Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb infiltrated Mali's northern frontier in 2003, after a 10-year civil war to overthrow the Algerian government. This desert region has become a safe haven for numerous Islamists linked to al Qaeda.
The day abortion was legalized was a blockbuster for news.
Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton has signed on to help promote President Barack Obama's inaugural kick-off event to get Americans across the country engaged in serving their communities.
Nearly four years after his affair with an Argentine woman was exposed, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford plans to announce his return to politics and run for his old congressional seat.
Nigeria's president has compared the violence by an Islamist extremist sect in his West African nation to the ongoing civil war in Syria.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela was released Wednesday from a hospital after being treated for a lung infection and having gallstones removed, a government spokesman said. But the 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon will continue to receive medical care at home.
A massive explosion ripped through a warehouse full of fireworks in Nigeria's largest city on Wednesday, sparking a fire that threatened surrounding city blocks and sending a plume of thick smoke high into the sky. At least one person died and 15 others were wounded, emergency officials said.
Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, according to religion writer Rupert Shortt, author of a new book called "Christianophobia" that details the persecution most of the West never hears about.
An Iranian semiofficial news agency said there has been another cyberattack by the sophisticated computer worm Stuxnet, this time on the industries in the country's south.
