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Libya Rivals Back in Morocco for Fresh Peace Talks

Libya's warring factions arrived Thursday in Morocco for a fresh round of U.N.-brokered peace talks aimed at putting an end to months of fighting in the stricken North African state.

The talks involving rival parliaments are expected to begin on Friday, as U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon struggles to bring Libya's rival factions to agree steps aimed at forming a national unity government.

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Two Moroccan Women Facing 'Indecency' Charges over Dresses

Two Moroccan women who walked through a market wearing dresses are facing charges of "gross indecency", a rights group and media reported Thursday, sparking an outcry in the kingdom.

The women were arrested on June 16 as they strolled through the open-air market in Inezgane, a suburb of the southern city of Agadir, on their way to work, said Fouzia Assouli, head of women's rights organization LDDF.

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Morocco Website Fined for Defaming King's Private Secretary

A Casablanca court ordered a Moroccan website on Monday to pay 46,000 euros in damages for defaming the king's private secretary, Mounir El Majidi, media reports said.

The H24 and TelQuel.ma sites reported that Goud.ma was prosecuted for reprinting in a press review allegations about Majidi, cited in his capacity as a businessman.

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Morocco Students Jailed for Killing Islamist Fellow in Brawl

A Moroccan court has jailed nine leftist university students for killing an Islamist student in a brawl at the University of Fez last year, an official said Saturday.

Abderrahim al-Hasnaoui, 21, died of injuries received in campus clashes involving swords and knives between Islamist and radical leftist students in April 2014.

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Moroccan Men Jailed 4 Months for Kissing in Public

Two Moroccan men were jailed for four months Friday for kissing in public, after a string of recent controversies over homosexuality in the conservative Muslim kingdom, said NGO officials who attended the trial.

The men, Lahcen, 38, and Mohsine, 25, were convicted of an "affront to public decency" and of an "unnatural act with a person of the same sex," and also fined 500 dirhams ($52/46 euros), the sources said.

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Morocco Arrests 57 in Cash-for-Answers Exam Scandal

Dozens of people have been arrested in Morocco for selling answers to high school leaving exams in a racket that even saw two pages of answers posted on Facebook, authorities said Saturday.

The General Directorate of National Security said 57 people were arrested in 15 towns across the kingdom in a cash-for-answers scandal that saw other test responses sent to students via SMS. 

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Morocco Dismantles IS-Linked 'Terrorist' Cell

Morocco on Thursday dismantled a seven-member "terrorist" cell linked to the Islamic State group that was planning to abduct and murder tourists, the interior ministry said.

The suspects, whose identities were not revealed, had "pledged allegiance" to the jihadist IS group, the ministry said in a statement carried by the MAP news agency.

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Warring Libya Factions in 'Decisive' U.N. Talks

Libya's warring factions meet for a new round of "decisive" talks Monday as the U.N. scrambles for a peace deal before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan next week.

Amid warnings the oil producer is on the verge of collapsing into a failed state, United Nations envoy Bernardino Leon is pushing for an agreement before the June 17 start of Ramadan.

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Morocco Jails Three for Homosexuality

Three Moroccan men accused of homosexuality have been sentenced to three years in jail each by a court in northeastern Morocco, a rights group said on Monday.

Homosexuality and sexual relations outside marriage are forbidden in the conservative North African nation. 

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Boat Migrant Arrest over Tunisia Attack Sparks Italy Row

Italy said Wednesday it had arrested a Moroccan illegal immigrant suspected of involvement in a deadly attack on a Tunis museum, fueling a row over the threat of jihadists arriving in Europe by boat.

Authorities in Tunisia have arrested nearly two dozen suspects in connection with the March attack in which 21 tourists died, but Abdel Majid Touil, 22, was thought to be the first to be detained abroad.

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