Magharebia

Electronics giant Royal Philips Electronics has invented a chip that stops television viewers from fast forwarding through commercials or changing channels during recorded shows on a digital video recorder (DVR).

Terfez, a truffle which was part of the culinary culture of the first Amazighs, was also enjoyed by the Romans when occupying North Africa..

With the 2007 electoral entitlements approaching, the question of Moroccan women's participation in political life has returned to the forefront of societal concerns. In this context, a group of political and civil society authorities created the "Moroccan Observatory for the integration of woman into political life," on Saturday (22 April) in Casablanca.

A seminar in Hammamet will research the relationship between the north and south Mediterranean, and debate the most important obstacles to mutual co-operation in the Mediterranean basin.

The introduction of the Algerian law on national reconciliation is entering its implementation phase. The government has moved ahead with drawing up the definitive lists of people covered by the provisions of the law. For the first time, the government is unveiling the exact number of terrorists and promises that arrangements will be put in place to help groups and individuals combating them.

As part of the process to simplify access to social security benefits, a new cash card is being distributed up by the department in partnership with Barid Al Maghrib.

After a long wait, a new bylaw for the Tunisian Journalists Association has been issued, reaffirming the association's fundamental role to defend freedom of expression and free press.

Since 1980, 20 April has been celebrated in all Amazigh-speaking regions of Algeria. The symbolic date marks popular discontent that erupted into violent demonstrations against the governmental decision not to recognise their identity. After 26 years, Amazigh language is now recognised as a national language, studied by hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren.

On 20 April, Major General Ahmed Gaid Salah, chief of staff of the Algerian Army, concluded a four-day visit to the United States. The official visit was made at the invitation of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces General Peter Pace.

Adelmoughit Slimani, former mayor of Casablanca, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for corruption and misappropriation of public funds.

The first Jazzablanca festival was a real success. Running from 7 April to 16 April, it left Casablancans many happy memories.

The Association Marocaine des Jeunes Contre le SIDA (AMJCS) is creating the world's largest painting, with the participation of 26 professional artists from Morocco and abroad. Work on the painting will begin 29 April in Nevada Square, Casablanca.

Due to a possible reform of the constitution that is currently under debate, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika may be allowed to run for a third term. In light of this, Algerian politicians are concentrating on the 2009 presidential election, paying little attention to the 2007 legislative and regional general elections.

With just few days to go before the end of the 2005-2006 season, the first-division Algerian football championship still remains wide open. JS Kabylie, which had a ten-point lead over their closest rivals early in the season, were caught by USM Alger, who are now only two points behind them.

Plans to build a border-to border East-West Algerian Highway to link the country with Tunisia and Morocco have been entrusted to a group of Chinese and Japanese firms.

Algiers has started a vast programme to develop its public transport system to put an end to the daily traffic jams. The cable car network, a relic of colonisation, is outdated and a plan to renovate it and set up further infrastructures of the same type has just been launched in partnership with French company Poma Galski.

Located in the extremely arid Saharan landscape, Tassili National Park harbours stunning cultural and natural treasures. However, the park has come under threat from its own fame.

A big debate is currently taking place in Algeria on cancer, focusing in particular on the need for a more efficient prevention and treatment policy.

The focus of the fourth International Conference on Popular Arts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in Meknes was popular culture as a form of heritage to be preserved for the benefit of future generations. The event was held to raise awareness of the need to broaden the scope of research into the various aspects of popular cultural heritage.

Algerian publicly-owned pharmaceuticals group Saidal launched production of antiviral agent Tamiflu, locally named Saiflu, this week. The drug is intended to guarantee health protection for the population in the case of a bird flu pandemic. Around 30,000 gelatine capsules will be produced per day.

Like all Muslims throughout the world, Algerians celebrated the Mouloud, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed, on Tuesday (11 April) Civil defence had to maintain safety as festivities often include illegal fireworks.

The Amazigh Network for Citizenship association wants to propose a draft law to establish an alternative body to the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture.

Having functioned for years as places of intellectual exchange, Moroccan bookshops are virtually shunned presently.

The Maghreb audiovisual industry is at a crossroads and is getting ready to undergo a complete upheaval as it privatises. While Morocco and Tunisia are totally privatising, Algeria is exploring a sort of transitional phase before total deregulation of the sector.

The Algerian National Centre for Applied Research on Earthquake Engineering and Japanese partners began a special earthquake engineering study. The recent earthquake, which hit the region of Laalam near Bejaia, has re-opened the debate on the need for means of prevention and prediction.

NATO and its seven Southern Mediterranean partners met on 6 and 7 April in Morocco in a bid to examine future prospects for their co-operation in the framework of the Mediterranean Dialogue.

As an example of international integration resulting from the opening of world economies, buses from Italian company Iveco and assembled by a company set up in Casablanca by Iraqis were delivered to the Franco-Moroccan M'dina Bus Company, which holds the franchise for urban transport services in Casablanca.

The tenth UNCTAD conference on the oil and gas business and finance in Africa began Sunday (2 April) in Algiers with a large number of foreign delegations in attendance. The opening meeting of the conference, which ended on 5 April, was presided over by Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who announced national energy plans, which included diversification of exports to Europe.

Africa accounts for 17 million emigrants, scattered across the world looking for a better life. Nearly 4 million graduates have settled in Europe, and almost as many have settled elsewhere in the world. Every year, 23,000 university graduates leave their home country for the West. Such as landscape was described by a conference in Algiers on migration and development.

Algeria is currently finishing clearing mines from its border zones with Morocco and Tunisia, which were placed by the French colonial army during the War of Liberation (1954-62).

Around 7,000 tourists and researchers from places such as the United States, Britain, France and Germany watched the total eclipse of the sun on 29 March in Lybia. Authorities used the event as a springboard to overhaul its tourist image, and visitors were welcomed at ten airports and five sea ports.

Maghrebia correspondent Hassan Benmehdi interviewed Moroccan football legend Mohamed Timoumi, who reflected on the high points in his 20-year career as a star player.