Alger, Algeria - One day before the expiration of the ultimatum, the terrorist group ‘Al Qaeda in the Maghreb released an audio message by Sergio Cicala, the Sicilian abducted with his wife last December, in the desert of Mauritania, on the border with Mali.

US intelligence and the UN say Communist guerrillas in Latin America are using narcotics to help finance Al Qaeda-linked groups in North Africa. The security officials say the trade poses a “global security threat. ”

Three Saudi tourists were killed by unidentified gunmen while traveling in a car near the Mali-Niger border, according to a Niger government spokesperson.

Authorities in Mali are trying to contact the North African wing of Al Qaeda to negotiate the release of four European hostages. Mali says the three Spaniards and one Frenchman are being held on its territory.

A new family law code in the arid north west African nation of Mali has pleased rights groups and women’s activists, Muslim traditionalists are greeting the law with dismay, some even threatening violence should it be implemented.

There was great joy and relief in Switzerland this evening as news came through that Swiss national Werner Greiner, who had been held hostage by an al-Qaeda group in Mali since January, had been freed.

Mali officials say that two Canadian diplomats held hostage by African militants were released on Wednesday. The two were held captive for four months.

Fifty-three million children under five are expected to be reached across eight West African countries in a coordinated polio immunization campaign.

The poor African country of Mali has opened a high-tech library in the famed desert town of Timbuktu on January 30 -- to preserve thousands of ancient manuscripts documenting the continent's academic past - and of the history of Natchez, Mississippi...

Google has added multiple sites and services to its various properties for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The company gives the latest updates and information that can be accessed worldwide.