Can fresh Morocco protests build momentum for reform? (The Christian Science Monitor)

Fes, Morocco – Morocco's pro-democracy activists launched fresh protests Sunday, despite King Mohammed VI's Friday speech announcing a draft constitution that would limit the powers of his country’s centuries-old monarchy.

“We are sticking to our demands,” says Elabadila Maaelaynine, who joined thousands of other protesters in Casablanca to reject the king’s proposals, which they say don't go nearly far enough.

Rival protesters supporting the king – some genuine, others reportedly pushed by local authorities to speak in his favor – also took to the streets, and the pro-democracy demonstrators had to change their location after they were “attacked” with bottles and sticks by pro-king demonstrators, says Mr. Maaelaynine.

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Despite a groundswell of support for democratic reform, however, many Moroccans are satisfied at the pace of change in the kingdom and want to avoid the type of tumultuous "Arab Spring" revolutions they've seen in fellow North African countries, such as Tunisia and Egypt.

“Imagine if the king suddenly says that he is going away … there will be chaos,” says Mohammed Montasir, a journalist in the northern city of Fes, adding that Moroccans are not seeking a revolution but a “movement against privileges” of the ruling elite.

How much reform is enough?For four months now, activists have campaigned for the king to transfer powers to elected representatives and reign only as a symbolic head.

In Friday's speech, he announced the constitutional reforms he had promised in March after the first bout of protests.

The most significant proposed change is the boost in the executive powers of the prime minister and the parliament. For instance, the prime minister would appoint and remove ministers as well as dissolve the lower house of parliament in consultation with the king.

The king, however, is not divorced from executive power. The king would choose the prime minister from the party that wins the elections and he could also dissolve the parliament in consultations with the prime minister and members of the new constitutional court, half of whom he would appoint.

The continued presence of the king in the executive branch ignores the key protester demand of separation of powers. He also remains the military and religious head of the country.

While the king is offering a constitutional monarchy, the demand is for a parliamentary monarchy like the United Kingdom. For the activists, the king’s reforms are piecemeal and if they compromise now then the momentum they have generated for comprehensive change will be lost.

They also suspect that the king is trying to rush a referendum on proposed reforms a€“ he set the vote for July 1 a€“ before mass resistance can be mobilized.

The activists push backThe pro-democracy movement – called February 20 (after the first day of widespread protests in Morocco) – is made up of the web-savvy youth, left-leaning parties, and Islamists.

Peaceful rallies have attracted tens of thousands of people. A few of these demonstrations have been violently dispersed by government forces but not as brutally as protests in much of the Arab world.

Athman Hajhamou and Maniar Othmane are engineering students and activists in Fes. They argue that those who support the king do so because theya€™ve never known any other alternative. The current dynasty has ruled for more than 350 years.

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Unlike his father, the 47-year-old king remains popular for improving women’s rights and ordering a probe into tortures committed by the state during his father’s reign. More recently, Morocco has been accused of torturing Islamist figures suspected of terrorism after suicide bomb attacks killed 45 people in Casablanca on one day in 2003.

“You elect your leaders, you support them, and you can reject them,” says Mr. Othmane. “You don’t have to love your ruler; you love your country.”

Will the movement lose steam?Some observers predict that the movement will lose steam. Unlike the regimes of other Arab countries, the monarchy in Morocco has a certain legitimacy that can’t be dismissed, analysts say.

“The February 20 movement is finished now, because the king has answered the people’s movement,” says Jawad Kerdoudi, head of the Moroccan Institute of International Relations, speaking by phone from Casablanca.

February 20 has more than 60,000 followers on Facebook and they are calling on people to study the draft of the constitution, but 44 percent of Moroccans are illiterate. Activists are concerned they may be "duped" by the king's speech.

“Change depends on the strength of the movement," says Athman, "its ability to mobilize, to protest on the streets, to keeps its peaceful nature, and for democratic forces to remain united.”

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Yahoo! News

Canucks banking on home advantage to regain momentum (Reuters)

BOSTON (Reuters) – The Vancouver Canucks returned home on Thursday after two crushing losses to the Boston Bruins that has left the Stanley Cup up for grabs.

After two narrow wins on home ice to open the best-of-seven series, Canucks fans had every reason to think their long wait for the Stanley Cup was almost over.

But the celebrations were put on hold after the Bruins won their two home games 8-1 and 4-0 to level the finals at 2-2.

The series took a gigantic shift early in game three when Aaron Rome's vicious late hit on Nathan Horton left the Boston forward unconscious on the ice and out of the series with a severe concussion.

Rome was subsequently suspended for the next four games and the loss of Horton only served to galvanize the Bruins, but the Canucks are confident the return home will help them regain the initiative.

"If somebody would have told me at the beginning of the year that we could play for the Stanley Cup, best two-out-of-three series with home ice advantage in front of our fans, I would have taken those odds," said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. "I would have taken that anytime to play for the big prize.

"That's what we've got right now. We're going to put these last two games behind us.

"We play real well at home. We're going to go and feed off the energy from our fans and give it our best shot."

The Canucks will be hoping the familiar surrounds will also signal a return to form for All-Star netminder Roberto Luongo, who let in 12 goals in Massachusetts before being pulled late in game four.

Luongo, who backstopped Canada to win the Olympic gold medal on the same rink last year, was at his best at home shutting out the Bruins in game one and providing clutch netminding in a game two overtime decision.

"We worked hard all year to get home ice advantage so this is where it's going to serve its purpose," Luonga said.

"We want to make sure we get playing the way we did in the first two games and take it to them."

The Swedish twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who have captured the last two NHL scoring crowns, have also been missing in action combining for just two points in the series.

