Carla and Nicolas Tie the Knot
Photo of Nicolas and Carla courtesy of Google Images
THE TELEGRAPH: French president Nicolas Sarkozy has married ex-supermodel Carla Bruni in a "secret" ceremony at the Elysée Palace in Paris.

The wedding took place just two and a half months after they met, and three and a half months after he divorced his second wife.

They were married at 11am with François Lebel, mayor of Paris's fashionable 8th arrondissement - in which the palace is situated - officiating.

Mr Sarkozy, 53, and Miss Bruni, 40, exchanged vows in a state room on the first floor of the presidential palace after a highly-publicised whirlwind romance.

Mr Lebel said: "I married two voters from the 8th arrondissement, who live at 55 rue du Faubourg St Honoré," referring to the address of the palace, which is next door to the British Embassy.

"Historically, this is the first time in the history of the Republic that a president has married in the course of his term. It's the first time a president has married at the Elysée," he said.

"Carla married in white and looked ravishing," Mr Lebel added.

Now the controversial model, whose past loves include Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, will be France's First Lady.

Suggesting that the wedding was a last minute, spontaneous affair, Mr Sarkozy announced the cancellation of a visit to the military base at Creil, north of Paris, due for Saturday afternoon.

One of the reasons for the sudden marriage was apparently next month's planned state visit to Britain, with Mr Sarkozy concerned about being a guest of the Queen at Windsor Castle with only a "live-in lover" to accompany him.

Witnesses were Prada executive Mathilde Agostinelli - a close friend of the previous Madame Sarkozy - and Nicolas Bazire, managing director of Groupe Arnault and one of the richest men in France. France's Nicolas Sarkozy marries Carla Bruni >>> By Peter Allen in Paris

REUTERS:
Sarkozy marries Bruni at the Elysee By Crispian Balmer and Sudip Kar-Gupta

LE FIGARO:
Nicolas Sarkozy a épousé
Carla Bruni ce matin De Samuel Potier

LE MONDE:
Nicolas Sarkozy et Carla Bruni se sont mariés samedi matin à l'Elysée

EUROPE 1:
Nicolas Sarkozy et Carla Bruni maries

SUEDDEUTSCHE:
Hochzeit, na endlich: Seit Wochen wird ... spekuliert, Bruni erwarte ein Kind

NZZ Online: Nicolas Sarkozy und Carla Bruni haben geheiratet: Der französische Präsident vermählt sich mit der Sängerin >>>

BLICK:
Sarkozy hat gerade eine Scheidung hinter sich, Bruni, die sich selbst als sexuell massloss bezeichnet, hat schon ganz andere Alpha-Männchen in die Wüste geschickt: Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton oder Donald Trump können ein Lied davon singen. Und wahre Liebe dauere bei ihr sowieso «nie länger als drei Monate». – Blick

Ex-Frau Cécilia: [Nicolas Sarkozy ist] «unfähig zu lieben» - Blick

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Poppycock! Merde! Quatsch!
A historian from ‘New York University’ considers Islam to be a “positive force”! David Levering Lewis believes that the ‘triumph of the Franks’ to be a ghastly defeat (for the Muslims)!

"Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours" by Carl von Steuben, painted between 1834 and 1837. Image courtesy of The Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Sometimes, when a fine historian ventures outside his specialty, prodigies of fresh insight ensue. More often -- and particularly when the scholar carries into one era the baggage of another -- the results are worse than disappointing.

These days, we so urgently require a better understanding of Islam and its origins that it would be edifying to report that the distinguished historian David Levering Lewis' new book is an example of the former. Unfortunately, "God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215" falls into that second category with a nearly discernible thud.

Lewis, 71, is a distinguished social historian, particularly of the 20th century United States. Both volumes of his magisterial biography of W.E.B. Du Bois won the Pulitzer Prize for history. However, he is neither a medievalist nor a scholar of Islam origins, and some -- though not all -- of this book's shortcomings originate there.

