Enjoy !
[audio:http://elouedghiri.com/audio/MinOyoun18Mars.mp3]

she is discussing everything, huge appetite for playing…

“Our keen desire is to link the city’s glorious past with its promising future through a multi-dimensional strategy designed to rehabilitate the city of Fez, for which I have special affection,” said the Monarch in a message in commemoration of the twelve hundredth anniversary of the Foundation of Fez.

Expressing his resolve to “consolidate the city’s character as a center for artistic creativity, craftsmanship, entrepreneurial spirit, productivity and exchange, and as a tourist destination boasting exceptional spiritual appeal as well as a vast gamut of specific assets,” the king made it clear that the city’s basic infrastructure has to be revamped.

The Monarch underlined the need to guarantee the city “access to modern information and communication technology and to see to it we foster enlightened thinking among our youth so that the city’s human resources may remain its foremost asset.”

“This requires joint efforts by all the parties concerned to achieve our goal of preserving the city’s ancient landmarks,” said King Mohammed VI whose message was read out on his behalf by his younger brother Prince Moulay Rachid.

“Just as important is the need to implement integrated development projects which enable all inhabitants of Fez to enjoy a dignified life, and which help preserve the city’s characteristic commitment to the principles of solidarity and patriotism thanks to which Fez has been playing a pioneering, pivotal role in defending Morocco’s sacred values, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Monarch went on.

Bearing in mind the historical value of the city, the king recalled that Fez is building on its glorious past to shape a bright future full of hope and promise, thanks to the contributions of the city’s loyal sons and dedicated men and women, and thanks also to the affection of all our friends and honorable guests who share a special fondness for Fez.

Its founding, he underlined, was a watershed event in the long process of building the Moroccan nation-state, a fully independent country committed to moderate Sunni Islam and to the monarchy system which is based on the mutually binding legitimate bei’a (act of allegiance) between the throne and the people which involves the Amazigh and Arab-Islamic components of our nation.

Fez does not merely attest to our time-honored, deep-rooted civilization, but its historical symbolism also stems from the fact that the city has been a prestigious centre of learning and spiritual fulfillment in the western part of the Islamic world, his Majesty concluded.

The city was founded in year 808 by Moulay Idriss II, who made it the capital of Morocco during the Idrissid dynasty. In 1981, the UNESCO has declared Fes a city of humanitarian heritage as recommended by the international sites and monuments council.

Internationally, Fes is a worldwide cultural heritage whose radiation is universal just like Ibn Khaldoun, Maimonide or Mozart. Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures have lived in peace and tolerance.

Subscribers to Microsoft’s MSDN and TechNet developer programs will have access to the release candidate version starting Thursday, while the general public will have to wait until May 5. That said, users may not notice a huge difference between the two versions at first glance.

“We’re not adding a ton of things,” said Corporate Vice President Mike Nash in an interview. “Most of the changes are fit-and-finish things.”

The company didn’t say how many people it hopes will try out the version, which is expected to be the last public test version before Microsoft declares Windows 7 soup. Nash did say he is hoping plenty of IT professionals use the product at work and home and also that any lingering partners make sure they have tested their products.

Among the changes from the beta release are a more final version of Internet Explorer 8 and the expansion of a media-sharing feature to allow unprotected videos and music to be accessed remotely over the Internet.

Microsoft also said in February it would modify Windows 7 to require authorization before changes are made to the settings for a controversial user account control feature. Microsoft intentionally made the alerts less frequent in Windows 7 than they were in Vista, but some people complained that the specific changes Microsoft made also made it less secure.

In addition to the RC itself, Microsoft is also making available a beta version of XP Mode, an add-on to Windows 7 that uses virtualization to run programs that run in XP but not in Windows Vista.

Windows 7 is widely expected to be released in time for this year’s holiday shopping season–a goal that one top executive said recently is “accomplishable,” although Microsoft has stopped short of guaranteeing that.

“We have work to do before we can definitively say it’s a holiday product,” Nash said. “So far the feedback is very positive.”

Perhaps the biggest issue with the release candidate is the fact that Microsoft did not make it easy to go from the beta version directly to the release candidate. Microsoft is recommending users either upgrade from Windows Vista or do a clean installation of the operating system.

Microsoft acknowledged this is a hassle, but said the move will allow it to get more feedback on the more standard upgrade paths most users will take and prevents it from having to support what it says is a non-standard case–moving from beta to RC. (I’ve heard grumbling from users both inside and outside the company over that call.)

Mexico said the national death toll from the epidemic reached 19, as health officials around the world remained on high alert as more cases were confirmed in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

“I believe we have enough elements to say that we are in a stabilization phase,” said Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova, who confirmed that the tally of cases, including those who have died, had risen to 473.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported at least 615 cases in around 15 countries.

In Geneva, a WHO official indicated the virus had not spread in a sustained way outside of the Americas, a condition necessary to declare a full global pandemic.

“We see no evidence of sustained community spread outside North America,” said Mike Ryan, WHO Director of Global Alert and Response.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 160 confirmed cases spread across 21 states and said additional cases and perhaps even deaths could follow.

Authorities in New York said the city may have seen more than 1,000 cases, but carriers were likely recovering or recovered.

In Canada, some 30 new cases were reported on Saturday, bringing the total number of people infected throughout the country to over 85.

Officials also confirmed H1N1 cases had been detected in a pig herd in Alberta, likely contracted from a man who recently returned from Mexico.

The three North American nations tried to mitigate the economic impact of the crisis, hitting out at countries which had slapped bans on their pork products.

“We strongly urge the international community not to use the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza as a reason to create unnecessary trade restrictions and that decisions be made based on sound scientific evidence,” the country’s said in a joint statement.

