• 

  Egyptian president issues new anti-terrorism law

  The Egyptian president has issued a law that broadens the state's definition of terrorism to include anyone who threatens public order "by any means," and gives authorities powers to draw up lists of alleged terrorists with little judicial recourse.

• 

  South Africa spycraft on show in leaked intelligence cables

  Once the small talk had subsided, the 2012 meeting between intelligence agents from Iran and South Africa in an Iranian guesthouse reportedly went downhill.

• 

  Obama nominates 1st ambassador to Somalia in almost 25 years

  Foreign Service veteran Katherine Simonds Dhanani was nominated for the job, which will be based in neighboring Kenya until security conditions permit the embassy in Mogadishu to reopen, the State Department said.

• US wants UN sanctions committee for South Sudan crisis

  The United States is proposing the creation of a U.N. sanctions committee for the South Sudan crisis and says an arms embargo is possible if the warring sides can't stick to a peace deal.

• Suicide bombers kill 24 at 2 bus stations in north Nigeria

  Teenage suicide bombers, suspected to be Boko Haram extremists, killed at least 24 people in separate blasts Tuesday at crowded bus stations in two northern Nigerian cities 200 miles apart.

• Egypt denies civilian deaths in airstrikes on Libya

  Egypt has rejected a report by Amnesty International that said seven civilians were killed in airstrikes targeting the Islamic State group in Libya in retaliation for the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

• 

  Young girl blows up in busy northeastern Nigeria market; 5 dead

  A girl as young as 10 blew up in a busy market in northeastern Nigeria, killing herself and four others and fueling fears Islamic extremists are using kidnapped girls as suicide bombers.

• 

  Somalia extremists urge attacks on US shopping malls

  A video purported to be by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked rebel group al-Shabab urged Muslims to attack shopping malls in the U.S., Canada, Britain and other Western countries.

• Nigerian troops retake town as Boko Haram attacks villages

  Nigerian troops retook a major border town and killed scores of Boko Haram fighters Saturday, Nigeria's military said, although witnesses also reported the Islamic extremists killed scores in attacks on other villages.

• UNICEF: 89 boys abducted by South Sudan armed group

  An armed group in South Sudan has abducted at least 89 boys in a northern state, the U.N. children's agency said Saturday.

• Moroccan court sentences 18 to prison on terror charges

  A Moroccan court has convicted 18 men for being part of a criminal band aiming to carry out terror attacks, including a former member of the Spanish military.

• 

  Islamic State bombers kill dozens in Libyan suicide attacks

  Islamic State militants unleashed suicide bombings Friday in eastern Libya, killing at least 40 people in what the group said was retaliation for Egyptian airstrikes against the extremists' aggressive new branch in North Africa.

• Suicide bombings at Somalia hotel kill, wound many

  One person rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the gate of a hotel in Somalia's capital, and another went through the gates and blew himself up, killing at least four people on Friday, including the deputy mayor and a legislator, officials said.

• 

  Despite Libya’s worsening violence, Western intervention unlikely

  When Libya appeared on the edge of a humanitarian disaster during its 2011 civil war, President Barack Obama and other Western leaders sent in the cavalry: NATO warplanes with orders to protect civilians from slaughter by the country’s longtime leader, Moammar Gadhafi. But though worsening violence this week brought new calls for foreign intervention, world powers are unlikely to fly to the rescue again.

• 

  Islamic State militants find a foothold in chaotic Libya

  Libya, virtually a failed state in recent years, has succeeded in one way: It's providing a perfect opportunity for the Islamic State group to expand from Syria and Iraq to establish a strategic foothold closer to European shores.

• Tunisian official says militants kill 4 troops

  Radical militants killed four members of the National Guard in the mountainous Kasserine region near the Algerian border, Tunisia's Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

• 

  UN Security Council to meet on Libya after Islamic State violence

  The U.N. Security Council called an emergency session for Wednesday to address the explosion of terrorist violence in Libya, but world powers appeared sharply divided on how to deal with the country’s deepening turmoil.