The more fundamental problem is that "God's Crucible" is as much the product of an enthusiasm as it is an idea. Like many a writer and artist before him, Lewis is in thrall to an idealized Umayyad Spain, that island of comparative tolerance and intellectual freedom, undoubted prosperity and physical beauty that ornaments the medieval landscape. Even now, al-Andalus seems more poem than place, site of the Alhambra, the great Mosque of Cordova, the patio houses of Granada and home to Averros and Maimonides. The problem is that Lewis is intent on making a general case with a society that stands as such an exception to other states of its era, whether Muslim or Christian. In fact, Umayyad Spain benefited from any number of unique factors: the extraordinary statecraft of its founder, Abd al-Rahman I, and some of his more able successors, the necessity of maintaining a balance of power in an unusually polyglot population and Spain's physical distance from contemporary centers of Muslim and Christian power.

Lewis sets out to show that the failure of what he calls "the jihad east of the Pyrenees" is "one of the most significant losses in world history." He argues that the Frankish defeat of the Islamic invaders at Poitiers in 732 and the subsequent poetic glorification of Roland's sacrifice to cover Charlemagne's retreat from his own incursion into Spain were "pivotal moments in the creation of an economically retarded, balkanized and fratricidal Europe that, by defining itself in opposition to Islam, made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, persecutory religious intolerance, cultural particularism and perpetual war . . . 'winning' at Poitiers actually meant that the economic, scientific and cultural levels that Europeans attained in the 13th century could almost certainly have been achieved more than three centuries earlier had they been included in the Muslim world empire."

In other words, the West would be better off if it had been incorporated into an all-conquering Islamic empire in the early Middle Ages. God’s Crucible >>> By David Levering Lewis

WELT ONLINE:
Wie schade, dass Europa nicht islamisch ist

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

I'll Be President of Europe If You Give Me the Power – Blair
Photo of Sarkozy and Blair courtesy of TimesOnline
For God’s sake, don’t give Tone the power. I’m sure that the people are fed up with this man already. Do we really have to be subjected to another term (or perhaps two?) of this man ruling over us? And in any case, where’s the democracy in all of this? If there really is to be a president of Europe, a position many people would dispute should ever come about, then we, the people, should be given a vote on who should fill that position. After all, Europe is supposed to be a democracy, isn’t it? Europe is not supposed to be a cronyocracy.

THE GUARDIAN: Former PM consults old Downing Street allies on campaign for new EU role

Tony Blair has been holding discussions with some of his oldest allies on how he could mount a campaign later this year to become full-time president of the EU council, the prestigious new job characterised as "president of Europe". Blair, currently the Middle East envoy for the US, Russia, EU and the UN, has told friends he has made no final decision, but is increasingly willing to put himself forward for the job if it comes with real powers to intervene in defence and trade affairs.

Blair, who is being actively promoted by the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, recognises he would need to abandon his well-paid, private sector jobs if he won. His wife Cherie - often portrayed as seeking ever more wealth and well-paid consultancies for her husband - is understood to be supportive of him accepting the job.

Some Blair allies also say that he now recognises that as envoy in the Middle East he is not going to be allowed to become the key player in furthering Israeli-Palestinian talks this year, and will be reduced to a role of supporting political development in Palestine and boosting its economy.

The president of the European council of ministers is a post created under the Lisbon treaty. The president will be the permanent chair of the council of ministers, Europe's chief decision-making body.

Jonathan Powell, Blair's Downing Street chief of staff, is among the former lieutenants he has met to discuss a bid for the European role. I'll be president of Europe if you give me the power – Blair >>> By Patrick Wintour, political editor

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, Faces Death Threats
At least one Church of England prelate is willing to tell the truth about the dangers of the growth of Islam in the United Kingdom. When will the Archbishop of Canterbury come to terms with reality?

Our problems with Islam are growing apace. They can be likened to a snowball rolling down a snowy hill, gathering mass and speed as it goes.

Only because of weak and cowardly leadership is the free world allowing this to happen. - ©Mark

TIMESONLINE: The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, is under police protection after he and his family received death threats over his claim that parts of Britain had become “no-go areas” for non-Muslims.

