Al-Jazeera Head Resigns

Al-Jazeera's outgoing director general Wadah Khanfar

Al-Jazeera's director general has announced that he will step down after eight years as the network's top executive.

In a farewell note to Al-Jazeera staff, Wadah Khanfar, said he had been discussing his decision to resign with the chairman of the board "for some time."

He also mentioned that the goal of establishing Al-Jazeera as a global media leader had been met.

Since Al-Jazeera's first Arabic news broadcast in 1996, the Qatari satellite television station has become a leading media outlet, broadcasting in Arabic and English.

Khanfar said the channel "will soon be broadcasting news in Turkish, Kiswahili and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian."

compiled from agency reports