Forces loyal to the pro-Israel Arab president of Mauritania, who recently cracked down on Islamic militants in the northwest African desert state, on Sunday put down a coup attempt, government sources said. Fighting was heard from early Sunday in the capital Nouakchott, with automatic gunfire and explosions reported near the presidential building and army headquarters in the city centre. But by early afternoon there was still no independent confirmation of who the alleged coup plotters were and no official announcement or news of the night's events on state media. President Maaouiya Ould Taya and his family were safe and in...