morocco

Turning fog into potable water in arid Morocco

Six students from Rice University have spent the past month in Morocco figuring out how best to capture drops of water in the foggy Atlas Mountains so that nearby villagers have better access to safe drinking water.

Working in Sidi Ifni, Morocco, with the Dar Si Hmad Foundation--which was founded by 1998 Rice graduate Jamila Bargach--the students used structures resembling volleyball nets with a polyethylene mesh to capture tiny droplets of water that drip down the nets into tubes and then (thanks to gravity) down larger pipes that lead to a water storage tank at the bottom of the … Read more

Morocco issues biometric ID cards

Morocco's national security service has begun issuing millions of "contactless," biometric identification smart cards to simultaneously fight terrorism and guarantee respect for "citizens' rights and liberty," according to that North African government.

Moroccan citizens over 18 years old are required to carry the new ID, but on the upside; the card conveniently supplants birth certificates, certificate of residence, certificate of life, and certificate of nationality in "all procedures for which these documents must be provided."

Artists, however, will continue to be issued a professional ID card by the Ministry of Culture.

The smart … Read more

Facebook: We didn't give data leading to Morocco arrest

Facebook has denied giving the Moroccan government information to identify a man who was sentenced to prison for posting a fake profile of a Moroccan prince.

A Moroccan court last week sentenced the 26-year-old IT engineer to three years and fined him 10,000 dirhams ($1,320) for setting up a Facebook account in the name of King Mohammed's brother, Prince Moulay Rachid.

Some civil-liberties groups questioned whether Facebook helped the Moroccan government locate Fouad Mortada.

But The Wall Street Journal on Friday quoted Brandee Barker, a Facebook spokeswoman, as saying in a statement that while the company's … Read more