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PARIS (AP) - France has declared war on al-Qaida, and matched its fighting words with a first attack on a base camp of the terror network's North African branch, after the terror network killed a French aid worker it took hostage in April. The declaration and attack marked a shift in strategy for France, usually discrete about its behind-the-scenes battle against terrorism. "We are at war with al-Qaida," Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday, a day after President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the death of 78-year-old hostage Michel Germaneau. The humanitarian worker had been abducted April 20 or 22 in Niger...

Ruins of a fire temple dating back to the Sassanid era have recently been discovered during a series of archaeological excavations in the Vigol region near Kashan in central Iran. The discovery was made during the latest season of excavations, which are being carried out by a team of archaeologists led by Mohsen Javeri and began in mid-June, the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization announced in a press release on Monday. The cruciform temple has four entrances leading to the ruins of a fireplace embellished with unique stucco designs, Javeri said. The team has also unearthed pieces of ornate...

Local arms manufacturing in the Middle East and North Africa region is set to grow. Robert Bailey outlines some of the projects and collaborations that are underway Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) defence industries are becoming more self reliant as they shift from direct equipment purchases to local production. Where technology transfer has for more than two decades been an established part of headline-catching, multi billion dollar offset programmes, the focus now, for even the smaller countries, is to require technology transfer as a first step to developing their own armaments manufacturing capability. Nevertheless, the MENA region is still...

Anti-Semitism "Jew attacked with knife, iron rod in France" SNIPPET: "Anti-Semitic incident in Strasbourg: Man wearing skullcap assaulted by two men in djellabas. Victim hospitalized with serious injuries after being hit in back, stabbed in chest; assailants arrested" Ynet Published: 05.01.10, 07:57 / Israel News SNIPPET: "A Jewish French citizen was seriously hurt Friday after being assaulted with an iron rod and a knife in the center of Strasbourg. The DPA news agency reported that the man, 42, was attacked by two men wearing djellabas, robes traditionally worn in North Africa. Eyewitnesses reported that the Jew, who was wearing a...

4 Saharan countries set up joint military base Associated Press ALGIERS, ALGERIA ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Four countries in the Sahara desert opened a joint military headquarters Wednesday in an unusual, united effort to combat al-Qaida-linked terrorism and trafficking in nor... PRINTEMAILSHARE RECOMMEND (0) ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Four countries in the Sahara desert opened a joint military headquarters Wednesday in an unusual, united effort to combat al-Qaida-linked terrorism and trafficking in northwest Africa. The new command and control center is in the Algerian city of Tamanrasset, about 2,800 kilometers (1,740 miles) south of the nation's capital deep in the...

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed narcotics and terrorism charges on Friday against three West Africans they identified as associates of Al Qaeda and a related terrorist group. While the United States Drug Enforcement Administration has long maintained that Al Qaeda has been involved in drug trafficking, officials at the agency said the case represented the first time such charges had been brought against people linked with the group. The three men — identified as Oumar Issa, Harouna Touré and Idriss Abelrahman — were arrested on Wednesday in Ghana and flown to the United States on Thursday night, law enforcement officials...

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine, Oct 26 (Reuters) - SNIPPET: "Yuri Lutsenko said the men, Ukrainian citizens from the southern Crimean peninsula, were suspected of belonging to al-Takfir wal-Hijra, which originated in Egypt and is linked with activities in North Africa. Lutsenko said explosive materials, detonators, a Kalashnikov rifle and cartridges, firearms instruction manuals, and propaganda material propagating extreme Islam were found in seven places. Pamphlets also linked the men to Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a group that has said it wants to establish a global Islamic caliphate by peaceful means and is well known in Central Asia. "A network of the extreme Islamic movement al-Takfir...

Recently I have posted articles ranging from showing that American Muslims are not assimilating and forming their own communities, to Muslims openly calling for jihad just blocks away from Ground Zero. As long as they go unopposed they are going to continue to move forward with their agenda of an Islamic USA. Now two prominent American Muslims are close to finalizing their plan to open an Islamic College right here in America. The school will be lead by two Islamic scholars, the first being Sheik Hamza Yusuf, who in the past had made this statement.

The following news brief is a quote: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/news/awi/newsbriefs/general/2009/04/26/newsbrief-02 Algerian, Moroccan stowaways arrested in Canada 26/04/2009 Authorities in the Canadian port of Halifax found five Moroccan and two Algerian illegal immigrants hiding on a Swedish cargo ship arriving from Antwerp, Belgium, Echorouk reported on Saturday (April 25th). The stowaways, all young men in their twenties, were taken into custody on Thursday night. Border officials are conducting interviews to determine whether to deport them or allow them to begin a refugee claim process, Canadian press reported.