• Army unit from Md. packing up Ebola mobile labs in Liberia

  A U.S. military medical unit from Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland is packing up four mobile Ebola testing laboratories in Liberia after a nearly four-month deployment.

• 

  ANALYSIS

  Egypt embarks on ambitious anti-terror campaign

  Egypt is making an ambitious bid to place itself at the center of the fight against extremism across the Middle East. Beyond fighting militants in its own Sinai Peninsula, it is trying to organize an international coalition against the Islamic State in Libya and helping Saudi Arabia defend its borders.

• Boko Haram fighters blamed for Cameroon military base attack

  Suspected Boko Haram extremists caused explosions which killed 37 people at a security checkpoint in northeastern Nigeria Tuesday, as extremists attacked a Cameroonian military base near the border with Nigeria, killing at least five soldiers, said officials and witnesses.

• 

  Despite Islamic State beheadings, NATO has no plans for new intervention in Libya

  NATO is not currently considering another intervention in Libya, where the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians by Islamic State militants has prompted calls for a stronger international response.

• 

  Islamic State's beheadings of Egyptians could draw West back into Libya

  For nearly four years, the West has largely stayed on the sidelines as Libya descended into post-revolution chaos. Now the bloody beheadings of a group of Egyptian Christians at the hands of Islamic State could draw the international community back into the densely complex tangle of fighting in the oil-rich North African nation.

• Group: South Sudan military still recruiting children

  South Sudan's military and rebel forces are recruiting children despite assurances to the contrary, Human Rights Watch said Monday, citing children and parents interviewed last month.

• Cameroon hosts Boko Haram summit as militants attack army base

  Fighters from Nigeria's Islamist militant group Boko Haram attacked a military base in northern Cameroon on Monday, as the West African country hosted a meeting of regional leaders to discuss combating the expanding insurgency.

• 

  US kicks off Operation Flintlock amid regional tensions

  U.S. special operations forces kicked off three weeks of counterterrorism drills Monday in a series of western African states — including Niger and Chad — despite recent strikes by the insurgent group Boko Haram.

• A look at the Islamic State group's reach into North Africa
• Sierra Leone promises probe into Ebola spending
• Boko Haram issues new threat against Niger, Chad
• Liberia schools reopen after 6-month Ebola closure
• Female suicide bomber kills 16 in northeast Nigeria
• Nigerian military repels Boko Haram attack on northeast town
• Ebola cases prompt mini-quarantine in Sierra Leone capital
• UN ends support for Congo military offensive against rebels
• Blast targeting Egyptian police kills 1, injures 9
• Boko Haram launches 1st attack on Chadian village
• Obama uses war on Ebola to illustrate fight against non-conventional threats
• Most troops, DOD civilians to return from Ebola zones in Africa
• Pentagon confirms senior al-Shabab leader’s death
• Nigeria to 'take out' all Boko Haram camps by March 28
• Nigerian opposition calls election delay a setback for democracy
• Boko Haram’s war spills over into another of Nigeria’s neighbors
• Airmen from Europe get acquainted with East African counterparts in Djibouti
• Downward Ebola trend suddenly reverses itself
• Military Ebola mission in Liberia coming to an end
• Former US envoy: Nigerian vote shaping up as ‘train wreck’
• African Union backs regional force to confront Boko Haram
• Nigerian army had warning of Boko Haram raids that killed hundreds, Amnesty says
• American killed in Libya attack was former Marine turned contractor
• Extremists rampage in northeast Nigeria, no troops fighting

AFRICOM News

• 

  US kicks off Operation Flintlock amid regional tensions

  U.S. special operations forces kicked off three weeks of counterterrorism drills Monday in a series of western African states — including Niger and Chad — despite recent strikes by the insurgent group Boko Haram.

• 

  EUCOM, AFRICOM keep cyber vigilance after CENTCOM hack

  Other combatant commands are closely monitoring their social media platforms after U.S. Central Command’s Twitter feed was briefly taken over on Monday by hackers claiming to be affiliated with the Islamic State group.

• African missions call for firepower, logistics December 23, 2014
• Military community grants Christmas wishes to needy kids December 23, 2014
• Most US troops in Liberia could soon be home December 3, 2014