The deposed president of the desert-encircled nation of Mauritania was set free today after four and a half months under house arrest.

The government of Mauritania was overthrown by an Army coup today.

Mauritanian prosecutors called the Christmas Eve murder of four French tourists a terrorist act and said security forces were hunting three suspects believed to be members of a regional al-Qaida-linked network.

Four members of a French family, including two children, were killed by gunmen during a robbery in eastern Mauritania.

Four French tourists were shot dead by robbers today in the west African country of Mauritania.

A fast-thinking pilot with passengers in cahoots fooled a hijacker by braking hard upon landing, then accelerating to knock the man down.

A fast-thinking pilot fooled a gunman who had hijacked a plane flying from Africa to the Canary Islands.

A hijacked plane that was flown to Spain’s Canary Islands from Mauritania was raided by security forces and a suspect arrested, according to the Foreign Ministry.

A boat carrying 400 illegal migrants was finally allowed to dock in Mauritania today, after being stranded for 10 days in international waters off the north-west African country’s coast, government officials said.

Three prisoners accused of belonging to an al-Qaida-linked Algerian militant group today escaped from a jail in Mauritania’s capital, officials said.

Carlos Sainz returned to form to win the 10th stage of the Dakar Rally today.

Australian rider Andy Caldecott has been killed in a crash on the Dakar Rally today.

STEPHANE PETERHANSEL has called for a combined Mitsubishi effort to defeat Volkswagen’s main challenger Giniel de Villiers in the Dakar Rally.

Army troops in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott took control of the national radio and television station and deployed around other strategic buildings while the desert nation’s president was in Saudi Arabia today, witnesses said.

Mauritania arrested several army officers today after uncovering an alleged assassination plot against President Maaoya Sid’Ahmed Ould Taya, military sources said.

A SWARM of locusts roughly the size of the United States yesterday descended on a West African city yesterday.

Citizens in the capital of the West African nation of Mauritania battled descending swarms of locusts today in what the UN called the sub-Saharan’s worst invasion in more than a decade.

Mauritania’s pro-West leader battled an apparent coup attempt today, as gun and tank cannon fire erupted near the presidential palace.