SOMALIA

Moussa Koussa, the former Libyan foreign minister who defected to Britain almost two weeks ago, has flown to Qatar, according to the UK Foreign Office.

Libyan defector, former foreign minister Moussa Koussa has warned British officials that civil war could turn his country into “a new Somalia.”

Libyan gunmen are reportedly shooting sub-Saharan refugees who seek to escape Libya by boat, according to a report in the UK newspaper The Independent.

Libya’s government said it is willing to consider reform, but remained adamant that Moammar Gaddafi must remain in power in order to prevent chaos in the country, as witnessed in Iraq and Somalia.

A senior security official in Algeria claims that the Al Qaeda terrorist organization is taking advantage of the turmoil in Libya to purchase weapons, according to Reuters.

The East African country of Uganda is reportedly willing to allow Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi to live there in exile, according to spokesman for Ugandan president.

Some prominent African leaders have expressed their condemnation of western air strikes on Libya.

A journalist working for the British newspaper Guardian is missing in Libya and has not been heard from since Sunday.

Somalia's government said it will bar ships from using rebel-controlled southern ports in an effort to starve the militants of revenue and supplies, but it was unclear how it would enforce the ban.

Pirates shot dead four American hostages on a yacht they had seized in the Arabian Sea, and a firefight left two pirates dead and 13 captured, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

The unrest roiling through the Middle East and North Africa has now spread to the tiny nation of Djibouti, where thousands of people have gathered on the streets to demand the immediate resignation of President Ismael Omar Guelleh.

A U.S. judge sentenced a Somali pirate to 33 years and nine months in prison on Wednesday for his role in the 2009 seizure of the Maersk Alabama container ship and two other vessels in the Indian Ocean.

Ugandan police said they believe terrorists are targeting Kampala before national elections this month, the latest in a series of threats since twin bombs killed 79 people in the capital last year.

A war of words between Uganda's main presidential candidates escalated on Friday, sparking fears of Egypt-style street violence should the opposition say the poll was rigged.

Canada's Africa Oil Corp said on Wednesday it had completed a farmout agreement for three east African exploration blocks to London-listed Tullow Oil Plc, which now holds a 50 percent stake in each of them.

An audio message released by Osama bin Laden on Friday warned that French hostages held by Islamic militants will be killed if President Nicolas Sarkozy does not withdraw French forces from Afghanistan.

Special Forces from South Korea stormed a cargo ship taken over by pirates in the Arabian Sea and rescued the 21-member crew. The rescue attempt occurred a week after the cargo ship, Samho Jewelry, was hijacked by Somali pirates. The ship had eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 people from Myanmar and was carrying chemicals from the UAE towards Sri Lanka.

Pirate attacks on ships worldwide hit a seven year high in 2010 and a record number of crew were taken hostage, a maritime watchdog body said, despite increased patrolling of the seas.

Ships plying the waters where piracy is a danger may soon have a non-lethal laser weapon to defend themselves with.

FBI sleuths detained a 19-year-old allegedly plotting to detonate a vehicle bomb at an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. The arrest was announced late on Friday evening by the Justice Department who stated that Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia and a student at Oregon State University, was arrested after he attempted to detonate what he believed to be an explosives-laden van.

According to government figures, in 2008, merchandise shipped into the U.S. by airplane accounted for 20 percent of the nation’s imports, with a value of $417 billion. That’s a great deal of items and only one, or two, would have to explode to have, through terror, a crippling effect upon the nation’s economy, to say nothing of the nation’s spirit.