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	<title>WorldCategory: Terrorism &#124; World &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>WorldCategory: Terrorism &#124; World &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>France&#8217;s Latest Terrorist Suspect: A French Convert Near Retirement Age</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/05/02/soldiers-in-mali-arrest-french-terrorist-jihadi-convert/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/05/02/soldiers-in-mali-arrest-french-terrorist-jihadi-convert/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2013 06:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley / Paris</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Morocco]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bamako]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mohammed Merah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=84717</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[France’s newest prisoner in the fight against terrorism does not fit the profile of the modern jihadi that French investigators have, in recent years, broadly focused on — that of a young, disaffected man. Gilles Le Guen, a French convert to radical Islam who was arrested by French forces on April 28 in northern Mali, is 58. When last seen in an online video uploaded in October 2012, Le Guen — who also went by the name Abdel Jelil — was declaring his allegiance to the Islamist group Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and threatening his homeland with retaliation if France intervened against his fellow extremists who had taken control of northern Mali. Both his look and message raised many eyebrows among security officials back in France. Many aspiring jihadis in Europe begin the radicalization process at home before seeking instruction and combat training from radical groups abroad. Le Guen, by contrast, veered to extremism only once AQIM-allied militias stormed northern Mali — an area where he’d quietly lived, approaching retirement age, with his wife and children for two years. (MORE: Jihadi Strike in Timbuktu Reflects Altered Terrorism Threat in Mali) “The average case involves a younger man leaving for a zone where jihadi activity — usually combat — is already under way, not waiting for jihad to come to the door,” says a senior French antiterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity and who notes several French nationals are known to have traveled to Mali to fight aside AQIM-linked militias. “[Le Guen] lived as a convert to Islam in Timbuktu as a pious husband and father, and only radicalized once extremists took control of the region. He’s the polar opposite of [Toulouse jihadi killer] Mohammed Merah.” That late-in-life transformation is what appears to have inspired Le Guen’s October video, in which he warns France and other nations to halt plans for the military intervention that in January drove the Frenchman&#8217;s fellow Islamists out of northern Mali. It’s still unclear to French security officials, however, whether Le Guen actually took<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=84717&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Terrorism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/terrorism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/march20.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Mali Fighting</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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	</item>
		<item>
		<title>No Exit: Syria&#8217;s War Through the Eyes of a Fighter on Both Sides</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/04/22/no-exit-syrias-war-through-the-eyes-of-a-fighter-on-both-sides/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/04/22/no-exit-syrias-war-through-the-eyes-of-a-fighter-on-both-sides/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:30:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aryn Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=82633</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When Siraj heard the news earlier this month that al-Qaeda had embraced Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group recognized in Syria for its discipline and fighting prowess, but deemed a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. As someone who had fought on both sides of the war, first as a reluctant conscript for the Syrian government, then as a high-ranking defector with the Free Syrian Army, he appreciated Jabhat al-Nusra’s deadly strength. At one point he even flirted with joining them, beguiled by their toughness and single-minded dedication to the cause. Al-Qaeda’s support and expertise will be a boon for the rebels, who appear to be locked in a stalemate, says Siraj, but he is starting to wonder if the price of winning might mean the end of Syria. “Nusra has a different plan for Syria. For them, success means a forever revolution. How will it finish? When everyone dies.” The Syrian war, now in its third year, has lapsed into a brutal impasse. More than 70,000 have died according to a U.N. count. An epidemic of rape, torture and extrajudicial killings has destroyed untold lives and implicates both sides. Meanwhile, scores of cities and neighborhoods have been crushed by an onslaught of bombs and rockets. More than a million refugees have fled the country, and international aid organizations estimate that more than 4 million Syrians have been displaced within the country. All the while, the international community is at loggerheads over how to end the conflict, torn between a desire to stop the bloodshed and fears over what may follow the ousting of Syrian President Bashar Assad. (MORE: U.N. Agencies Issue Unprecedented Plea for Syria) Rebel fighter Siraj, who only uses one name to protect his family still in Damascus, understands that reluctance. Something has happened over the course of the war that corrupted even the most upright of leaders, he says. Once he defected from the Syrian Army in early 2012, he quickly climbed the ranks of a well-regarded rebel brigade<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=82633&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/1500_int_syria_b_0421.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">People stand at a damaged building in Al-Sukkari neighborhood, by what activists said was a result of an airstrike by the Syrian Regime, in Aleppo April 7, 2013.</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">arynbaker</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Jihadi Strike in Timbuktu Reflects Altered Terrorism Threat in Mali</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/04/01/jihadi-strike-in-timbuktu-reflects-altered-terror-threat-in-mali/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/04/01/jihadi-strike-in-timbuktu-reflects-altered-terror-threat-in-mali/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:30:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Algeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Army]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[François Hollande]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mauritania]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Niger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radicals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[timbuktu]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=79024</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The assault launched late March 31 by jihadi fighters on the northern Mali town of Timbuktu reflects the changing security scenario in West Africa. On the one hand, the Franco-African military intervention against groups allied with al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has inflicted considerable losses on Islamist militias — including within their leadership — and forced extremists who previously occupied the northern half of Mali to retreat to the mountainous border with Algeria to escape further fatalities from ground and air assaults. That progress allowed French President François Hollande on March 28 to outline his planned withdrawal schedule for France’s forces. But Sunday’s infiltration and attack on Timbuktu by a small unit of radicals not only demonstrates that the otherwise battered extremists are determined to continue waging jihad despite the setbacks they’ve suffered. It also suggests Islamist militias are already reverting to traditional methods of using the vast, ungovernable Sahel region to avoid enemy forces as they orchestrate regular strikes against military, government and civilian targets in Mali, Mauritania, Algeria and Niger. (MORE: French Officials Warn ‘Success’ in Mali Won’t End Islamist Threat) “The military intervention has decimated Islamist forces and killed key leaders, but no one ever believed it would eradicate jihadi groups in the Sahel,” says a senior French counterterrorism official who cannot be quoted by name. “Surviving commanders and fighters are now regrouping and gradually resuming operation, and will seek to regain some of the influence they had before they made the mistake of taking over the entire northern half of Mali. They’re reverting back from being a terrifying occupation force to being a more elusive force of terrorism.” As that happens, the official says, Islamist groups are expected to increase kidnapping, attacks on military outposts and, throughout the Sahel, suicide strikes on targets that they staged before teaming up with Tuareg militants to seize control of northern Mali in April 2012. Though that activity — which never entirely ceased during their domination of northern Mali — will remain a threat, it’s a far cry from the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=79024&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Mali</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/africa/mali-africa/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/int-mali-130401.