ALGIERS, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - The Polisario Front announced Tuesday it was ready to enter direct negotiations with Morocco over the Western Sahara but wanted UN mediator Peter Van Walsum to be dropped, Algeria's APS agency said.

RABAT, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Morocco's King Mohammed VI has pardoned more than 1,000 people to mark the anniversary of his succession to the throne, a justice ministry statement said Tuesday.

Ten prisoners were to be freed immediately, it said, from a total of 1,030 people given complete or partial amnesty.

RABAT, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - A court in Rabat Monday rejected the appeal of a journalist for the Al-Jazeera television network in Morocco who had his press accreditation withdrawn for allegedly broadcasting false information.

'The decision of the administrative tribunal is surprising,' Khalid Sefiani, a lawyer for the journalist, told AFP after the verdict at the administrative court.

MADRID, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - A court in the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Morocco's northern coast handed down a 15-month suspended sentence to a Moroccan senator for resisting arrest, local media reported Tuesday.

The court however acquitted Yahya Yahya, a member of the Moroccan upper house, on July 2 of charges of assaulting his wife, regional daily newspaper Melilla Hoy reported.

RABAT, July 16, 2008 (AFP) - Morocco is to send more than 170 preachers throughout Europe from September until Ramadan to protect its citizens from extremist speeches, the government said Wednesday.

The decision follows a request from King Mohammed VI.

PARIS, July 16, 2008 (AFP) - Women who wear burqas live in a prison, a French minister said in an interview Wednesday, after a Moroccan woman who wears the head-to-toe Islamic veil was denied French citizenship.

MADRID, July 12, 2008 (AFP) - Morocco continued to press its claims over the disputed Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla during Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's visit this week, Spanish newspapers reported Saturday.

RIYADH, July 12, 2008 (AFP) - Siamese twins from Morocco, connected since birth at the chest and stomach, were separated in a successful operation at a Riyadh hospital on Saturday, the state news agency SPA reported.

RABAT, July 12, 2008 (AFP) - King Mohammed VI of Morocco will not attend the founding summit of the Union for the Mediterranean but is sending his brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, a source close to the government said Saturday.

The king decided not to attend the summit because of other commitments, said the source, who asked not to be identified.

RABAT, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - A would-be Moroccan suicide bomber who attempted to blow up a coach full of US, Italian and French tourists was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday, a court source said.

Hassan Dokkali attempted to board the bus in the historic city of Meknes on August 13 last year, carrying a bottle of gas which he ignited.