Meknes, Morocco  - Surrounded by peacefully undulating green hills, the northern Moroccan city of Meknes offers travellers a trip back in time in the framework of imperial grandeur.

Located on the edge of the Atlas mountains, the city of nearly 1 million residents is lesser known as a tourist destination than Marrakech, Agadir or Fez.

It is, however, becoming increasingly popular among visitors to the north African kingdom where their numbers have doubled to about 8 million annually since 2001.

Rabat, Morocco - Increasing voices in Morocco want the country to demand damages from Spain for the use of chemical weapons during the 1920-26 Rif war, press reports said Thursday.

Colonial powers Spain and France put down a rebellion in the northern mountainous Rif region, which was part of the Spanish protectorate at the time.

Rabat, Morocco  - "This is our love story," two gay men, whose faces were not visible, said on the cover of the Moroccan weekly al-Michaal, which published a story on their wedding.

The simple prayer ceremony had no legal value, but the report by the small publication nevertheless apparently annoyed the authorities. It followed several similar ones, including a series of interviews by the daily Assabah with Samir Bargachi, a Moroccan living in Spain who heads Kifkif, the first association of Moroccan-born homosexuals.

Rabat, Morocco  - Morocco

Rabat/Madrid - Morocco has expelled five foreigners on charges of Christian proselytizing in the Muslim country, press reports said Monday.

The five were detained on Saturday in Casablanca, where they were holding a meeting attended by several Moroccans, according to the reports.

Police seized "evangelic propaganda" materials including Arabic-language books, videos and cult objects, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Amsterdam - A decision to evacuate, search and seal an entire Amsterdam shopping area Thursday was taken after what now appeared to be a dubious phone call by an anonymous informant warning of a terrorist attack, it emerged Friday.

Five of the seven people arrested Thursday on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack at the mall were released on Friday, the Dutch Justice ministry said.

Two suspects remained in police detention - one suspected not of terrorist activities but other crimes, police said.