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>Syria&#8217;s Civil War: The Mystery Behind a Deadly Chemical Attack</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/04/01/syrias-civil-war-the-mystery-behind-a-deadly-chemical-attack/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/04/01/syrias-civil-war-the-mystery-behind-a-deadly-chemical-attack/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:45:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aryn Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=78774</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Reports on bombings in Syria these days have become routine. But when Mohammad Sabbagh, an industrialist from Aleppo, heard about the attack near his hometown on March 19, the details stopped him cold. Survivors and witnesses of what was being described by the government news agency as a chemical attack said they smelled something like chlorine. And as the owner of Syria’s only chlorine-gas manufacturing plant, Sabbagh knew that if chlorine was involved, it most likely came from his factory. The attack killed 31 people, including 10 soldiers, and wounded scores more. In the immediate aftermath, the Syrian government and the opposition traded accusations. The government claimed that “terrorists,” its term for the rebels that have been fighting the regime for two years, had fired a “missile containing a chemical substance” at the village of Khan al-Asal in retaliation for their support of the government. Kasem Saad Eddine, spokesperson for the opposition military council of Aleppo, accused the government of attacking its own people in order to smear the opposition. “The regime is trying to hide its crime by accusing the FSA,” he tells TIME, referring to the Free Syrian Army, the loose confederation of rebel groups fighting the government. Eddine also accused the Syrian government of launching a second chemical attack near Damascus, causing an unspecified number of casualties. Whatever the case, the attack at Khan al-Asal marks a chilling evolution in a war that has already taken 70,000 lives and disrupted, perhaps permanently, millions more. If it turns out that the government has used chemical weapons, international demands for armed intervention will increase. If the rebels used them, the escalation in tactics indicates that the war is about to become even bloodier. (MORE: Viewpoint: Aleppo Gas Attack Shows How Little We Know About Syria&#8217;s Civil War) The U.N. has acquiesced to a Syrian government request to send an investigation team to Khan al-Asal; it is expected to arrive on site this week. The team will be headed by Ake Sellstrom, a veteran chemical-weapons inspector from Sweden who was instrumental in investigating<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=78774&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/syria_chemical_attack_0401.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/syria_chemical_attack_0401.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">Syria Chemical Attack</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">arynbaker</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>France May Aid Syrian Rebels Unilaterally If EU Doesn&#8217;t Lift Arms Embargo</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/14/france-may-aid-syrian-rebels-unilaterally-if-eu-doesnt-lift-arms-embargo/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/14/france-may-aid-syrian-rebels-unilaterally-if-eu-doesnt-lift-arms-embargo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:32:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[arab uprisings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[E.U.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaddafi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Germany]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Libya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qatar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.K.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[arms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bashar al-Assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civil war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Damascus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Embargo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[François Hollande]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=75356</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[France has significantly upped its efforts to unblock Western military support for rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by calling for the European Union to lift its arms embargo in the conflict. In the most emphatic sign yet that Paris intends to get weapons and ammunition flowing to anti-Assad fighters, French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius said March 14 that if the E.U. and other international partners fail to heed that call, France may act on its own to bolster rebel fighting capacity. “The position we’ve taken, with [President] François Hollande, is to demand a lifting the arms embargo… [as] one of the only ways to get the situation moving politically,” Fabius told France Info radio Thursday morning. Asked what France would do if its partners refused that request, Fabius indicated Paris would act unilaterally, reminding listeners that “France is a sovereign nation”. (MORE: Syria’s Many Militias: Inside the Chaos of the Anti-Assad Rebellion) That push isn’t the first time France has sought to extend aid to Syrian civilians and anti-Assad militias beyond the medical and humanitarian assistance it now provides. During a Jan. 28 conference on Syria in Paris, Fabius warned that continuing to withhold armaments to democratic forces within the Syrian resistance risked seeing large and powerful Islamist members of the anti-government coalition seize control of the country once the conflict ended. Fabius more recently escalated the tone of that message in a March 13 editorial in the daily Libération by describing what he called a Franco-British initiative. That consisted, Fabius said of seeking to bring a swifter end to the escalating massacre of the civil war by offering military as well as political and moral support to rebel forces. &#8220;More than 70,000 dead and a million refugees, the systematic destruction of a country: the second anniversary of the launch of the Syrian revolution is an anniversary of blood and tears,” Fabius wrote Wednesday. “We must convince our partners, particularly in Europe, that we no longer have any other choice than to lift the embargo on arms to<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=75356&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>The Terror of Toulouse: How Much Did the French Know About a Spree Shooter?