Irish man drowns in Morocco The body of an Irishman who died in a Moroccan drowning tragedy is expected to be flown home this weekend. Alan Buckley (35), from Tivoli in Cork, drowned last Friday in an accident while on holiday. Desperate efforts to save him failed after he apparently got into difficulty while swimming and was unable to reach safety. Algeria mounts big push against al-Qaida The Algerian army is conducting its biggest offensive in years against al-Qaida forces in the north across the Kabylie mountains and reportedly disrupted a major plot to use cellphone-detonated explosives in a bombing campaign. There were reports that some top leaders of the group, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, have been killed but these haven't been confirmed. Tunisians question Al Jazeera protest coverage Al-Jazeera coverage of the Sidi Bouzid protests is causing controversy across Tunisia, with some citizens praising the Qatari network for filling a media void and others slamming the news reports as biased and unprofessional. The pan-Arab satellite TV network began airing reports as soon as the crisis erupted on December 18th, when Tunisian police clashed with Sidi Bouzid youths. The demonstration against unemployment began when a young merchant set himself on fire after authorities seized his goods. The protests have since spread to several other cities. Ghana, Libya sign labour exchange agreement to assist citizens The Ghana government has entered into an agreement with its Libyan counterpart to provide labour assistance to citizens of both countries. Foreign Minister Mohammed Mumuni who disclosed this to Joy News hopes the agreement will go a long way to solve employment issues faced by Ghanaian immigrants living in that country. South Sudan minister calls for massive reception for President Bashir in Juba Barnaba Marial Benjamin Bill, minister of information and broadcasting service in the government of south Sudan on Monday called for massive reception of president Omer Hassan al-Bashir when he visits Juba on Tuesday. Marial, a prominent member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement which controls affairs of the regional Government of Southern Sudan said in an interview with Sudan Tribune: “The President of the republic of Sudan, Omer Hassan al-Bashir will visit Juba tomorrow. For this reason, we are calling on the general public to give him a warm welcome. We have asked our security forces to allow citizens turn out to receive president Bashir.” BM