The Bishop is also facing anger from the most senior members of the Church of England hierarchy for his comments on Islam.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has made Islam a priority of his archiepiscopate and set up a Muslim-Christian forum to promote relations between the faiths in 2006. One senior cleric told The Times yesterday: “The Bishop of Rochester is in effect threatening to undo everything we have done.”

The cleric said that some congregations in cities such as Leicester, where interfaith work was a priority, were increasingly wary of donating money towards this work. Church leaders in towns with a large Muslim population were anxious that relations with their neighbours were being undermined.

Dr Nazir-Ali was in India when staff at his home in Rochester took a number of phone calls threatening his family and warning him that he would not “live long” if he continued to criticise Islam. He has been given an emergency number at Kent Police, along with other undisclosed protection measures, and said that the threats were being taken “seriously”.

Speaking to The Times, Dr Nazir-Ali, who is on the conservative evangelical wing of the Church and is Britain’s only Asian bishop, said: “The irony is that I had similar threats when I was a bishop in Pakistan, but I never thought I would have them here. My point in saying what I did was that Britain had lost its Christian vision, which would have provided the resources to offer hospitality to others.” Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, faces death threats >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Dutch Soldiers at Risk over Geert Wilders’ Anti-Koran Film
This is ridiculous! Geert Wilders has no need to “besmirch the Koran." The Koran speaks for itself. Read it!

THE TELEGRAPH: Dutch soldiers serving with Nato in Afghanistan will face new threats if their country allows the broadcast of an anti-Islamic film, Bozorgmehr Ziaran, Iran's ambassador to the Netherlands, has said.

He announced his intention to rally global Muslim opinion against plans by Geert Wilders, the maverick Dutch MP, to show a short movie attacking the Koran.

Mr Ziaran also fuelled fears of a violent backlash by issuing a veiled threat that Dutch troops would be regarded as "representatives of people who besmirch the Koran".

"Afghans will view these troops as there to take our power, to destroy us and to ruin our values," he told De Volkskrant newspaper.

But Mr Wilders, the controversial leader of the anti-immigration Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) has vowed to ignore "daily death threats" and pressure from the authorities by broadcasting his film next month on the Koran, which he compares to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

"The serious threats to my life and the Dutch government's panicked response to my film underline the truth of what I am saying. The Koran is dangerous," he said.

"I am human so I sometimes feel real fear but I will not let the politics of fear stop me from saying what must be said." Dutch soldiers 'at risk' over anti-Koran film: >>> By Joan Clements in The Hague and Bruno Waterfield

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

What Is Islam? Walid Shoebat

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Walid Shoebat, Ex-Islamist, Speaks Against Islam

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Miliband in Turkey Securing Turkey’s Future in Eurabia
Miliband thinks that the UK needs to ‘engage’ with Turkey far more. The UK, he says, needs to be “outward looking”.

Really, Mr Miliband? So you believe that Turkey belongs in Europe, accelerating further the Islamization of the European continent.

Now what if the majority of the people of Europe disagree with you and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office? Are you still going to go ahead with bringing Turkey into the EU? Well, yes, of course you are! You wouldn’t wish to let a trifling detail like that stand in your way now would you? After all, what do the ‘common folk’ know about what’s good for them?

Mr Miliband, I don’t think you know what you’re doing, and you certainly don’t know what you’re talking about. But then what should we expect. Isn’t it true that your father was a Marxist theoretician? So what can we realistically expect from you in terms of democracy?

Listen here to David Miliband speaking about his father.


Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

John McCain, soldat républicain pour la Maison-Blanche
Photo de John McCain grâce à la Tribune de Genève
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: ÉTATS-UNIS | 00H00 A 71 ans, John McCain fait figure de favori pour décrocher l'investiture républicaine à l'élection présidentielle de novembre et tenter de succéder à son ancien rival de parti, George Bush.