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/11/the-terror-of-toulouse-how-much-did-the-french-know-about-a-spree-shooter/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/11/the-terror-of-toulouse-how-much-did-the-french-know-about-a-spree-shooter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:42:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Af-Pak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extremism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mohamed Merah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicolas Sarkozy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radicals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Salafism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taliban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=74246</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On March 11, a one-year memorial was held for French parachutist Imad Ibn Ziaten, the first death in an eight-day-long shooting spree in Toulouse and nearby Montauban that ended with a total of seven victims killed — including three children at a Jewish day school. The shooter, Mohammed Merah, had targeted Ibn Ziaten to punish France for its participation in battling the Taliban in Afghanistan. But 12 months after the series of attacks — which concluded with Merah&#8217;s own death after a 32-hour siege — the country is still learning details about the self-proclaimed al-Qaeda member’s transformation from petty hood to violent jihadist. Perhaps most disturbing among those revelations are indications that the nation’s domestic intelligence agency identified Merah as a potential security risk as early as 2007, yet failed to prevent the mass killings of March 2012. The latest evidence arose March 10, when the regional French channel France 3 Midi-Pyrénées revealed documents showing security forces had begun taking notice of Merah’s ties to extremists in Toulouse as early as October 2006. Though that initial file focused mainly on the higher-profile militants that Merah was in contact with, it did contain a photo of the smiling 18-year-old holding a Koran in one hand and a large knife in the other. By May 2007, the France 3 report noted, a second brief devoted primarily to Merah described the youth as a “radical jihadi” who “recently joined this [Salafi] movement” police had infiltrated. (MORE: France’s Benghazi: Was the Case of Mohammed Merah Bungled?) That online report came ahead of France 3’s March 11 broadcast of a documentary casting additional doubt on the official theory that Merah had been a lone wolf who’d prepared and carried out his three gun attacks alone — making detection by security forces nearly impossible. That version has been fiercely defended by authorities in former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative government, who deny that lax oversight was in any way responsible for Merah’s deadly spree. That position has been challenged by families of victims, investigative journalists, and even<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=74246&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Terrorism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/terrorism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/int-toulouse-shooting-anniversary-1303.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">A soldier holds a portrait of late French paratrooper Imad Ibn Ziaten, the first victim of Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah, on March 11, 2013 in Toulouse, during a ceremony awarding him with the Legion d&#039;Honneur.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>French Officials Warn &#8216;Success&#8217; in Mali Won&#8217;t End Islamist Threat</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/05/french-officials-warn-success-in-mali-wont-end-islamist-threat/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/05/french-officials-warn-success-in-mali-wont-end-islamist-threat/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:36:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Algeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=72963</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the French-led offensive against Islamist militants in Mali advances, diplomats and intelligence officials in Paris are beginning to tamp down expectations that eliminating al-Qaeda-linked extremism in the region can be achieved anytime soon. Despite the military operation continuing to inflict heavy losses on jihadi combatants hunkered down in northern Mali’s mountainous border area, they say, the amorphous terrorist threat those extremists pose makes full military victory a relative notion. “Final success in this case probably comes in us decimating Islamists in Mali, and send them scattering to open, unsecured parts of the Sahel — where their ability to organize and execute terror is greatly diminished,” says a French intelligence official who agreed to speak to TIME on the condition of anonymity. “This intervention has cost the Islamists very dearly, and they’re now dug in and trying to survive. But it’s also evident they have no intention of being taken alive, and will die fighting to avoid that if necessary. This unfortunately isn’t an enemy you can eliminate in a single operation.” That caution tempers France&#8217;s recent victories in northern Mali. On March 5, French officials revealed that operations by some 1,600 French and Chadian special forces the previous night had killed around 15 extremists. That followed news on March 3 that some 50 radicals had been slain in heavy fighting that also claimed the life of the third French soldier since the intervention began Jan. 11. Earlier battles left scores of jihadi fighters dead — including a series of skirmishes in late February that Chadian officials say killed at least 93 extremists. Those numbers are considerable given estimates by some French military commanders that between 1,200 and 1,500 Islamist fighters are active in Mali — a figure the French intelligence officer calls “closer probably to 800 or 900.” Two commanders of al-Qaeda-allied Islamist militias in the Sahel are rumored to have died in recent battles. Authorities in Chad say their troops gunned down  al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) regional leader Abdelhamid Abou Zeid — a brutal terrorist and kidnapper whose group is holding many of the 37 Western hostages currently detained<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=72963&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Terrorism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/terrorism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/00_mali1.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">French in Mali</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>The War in Mali: Does France Have an Exit Strategy?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/26/the-war-in-mali-does-france-have-an-exit-strategy/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/26/the-war-in-mali-does-france-have-an-exit-strategy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:17:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cameroon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nigeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.N.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extremism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hostages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kidnapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peacekeeping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Nations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=71377</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s looking increasingly unlikely that France’s military intervention in Mali will be over anytime soon. Despite comments by French officials earlier this month that Paris hopes to begin withdrawing troops in March, it now seems evident the stiffening resistance of jihadi groups in the Sahel — pushed out of northern Mali&#8217;s cities by the French-led expedition last month — will require a lingering French presence for months, perhaps even years. (MORE: Mali’s War: After Surging into Islamist-Held North, Will France Retreat?) Over the past two weeks, French commandos have engaged in deadly combat with jihadi fighters, some linked to al-Qaeda, in the mountainous region in northern Mali. That included a Feb. 19 battle that killed 20 insurgents and also claimed France’s second fatality in the campaign. In the meantime, extremists have mounted suicide bombings, mine attacks and armed assaults in and around recently liberated Malian towns as proof that their capacity for violence and terrorism is anything but vanquished. Losses have been even heavier among forces from regional African nations that have deployed soldiers to reinforce — and eventually fully replace — France’s contingent in Mali. Authorities in Chad say they lost 23 soldiers — and killed 93 Islamists — in recent combat with retrenched Islamist units. The wider threat from regional extremists has been demonstrated in other ways. On Feb. 25, a video posted on YouTube by radicals claiming to represent the Nigerian group Boko Haram took responsibility for the Feb. 16 kidnapping of a French family of seven in northern Cameroon. That brought the total of French nationals held by Islamist groups in Africa to 15, with captors demanding the release of their jailed comrades as well as millions in ransom payments. French authorities refuse to negotiate with abductors and say their activity won’t undermine French resolve to battle the jihadi threat in Africa and beyond. Yet French authorities aren’t abandoning plans to begin withdrawal of France’s 4,000 troops from Mali next month. During background briefings on Feb. 25, officials in Paris said they still hoped conditions would