Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Thursday that France was in a state of "extreme vigilance" but he played down al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden's latest threat to attack French citizens.

French officials said a recording of Bin Laden's threats aired Wednesday was authentic, but they minimized his ability to strike France as well as his connection with the kidnap of French nationals in Africa.

Bin Laden threatened to kill French nationals to avenge the country's support for the war in Afghanistan and a new law that bans full-face veils in France.

Somalia's al-Qaida linked al-Shabab militants have executed two girls accused of spying for the Somali government.

A firing squad killed the two teenagers in the town of Beledweyne on Wednesday while several hundred people watched.

An al-Shabab judge says the two were arrested last week and charged with spying for Somali forces.

The Islamic militant group has been trying to turn Somalia into a strict Islamic state. The group has imposed a harshly conservative form of sharia, or Islamic law, in the areas it rules.

Article by VOA News

A new audio message purportedly from Osama bin Laden says the kidnapping of five French nationals in Niger last month was in response to what he called France's unjust treatment of Muslims.

In an audiotape aired by al-Jazeera television Wednesday, bin Laden called on France to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. He said France can not expect to, in his words, occupy our countries and kill our women and children and then wish to live in security and peace.

France has about 4,000 troops in Afghanistan.

A prominent white Zimbabwean farmer has been murdered at his home west of Harare.

Assailants shot and killed 67-year-old Kobus Joubert, beat up his wife, Mariana, and robbed the couple of cash in an overnight attack Monday.

Mike Clark of the Commercial Farmers’ Union that monitors unrest on Zimbabwe’s white-owned farms, says the motive for the murder is unclear.

A Somali pirate group holding a British couple kidnapped from their yacht one year ago says Paul and Rachel Chandler will not be released until a full ransom is paid.

In an interview with a local radio station in Somalia, a spokesman for the pirate group, identified only as "Qodar," insisted the Chandlers would never be allowed to go free unless the group's ransom demand is met.

Mexican police say gunmen have shot and killed at least 10 recovering addicts at a drug rehabilitation center. The killings happened late Sunday in Tijuana, near the U.S. border. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Mexican security forces have been engaged in a brutal struggle against the country's violent drug cartels since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006. Nearly 30,000 people have been killed since the campaign began.

Last week, Mexican security forces seized 105 tons of marijuana in Tijuana, the largest Mexican drug bust in recent years.

A bomb blast at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan has killed at least five people and wounded at least 12 others. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistani security officials say the bomb was planted at the gate of a famous Sufi shrine in the eastern region of the country.

Regional Police Chief Amjad Javed Saleem spoke to reporters at the scene of the attack.

Saleem says two men riding a motorbike left a container near the gate of the shrine as if they were bringing milk for the worshippers.

Red terrorists Ayers and Dohrn are now Green activists!

I will be writing up their complete comments at the "Green Fest" but in the meantime you can see the three videos I have posted at www.usasurvival.org and YouTube. see below

I also have "up close and personal" photos of Ayers and Dohrn I will be posting as well. Billy has a nice set of ear rings and Dohrn has tatoos on her hands and fingers!

JUST BREAKING. EXCLUSIVE: FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS THREATENED BECAUSE OF HOSTILE QUESTIONING DIRECTED AT COMMUNIST TERRORISTS BILL AYERS AND BERNARDINE DOHRN

Turkish press reports said Friday that police detained five men suspected of providing support to al-Qaida militants in Afghanistan.

The five, most of them university students, were being questioned after being taken into custody during raids in several Turkish cities this week.

They are being investigated for sending money to support al-Qaida fighters and developing computer programs to jam NATO aircraft targeting al-Qaida in Afghanistan.