RNI party’s national council approves participation in government

The national council of the national rally of independents (RNI/opposition) approved by a majority of votes the principle of the party’s participation in the government.

The RNI’s national council which held an extraordinary session, also decided to mandate the party’s president, Salaheddine Mezouar, to handle negotiations with the head of government on the party’s participation in the government.

The Istiqlal party, a member of the government coalition, decided to withdraw from the government and some of its ministers presented their resignation that was accepted by HM King Mohammed VI on July 22.

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Morocco’s king orders probe into paedophile pardon

The king of Morocco promised Saturday an investigation will be held into the royal pardon of a Spanish paedophile who had been serving a 30-year sentence in the country. It follows Friday’s violent protests against the pardon in the capital Rabat.

 

Morocco’s king said on Saturday he did not know the gravity of the offences committed by the Spanish paedophile whose royal pardon sparked violent protests, and promised an investigation.

“The king has ordered a thorough investigation to find out the responsibilities and failures that led to the regrettable release ... and to impose the necessary punishments,” the palace said in a statement released late on Saturday and carried by state news agency MAP.

“The king had not been informed at any time of the nature of the crimes perpetrated by that person,” the statement said, adding the king would never have agreed to the release of Daniel Galvan Fina if he had known “of the atrocity of the monstrous crimes of which he was found guilty”.

The paedophile, who was serving a 30-year sentence, was among 48 jailed Spaniards who were pardoned by King Mohamed VI on Tuesday at the request of Spain’s King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco last month.

Late on Friday, Moroccan police broke up a protest in the capital, Rabat, by hundreds outraged by the pardon. The Spaniard was convicted 18 months ago by criminal courts in Kenitra - near Rabat - of raping children aged 4 to 15.

The Justice Ministry said in a statement on Friday the pardons had been issued based on Morocco’s national interests and its friendly relations with Spain.

The king often pardons prisoners on special occasions, such as Throne Day last Tuesday, but the decision to release the Spaniards at the request of the monarch of a former colonial power riled many Moroccans.

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Thousands turn out for funeral of slain Tunisian MP

Tens of thousands of Tunisians, many calling for the toppling of the country’s Islamist-led government, turned out for the funeral of assassinated secularist politician Mohamed Brahmi in the capital Tunis on Saturday.

Brahmi, a leftist MP and outspoken critic of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party, was gunned down outside his home in Tunis on Thursday.

The killing, which has sparked anti-government protests across Tunisia and plunged the country into political chaos, came just five months after the similar assassination of another secular oppostion leader, Chokri Belaid, who was shot dead in February.

Brahmi’s body was taken in a military vehicle draped with a massive Tunisian flag through the city, with hundreds of troops and police lining the route to hold back the protesters.

“The people want to topple the regime!” people in the crowd shouted as the funeral procession passed and military helicopters hovered overhead.

“Ghannouchi, assassin, criminal,” others chanted, referring to Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda party that Brahmi’s family says was behind the killing.

After the procession arrived at the Al Jalez cemetery in central Tunis, where Belaid’s tomb is also located, army chief of staff General Mohamed Salah Hamdi read an eulogy and an imam led prayers.

Brahmi’s coffin was then lowered into a grave next to that of Belaid, in accordance with his wishes.

Mourners carried portraits of both slain politicians.

Bomb explodes hours before funeral

Just a few hours earlier, a bomb planted under a car exploded outside a police station in a suburb of Tunis, wounding a police officer, according to local media reports.

The blast struck at around 5:45am local time at Tunis’ La Goulette port, according to an eyewitness and reports from the local Express FM and Shems FM radio stations.

An unmarked police car was also said to have been destroyed by the blast.

The explosion added to what is already an incredibly tense situation in Tunisia, with many blaming the government for both assassinations and a general lack of security in the country.

Friday saw thousands take to the streets of Tunis and other cities around the country in a second consecutive night of protest. One protester in the central city of Gafsa died after reportedly being struck on the head by a teargas canister fired by police.

Meanwhile, the government has blamed Brahmi’s assassination, as with Belaid’s, on members of the extremist Salafist movement.

Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou announced Friday that ballistic examinations showed the same gun was used in both murders.

He named Salafist member Boubaker Hakim, a French-born longtime jihadist who fought in Iraq, as the main suspect in the Brahmi shooting.

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Detroit Bankruptcy a “Game-Changing Event,” Meredith Whitney Says

It’s been just over a week since Detroit filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history and, so far, there are more questions than answers about how this will all shake out. On Wednesday, a U.S. Bankruptcy judge ruled Detroit’s Chapter 9 filing can proceed but local unions, pension funds and other creditors will continue to try and stop the process.