be<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=71377&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Africa</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/africa/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/517514594-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">French in Mali</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>French Family&#8217;s Cameroon Kidnapping Stokes Fears of a Pan-African Islamist War</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/20/french-familys-cameroon-kidnapping-stokes-fears-of-a-pan-african-islamist-war/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/20/french-familys-cameroon-kidnapping-stokes-fears-of-a-pan-african-islamist-war/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:15:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cameroon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nigeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Somalia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sudan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[abduction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extremism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kidnapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=70074</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Updated: Feb. 21, 2013, at 6 a.m. EST France began holding its breath Feb. 21 amid unconfirmed news that a French family of seven kidnapped two days earlier in northern Cameroon by suspected Islamist extremists had been recovered unharmed. Confusion surrounding the accounts heightened when a French Cabinet minister on Thursday confirmed, then backed away from swirling reports that the vacationing family &#8212; including four children &#8212; had been found in what French media described as an abandoned cabin in northern Nigeria, about 60 miles (95 km) from the Cameroon border region where the abduction occurred. Around the same time, a member of Cameroon&#8217;s government denied the reports before the French Foreign Affairs Ministry also distanced itself from what it termed unsubstantiated &#8220;rumor.&#8221; Still, hopes linger in France that officials may yet be able confirm the end to what might turn out to be a bungled or aborted snatch &#8212; a yearning born of considerable concern. On Feb. 20, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told TV station France 2 the crime was believed to be the work of the notoriously violent Nigerian radical group Boko Haram. Le Drian speculated the kidnapping of the family marked Boko Haram&#8217;s long record of  “terror giving way to horror” as the group “begins kidnapping children.” But even if the happy news of the hostage recovery is confirmed &#8212; and allegations of Boko Haram&#8217;s involvement reviewed &#8212; the kidnapping raises fears of renewed aggression against French and other Western targets as the ongoing push against Islamist fighters in Africa continues. During his television appearance Wednesday, Le Drian dismissed suggestions that the family’s seizure was directly linked to France’s military intervention against Islamist fighters in Mali — where a new major offensive on Feb. 19 led to the deaths 20 militants as well as that of a second French soldier in the monthlong campaign. But despite Le Drian&#8217;s assurances that the Mali operation wasn&#8217;t directly responsible for the abduction, French security officials say the kidnapping is just the kind of aggression they feared from revenge-bent radicals in Africa<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=70074&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Africa</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/africa/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/int-cameroon-kidnapping-130220.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Policemen gather around a vehicle that carried seven members of a family kidnapped in Cameroon.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>The Shadow War Between Iran and Israel: The Bulgaria Front</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/07/the-shadow-war-between-iran-and-israel-the-bulgaria-front/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/07/the-shadow-war-between-iran-and-israel-the-bulgaria-front/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karl Vick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bulgaria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terror attack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[war]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=67622</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Raymonde Siboni saw the bus driver come apart in front of her. The Bulgarian man took the full impact of the blast wave that carried Siboni over the black rubber steps she had just climbed, through the door the tour guide had hurried her through — “Come on, you’re the last one” — and into a moment of unconsciousness. When she awoke, the Israeli woman found herself sprawled on the parking lot outside the Black Sea airport where she had arrived, barely half an hour earlier, in search of relaxation. “We used to go to Turkey,” says her husband Gadi. “Cyprus a few times. In Greece it’s a little bit messy; we don’t want to take any chances. So we heard about Bulgaria. Lots of Israelis go there.” The Sibonis had been there five times already, wearing a path that on July 18 led them into the teeth of a war that, until then, had been fought mostly in the shadows, targeting scientists on one side and diplomats on the other. All that changed in the ignition flash of several pounds of triacetone triperoxide, the homemade explosive that detonated in Burgas, Bulgaria, killing, besides the Bulgarian bus driver, five Israeli tourists and the mysterious man who brought the explosives to the open luggage compartment. (PHOTOS: Alleged Suicide Bomber in Bulgaria Blows Up Bus) On Tuesday, Bulgaria announced that the dead man and two fugitive accomplices were agents of Hizballah, the Lebanese militia that frequently works with the radical Iranian government that created it. The Bulgarian probe was formally coordinated with the E.U. criminal-intelligence agency Europol, with the discreet but substantial involvement of U.S. and Israeli intelligence. It brought credible detail to the conclusion Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced within hours of the blast, and Raymonde heard repeated when, skin still glistening with glass and bits of flesh, the Israeli grandmother looked up in a Burgas hospital and asked, “Who did this to us? Arabs?” “No, no,” her nurse replied. “They came from Iran.” They often do. Eleven times in the previous<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=67622&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Terrorism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/terrorism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/int-bulgaria-0206.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">The coffins of Itzik Colangi, Amir Menashe, Maor Harush, Elior Price and Kochava Shriki, who were killed in an attack in Bulgaria, are seen during a ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, July 20, 2012.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">karlvick</media:title>
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		<title>France&#8217;s Next Move: With Mali&#8217;s Islamists on the Run, Time to Talk to the Tuaregs</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/01/frances-next-move-with-malis-islamists-on-the-run-time-to-talk-to-the-tuaregs/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/01/frances-next-move-with-malis-islamists-on-the-run-time-to-talk-to-the-tuaregs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:29:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geo-political tensions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.N.