Nearly 20 countries, including China and Russia, have imposed bans on the importation of pigs and pork products from Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Mexico also hit out at China, which it said had placed “unjustified” health measures being taken against Mexicans arriving to the country.

Elsewhere South Korea, Ireland and Italy confirmed their first cases, but all three countries said their patients had made swift recoveries.

Hong Kong confirmed a 25-year-old Mexican who arrived from Mexico via Shanghai had brought the first case of swine flu into a city living in fear of a repeat of the SARS virus and bird flu outbreaks of recent years.

Police on Friday sealed off the Hong Kong hotel where he had briefly stayed and placed the building and more than 300 guests and staff under a seven-day quarantine.

The case sparked a regional alert, with China immediately ordering health authorities to track down and isolate the man’s fellow passengers, while some pharmacies in Hong Kong sold out of face masks.

India and Japan also reported suspected cases, with Japanese authorities saying a four-month-old baby from the United States was being tested.

The alarm caused by the flu was evident in Egypt, which began slaughtering its 250,000 pigs began despite the WHO insisting there was no evidence that the animals were transmitting the virus to humans.

Benin became the second African country to report a suspected case of the flu as Health Minister Issifou Takpara told AFP that a European woman may have contracted the virus during a trip in Mexico.

British officials confirmed two new cases, bringing the total to 15, including one person who appeared to have been infected in Britain by someone recently returned from Mexico.

Israel reported a third case — a man recently returned from Mexico — while confirmed cases in Spain rose to 20. German officials said a patient had infected a fellow patient and a nurse, bringing the number of cases there to six.

But health authorities said the world appeared better prepared to fight an epidemic than a few years ago, and promised that a vaccine was only months away.

“We have no doubt that making a successful vaccine is possible in a relatively short period of time,” Marie-Paule Kieny, director of WHO’s Initiative for Vaccine Research said Friday. Vaccine production, she added, could take four to six months.

Most cases outside Mexico have involved only mild symptoms of the illness treatable with existing flu medicines.

Some experts have suggested the virus may have weakened as it was carried outside the country. (AFP)

Behind the 15th-century walls that surround Asilah, children chase each other through the car-free alleyways, past homes decorated with murals by artists from Egypt, Italy, Japan and the U.S. This isn’t a scene you’d expect to find in a town that was on the verge of collapse not too long ago.

Founded by the Phoenicians around 1500 B.C., Asilah was a prosperous trading post until a group of pirates ransacked the place, turning it into a hideout in the early 1900s. The town suffered decades of decline and had fallen into disrepair by the time Mohamed Benaïssa was elected mayor in 1983.

With some funding from Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia and other investors — it always helps to have wealthy friends — Benaïssa cleaned up Asilah, restoring many of its historic buildings, including the Raissouni Palace (rue Ahmed el Mansour and rue Ben Marzouck, from $7), now a concert hall, and the Al-Kamra Tower citadel (place Abdellah Guennoun, free) in the medina.

He also built the Hassan II International Meeting Center (place Abdellah Guennoun, 011-212/39-417-065, free), a gallery and theater, and started the Asilah Arts & Culture Forum (011-212/39-418-729, c-assilah.com, from $7). The summer arts festival hosts more than 100,000 visitors — some of whom are now buying or building second homes up and down Asilah’s undeveloped coastline.

The off-season in Asilah, between November and March, is much more laid-back. Each day begins like the last: Muezzins signal the call for prayer from the minarets of several mosques around town, while families gather for breakfast on rooftop terraces.

Hotels aren’t allowed inside the rampart walls, so renting a private house is often the best option. There are more than 40 rentals available through Homelidays, such as Dar Malak, a three-bedroom waterfront house with stained-glass windows and an electric-blue terrace.

In the center of the medina, American expat Edward Brown’s spacious three-bedroom house, Dar es Salam, is staffed by an English-speaking housekeeper who’ll cook traditional meals for guests. “I’ve been all over Morocco, but I chose Asilah because the town has an innocence you won’t find elsewhere,” Brown says. “The people are kind and friendly, and there’s an authentic cozy-village-by-the-sea ambience.”

As in most towns in northern Africa, life revolves around the medina. Asilah’s is a bit of a maze, but it’s too small to really get lost in — one street will eventually lead you to where you need to go. The shops sell everything from antique turquoise-and-coral jewelry to handwoven Berber rugs.

At Candela (rue Sidi M Barek), sparkly leather slippers for men and women are stacked precariously next to candles carved with Arabic phrases and letters. Near the northern end of the medina, Bazar Atlas (rue Tijara), owned by Bachir el Gaabouri for almost 15 years, stocks hand-painted ceramics, such as individual couscous serving bowls and tagines of all shapes and sizes.

When it comes to eating out, there aren’t too many options in Asilah. Two excellent seafood restaurants are just outside the medina. People have been known to drive all the way from Tangier to Casa Garcia (rue Moulay Hassan Ben el Mehdi, 011-212/39-417-465, fish plate $18) for the mixed-fish platter, which includes whitefish, swordfish, crispy sardines, squid and king prawns.

At the two-story Restaurante Oceano Casa Pepe (place Zalaka, 011-212/39-417-395, from $11), with a terrace that overlooks the garden, the tapas-size fish dishes come with a stack of fresh tortillas. Both restaurants can get busy on the weekends, so you’re smart to make reservations a couple of days in advance.

Part of the beauty of Asilah is that there really isn’t all that much to do, which is just fine with the locals. People-watching at Cafe Al Madina (place Abdellah Guennoun), a coffeehouse with outdoor seating on the main square in the medina, is one popular way to while away an afternoon over café con leche. Another is to stroll along the endless beach, usually empty except for the occasional group of kids playing soccer on the sand. If you start walking early in the morning, you can make it all the way to Tangier.

one cannot believe how little we are…

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