John McCain célèbre ses victoires électorales à angle droit. Le sénateur républicain de l'Arizona, favori à l'investiture républicaine pour la présidentielle américaine de novembre, ne peut pas lever les bras plus haut que ses épaules, séquelle de la guerre du Viêt Nam. En 1967, il s'est cassé les deux bras et une jambe après s'être éjecté de son avion, qui avait été abattu au-dessus de Hanoi. McCain a passé cinq ans et demi dans un camp de prisonniers au Viêt Nam et a connu la torture.

Cet épisode de sa vie marque aujourd'hui encore les Américains. Dans sa campagne pour la Maison-Blanche, McCain utilise constamment son expérience militaire pour mettre sur la défensive son principal rival, Mitt Romney.

Ce dernier, un homme d'affaires mormon et ancien gouverneur du Massachusetts, n'a pas fait l'armée. «J'ai eu l'honneur de porter l'uniforme pendant 22 ans», a lancé McCain, lors d'un débat républicain mercredi soir en Californie. «Je ne l'ai pas fait par profit, mais par patriotisme.» A 71 ans, l'aîné des candidats à
la présidentielle incarne le paradoxe républicain cette année. Les conservateurs se méfient de ce politicien qui n'hésite pas à collaborer au Congrès avec l'«ennemi démocrate». Mais alors que les Américains répètent leur envie de changement après sept ans de gouvernement Bush, les républicains voient apparemment en McCain leur meilleure chance de conserver la Maison-Blanche. John McCain, soldat républicain pour la Maison-Blanche >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Monsieur le Playboy!
Wie Nicolas Sarkozy sich benimmt ist fast nicht zum Glauben! Carla benimmt sich nicht als angehende ‘First Lady’ Frankreichs. Nicolas Sarkozy benimmt sich schon gar nicht als Präsident Frankreichs. Es wäre wirklich interessant herauszufinden, was diese Leute eigentlich denken. Glaubt Sarkozy, daß der Zweck der Übung ist es, in der ganzen Welt herumzujetten mit Carla auf seiner Seite?

Blick: Franzosen reissen sich um brisante Details*
*Vergessen Sie nicht die Fotos gut anzuschauen!

BLICK:
Wann macht er eigentlich noch Politik?

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Sign Petition Online
The Independent is running an online petition to save the young Afghan, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, who has been sentenced to death in Afghanistan simply for downloading material on women’s rights!

We really need to do all we can to save this young man. He deserves OUR help. The least we can do is sign the online petition. Please take a minute of your time to sign this most urgent petition:

Save Sayed Pervez Kambaksh

Sincerely

Mark

Prager: You Can’t Call Them ‘Muslim’ in the UK
TOWNHALL.COM: LISTEN HERE
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Mufti of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, Wants Moratorium on the 1905 French Law Separating Church and State
BRUSSELS JOURNAL: The mufti of the Paris mosque, Dalil Boubakeur, has dropped what amounts to a political and religious bomb. He proposes a moratorium on the French law of 1905 separating Church and State, because not enough mosques are being built in France.

Besides his position as mufti, he is the president of the CFCM (French Council of the Muslim Faith), an association officially established in 2003 thanks to the efforts of Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy.


Questioned by Le Monde, Mr. Boubakeur set forth the idea of a “moratorium of 10 to 20 years” on the 1905 law, which forbids all public funding of places of worship, so that Islam can “catch up” on its needs. “The associations that administer houses of worship need to be given air to breathe,” he says.

This has to be one of the most daring statements made yet by a Muslim leader in France. There are at least 1500 mosques and prayer rooms in France, 75 in Paris alone.

Dalil Boubakeur’s proposal to suspend the 1905 law has incensed France’s radical secularists, the advocates of “laïcité,” who see in his words a predictable maneuver, welcomed by the State and Churches alike, for the purpose of restoring the power of religion to all spheres of French life.

Militants of “laïcité” are convinced that Nicolas Sarkozy intends, through modifications to the existing law, to impose his view of the equality of all religions onto the French people, instead of maintaining the strict separation that has been enforced until recently when Islam came into the picture. Can of Worms: Mufti Wants Moratorium on French Law Separating Church and State >>> By Tiberge

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Obama-Clinton Love-In?
Photo courtesy of the BBC
WATCH highlights of the Obama-Clinton TV debate HERE and HERE

READ the BBC article HERE

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

The Netherlands: Refused Asylum-Seekers to Be Deported
EXPATICA: About 5,000 asylum seekers who have exhausted their appeals are not eligible for amnesty and must leave the Netherlands.