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bamako]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[François Hollande]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intervention]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=66954</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The surprisingly rapid advance  of France’s military offensive in Mali has freed all the major towns that had been under Islamist control, and driven al-Qaeda-linked militias back into the desert and mountainous regions in the north. Indeed, France’s intervention to halt extremist militias threatening to storm the entire country has been so successful that French President François Hollande announced a Feb. 2 visit to Mali’s capital Bamako—scarcely three weeks after the anti-Islamist operation began Jan. 11. When Hollande huddles with Mali’s interim president Dioncounda Traoré he is expected to discuss French plans to let troops from neighboring African states take over policing operations of the country with a re-constituted and –trained Malian army, as well as related security, development, and humanitarian concerns. But within that conversation, Hollande is also likely to push a particularly prickly issue with Bamako: reaching out to ethnic Tuareg rebels who joined forces with jihadi militias to declare the independence of northern Mali last year. Though long hostile to allied Islamist groups across the Sahel region, Tuareg nationalists have struggled for decades for more freedom and autonomy. Boosted by an influx of weapons from the looted arsenals of slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, they accepted the help of Islamist militias when wresting control of half of Mali last year—only to then see the radicals unilaterally impose their own brand of brutal Sharia rule over stretches of the breakaway region. But with those extremists now scattered and in retreat, calls are now arising for the central government and Tuareg leaders to link up against the common jihadi foe. (MORE: Mali’s War: After Surging Into the Islamist-Held North, Will France Retreat?) “We understand the resistance in Bamako to dealing with Tuareg forces that participated in the recent southern offensive, but the long-term stability of Mali relies on the central government and the Tuaregs negotiating and coming to certain agreements,” says a French government official who declines to be quoted by name. “The Tuaregs made a terrible decision in banding with the Islamists, and Malian anger over the consequences<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=66954&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Mali</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/africa/mali-africa/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/rtr3d4t9-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Douentza, Mali</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/67f00307c3e683663920b007dcd7b736?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>Algeria&#8217;s Hostage Crisis: Did the Jihadists Have Inside Help?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/21/as-algeria-body-count-grows-officials-analyze-terror-threat-and-whether-the-attack-had-inside-help/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/21/as-algeria-body-count-grows-officials-analyze-terror-threat-and-whether-the-attack-had-inside-help/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:57:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Algeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geo-political tensions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yemen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extremism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radicals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=64839</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the death toll from Algeria’s hostage massacre rose to at least 67, security experts in Europe and beyond are examining the six-day drama for clues about the evolving terrorist threat. The initial conclusions, however, may not be as dire as one might expect following the horror of the In Amenas attack. Although 37 foreigners lost their lives after Islamist extremists took hundreds of gas-refinery workers prisoner Jan. 16, the early view from some counterterrorism officials is that In Amenas represents a nightmarish exception to increased but much lower-grade action by jihadi forces in coming weeks. “This was quite clearly a very well-planned and long-contemplated attack that could not have been mounted in response to the French intervention in Mali as Islamist leaders have claimed,” said a security official from a European nation who asks not to be identified. The official refers to the video by Algerian radical Mokhtar Belmokhtar claiming responsibility for the In Amenas attack as retaliation for France’s Jan. 11 military deployment to battle Islamists holding northern Mali. (MORE: Algeria’s Hostage Crisis: What Was Behind a Shadowy Militant Leader’s Plot?) “This was the kind of attack that — in its way — was intended to raise the bar for terror activity in Africa the way the bombing strikes in London and Madrid became references for successful Islamist plots in Europe,” the European official notes. “As such it will become the standard-setting model some extremists may seek to match or surpass, but not the kind of thing we stand to see repeatedly. Indeed, one consequence of such spectacular terrorism succeeding is that authorities apply lessons learned from them to prevent [others] in the future.” Other counterterrorism and government officials TIME spoke with largely agree. Most readily acknowledge France’s military assistance to Mali’s effort to reclaim the north of the nation from Islamist militias will inspire extremists in the region and elsewhere to mount terrorism plots against France. The range of potential targets broadens when you factor in U.N. approval for Paris, the logistical aid of some Western allies, and<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=64839&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/01/21/as-algeria-body-count-grows-officials-analyze-terror-threat-and-whether-the-attack-had-inside-help/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Terrorism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/terrorism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/algeria.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/algeria.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/algeria.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">The Amenas Gas Field in Algeria, Oct. 8, 2012.</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/67f00307c3e683663920b007dcd7b736?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>Algeria&#8217;s Hostage Crisis: What Was Behind a Shadowy Militant Leader&#8217;s Plot?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/18/is-algerias-hostage-crisis-a-militant-leaders-effort-to-eclipse-rival-jihadis/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/18/is-algerias-hostage-crisis-a-militant-leaders-effort-to-eclipse-rival-jihadis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Algeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geo-political tensions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Norway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.K.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Cameron]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extremists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Osama bin Laden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radicals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sahel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=64556</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A day after Algerian forces launched a military raid to end a deadly hostage crisis at a natural gas plant, confusion reigned on Jan. 18 over the fate of the captives and their Islamist captors. Western leaders, some of whose citizens were among the hostages, expressed frustration at having heard little from Algerian officials about the continuing standoff, and some governments signaled alarm over the Jan. 17 operation that Algerian authorities admit resulted in the death of an undisclosed number of hostages. Security officials in Europe indicate that their services too have not obtained or been offered much intelligence on the unfolding crisis. &#8220;The lack of information and secrecy doesn&#8217;t surprise me at all when you&#8217;re dealing with Algerian authorities used to doing as they please, according to their own interests and without consulting anyone,&#8221; says a senior French antiterrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity. &#8220;When it comes to Islamist situations, they’re particularly rigid in shooting first and asking questions later. We&#8217;ve always considered hostage scenarios a nightmare, because they trap you between maniac extremist kidnappers and trigger-happy Algerian security officials. The margin for people coming out alive in such situations is reduced considerably.&#8221; (MORE: Westerners Kidnapped in North Africa — but Is France the Real Target?) The situation in and around the In Amenas hostage scene was almost as chaotic on the afternoon of Jan. 18 as it was 24 hours earlier after the raid by Algerian forces seeking to end the siege. Algeria&#8217;s state-run APS news agency cited unidentified officials as saying that four hostages — two Britons and two Filipinos — died during that operation, while two other plant workers were killed during the initial Islamist raid on Jan. 16. Scores of foreign hostages and perhaps hundreds of Algerian captives reportedly escaped during the government assault on the BP facility, although the number of abductees freed has yet to be revealed by Algerian officials. &#8220;The operation resulted in the neutralizing of a large number of terrorists and liberation of a considerable number of hostages,&#8221; Algerian Communications Minister<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=64556&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/01/18/is-algerias-hostage-crisis-a-militant-leaders-effort-to-eclipse-rival-jihadis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Terrorism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/terrorism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/int-algeria-hostages-0118.