The plan, formed on the sidelines of a NATO summit meeting with a new international coalition, is to attack Sunni militants from the air and work to bolster allies in Iraq and Syria.
In a 55-minute long video, al Qaeda announced it will launch a new branch in the Indian subcontinent. Speaking in the video, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said the purpose is to "wage jihad against its enemies, to liberate its land, to restore its sovereignty, and to revive its Caliphate."
By Timothy Olanrewaju in Maiduguri, The Sun, August 24, 2014
A man who appeared like Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram insurgents in a new video released on Sunday boasted the sect has established an Islamic caliphate in Gwoza town, southeast of Borno State.
[....]
He also suggested the terrorists’ rejection of the Nigerian nation, saying: “We are in Islamic Caliphate. We have nothing to do with Nigeria. We don’t believe in this name.” He vowed to continue attacks to increase their quest for more control [....]
Libya is engulfed in new political turmoil, with an Islamist militia openly challenging the legitimacy of the country's elected parliament, after its fighters took control of Tripoli's battered international airport.
After seizing the airport in the Libyan capital, the militia from the coastal city of Misrata called Sunday for the old General National Congress to be reinstated.
Islamic State extremists are pushing to secure the border between Turkey and north-western Syria as the main gateway for recruits to join the caliphate they have imposed across much of eastern Syria and western Iraq.
By Kevin Rawlinson, theguardian.com, 24 August,2014
The United Nations special representative for Iraq has called on the international community to take immediate action to avoid a massacre of civilians in town besieged by Islamic State (Isis) forces.....
[....] That’s the dismal judgment of the handful of scholars who study the broad category of online incivility known as trolling, a problem whose scope is not clear, but whose victims keep mounting.
The former secretary of state, and probable candidate for president, outlines her foreign-policy doctrine. She says this about President Obama's: "Great nations need organizing principles, and 'Don't do stupid stuff' is not an organizing principle."
(Reuters) - Nigeria's military fought gun battles with Boko Haram Islamists in two key northeastern towns on Friday, after the militants killed dozens of people and drove soldiers out of Gwoza town two days ago, security sources and the military said....
By Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Timothy Williams, New York Times, April 9/10, 2014
As classes began at a high school in suburban Pittsburgh on Wednesday morning, a 16-year-old student walked through the hallway stabbing and slashing students with two large knives, the authorities said.
By John Hudson, The Cable @ ForeignPolicy.com, April 7, 2014
[....] After U.S. Army Specialist Ivan Antonio Lopez killed three troops and wounded 16 others last week, Republicans on Capitol Hill began calling for new legislation to allow servicemembers to carry concealed weapons on U.S. bases. The measures are strongly opposed by the Pentagon, which says they would be costly and do nothing to improve security at bases.
NAIROBI, Kenya — A Kenyan official says at least 3,000 people have been arrested during four days of security operations following a wave of terror attacks.
Police spokesman Masoud Mwinyi said Tuesday that most of those arrested were scrutinized by security agencies and released, but that 447 are being held in custody under anti-terrorism laws that allow police to hold suspects longer than 24 hours.
Human rights activists have criticized the operation, saying only Somalis are being targeted [....]
