English

Al-Shabaab, or "The Youth," is an al-Qaeda-linked militant group and U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization fighting for the creation of a fundamentalist Islamic state in Somalia. The group, also known as Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, and its Islamist affiliates once held sway over Mogadishu and major portions of the Somali countryside, but a sustained African Union military campaign in recent years has forced the group's retreat from most major towns, including its former stronghold in the southern port of city of Kismayo. In mid-2013, many experts believe al-Shabaab, facing both internal and external pressures, is greatly weakened. Still, others warn the group remains a threat in a politically volatile, war-torn state--a claim supported by a deadly terrorist attack on a Mogadishu UN office in June.

Still, the betting appears to be that voters, tired of years of political feuding, will put their desire for calm first. Even if it means further concentrating power in one political bloc.

President Serzh Sargsyan stated that Armenia thinks it inappropriate when particular CSTO member states make statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which are discordant with the organization's decisions.

Kenyan security forces swept into an upscale shopping mall late Sunday to try to end a two-day standoff with heavily armed Islamist militants after a gruesome attack that reflected the surprising resiliency of one of Africa’s most brutal insurgent groups.