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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		<media:content url="http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/int-algeria-hostages-0118.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">image: The Amenas Gas Field in Algeria, Oct. 8, 2012.</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/67f00307c3e683663920b007dcd7b736?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>Westerners Kidnapped in North Africa &#8212; but Is France the Real Target?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/16/has-the-mali-intervention-made-france-al-qaedas-no-1-target/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/16/has-the-mali-intervention-made-france-al-qaedas-no-1-target/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:42:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Af-Pak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Algeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geo-political tensions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ireland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.K.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.N.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yemen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extremism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[François Hollande]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hostages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intervention]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kidnapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[militias]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radicals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[somalia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terror]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=64107</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Updated: Jan. 17, 2013 at 4:15 a.m. EST Have France and the French moved to the top of the list of terrorist targets? French leaders are taking no chances. They have alerted their constituencies and the public in general to the increased terrorism threat following President François Hollande’s Jan. 11 announcement of France’s military intervention in Mali against al-Qaeda-linked forces controlling the northern half of the country. Tightened security measures sent hundreds of armed soldiers patrolling Metros, train stations, airports and tourist sites across France, while officials instructed the French people to be wary of the increased risk of attack at home — and abroad. &#8220;We&#8217;re facing an exterior enemy and an interior enemy,&#8221; Interior Minister Manuel Valls stressed Tuesday. On Wednesday, Jan. 16, al-Qaeda-allied groups in Africa proved that warning was well founded. News reports indicated Islamist radicals had kidnapped numerous French and European workers — and, the U.S. State Department confirmed, several Americans — from an oil installation in eastern Algeria. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its regional allies have long used hostage taking as a fundraising and terrorism method. Around the same time, Somalia’s al-Shabab militia announced it would execute a French spy it has held for three and a half years in response to a failed Jan. 12 commando mission to rescue him that left 17 extremists and two French soldiers dead (on Thursday, al-Shabab claimed it had killed him). Those developments came after warnings by a jihadi leader in Mali on Monday that by attacking Islamist forces in Africa, “François Hollande opened the gates of hell for all French people.” (MORE: The Crisis in Mali: Will French Air Strikes Stop the Islamist Advance?) All that action seemed to indicate that French anti-Islamist action in Mali and elsewhere in Africa had already set jihadi groups seeking retaliation — with France looming largest in their sights. &#8220;America gets a break from being top target on Islamist terrorists’ lists now that France has taken that spot,” a senior French security official darkly joked to TIME. “Our intervention in Mali will<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=64107&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Terrorism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/terrorism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/wor-mali-france-0116.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: French troops gather in a hangar at Bamako&#039;s airport in Mali, Jan. 15, 2013.</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>Kurdish Assassinations in Paris Turn a Spotlight on Turkey-PKK Talks</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/10/kurdish-assassinations-in-paris-turn-a-spotlight-on-turkey-pkk-talks/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/10/kurdish-assassinations-in-paris-turn-a-spotlight-on-turkey-pkk-talks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:44:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[E.U.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geo-political tensions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abdullah Ocalan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assassination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kurds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[murder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PKK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=63122</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[French justice authorities scrambled for clues Thursday into the assassination of three women in a Kurdish institute in Paris — a crime that appeared to have clear political overtones. Two of the victims were shot in the head, in what Interior Minister Manuel Valls said was &#8220;no doubt an execution.&#8221; One of them was Sakine Cansiz, a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group that has waged an often violent Kurdish separatist struggle against Turkey and which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the E.U. The slayings come at a sensitive time. Turkish media report that the Ankara government has recently made progress toward ending the nearly three decades of violence through unpublicized peace talks with some PKK leaders, included jailed PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan. Such peace talks are not supported by all PKK militants — a strategic division that may have caused a schism within the group. (MORE: How the Kurds Have Changed Turkey’s Calculations on Syria) Reports on Thursday quoted top Turkish politicians speculating that the Paris murders were a result of &#8220;an internal feud&#8221; within the PKK. But that claim was rejected by many of the hundreds of Kurds who gathered Thursday morning outside the Kurdish Information Center in Paris where the killings took place; instead, they blamed Ankara. &#8220;The murder of these three Kurdish women, at this time, is a political crime,&#8221; Berivan Akyol, a worker at the center, told French news channel i-télé. &#8220;These three victims &#8230; represent all Kurds.&#8221; The deceased had apparently been shot Wednesday afternoon and were discovered around 1 a.m. Thursday after concerned colleagues failed to reach them by phone. In addition to PKK co-founder Cansiz, a woman described as a representative of the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress was among the dead. According to the Firat news agency — which is considered sympathetic to the Kurdish cause — two of the women were shot in the head and a third in the stomach by a silencer-fitted gun. French security officials tell TIME it&#8217;s too early to openly speculate about who was<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=63122&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Turkey</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/europe/turkey/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/int-kurdish-assassination-0110.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/int-kurdish-assassination-0110.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">image: People of Kurdish origin hold photos of three Kurdish women activists, killed yesterday in Paris during a demonstration on in Strasbourg, France, Jan. 10, 2013.</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/67f00307c3e683663920b007dcd7b736?