IT’S the economy, stupid. That was the crude message once delivered to the American electorate, but surprisingly, the economy may be relegated to second place in this country at next May’s general election.

New York(MAP) - President of employers' association (CGEM) Miriem Bensalah-Chaqroun was appointed, Tuesday in New York, as a member of the board of directors of U.S. NGO "Initiative for Global Development" (IGD).

Writers from the Guardian, Le Monde, El País, Süddeutsche Zeitung and La Stampa address some common claims about migration and assess whether they are true in their country.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday he risked upsetting allies and losing international clout if he pursued an anti-immigration agenda designed to placate domestic voters.

Theo Francken, the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, apologized for his old racial statements against Moroccans, Algerians and Congolese immigrants.

Casablanca - King Mohammed VI received, on Friday in Casablanca Royal Palace, several foreign ambassadors who came to present their credentials as their countries' ambassadors to Morocco.

They are:

MARRAKECH - Over 900 stakeholders from across the African continent, including the Presidents of Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal as well as the Prime Ministers of Morocco and Cape Verde convened in Morocco for the UN's Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) African Development Forum. Participants came from 56 countries of which 37 countries were African.

Press release: On 6 October 2014, His Excellency Mr. Abdelilah El Housni, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to Thailand paid a courtesy call on His Excellency Mr. Don Pramudvinai, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Just how friendly are Moroccans?  A new report, put out earlier this month by the World Economic Forum, has ranked which countries roll out the welcome mat to travelers and which give the cold shoulder. The good news is that Morocco was in the top three.

To explain popular racism we have to stop explaining it away, and look instead at the conditions that make sense of it.

Shanghai - Morocco's auto racer Mehdi Bennani scored Sunday his first World Touring Car Championship victory with a flawless drive from reversed-grid pole in race two in Shanghai, China.

A crackdown by European countries to track migrants without papers or official documentation got underway Monday amid a surge in refugees from Syria and the Middle East, officials and rights groups said.

In an interview with Hespress, The general consul of Morocco in New York, Mohamed Ben Abdeljalil, talked about the efforts of the embassy to serve Moroccan immigrants in forty eight American states, along with the cities entrusted to the Consulate of Washington.

On the sidelines of Morocco submitting an official request to postpone the upcoming African Cup of Nations 2015 due to the increasing Ebola epidemic threat, a request which was initially rejected by the CAF though promising the Moroccan officials to re-examine the case next November, the Moroccan Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Mohammed Ouzzine, told le360 that ”We can not take slightly the risk of the spread of the Ebola epidemic, especially that the World Health Organization (WHO) has rung the alarm bell about the turmoil that the Ebola is causing.”

Datecco's government wants January's Nations Cup soccer finals in the North African country to be postponed because of fears over the Ebola virus, state news agency MAP reported on Friday.

Mr Driss El Yazami, President of the council of the Moroccan community abroad

Driss El Yazami was born in 1952 in Fez.
Graduate of the training and development of journalists' center in Paris, Driss El Yazami is a member of the Advisory Council for Human Rights and former member of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, he is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation three cultures. Further, he's a delegate of "Generics", an association specializing in the history of foreigners and immigration in France, and he's the editor of the magazine "Migrance". He also served as the Former Vice-President of the French League for Human Rights (LDH), and former member of the Executive Committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Human Rights. Driss El Yazami is currently the Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), President of the Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the defenders of human rights and a member of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board of the national Centre for the history of immigration in France.

Mr. El Yazami was also co-director of the film "France, land of Islam?" (OROLEIS, Paris, 1984) and the general curator of several exhibitions:
- "France strangers, France Liberties" (Marseille, Paris, Orléans, Strasbourg / 1989-1992);
- "In the mirror of the other, immigration in France and Germany" (Frankfurt, May 1993);
- "Generations, a century of history of North Africans in France" (Lyon, June 2009).
He took part in the drafting and coordination of several collective works:
- "For Human Rights" (Bilingual French-English - Syros-Artis, Paris, 1989);
- "Foreigners in France, guide to public and private sources(nineteenth-twentieth centuries), 4 volumes archives;
- "The Arab Paris" - (Discovery - 2003).

Driss El Yazami is the co-author (with Rémy Schwartz) of a report for the establishment of a national center for the history and culture of immigration, submitted in November 2001 to Lionel Jospin. He has also written several articles published in the French press (No borders, Baraka, Turmoil, Point, Libération, Differences, Project Migration society, the Journal magazines, Men and Migration Seen from left, Rights and freedoms, Studies, Migrance).

Mr. Abdellah Boussouf, Secretary General of the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad

Born March 15, 1952 in Nador.

Abdellah Boussouf was appointed by His Majesty King Mohammed VI Secretary General of the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) on Friday December 21, 2007, serving until today.

Initially a historian, he received a Phd in 1991 on the subject of relationships in the Mediterranean in the thirteenth century.

In 1993, he served as the president of the Association of Strasbourg Mosque. He was responsible for the construction of the Great Mosque of Strasbourg, which is considered the first installation dedicated to the Muslim faith in Strasbourg.

In 2002 he was elected Vice-President of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM).