SNIPPET: The African Advantage In June 2006, Sada al-Jihad (Echo of Jihad), a Saudi-based jihad periodical, published an article by Al Qaeda strategist, Abu Azzam al-Ansari, exploring the possibility and advantages of a strategy for Africa. The following table summarizes the 13 advantages: Al-Ansari's 13 Advantages to Expanding Al Qaeda Operation 1 “Jihadi doctrines” are well entrenched in most predominantly Muslim countries. This jihadi expansion has old roots in many of the African countries. 2 The general chaos and corruption found throughout the continent which eases “the ability of the Mujahidin to move and plan and organize themselves…” 3 Tribal...

ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror — the BLACK DEATH. At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside. The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East. It trains Muslim...

The President returned from Camp David on Saturday and hosted a Tee Ball game on Sunday. The Vice President concluded his overseas trip with meetings in Italy on Saturday and Sunday and has now boarded AF2 for what I presume is the flight back to the US. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended on Sunday a three-day visit to North Africa, including Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco Pray for President Bush - Day - 2916 & McCain/Palin - Day - 10 Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

snip...A 17-year-old French Jew was attacked on Saturday night in Paris, an assault condemned by President Nicolas Sarkozy and said by Jewish organizations to be an act of anti-Semitism. snip...Police said five youths had been held for questioning, and one police source told Reuters the victim was suffering "serious neurological problems." snip..."The victim was wearing a kippa and was on his way back home when his attackers, after identifying him as Jewish, started to beat him," the union said. snip...Two police sources said the attack took place right after a skirmish between two groups of youths, one Jewish and the...

Algeria Muslim body slams Christian evangelistsSun 1 Jun 2008, 7:22 GMTALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria hit back on Saturday at foreign accusations minority Christians are harassed, saying Protestant evangelicals were secretly trying to divide Algerians to colonise the mainly Muslim north African country.http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN130142.html   The Rising Threat of Revolutionary Islam in Algeria A radical Islamic victory in Algeria would pose significant long-term threats to US interests in North Africa, the Middle East, and the Muslim world ...http://www.heritage.org/Research/Africa/BG1060.cfm   2 bombings near Algerian capital wound 6 peopleThe Associated Press - Jun 4, 2008Algeria's Islamic militants have mounted increasing attacks over the past...

No mystery as to why Christian missionaries might be having their greatest success in the Kabyle. In Algeria, that remains the Berber heartland. It is where the Berbers, that is those who were not forcibly transformed, during the centuries of Arab rule (interrupted by 132 years of French rule) into "Arabs" (how many of those "Arabs" who now persecute the Berbers realize that they themselves are a generation, or two, or five removed from their clearly Berber origins?) The cause of the Berbers is hardly known in this country. The writer Kateb Yacine, a Berber who refused to write in...

The 2008 Dakar Rally has been cancelled because of safety concerns in the African republic of Mauritania. Four French tourists were murdered in Mauritania on 24 December, which led to the French government advising against any travel to the country. Eight of the rally's 15 stages were due to pass through Mauritania. The event's organisers, the Amaury Sport Organisation, said there had been "direct threats against the race issued by terrorist groups". The annual car and motorcycle marathon had been due to start in Lisbon on 5 January with the finish coming in Dakar on 20 January. "Following several consultations...

.."surrendered after disagreements with other leaders in the organization."

ALGIERS, Algeria (Reuters) -- Algerian security forces have killed the mastermind of suicide bombings including a triple attack in Algiers in April that claimed 33 lives, a government-run newspaper reported on Thursday. Rachid Sid Ali, a military adviser to the al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, was killed on July 30 in the troubled Kabylie region east of Algiers, El Moudjahid said. He was killed along with his aide Haroun El Achaachi "thanks to the help of the local population of Iboudranene" village near Kabylie's main town of Tizi Ouzou, the daily added, citing a security source. Attacks plotted...

Ethiopia's 'secret war' forces thousands to flee By David Blair in Gode Last Updated: 2:32am BST 09/10/2007 Ethiopian troops have been deployed to crush Somali rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front Few places are more desolate than southern Ethiopia, where the barren plains suffer hunger and poverty even when the rains fall. Yet one of Britain's closest African allies is waging a brutal military campaign in this bleak region, burning villages and forcing thousands to flee their homes. Ethiopia, the recipient of £130 million of British aid this year, is fighting a virtually unknown guerilla war on the borderlands...

ALGIERS (Reuters) - The deputy chief of al Qaeda's North Africa wing, believed to be the group's operational leader, was killed along with two other rebels in a gun battle with Algerian troops, local newspapers said on Tuesday. Hareg Zoheir, also known as Sofiane Abu Fasila, was said to be the second-in-command of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and suspected of being behind planning most of the suicide bombings in Algeria in the recent months. He was shot dead on Sunday at a check point in the eastern region of Tzizi Ouzou, the country's leading dailies reported. "Sofiane is...