Tokyo said Tuesday it would give $120 million in new aid to help stabilise the Islamist-infested Sahel region, as resource-poor Japan looks to shore up North Africa after the death of 10 Japanese in the Algerian gas plant siege.

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.

Iran hostage crisis drama "Argo" won the best film drama prize at the Screen Actors Guild awards, in yet another boost for its prospects at next month's all-important Oscars.

Iran hostage crisis drama "Argo" won the best film drama prize at the Screen Actors Guild awards, in yet another boost for its prospects at next month's Oscars.

The body of the last of 10 Japanese nationals killed in the Algerian hostage crisis arrived in Japan Saturday as the prime minister proposed setting up a security council to deal with future threats.

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.

The seven Japanese survivors of the Algerian hostage crisis, and nine of the ten dead, arrived back in a shell-shocked Japan Friday as the prime minister spoke of the nation's "deepest grief".

The seven Japanese survivors of the Algerian hostage crisis, and nine of the ten dead, arrived back in a shell-shocked Japan on Friday as the prime minister spoke of the nation's "deepest grief".

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.

A shell-shocked country was Friday readying to welcome home the seven Japanese survivors of the Algerian hostage crisis on a plane that was also carrying nine of its ten dead citizens.

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.

The arms used by militants who seized an Algerian gas plant in a deadly hostage-taking drama came from Libyan rebels who last year overthrew Moamer Kadhafi, an Algerian daily reported on Wednesday.

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.

An Islamist militant killed by special forces during the siege of Algeria's In Amenas gas complex used to be a driver at the desert facility, a security source told AFP on Wednesday.

Last week's hostage-taking has rocked the image of Algeria's powerful security apparatus, raising questions about how gunmen could have overrun the key In Amenas gas field, with alarming implications for the energy sector.

Japan said Wednesday it would shut its embassy in Mali and evacuate staff, and was urging other Japanese to leave because of the deteriorating security situation in the war-torn country.

Algerian authorities searched for five foreigners still missing and tried to identify seven charred bodies, days after a bloody hostage crisis, a security source said.

A Malaysian worker was killed in the Algerian hostage crisis and one of his colleagues at the north African desert oil gas complex is still unaccounted for, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

BP boss Bob Dudley on Tuesday warned that he "feared the worst" for four of its staff members still unaccounted for following the bloody In Amenas hostage crisis in Algeria.

Senator John McCain, the US Navy veteran who was tortured during his years in a Vietnam prison, joked Tuesday about the prospect of a colleague being held hostage in Afghanistan and another being waterboarded.