In 2006, he moved to Belgium to work at the Brussels Institute of Islamic Studies. He also served as the director of the Euro-Islamic center for Culture and Dialogue, based in Charleroi (Belgium).

Mr. Boussouf advocates a moderate Islam and open dialogue among religions and civilizations. In his many national and international interventions, Boussouf’s words invite to the discovery of the other and emphasize the importance of the cultural approximation.

Working group: "Culture, Education and identities"

Members

• Younes Ajarrai: President
• Mr. Hamed El Oufrassi, Rapporteur
• Najat AZMY
• Rachid BENZINE
• Paul DAHAN
• Mly Mehdi El Idrissi ZINI
• Omar EL Mourabet
• Raphy MARCIANO
• Observers
• Aziz nahya, Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, Staff Training and Scientific Research
• Mr. Hamou BENASSER, IRCAM
• Khadija EL GOUR, Ministry of Culture
• Brahim ABBAR, Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans living abroad
• Brahim Ounir, Ministry of the Moroccan community residing abroad
• Mohamed RIFKI, Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs
• Working Group: "Citizenship and Political Participation"

Members

• Abdou Menebhi, Rapporteur
• Driss Ajbali
• Amina Benlarbi
• Hamid Bichri
• Sidi Mohamed Farssi
• Mohamed Moussaoui
• Kamal RAHMOUNI
• Observers
• Mr. Jamal EL KAMIL, Ministry of Interior
• Mr. M'barek Bouderka, CCHR
• Mr. Abdelhadi ATTOBI, Diwan Al Madhalim
• Mr. Lahoussine AKJARAÏ, Ministry of the Moroccan community residing abroad
• Mohamed RIFKI, Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs
• Fouad BENMAKHLOUF, Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans living abroad
• Working group: "Administration, public rights of users and policies"

Members

• Abdelhamid El Jamri: President
• Mohamed Anwar Haidour: Rapporteur
• Mokhtar FERDAOUSSI
• Nadia Serhani
• Observers
• Abid youbi, Ministry of Justice
• Aziz Jillali SGHIR, Ministry of Interior
• Ahmed EL KHDAR, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
• Mr. Jawad El Himdi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
• Mr. Mohammed BAALLAL, Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, Department of Employment
• Mr. Mohammed SALHI, Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, Department of Vocational Training
• Mohamed El Azami, Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity
• Fouad BENMAKHLOUF, Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans living abroad
• Ms. Bouchra EDDAOUIBI, Minister in Charge of Moroccans residing abroad
• Mohamed RIFKI, Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs
• Mr. Abdelouahab ABOUSSOF, Ministry of Economy and Finance Directorate of Customs
• Mr. Abdelmjid MOURHIR, Ministry of Economy and Finance Directorate of Customs
• Working group: "Scientific, technical and economic skills for inclusive development"

Members

• Faouzi LAKHDAR GHAZAL: President
• Daniel AMAR: Rapporteur
• Najib BENCHERIF
• Adil JAZOULI
• Abdelghani DADES
• Observers
• Khalid EL Hammoumi, Ministry of Social Development, Family and Solidarity
• Mr. Mohammed El Azami, Mohamed V Foundation for Solidarity
• Mrs. Ghita Zouggari, Ministry of the Moroccan community abroad
• Mohamed RIFKI, Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs
• Mr. Hamou BENASSER, IRCAM
• Fouad BENMAKHLOUF, Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans
• Mr. Moha Hamaoui, Ministry of Equipment and Transport
• Mohamed AKALLAL, Ministry of Agriculture and Maritime Fishing
• Ms. Hassania Arsalan, Ministry of Agriculture and Maritime Fishing
• Omar ATTOU EL YOUSSOUFI, Ministry of Higher Education
• Working Group: "Worship and Religious Education"

Members

• REDOUANE Abdallah, President
• Mohamed Kharchich, Rapporteur
• Ahmed Ayaou
• Ahmed EL HAMSS
• El El Khemmar BAKALI
• Observers
• Brahim ABBAR, Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans residing abroad
• Mr. Hamou BENASSER, IRCAM
• Dr Touriya LIHIA, Higher Council of Ulemas
• Brahim Ounir, Ministry of the Moroccan community residing abroad
• Mohamed RIFKI, Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs
• Working Group :"Gender Approach and New Generations"

Members:

• Amina Ennceiri, President
• Mina RHOUCH, Rapporteur
• Najat BELKACEM
• Nadia Bouras
• Souad talsi
• Observers
• Ali Sadik, Ministry of Interior
• Ms. Houria ZAIDI, Ministry of Youth and Sports
• Mr. Rabii LEOUIFOUDI, Ministry of Social Development, Family and Solidarity
• Dr Touriya LIHIA, Higher Council of Ulemas
• Fatima Muhajir, Ministry of the Moroccan community residing abroad
• Asma CHRAIBI, Ministry of the Moroccan community residing abroad
• Mohamed RIFKI, Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs
• Fouad BENMAKHLOUF, Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans living abroad

Morocco, faithful to a long-standing tradition of moderation and religious tolerance, is a country where coexistence of religions is a reality, writes the Vatican daily Osservatore Romano.