Algiers (Algeria)

Covered from head to toe in white, their faces partly masked by embroidered triangular cloths, Algerian women marched through the capital Thursday to defend their traditional Islamic dress.

Algerian officers have found a weapon that belongs to a top Al-Qaeda operative reportedly killed in Mali and examined a body but are still unable to confirm it is his, a daily said on Saturday.

Al-Qaeda's top commander in Mali has been killed, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno said, signalling a significant blow to the rebels in the seven-week French-led intervention against Islamist insurgents.

Efforts were underway Friday to confirm the killing of a notorious Al-Qaeda commander during fighting with French troops in Mali, with Washington calling reports of his death "very credible".

Algeria has carried out DNA tests to try to confirm the reported death of a senior Al-Qaeda figure in fighting in northeastern Mali, El Khabar newspaper reported on Friday.

Algerian troops clashed with 50 men armed with rocket-propelled grenades who attacked a barracks in northeast Algeria, leaving six soldiers wounded and two assailants dead, a report said on Thursday.

Algeria's Sonatrach and major Italian energy firm ENI on Monday announced the production start-up of a $1.3 billion wet gas project in the southeast desert region, rocked by a deadly hostage attack last month.

An Algerian gas facility attacked by Islamists on January 16 is set to reopen within a month, but foreign workers will not return for another three, a plant official said on Thursday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Algeria on Wednesday to strike an new security partnership between the two countries following the deadly hostage crisis at a Sahara Desert gas plant.

British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Algeria on Wednesday to strike an new security partnership between the two countries following the deadly hostage crisis at a Sahara Desert gas plant.

British Prime Minister David Cameron flew to Algeria on Wednesday in the wake of this month's hostage crisis at a gas plant deep in the Sahara in which several Britons were killed.

British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Algeria on Wednesday, an airport official said, in the wake of this month's hostage crisis in the Sahara in which several Britons were killed.

Global oil prices hit multi-month highs on Tuesday on the back of the weaker dollar and on the eve of a key monetary policy announcement in top crude consumer the United States, dealers said.

Two security guards protecting a gas pipeline have been killed and seven others wounded in an attack by Islamists southeast of the Algerian capital, local residents said on Monday.

Djamel Amer al-Khedoud, a 50-year-old grandfather moved by television images of Syria's violent conflict, left Marseille in France to join rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The death of a second Malaysian worker in the Algerian hostage crisis has been confirmed after his body was identified by his dental records and a tattoo, the Malaysian foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Canadian federal police on Thursday launched an investigation into claims that two Canadians were among the slain captors at a desert gas plant in Algeria.

Japan's government Thursday confirmed a tenth victim of the Algerian hostage crisis, the highest death toll of any nation, as friends and colleagues of those who perished paid tribute at a makeshift altar.

A senior Japanese official met Algeria's prime minister on Wednesday to press for an explanation of the gas plant siege, as Tokyo confirmed the deaths of two more nationals, taking its toll to nine.

A senior Japanese official met Algeria's prime minister on Wednesday as Tokyo sought to learn why at least seven of its citizens were killed when Islamists overran a desert gas plant.