Tune Age

A British couple kidnapped by Somalian pirates in the Indian Ocean have issued another desperate plea, saying they are being badly treated and need urgent help.

A militant Islamist group associated with al Qaeda attacked areas controlled by government troops and peacekeepers in Somalia early Friday, leaving 12 dead and scores injured, witnesses said.

A militant Islamist group associated with al Qaeda attacked areas controlled by government troops and peacekeepers in Somalia early Friday, leaving 12 dead and scores injured, witnesses said.

Pirate attacks off Somalia’s coastline have “grown exponentially” in the past five years, but pirates are claiming fewer ships these days, according to the U.N.-backed European Union naval operation tackling Somali piracy.

On January 22, 2006, the New York Times reported that all foreign journalists were being banned from Pakistan’s tribal areas, which has been called “the most dangerous place in the world.” A week before that, the CIA fired missiles remotely from a Predator aircraft into the Waziristan tribal area. They were hoping to eradicate a bunch of al Qaeda operatives. Instead, they killed 18 women and children.

America’s top diplomat to Kenya has announced that the United States has suspended a $7 million “capacity building” program for the country’s Ministry of Education, citing corruption.

Rescue crews are searching in poor weather conditions Monday for passengers from an Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea minutes after takeoff with 90 people aboard.

An Ethiopian airliner with 83 people on board crashed into the sea after takeoff from Lebanon early Monday, Lebanese army officials said.

Reports of at least 150 Muslims killed in recent religious clashes in Nigeria should be investigated, a human rights group urged Saturday.

Al-Shabaab, a hard-line Somali rebel group that is on the U.S. government’s terror watch list, has threatened to attack neighboring Kenya, according to an online audio recording.