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>Look the Other Way, Please: What Are Those Secret Talks in Paris All About?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/look-the-other-way-please-what-are-those-secret-talks-in-paris-all-about/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/look-the-other-way-please-what-are-those-secret-talks-in-paris-all-about/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:25:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Af-Pak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geo-politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NATO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.K.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.N.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[barack obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Cameron]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hamid Karzai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peace negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soldiers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taliban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[withdrawal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=60640</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Less than a week after France brought the last of its combat troops home from Afghanistan, additional developments in the 11-year war are serving to bring the long-awaited end of the NATO-led intervention into sharper focus. On Dec. 19, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced an acceleration of the U.K.’s withdrawal of fighting forces from Afghanistan beyond the 500 soldiers scheduled to depart this month. On Wednesday, Cameron said 3,800 of the country’s current 9,500 troops would return from combat duty by the end of 2013. Meantime, in the northern Paris suburb of Chantilly, the warring factions in the Afghan conflict began a two-day series of hush-hush meetings — talks involving representatives of the Taliban and President Hamid Karzai’s government alike. The pair of independent moves shared a common objective: preparing the ground for a stable and conflict-free Afghanistan before NATO’s current operation comes to a close at the end of 2014. (MORE: Ceremony for Returning Troops Closes French Combat Mission in Afghanistan) The 48-hour string of huddles between enemy Afghan groups generated interest for several reasons — particularly the secrecy surrounding them. The closed meetings were organized in Chantilly by the independent think tank Foundation for Strategic Research and follow two similar gatherings last June and in November 2011. French diplomats say France’s Foreign Ministry supports that private initiative, but is maintaining an emphatic official distance from it. And for good reason: this time, representatives of the al-Qaeda-allied Taliban that continue battling NATO forces are participating in the talks. French authorities are careful to maintain a firewall between the state — any state — and the current discussions that they only agreed to provide basic, off-the-record information on the gathering. Indeed, French officials describe the encounters as a private effort to nurture dialogue between Afghan combatants — and not peace negotiations under any official auspices. All requests for further details were referred to the Foundation for Strategic Research. (Officials there declined to comment while meetings were still under way.) (MORE: The Loneliness of the Afghan President: Karzai on His Own) Why such<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=60640&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/afghanistan/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>Mali&#8217;s Crisis: Is the Plan for Western Intervention &#8216;Crap&#8217;?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/12/18/malis-crisis-is-the-plan-for-western-intervention-crap/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/12/18/malis-crisis-is-the-plan-for-western-intervention-crap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:21:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Algeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[E.U.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geo-politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ivory coast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ivory Coast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.N.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Susan Rice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Nations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[united states]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=60267</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There’s virtually total agreement within the international community that something must be done to force out the Islamist militants occupying northern Mali — an effort to both reunite the divided West African nation and eradicate the growing security and terrorist threat the extremists pose. The best way of achieving this, however, is a topic of considerable debate. There&#8217;s a divide between French officials — who now say a U.N.-mandated operation for Mali will be approved before Christmas — and dubious U.S. officials like U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who reportedly called the intervention plan supported by France and African nations “crap.” There’s even discord on how serious that disagreement is. Though French diplomats cheerfully acknowledge the “inimitable manner in which Susan Rice expresses her positions” on the Mali situation, foreign policy officials in Paris insist a U.N. agreement on intervention is quite close still. “There are 15 members of the Security Council, and at the moment 14 share France’s view,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told French media on Dec. 16, gesturing to the U.S.&#8217;s lone stance. “We’re trying to find a position that can unite everyone.” (MORE: Mali’s Looming War: Will Military Intervention Drive Out the Islamists?) Good luck with that — especially given the increased alarm and hardening cynicism surrounding a political and security dilemma in Mali that features several layers of complexity. That crisis began earlier this year when Tuareg separatists in northern Mali teamed up with Islamist radicals from across the Sahel region — including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) — to rout the Malian army from the area. The insurgency took on greater momentum following a coup launched by army commanders in the capital Bamako, who blamed the rebels&#8217; gains on the democratically elected government. Since then, junta officials have sought to tighten their hold on power under the fig leaf of a “national unity” cabinet including civil opponents. But that heavy-handed hypocrisy has only deepened divisions within Mali&#8217;s society and armed force — leaving the state even less capable of taking the north back from insurgents. During<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=60267&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Mali</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/africa/mali-africa/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/mali.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Mali Demonstration</media:title>
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		<title>France&#8217;s Benghazi: Was the Case of Mohammed Merah Bungled?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/11/05/frances-benghazi-was-the-case-of-mohammed-merah-bungled/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/11/05/frances-benghazi-was-the-case-of-mohammed-merah-bungled/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 2012 06:30:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Af-Pak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Benjamin Netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[François Hollande]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intelligence agencies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mohammed Merah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicolas Sarkozy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toulouse murders]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=52831</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Coming as it did just weeks before a tight French presidential election last spring, the killing spree by self-described al-Qaeda militant Mohammed Merah mixed presidential politics with growing concerns about public security in France. Both of those elements have only taken on additional significance during the eight months since Merah was killed in a gun battle with police March 22; recent events have sharpened suspicions that intelligence officials and government authorities may have erred in dealing with the jihadi who murdered seven people. The latest revelation in the debate over Merah’s handling came Nov. 1. During an interview with Europe 1 radio, Claude Guéant — a close adviser of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Interior Minister at the time of Merah’s spree — staunchly defended the actions of the government and intelligence officials in the case. But Guéant also acknowledged a previously unknown failure during the police siege of the jihadi’s Toulouse apartment. “There was a lapse during the intervention when Merah left his apartment to make a telephone call, eluding — apparently by passing through the basement of the building he knew well, having lived in it — police surveillance,” Guéant said. “Apart from that, the services kept Merah under watch.” (MORE: The Toulouse Terrorist: Was He or Was He Not a Lone Wolf?) That&#8217;s a pretty huge &#8220;apart.