Free Republic

An Air Algerie flight with at least 116 people on board which dropped off the radar in the early hours of Thursday has apparently crashed in Mali, the flight operator said. Air Algerie said via Twitter that the plane has apparently crashed in the Tilemsi area, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) from the southeastern city of Gao.

Credit where it's due. Notorious goofball he may be, but Prince Charles hit the nail on the head this time. At a Christmas reception for Middle East Christians at Clarence House yesterday, the prince made an impassioned statement on behalf of the persecuted in which he not only pleaded for the victims but named their persecutors: “I have for some time now been deeply troubled by the growing difficulties faced by Christian communities in various parts of the Middle East,” he said. “It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are increasingly...

Malaysia is holding in detention six Indonesians caught returning from a Jemaah Islamiah militant training camp in the southern Philippines, a senior security official told Reuters on Saturday. Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a Southeast Asian offshoot of Al Qaeda, was behind the Bali bombings in late 2002 and the suicide bomb attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last year. The security source said the six men were caught several weeks ago, but their arrest kept quiet. "They were all Indonesians on their way home from the southern Philippines where they had been at a JI training camp," the source...

Reports: Islamist Militants May Seek To Unite, Strike in Europe 18 October 2002 Summary Islamist militants from scores of countries reportedly convened recently in Bosnia, agreeing to set aside differences and to present a united front in the face of "American-Zionist aggression." Although it is not known whether al Qaeda members were present, such a convention would suggest that militants are feeling the heat from the U.S. anti-terrorism war and are seeking to turn the tide by staging coordinated attacks against the West. Analysis Russian and Yugoslav intelligence sources claim that more than 150 Islamic radicals from more than 50...