Al Qaeda

NEW YORK - A senior al-Qaeda leader and son-in-law of Osama bin Laden pleaded not guilty Friday to plotting against Americans before and immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks in his role as the terror network's top spokesman. Bearded and balding, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, captured in Jordan a week ago, was escorted into the heavily secured courtroom at the federal courthouse in Manhattan, where he entered the plea through a lawyer to one count of conspiracy to kill Americans. The case marks a legal victory for President Obama's administration.

WASHINGTON - President Obama announced Friday that about 100 U.S. troops have been deployed to the West African country of Niger, where defense officials said they are setting up a drone base to spy on al-Qaeda fighters in the Sahara. In a letter to Congress, Obama said about 40 U.S. military personnel arrived in Niger on Wednesday, bringing the total number of troops based there to "approximately" 100. He said the troops, who are armed for self-protection, would support a French-led military operation in neighboring Mali, where al-Qaeda fighters and other militants have carved out a refuge in a remote territory the size of Texas.

WASHINGTON - President Obama announced Friday that about 100 U.S. troops have been deployed to the West African country of Niger, where defense officials said they are setting up a drone base to spy on al-Qaeda fighters in the Sahara. In a letter to Congress, Obama said about 40 U.S. military personnel arrived in Niger on Wednesday, bringing the total number of troops based there to "approximately" 100. He said the troops, who are armed for self-protection, would support a French-led military operation in neighboring Mali, where al-Qaeda fighters and other militants have carved out a refuge in a remote territory the size of Texas.

The nation's vexation over the morality and legality of President Obama's drone war has produced a salutary but hopelessly confused debate. Three categories of questions are being asked. They must be separated to be clearly understood. 1. By what right does the president order the killing by drone of enemies abroad? What criteria justify assassination? Answer: (a) imminent threat, under the doctrine of self-defense, and (b) affiliation with al-Qaeda, under the laws of war. Imminent threat is obvious.

JERUSALEM - Israel could launch a pre-emptive strike to stop Syria's chemical weapons from reaching Lebanon's Hezbollah or al-Qaeda inspired groups, officials said Sunday. The warning came as the military moved a rocket defense system to a main northern city, and Israel's premier warned of dangers from both Syria and Iran. Israel has long expressed concerns that Syrian President Bashar al Assad, clinging to power during a 22-month civil war, could lose control over his chemical weapons.

Blast kills 13 in Yemen SAN'A, Yemen - A Yemen security official says an explosion in the province of Bayda has killed at least 13 suspected al-Qaeda militants. The official in Bayda's capital city, Radda, said the explosion went off in a house owned by a known al-Qaeda operative, Ahmed Abdullah Deif-Allah Al-Zahab. It appeared to be an accident. Residents were barred Sunday from approaching the scene of the incident by militants with links to al-Qaeda, the official said. The group is active in southern Yemen and has launched deadly attacks against the military since it lost control of key cities it overran in 2011.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is stepping up aid for Mexico's bloody drug war with a new U.S.-based special-operations headquarters to teach Mexican security forces how to hunt drug cartels the same way special operations teams hunt al-Qaeda, according to documents and interviews with multiple U.S. officials. Such assistance could help newly elected Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto establish a military force to focus on drug criminal networks that have terrorized Mexico's northern states and threatened the Southwest border.

BAMAKO, Mali - France launched air strikes Friday to help the government of Mali defeat al-Qaeda-linked militants who captured more ground this week, dramatically raising the stakes in the battle for this vast desert nation. French President Francois Hollande said the "terrorist groups, drug traffickers, and extremists" in northern Mali "show a brutality that threatens us all. " He vowed that the operation would last "as long as necessary. " France said it was taking the action in Mali at the request of President Dioncounda Traore, who declared a state of emergency because of the militants' advance.

WASHINGTON - President Obama is assembling a national security team designed for an era of downsized but enduring conflict, a team that will be asked to preside over the return of exhausted American troops and wield power through the targeted use of sanctions, special-operations forces, and drone strikes. Obama's nominations of former Sen. Chuck Hagel as defense secretary and White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to lead the CIA signal second-term course adjustments at institutions that have been dominated by their lethal assignments during more than a decade of war. Those adjustments could include returning the CIA's focus to its core mission of gathering intelligence, even though it is expected to maintain its fleet of armed drones for years.

SANAA, YEMEN - Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen has offered to pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country. An audio produced by the group's media arm, the al-Malahem Foundation, and posted on militant websites Saturday said that it offered three kilograms of gold worth $160,000 for killing the ambassador, Gerald Feierstein. The group said that it will pay 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) to anyone who kills an American soldier inside Yemen.