1 February 2008



THE HAGUE – About 5,000 asylum seekers who have exhausted their appeals are not eligible for amnesty and must leave the Netherlands. State secretary for Justice Nebahat Albayrak predicts that carrying out the deportations will make 2008 a "very difficult year."



The deportation of these people will require enormous efforts, the minister said on Friday after the cabinet meeting.
Another round of deportations for refused asylum seekers >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Is Berlin Ready to Explode?
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Following the violent death of a Moroccan teenager in Cologne, hundreds of immigrants have taken to the streets in nightly demonstrations to protest what they see as evidence of their second-class status in Germany. Police warn the city could be ready to explode.

The owner of an electronics shop on Cologne's Kalker Hauptstrasse had rolled down the shutters on the windows in case there was unrest. Now they have photos of a 17-year-old Moroccan boy taped to them. The teenager, whose name was Salih, was killed in front of the shop two weeks ago.

The sidewalk is a sea of candles as hundreds of people chant: "Salih! Salih! We want justice!" They feel that Salih was one of them -- a youth from an immigrant family.

For the police, the case is clear cut. According to their version of events, Salih allegedly wanted to mug a 20-year-old German man, who tried to defend himself. But he panicked and pulled out a pocketknife that he plunged into Salih's heart with an unlucky stab. Prosecutors said it was a clear case of self-defense, and there are witnesses. But none of that matters any longer.

Every night last week, up to 300 protestors gathered at the spot where Salih died to demand "justice" instead of letting his killer walk free. They are protesting against "racism in Germany" -- but since it appears clear that this case involves self-defense, it's obviously about more than just the unfortunate Salih. It's more about how immigrants and their children feel they are currently being treated in Germany. Immigrants Protest Death of Moroccan Teenager in Cologne >>> By Barbara Schmid and Andreas Ulrich

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

European Muslims Become Socially Mobile
Photo of Dutch lawyer, Famile Arslan, courtesy of TIME
”It’s a Great Time to Be a European Muslim. Everyone’s Focused on Us, So It’s an Opportunity, if You Take It.”

TIME: When Famile Arslan showed up for her first day of work, the receptionist pointed her toward the broom closet. "'The cleaning supplies are over there,'" Arslan recalls being told. "I had to say, 'No, I'm not the cleaner. I'm the lawyer.'" In fairness to the receptionist, Arslan was making history that morning, as the first attorney to wear a hijab in the Netherlands. Ten years on, she has her own practice in the Hague. Her name's on the door, her cat Hussein pads around and a veiled assistant fields phone calls. "People keep telling me how successful I am," says Arslan. "But I'm not all that successful. Had I not been a migrant woman in a hijab, I could have gone much further." Still, when younger Muslims ask Arslan how to climb the professional ladder, she's optimistic. "If you think strategically, this is a great time to be a European Muslim," she argues. "Everyone's focused on us, so it's an opportunity — if you take it."

For European Muslims, the era after Sept. 11, 2001, has been both the best and worst of times. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have strained relations between Europe's governments and its Muslims; there has been a rise in Islamophobic incidents; the specter of Islamic radicalism dominates media debates and shapes government policy. But the era in which Muslims became a feared minority also saw another trend: the rise of a Euro-Muslim middle class. A Gallup poll last year found European Muslims to be at least as likely to identify themselves as British, French or German as the general populations. Migrants' children have begun moving from corner shops and factory floors to offices. They swap business cards at Muslim networking events like Britain's Emerald Network or Holland's Toward a New Start, a group for Moroccans who, in the words of founder Ahmed Larouz, are "the sort of people who say, 'I want to be CEO of Philips.'" Parisian professionals go to Les Dérouilleurs, a networking salon whose name (the Un-Rusty Ones) jabs at the stereotype of les rouilleurs — jobless Maghrebi youth "rusting away" in the banlieues.