The Canucks powerplay which was the best in the league during the regular season and throughout most of the playoffs is suddenly sputtering, going 1-22 in the Cup finals.

"We've got to be a lot better (on the powerplay)," said Henrik Sedin, who is scoreless in the finals. "We still have home ice advantage.

"We know we have to play better and we're going back home in front of our fans and we're going to do a better job.

"We can't look back. It's best-of-three now, we've got two games at home and were focusing on the next one."

(Editing by Julian Linden)

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Private Sector Leads Way on Economy in March, Focus Shifts to Sustaining Momentum

AP

Friday: President Obama gestures while speaking at a UPS facility in Landover, Md.

WASHINGTON -- With the economy showing signs of life in a new government report Friday, politicians on both sides sought to claim credit while turning their attention to ways to keep heading in that direction.

The jobless rate in March ticked down to a two-year low of 8.8 percent as the economy added 216,000 new jobs at the fastest two-month pace since before the recession began, offsetting layoffs by local governments, according to the Labor Department.

President Obama said despite the good news, "we have to keep the momentum going." He said he won't "rest until everyone who wants a job can find one."

The president, speaking at a UPS facility on a private-public partnership to assist companies' in creating fuel efficient vehicle fleets, said transitioning to a clean energy economy will help in that direction. 

"First, it reduces the chance that our families, our businesses and our economy will be held hostage to the whims of the oil market. Second, investments in clean energy have the potential to create an untold number of new jobs and new industries right here in the United States," Obama said.

Obama's chief economic adviser Austan Goolsbee told Fox News that the top priority is getting people back to work but he didn't offer specifics on how the administration planned to do that. Goolsbee pointed to the tax deal Obama struck with Republicans late last year that cut the payroll tax for 150 million workers, saying that improved after-tax wages at time when energy and food prices are on the rise.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a tweet that with the economy showing signs of strength, "it's imperative we find common ground and not do anything to jeopardize recovery."

That was a not-so-veiled reference to the contentious budget negotiations between House Republican leaders and Senate Democratic leaders over what and how much to cut from current spending levels as a government shutdown looms next Friday.

House Republicans have passed a budget plan to slash $61 billion; Democrats are willing to cut $33 billion; but Tea Party activists and freshman lawmakers elected with their support are insisting on $100 billion in cuts.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi also made political hay out of the jobs report, crediting President Obama and congressional Democrats for taking steps to get the economy back on track and warning that Republicans are hellbent on sabotage by passing legislation that she claims would destroy more than 1 million jobs.

"Now is the time for Republicans to join Democrats to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and responsibly reduce the deficit instead of threatening our economic growth and our families' economic security," she said in a statement.

Republicans, who also cheered the economic news, fired back that runaway federal spending, higher taxes and burdensome regulations are threatening to derail the recovery.

"Decreasing unemployment numbers are always welcome news," said Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., chairman of the House Small Business Committee. "But this number could be better and more Americans could be back to work faster if we eliminate excessive government spending, lower taxes and remove government regulations that are strangling job creation and halting economic growth."

Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, added that the tax code should be overhauled.

"While we have taken a good first step in restoring confidence to job creators, we must continue to remove the impediments to sustained economic growth," he said. 

The second straight month of brisk hiring is the latest sign that the economy is strengthening nearly two years after the recession ended.

Private employers, the backbone of the economy, drove nearly all of the gains. They added 230,000 jobs last month, on top of 240,000 in February. It was the first time private-sector hiring topped 200,000 in back-to-back months since 2006 -- more than a year before the recession started.

The unemployment rate dipped from 8.9 percent in February to 8.8 percent in March. The rate has fallen a full percentage point over the last four months, the sharpest drop since 1983.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, sought to claim party credit for the falling unemployment rate.

"Since Republicans convinced our colleagues across the aisle not to raise taxes, America has added nearly 650,000 jobs and the unemployment rate has dropped from 9.4 percent to 8.8 percent," he said in a statement.

"Nevertheless, Washington's regulatory uncertainty is keeping many job creators on the sidelines and many millions of Americans unemployed," he added. "If we really want to kick our economy into high gear, we need to reign in federal bureaucrats who are making it difficult to predict future energy and health care costs, as well as access to credit."

Economists predict employers will add jobs at roughly the same pace for the rest of this year. That would generate about 2.5 million new positions. But that will make up only a small portion of the 7.5 million jobs that were wiped out during the recession.

And the economy faces other pitfalls. Local governments, wrestling with budget shortfalls, cut 15,000 workers last month and are expected to keep shedding jobs. Home prices are falling amid weak sales and a record number of foreclosures. Higher food and gas prices are leaving consumers with less disposable income to spend on other goods and services.

Campaign for America's Future, a progressive group, said layoffs by federal and local governments are sabotaging the recovery.

"To no one's surprise, the federal and state governments are sending out pink slips," said Roger Hickey, co-director of the group. "This means cops, teachers and firefighters are losing their jobs at time when where are no other jobs available. The economy is not firing on all cylinders, which is why this is the worst time to lay off middle class Americans."

The number of unemployed people dipped to 13.5 million in March, still almost double since before the recession began in December 2007.

Including part-time workers who would rather be working full time, plus people who have given up looking altogether, the percentage of "underemployed" people dropped to 15.7 percent in March.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned that the turmoil in the Middle East, the nuclear crisis in Japan and the fiscal problems in Western Europe has undermined the global economy and could imperil the U.S. economic recovery.

"If these problems were to spill over to the U.S. economy, causing growth to slow below its potential rate of growth of between 2.5 - 2.75 percent, they could upset the modest job gains we've seen thus far," the chamber said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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