A former Australian soldier is suspected of being a masked gunman who appeared in a videotaped terror message this week threatening attacks against the West, newspapers reported today.

Fergus Finlay

A Kenyan judge dropped murder charges against four men for their alleged roles in the al-Qaida car bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel that killed 15 people, saying the prosecution did not present sufficient evidence.

Russell Crowe hated the secrecy surrounding his 2001 Al-Qaida kidnap plot because he felt like Elvis Presley, turning up at the Academy Awards with a posse of bodyguards.

An academic at the University of Ulster has claimed that Muslims in the North have faced increased antagonism since the al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001.

Al-Qaida is planning a high profile political assassination which will be sparked by the release of a new message from terror chief Osama bin Laden, it was reported today.

OIL prices struck a record peak yesterday, climbing close to $44 (36.5) a barrel after the United States raised its security alert to high for a possible al-Qaida attack on a top financial institution.

A packed football stadium could have been the target of an al-Qaida attack, it emerged today, as 10 people arrested in anti-terror raids were being questioned by police.

Kenyan authorities have arrested more than two dozen suspects wanted for two al-Qaida attacks, including some on the FBI’s most wanted list, a senior government official said.

A car bomb which killed at least five people and wounded more than 80 in an upmarket Riyadh neighbourhood bore the hallmark of an al Qaida attack, Saudi officials said today.

Terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui has claimed he was plotting a second al-Qaida strike to follow-up the September 11 attacks, court papers released today showed.

BRITAIN was on terror alert last night amid fears of an al-Qaida attack.

After reports last week suggested there might be a new al-Qaida strike in the US - possibly in Las Vegas - on July 4, a poll today showed many Americans believe an attack on Independence Day is likely.

The chance of more al-Qaida attacks against US targets is ‘almost a certainty’, US Vice President Dick Cheney said today.