Related: Detroit Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Regardless of how the legal proceedings unfold, Meredith Whitney thinks she knows what will happen as a result of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing: “staggering aftershocks” for the muni bond market and “important precedents” for other state and local governments.

“We know [Detroit’s bankruptcy] is a game-changing event for certain,” says Whitney, author of Fate of the States and founder of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group LLC. “It will galvanize other municipalities to either get their act together or follow Detroit’s lead.”

Asked what other municipalities might follow Detroit’s lead into bankruptcy, Whitney cited the five other Michigan cities currently under emergency management: Flint, Pontiac, Ecorse, Allen Park and Benton Harbor. She also reiterated her concerns about the states of New Jersey and Illinois.

Related: Bernanke Costs Illinois $130M: ‘Blue States’ in Peril, Meredith Whitney Says

The Wall Street Journal recently cited Oakland, Philadelphia and Chicago as other big cities with the potential to follow Detroit’s lead but Whitney declined to mention other cities.

“I’m not sure it’s constructive to name towns [and] sound the alarm,” she said. “But there are numerous others across the country. Detroit is hardly unique.”

Of course, Whitney gained increased attention – and considerable criticism – when she sounded the alarm on 60 Minutes in late 2010. At that time, she predicted “a sp

ate of municipal bond defaults. You could see 50 sizeable defaults. Fifty to 100 sizeable defaults. More. This will amount to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of defaults."

Nothing close to that level of muni bankruptcies has occurred, to date, but ask yourself: Was Whitney 'dead wrong' on 60 Minutes, as her critics continue to claim, or just early?

And check the accompanying video to hear specifics on why Whitney believes Detroit’s bankruptcy is such a “game changing event” and whether she believes the city of Detroit can be 'restructured' via bankruptcy as were automakers GM and Chrysler.

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Algeria accuses Morocco of “targeting its youth with hashish pumping its fuel”

Algerian officials and media outlets have recently fired a number of vehement allegations at Morocco, accusing the kingdom, and HM King Mohammed VI, of strategically targeting Algerian youth by flooding Algeria with Moroccan-made Hashish, and of clogging Algerian economy by “pumping its fuel.”

According to online news outlet Almoustakil, Algerian Mohammed Safahi, vice-president of the Communal Council in Tlemcen, addressed an open letter to HM King Mohammed VI, in which he states:

“Your Majesty, you the so-called commander of the faithful, stop flooding Arab and Muslim nations, from Mauritania and Algeria to Tunisia and Egypt, with tons of Hashish…which is planted and harvested in your kingdom and with your consent. It is against Islamic principles and against the good neighboring values that you start this war against Algeria for political ends and because of diplomatic positions that Algeria has made crystal clear concerning the opening of frontiers between our nations and the Sahara issue.”

According to the same source, this Algerian condemnatory message has allegedly come as a response to a controversial message previously addressed by Moroccan Salafist Sheikh, Mohammed El Fizazi, to the Algerian head of State, Abdel Aziz Boutaflika.

Mohammed Safahi, the Algerian official who addressed this message to HM the King, is also suspected to be “a mere political puppet in a bigger political agenda tailored by Algeria in a cold war against Morocco.”

While Safahi accused Morocco of purposefully targeting Algerian youth by “injecting destructive poisons in their veins,” some Algerian outlets leveled abrupt allegations at the kingdom that seem to flow in parallel with those of Safahi.

Algerian daily newspaper L’Expressiondz titled one of its article published today, “It floods Algeria with its drugs and pumps its fuel up,” referring to Morocco. According to the Algerian newspaper, Morocco has been “illegally trading in Algerian fuel unmindful of the severe economic damages it causes to Algeria.”

In the article, the author also establishes a blurry link between Moroccan-Algerian relations and Moroccan Sahara issue and a so-called “Moroccan goal-directed strategic attack at Algerian social fabric and economic prosperity. The article also claims the damage the Algerian economy has faced because of alleged “Moroccan illegal trade” is estimated at 1 billion Euros.

While similar allegations continue to surface on the front pages of Algerian news outlets, changing alleged statistics of damage and loss recorded in Algerian economy, analyses of these allegations pinpoint a suspicious consistency that proves that accusations seem to come from one source and are targeting the same end.

It is also believed that the fact these Algerian allegations abruptly surfaced simultaneously is nothing less “than a strategic attack targeting Moroccan political stability amidst the tense political mutations now characterizing the region.”

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