&#8221; Meanwhile, it’s still unknown who Merah went to call, or why the 23-year-old extremist returned to his apartment if he knew it was surrounded by elite police forces preparing to take him dead or alive. As a result, Guéant’s revelation of additional detail only adds more questions to a growing list of unknowns about the Merah case. It also further stokes the claims of those contending an intelligence failure allowed the jihadi to freely prepare and execute his attacks. Such suspicions may be behind promises made Nov. 1 by current President François Hollande that “all light will be [cast] on what happened,” and “all lessons learned” from the way security forces oversaw the Merah case. Hollande made that pledge standing next to<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=52831&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>France</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/europe/france/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/french_benghazi_1105.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Toulouse</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>Why a Cop Is France&#8217;s Favorite Politician</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/10/19/why-a-cop-is-frances-favorite-politician/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/10/19/why-a-cop-is-frances-favorite-politician/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:39:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[corruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minorities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[François Hollande]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[law and order]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marine Le Pen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicolas Sarkozy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=50592</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Who is France’s most popular politician in this era dominated by bleak economic forecasts amid fears about the euro’s very existence? It isn’t the cabinet members struggling to balance public finances, halt plant closures, slow rising unemployment, or offsetting bitter austerity measures with huge, public-pleasing tax hikes for the rich. It also isn’t President François Hollande, who—like fellow Socialist Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault—has seen his approval ratings plunge. And it certainly isn’t any of France’s conservative heavyweights currently diving their time between attacks on the ruling left, and bashing each other in the battle for the leadership of France’s right. Instead, the darling of French voters is Interior Minister Manuel Valls, whose unapologetic hardline stance on law and order in responding to an alarming crime wave has won him fans on the left and right alike. Indeed, Valls’ activism on security issues (and ubiquitous presence in French media) has earned him comparisons from both sides of the political divide to conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy. It was by serving as Interior Minister in the early- and mid-2000s that anti-crime crusader Sarkozy first won the admiration of safety-concerned voters who later flocked to his victorious 2007 presidential bid—an Elysée ambition Valls clearly shares. Yet if that likeness to Sarkozy has been much noted by French pundits—and grudgingly acknowledged by conservative politicians—it has sparked criticism from his own camp that Valls is actually a conservative in Socialist clothes. As such, Valls may France’s most popular official, but the least liked pol among his peers. Be that as it may, Valls’ popularity has confirmed the belief Sarkozy repeatedly embraced to scale to the top of political power: that at any given time, a majority of French voters will be just as concerned about security as they are about all other issues—and will reward leaders who take those worries seriously with action. Just how popular is top cop Valls? A new poll by Paris Match puts his approval rating at an impressive 75%. His lowest level in surveys is 57%—still tops in the field. By contrast,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=50592&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>France</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/europe/france/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/600_manuel-valls_1019.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">France&#039;s Interior Minister Manuel</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>France Holds Seven Suspects Thought to Be in a &#8216;Terrorism Cell&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/10/11/france-holds-7-suspects-thought-to-be-in-a-terrorism-cell/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/10/11/france-holds-7-suspects-thought-to-be-in-a-terrorism-cell/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:28:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Af-Pak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Egypt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iraq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tunisia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yemen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bashar al-Assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extremism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=49419</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[French justice officials have opened legal proceedings against seven of 12 alleged jihadists arrested in sweeps across France on Oct. 6, during which one suspect died in a shootout with police. Though insufficient evidence of terrorist plotting led to five of those individuals being freed on Oct. 11, officials said raids conducted the previous day — which uncovered guns, bombmaking materials and proof of intent to carry out strikes — allowed the other seven suspects to be placed indefinitely under detention as members of a “terrorism cell” determined to “commit attacks on national territory.” French authorities also revealed other evidence in the case corroborating TIME’s Aug. 31 exclusive report on the growing allure of the conflict in Syria among French Muslim extremists seeking jihadist experience. Some of the seven suspects remanded in custody intended to travel to Syria to fight alongside Islamist militants battling the regime of President Bashar Assad, according to authorities. Two were also described as having worked to recruit and facilitate travel of French extremists to Syria. Those developments on Thursday came a day after French authorities announced they had unearthed weapons in a Paris suburb and an array of materials that Paris prosecutor François Molins described as “useful in the making of what are known as improvised explosives.” The chemicals, pressure cookers, cables, alarm clocks and other components were reminiscent of homemade bombs used in the wave of attacks in France in 1995–96 that killed 13 and injured 281 — the last successful terrorist campaign in France using explosives. “In terms of dangerousness and extent of preparations, we’ve not seen any like this since 1996,” Molins said on Thursday in announcing the case against the seven suspects for “association with criminals involved in a terrorist enterprise.” He said a second legal dossier for “association with criminals seeking to join jihadist groups” had also been lodged against suspects who’d been planning to join combatants in Syria, or who&#8217;d helped others to do so. Molins said the seven suspects are 19 to 25 years of age, all French-born citizens and all recent<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=49419&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>France</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/europe/france/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/a583572_008.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Terror suspects arrested by French Police</media:title>
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