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GARISSA, Kenya (Reuters) — Kenyan soldiers and helicopters beefed-up defences at the Somali border on Wednesday after Ethiopian warplanes and ground forces attacked fleeing Islamists on the other side of the frontier. The Islamists, which left their last stronghold on Monday after two weeks of war with Somali government troops …

NAIROBI — Under fire at home for costly military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US government has managed to achieve a major policy goal in strategic Somalia without firing a shot —  thanks to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian military, one of the continent’s strongest, decisively routed Islamists both Washington and …

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — New UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday acknowledged that he faced daunting challenges in many crises worldwide, from the Middle East to North Korea, and put troubled Darfur at the top of his list of priorities.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) — Ethiopian troops will stay in Somalia for several weeks to help the victorious government pacify the Horn of Africa nation after a two-week war to oust Islamists, both countries said on Tuesday.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — With Israel’s blessing, Egypt has delivered a large arms shipment to forces loyal to the embattled Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, officials said Thursday, in the latest Israeli attempt to boost Abbas in his bloody conflict with Hamas.

MOUNT ARAFAT — In his tent in the desert outside the Holy City of Mecca, Suleiman Ibrahim still couldn’t believe his luck. His wife, sitting nearby, broke down in tears of joy Thursday as he recounted the day they learned they would be performing Hajj.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) — Triumphant Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies marched into Mogadishu on Thursday after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they held for six months.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN Security Council on Wednesday gave a guarded welcome to Sudanese President Omar Bashir’s readiness to accept the deployment of a joint African Union-UN force in strife-torn Darfur.

MOGADISHU (AP) — Somalia government and Ethiopian troops advanced towards the country’s capital Tuesday as Islamist fighters retreated, bloodied by a week of artillery and mortar attacks but promising a “new phase” in the war — a chilling pronouncement from a movement that has threatened suicide attacks.

CAIRO (Reuters) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asked parliament on Tuesday to amend the constitution to make it easier for opposition parties to field presidential candidates.