AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordanian authorities on Wednesday released Jordanian Sheikh Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, a leading al-Qaeda mentor, after several years imprisonment without trial, security sources said.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Publicity, ransom money and damage to lucrative Maghreb tourism are the possible prizes for al-Qaeda’s north Africa wing from the kidnapping of two Austrian adventure holidaymakers.

(Reuters) – A Canadian soldier was found dead in Afghanistan on Tuesday but enemy action has been ruled out, officials said. He was the 80th member of Canada’s military mission to die since 2002. More than 200 foreign troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2007.