Updates on the attack in Algeria:

• Several of the attackers had infiltrated the plant as employees.
• Algerie-Focus has reported that the attackers included recruits from Canada, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Libya.
• The attackers’ weapons have been traced to Libya’s rebels.
• Over 80 people on all sides are confirmed dead in the attack.

In other news:

• European Union officials have called for the power to silence journalists.
• A leaked memo shows that Saudi Arabia had sent over 1,200 prisoners “to the Jihad in Syria” as of April 2012.
• The BBC trust has ordered BBC news reporters to lie about the founding of Israel.
• The lights from recently established natural gas fields in North Dakota are almost as bright as a large city.
• The Muslim community of Marashda in the Qena region of Egypt launched a pogrom against the local Christians.
• New Canadian currency shows not the Canadian maple leaf, the symbol of Canada, but the leaf of a foreign invasive species.
• Eritrian soldiers forced the state television to read a political statement.
• Muslim Brotherhood forces attacked pork dealers and gamblers in Nigeria, killing 18.
• Saudi police closed a mall exhibit on dinosaurs.
• Egyptian police seized a ton of explosives.
• Libyan Youth Minister Faisal Karameh survived an assassination attempt.
• Nicaraguan police caught a group of 18 Mexican drug gang members with $10 million in cash.
• Some preachers in Morocco have condemned France’s intervention in Mali as a Jewish plot. It is unclear if they have any influence.
• Gambia has enacted a four-day work week.
• The Cayman Islands are planning to disclose more information about the financial transactions routed through the islands.
• A US State Department report accused Syria of using chemical weapons, but White House officials, who are generally pressing for war against Syria, have rejected the report.
• Bulgarian politician Ahmed Dogan survived an apparent assassination attempt.
• Four times as many Egyptians were charged with the crime of insulting the President during the first 200 days of Mohamed Morsi’s rule than during the 30 years of Hosni Mubarak.
• Officials from the United Nations, Cuba, Venezuela, Peru, Iran, Serbia, and the Muslim Brotherhood visited the United States to attend the birthday of Workers’ World Party leader Ramsey Clark.
• Thomas Ricks reports that US President Obama has sacked General James Mattis for demanding that Obama have a strategy regarding Iran.
• Puerto Rican singer Noelia Monge accuses the Venezuelan government of seizing her private airplane for no lawful reason.
• Iranian turncoat Ahmad Hashemi accuses Iran of continuing its nuclear weapons program.
• Barry Rubin cogently criticizes US foreign policy.
• Colin Freeman discusses al-Qaeda’s population control tactics in Mali.
• Ayaan Hirsi Ali discusses bigotry in Islamic cultures.
• Mark Thompson discusses various allegations of Qatari support for anti-government military forces in Mali.