First Independent Mena Newspaper
The World football governing body FIFA has sent back Guinea and Lebanon to their own affairs after both countries criticized FIFA’s electronic voting system on June 13 on the unveiling of World Cup 2026 host after both countries complained that their alleged votes for Morocco were rather sent to the United States-Canada-Mexico joint bid, HuffPost […]
Substitute Bouhaddouz offered Iran an undeserved win with an unfortunate header while trying to clear the ball from the gates of the goal. The Atlas Lions monopolized the ball and played an offensive and enterprising game but couldn’t break through the Iranian defense to score a goal of relief. The game closed what came to […]
Morocco has taken action after Saudi Arabia’s voting in favor the United Bid which won the right to host the 2026 World Cup. Saudi Arabia has lobbied for the North American bid bringing together Canada, Mexico and the US pushing six other Arab nations to vote against Morocco which lost by 65 votes to 134. […]
Morocco lost the right to host the 2016 World Cup to the United bid of the US, Canada and Mexico by 134 votes against and 65 votes in favor. The vote revealed the geopolitics of football with Moroccan allies surprisingly voting for the North American Joint bid. On Moroccan social media, indignation at Saudi Arabia […]
The terrorist groups, and drugs and arms traffickers exploit the Sahel region’s vast open land, instability, weak central governments, poor governance, corruption and porous borders to operate transnationally with few restraints. To counter this threat, the Group of Five Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger), also known as the G-5 Sahel, look […]
The Tunisian Parliament is investigating claims that sacked Interior Minister Lotfi Brahem, in connivance with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had plotted a coup against the Islamic Ennahdha Party, winner of the latest local elections, and for toppling the Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi and Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed stunned the […]
South Africa’s election to the UN Security Council is a chance for the rainbow country to bridge the gap between the Council and the African Union but its support for the separatist SADR entity puts Pretoria at odds with leading African countries, The Globe and Mail, a South African paper, said. Citing an expert from […]
Convinced of the key role played by Morocco in the fight against terrorism in Europe, France, Belgium and Spain mull setting up a unified front with the North African country to counter the growing terror threats. Morocco’s powerful intelligence agency, national police force, paramilitary police and Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations work closely with their […]
Newly elected Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez will pay his first overseas visit to Morocco in keeping with a diplomatic tradition that makes the North African country the first foreign trip for Spanish PMs. Moroccan and Spanish media are already talking of a planned visit by the new Spanish PM to Morocco, saying that diplomatic services […]
The College of European Commissioners unanimously adopted the exchange of letters covering the Sahara region in the agriculture agreement with Morocco. The decision will be submitted to the vote of the European Parliament after a European Court of Justice decision on the Sahara. Sources from Morocco and the EU said that under the new agreement […]