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Terrorists increase kidnap for ransom
The U.N. Security Council says international terrorism is increasingly motivated by intolerance and extremism, and its perpetrators are increasingly resorting to kidnapping for ransom and coordinating acts with organized crime. A presidential statement approved by the council Friday also expressed concern at the growing use of the Internet and new information and communications technologies by terrorists to recruit, incite, finance and prepare their illegal activities.
Jordanians protest treaty with Israel • Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets on Friday demanding an end to the country's 18-year-old Wadi Araba peace treaty with Israel. In a series of nationwide protests, leftist and Islamist activists urged Amman to cut ties with the Jewish state. They burned Israeli flags and chanted "Death, death to Israel" and "The people want an end to Wadi Araba."
23 killed in Mexico • A state official says 23 people have been killed in an explosion of drug-cartel violence in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, with the killers hanging nine of the bodies from a bridge and leaving 14 decapitated bodies in an abandoned vehicle.
Pipeline closed in Nigeria • Royal Dutch Shell said it shut down one of its major pipelines running through Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta for repair, blaming incessant thefts on the line for causing chronic leaks along it. The shutdown affects the Nembe Creek Trunkline and cuts off about 60,000 barrels of oil a day from Shell's production in the country, the company said in a statement. It also declared a "force majeure" warning — meaning it is impossible for the company to cover the promised supply from the field.
Strauss-Kahn accused again • French investigators are studying accusations that Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have been involved in a rape during a sex party in a Washington hotel in 2010 while he was chief of the International Monetary Fund, a judicial official said Friday. Strauss-Kahn, via his lawyers, denied any violence and said he's the subject of a public "lynching campaign."
Mortar kills 2 in car • An Algerian army official says two officers have been killed and two wounded when their car was hit by a mortar blast from a homemade launcher.
Mubarak turns 84 • Egypt's ousted leader Hosni Mubarak turned 84 on Friday and celebrated his birthday at a Cairo hospital where he is detained. The country's former first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, visited him with relatives and grandchildren, an official, said.
Read more international news at stltoday.com/news/national