Morocco's cereal sown areas surge amid more rain Morocco's cereal-planted areas were 62 percent above their level a year earlier in mid-December, while the amount of rainfall surged by almost as much, the central bank said. Cereal-planted areas reached 3.7 million hectares against 2.3 million hectares a year earlier, Bank al-Maghrib said in a report. The amount of rainfall by mid-December was 57 percent above its level a year earlier, the bank added. Read the full story here. Italy deports Algerian convicted of providing ID documents to al-Qaida in North Africa Italy has deported an Algerian man convicted of providing false identity documents for an al-Qaida linked terrorist group in North Africa. The Interior Ministry said Mohamed Larbi was put on a plane Wednesday for Algeria as part of co-operation agreements between Italian police and Algerian diplomats in Italy. Larbi was convicted in January 2008 by a court in Naples and sentenced to six years in prison on charges that included criminal association aimed at international terrorism. He was accused of providing logistical support to members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. UN To Send Assessment Mission To Tunisia U.N. Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay says more than 100 people have died during the recent unrest in Tunisia. She says she will send a team to Tunisia in the coming days to assess the human-rights situation in the country. High Commissioner Navi Pillay says her office has received information about more than 100 deaths during the past five weeks. She says more than 70 people have died as a result of live fire, seven have died in protest suicides and more than 40 have died in prison riots a few days ago. She says she is extremely concerned about the high number of deaths in Tunisia. She says justice must be done and those who abuse power in Tunisia must be held accountable. Libya Fulfills Promise The Libyan Government has made good on its promise to provide humanitarian supplies to refugees fleeing the political crisis in neighboring Côte d'Ivoire. A huge consignment of relief supplies arrived Friday at the Roberts International Airport aboard a Libyan cargo jet. The consignment includes 300 tents, 3 tons of rice, Sudan Police Fire Tear Gas Against Protest of Opposition Leader's Arrest Sudanese police fired tear gas last night in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to disperse a demonstration against the Jan. 18 arrest of Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi. Turabi's arrest along with 11 other members of his Popular Congress Party came after an opposition alliance, known as the National Consensus Forces, said it was planning street protests such as the ones in Tunisia which forced President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the North African country Jan. 14. “They prevented the protesters from reaching al-Turabi's house,” Kamal Omar, political secretary for the party, said in a telephone interview from Khartoum. 5 tons of flour, 1 ton of milk and assorted medical supplies. According to an Executive Mansion release, the Libyan acting Chargé d'Affaires to Liberia, Aaeddin El-Shike, said the supplies were sent in fulfillment of President Moammer Kaddafi's promise to help provide relief for refugees near the Liberian border with Côte d'Ivoire.
