Morocco's King pardons 413 prisoners King Mohammed VI has pardoned 413 prisoners on the occasion of the celebration on Wednesday of the Eid Al Mawlid (birthday of Prophet Mahomet), PANA learnt from official sources on Tuesday evening. According to a statement from the Moroccan Ministry of Justice on the occasion of Eid Al Mawlid last year, the Moroccan king pardoned 448 people. The king of Morocco regularly grants pardon to prisoners on the occasion of religious and national holidays. Algeria PM: state of emergency gone by month's end Algeria's prime minister says a state of emergency in place for 19 years will be lifted by the end of this month.The government has insisted so far that the state of emergency was a necessary tool in the fight against terrorism, but critics charge that recently it has been used to muzzle the political opposition by banning marches. Ahmed Ouyahia said Wednesday Algeria “cannot ignore events taking place in Arab and Islamic countries,” referring to uprisings in neighboring Tunisia and in Egypt that ended ousted those countries' autocratic leaders. Tunisian migrants head for Europe's shores The looming trial of the prime minister isn't the only crisis that the Italian government is dealing with today. It's also struggling to deal with a surge of migrants from Tunisia. Up to 5000 Tunisians arrived on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa in last week. Many of them say that despite the Tunisian uprising and the ousting of the president, the economic prospects in their home country are still dire. Read more here. Oil prices rising on concerns of spreading Middle East unrest in Libya Oil prices climbed on Wednesday as anti-government demonstrations broke out in Libya and Israel's foreign minister claimed that Iran is about to send two warships through the Suez Canal on the way to Syria. The news added to tension in the region and “absolutely moved markets,” according to PFGBest oil analyst Phil Flynn. He said traders are worried that spreading unrest in the Middle East will disrupt oil production and shipments in the region. “The face of the Middle East is changing in pretty dramatic fashion in a very short period of time,” he said. “The risk to supply is going up.” Read more here. Female opposition activists claim abused by Sudan security agents Female members of the Islamic opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) in north Sudan claimed they were assaulted on Wednesday by the country's security authorities as they gathered to deliver a petition against the detention of fellow party members.Last month, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested the PCP's leader Hassan Al-Turabi along with 20 PCP members after Al-Turabi warned the government of a Tunisia-style popular uprising if it continued to defy calls for reforms. On Wednesday, PCP female activists including relatives of the detainees attempted to hold a protest and deliver a petition to the NISS demanding the release of the detainees. Asmaa Al-Turabi, daughter of Hassan Al-Turabi, said in a press conference on the same day that NISS members had abusively prevented them from delivering the petition, claiming that she and her fellow protestors were subjected to physical and verbal abuse by NISS agents. South Sudan accuses North of supplying arms to rebels South Sudan's ruling party accused northern authorities yesterday of arming rebels since the region's landmark independence vote last month, including renegade troops behind clashes that killed more than 200 people last week. Pagan Amum, secretary general of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), said renegade southern general George Athor had received supplies from Khartoum since the January referendum in which the south voted to break away. “Supplies were brought to George Athor even after the referendum, and this definitely must stop,” Amum said. The north has rejected similar accusations in the past.