That's all good news. More disheartening was news in January that the first person convicted under British laws targeting the preparation of terrorist acts was Sohail Qureshi, a 29-year-old dentist from London. That followed the arrest in Britain last summer of three doctors and an engineer on suspicion of attempting to strike Glasgow's airport with a car containing propane-gas canisters. This has challenged the stereotype of jihadis as disenfranchised madrasah students, presenting Europe with a troubling question: Why would those who have made a success of their professional lives be drawn to violent extremism? Breaking Through >>> By Carla Power

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Margaret Thatcher Named as ‘Great Briton’
Photo courtesy of Google Images
THE TELEGRAPH: Margaret Thatcher has been hailed as a Great Briton who transformed the country and left an indelible and lasting mark on politics.

Conservative leader David Cameron heaped praise on the former Prime Minister in a sign that he is determined to be seen as her heir.

At a prestigious dinner in her honour she was awarded the Morgan Stanley Great Britons Lifetime Achievement Award at the Guildhall in London. 



The awards are supported by the Daily Telegraph. 



Baroness Thatcher said: "I am proud to have played my part in helping to transform the British economy and in restoring Great Britain's standing on the world stage. I am delighted to have been honoured with such a prestigious award."



Mr Cameron said: "Today we know exactly what Thatcherism meant for our country; victory in the Cold War, victory against unbridled trade union power, the sale of council houses, the liberation of the British economy. 



"Yet all of this was achieved gradually, by a government that knew it had to take public opinion along with it if real and lasting change was to be made. 



"That change was made. Margaret Thatcher is a fitting recipient of the Morgan Stanley Great Britons award, when we judge greatness as it should be judged: the scale of the legacy. She made the landscape in which we live today." Margaret Thatcher named as 'Great Briton' >>> By Andrew Porter, Political Editor

WATCH TELEGRAPH VIDEO:
Margaret Thatcher: Great Briton

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Save Pervez! Global Protests to Save Afghan Student from Death Sentence
THE INDEPENDENT: Worldwide outrage over Afghan sentenced to death for reading article on women's rights. Join the Independent campaign now

Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, has been inundated with appeals to save the life of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, the student journalist sentenced to death after being accused of downloading an internet report on women's rights.

While international protests mounted over the affair, with the British Government saying it had already raised its concerns, hundreds of people marched through the capital, Kabul, demanding Mr Kambaksh's release.

A petition launched yesterday by The Independent to secure justice for Mr Kambaksh had attracted more than 13,500 signatories by last night, and a number of support groups have been set up on the social networking site Facebook with more than 400 joining one group alone.

Mr Kambaksh, 23, was arrested, tried and convicted by a religious court, in what his friends and family say was a secret session without being allowed legal representation.

The United Nations, human rights groups, journalists' organisations and diplomats urged Mr Karzai's government to quash the death sentence and release him.

Instead, on Wednesday, the Afghan senate passed a motion confirming the death sentence. The MP who proposed the ruling condemning Mr Kambaksh was Sibghatullah Mojadedi, a key ally of Mr Karzai. Save Pervez! Global protests to save Afghan student from death sentence >>> By Kim Sengupta, Jerome Starkey in Kabul, Anne Penketh and Ben Russell

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Top al-Qa’eda Leader Reported Dead
BBC: A senior al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, Abu Laith al-Libi, has been killed, Western counter-terrorism officials have told the BBC.

News of his death emerged on a website used by Islamist groups. Ekhlaas.org said he had "fallen as a martyr".

There is speculation that he was killed by a US missile strike in the North Waziristan area of Pakistan this week.

A dozen militants were reported killed in the attack. US intelligence agencies said they were checking the reports.

A Pakistani daily paper, the News, reported that the suspected US strike was aimed at Libi and another senior figure, Obaidah al-Masri.

The Pakistani government said it knew nothing about Libi's death.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he did not "have anything definitive" to say about it, the Associated Press reported. Top al-Qaeda leader reported dead >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)