:22 بتوقيت جرينتش

Morocco's King Mohammed VI declared a series of Constitutional reforms in a speech on Friday night .

4 حزيران/يونيو 2011

Morocco on the Mideast leg of her World tour: headlining the Mawazine festival –  she expressed a desire to sing Arabic, inspired by the Maghrabi air.  She didn't escape criticism for playing at this 'King's festival', as locals are labeling the decadent costly affair, during times of Arab unrest.
20:28 بتوقيت جرينتش

Shakira seduced by Arab Spring, goes back to Arab roots to sing: Shakira seeks to celebrate her 'Lebo-Syrian' roots - recently feeling inspired while performing in Morocco after her tour through the Emirates and Lebanon, Shakira expressed her keen desire to fast-track her Arabic learning in order to sing some Arabic singles, if not albums.

18 مايو 2011

The Jordan bid is easy to understand, with its shared borders and historic ties to Saudi Arabia. Tribal divisions between the two were imposed only by colonialism. In terms of geography, Jordan is a natural choice for GCC membership. It even has its own ‘Gulf’ of Aqaba.
14:53 بتوقيت جرينتش

Word on the Arab street, when not debating the latest on the Arab revolutions, and the state of catastrophe in Yemen or Libya or Syria, has turned to the new bid to expand the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Scrutiny lies with the two potential new candidates for entry into this Gulf state league, namely Jordan and Morocco. The twitter-sphere is buzzing (or tweeting) with humorous remarks, as well as more grave concerns around the implications of such a shift, for both sides of the equation: the new members and the former block.