Magharebia

Smoking kills 6,000 men and 850 women each year in Tunisia, but a national campaign to end the deadly habit is not making the desired progress.

A new al-Qaeda bomb threat against the World Cup has failed to derail fan excitement.

Registration at universities will have already begun by the start of end-of-term exams.

Artisans say the handicraft industry needs raw material and tourists to succeed.

Full participation in public life will become a reality for Arab women once they have secured their rights, a Tunis forum concluded.

Zarra spoke with Magharebia about drawing on her cultural experiences in Morocco, Paris and New York and integrating these melodic threads into her music.

Reading, writing and revising may be the best way to prepare for the baccalaureate, but some Tunisian pupils are putting their faith in divine assistance.

Morocco's five-party ruling coalition engaged in some soul-searching last week, as opposition leaders offered criticisms and elections inched closer.

Competition among students intensified during the tenth prime, featuring performances by Myriam Faris and R.I.O.

International book fair organisers in Tunisia blocked certain topics from their inventory.

Rabat drew the curtain on its Earth Day festival with a major concert featuring stars from Morocco and around the globe.

Workshops, music and poetry preserved local history at the 4th Fes Festival of Sufi Culture April 17th-24th.

Job-hunters had a chance to employ their foreign language skills last week as French and Tunisian companies offered opportunities at a ground-breaking Tunis forum.

An upcoming parliamentary workshop will tackle everything from the laws that regulate Morocco's new media to allegations that corruption taints online journalists.

Superstar Haifa Wehbe speaks about her past successes and the surprises she has planned for the future.

A new project could expose government spending to the scrutiny of Moroccan citizens.

Training regimens, fashion choices and celebration plans give Tunisian bac students a workout as they prepare for this year's physical education test.

Not everyone was thrilled with the blending of musical genres, and a volcano caused cancellations. But overall, many people enjoyed the Jazz in Carthage festival.

A new military command in Tamanrasset aims to co-ordinate regional efforts against terrorism and trans-national crime.

Energy scandals and volcanic eruptions disrupted Algeria’s major energy conference, but ministers managed to endorse a plan to raise natural gas prices on the international market.

A new group set up by union activists will oversee labour relations across the Maghreb.

"Important", "binding" and "delayed" are among the words Maghreb citizens are using to describe a new fatwa by senior Saudi clerics that defines and criminalises terrorism.

Stars Carole Samaha and Khaled Selim shared the stage with competing students during the show's ninth prime.

Thirty female Arab artists gathered in Tunisia last week to consider modernity's effect on Arab culture.

Mediterranean basin ministers met last week to forge stronger ties on matters of security, immigration and business.

In keeping with Morocco's role in the upcoming Earth Day event, Tangier's annual celebration of literature took on a "green" theme.

At a time when the world is being overtaken by a digital revolution, experts see radical changes in how young people get information and news.

Unionist Mohamed Rabeh Echaybi believes organisations like the newly-formed Maghreb doctors' federation can lay the foundation for a stronger region.

Banks in the Maghreb have weathered the global financial crisis well, but they need greater access to markets in the region, said sector officials who met in Tunis this week.

Some Moroccan lawmakers blame their colleagues' truancy on a lack of resources and party discipline, but the public has taken notice and the Chamber of Councillors is taking action.

FOREM, a private organisation, hopes to place 10,000 orphans under the sponsorship of generous Algerians.

Cyber-cafés are more expensive than libraries, but parents have begun to see the advantages that the internet has brought to Mauritanian education.

To counter high unemployment rates, Tunisia is offering new graduates a chance to generate enough capital to launch their own businesses.

Against the backdrop of Algeria's largest counter-terrorism operation in years, the top brass of seven African countries met in Algiers this week to mull tighter security ties.

Everything from literature to the cinema will be discussed at an upcoming festival in Tunisia, as Arab women grapple with how modernity has altered their artistic fields.

Politicians and everyday citizens were eager for a new face to lead the House of Representatives.

International rights watchdogs claim a decline in Moroccan press freedoms, and members of the media and civil society are rallying to their defence.

Haifa was joined by one of the stars of last year's show, and one of the Lebanese students left the Academy.

Islamic groups are protesting new documents which require women to remove their hijabs for official passport photographs.

Public investments have improved Libya's health infrastructure, the Ministry of Health reports, but critics claim that citizens are fleeing the country to find better care.

With the baccalaureate exam approaching, many young Tunisians are deep in revision using online tools, whether at home or in cyber-cafés.

Trade Minister Ahmed Reda Chami is encouraging foreign firms to invest in the technical know-how of the Moroccan workforce.

A Nouakchott training seminar encourages imams to take a leading role in the fight against the global pandemic.

The dark years of the 1990s will not be laid to rest until Algerians study the root causes of terrorism and harness the media to help eliminate them, an Algiers seminar concluded this week.

Moroccan Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said reforms should target the most vulnerable sectors of society so that aid can benefit them directly.

The Maghreb's Sufis are looking to the future, despite hints from Somalia and beyond that tolerance for diversity is needed to ensure their role in Islam.

Tunisians pay a high price for internet freedom in Jaafar Guesmi's comic play "Tounisi.com".

The US has dropped an emergency plan that subjected air travellers from 14 countries, including Algeria, to stringent airport security checks.

Fear of exams is normal this time of year and should be kept in a healthy perspective, according to Tunisian child psychologist Dr. Sami Othmen.

Tunisian director Hichem Ben Ammar's "Once Upon a Time" and Egyptian film-maker Mai Iskander's "Dreams of Garbage Collectors" drew crowds at the 5th Doc à Tunis.

Moroccans look forward to a shorter commute when the new tramway opens next year.

With an eye to countering extremist and terrorist ideologies, Algerian officials plan to help cultivate a unified regional religious authority.

Audiences from the Middle East to the Maghreb have been electrified by a Saudi housewife whose televised denunciations of religious extremism are delivered in verse.

Strikes, holidays and the 2010 World Cup have left Algerian students with little time to prepare for this year's exams.

Many Tunisians are unhappy that taxes are being automatically deducted from their wages while corporations find exemptions to the law.

Trainers at the new Mohammed VI Football Academy hope to prepare young talents for future spots on national and international teams.

Strong performances by Mélanie Maudran and other actresses carry Latif Lahlou's latest feature film set in Morocco.

To show dissatisfaction with their pay and job security, council workers throughout Algeria launched a two-day strike.

Fez's Festival of Sacred Music has grown to include more international acts in recent years – but at the expense of Moroccan artists, according to critics.