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Clashes in Southern Algeria Leave One Dead

A man who was injured in clashes in southern Algeria, site of off-and-on confrontations between Berber and Arab communities, has died of his wounds, the country's national news agency said on Saturday.

The 33-year-old was wounded during clashes between groups of youths that began late on Friday in Berriane, according to the APS agency, and later died in the hospital.

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U.N. Threatens Libya Sanctions, Urges Negotiations

The United Nations Security Council pressed Libya's warring factions to urgently form a unity government and threatened sanctions against those behind spiraling violence.

In a declaration adopted by consensus, the 15 council members urged the parties taking part in peace talks to "agree on arrangements on the formation of a national unity government to end Libya's political, security and institutional crisis."

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Body of Slain French Hostage to be Flown Home from Algeria

The body of a French tourist who was kidnapped and beheaded by jihadists in Algeria last September is to be flown home on Monday, a source close to the case told Agence France Presse.

DNA tests have confirmed that the headless corpse found in a booby-trapped grave in the mountainous Kabylie region, east of Algiers, on January 15 was that of Herve Gourdel, the source said on Sunday.

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Berber-Arab Violence Wounds 10 in Algeria

Clashes between Berbers and Arabs in the southern Algerian town of Ghardaia wounded 10 people Saturday, including two gendarmes, national news agency APS reported.

The fighting erupted when Mozabite (Berbers) youth tried to prevent  a group of Arabs, or Chaamba, from going to a mosque located in a majority Mozabite neighborhood, the agency said.

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All Victims Identified in Air Algeria Crash

The identification of victims from a mysterious Air Algeria crash in Mali in July has been completed, allowing the remains to be returned to their families, the French foreign ministry said Friday.

"This identification allows the return to their families of the mortal remains of those who disappeared in this catastrophe and bring an end to a painful wait," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

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One Dead, 65 Hurt as Train derails in Algiers Suburb

A passenger train derailed in an eastern suburb of Algiers on Wednesday, leaving one person dead and 65 injured, emergency services said.

The accident "killed a 55-year-old woman", Lieutenant Sofiane Bekhti said.

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Fresh Round of Mali Peace Talks to Begin in Algiers

Malian government negotiators will sit down with separatist militias on Monday, hoping to end the conflicts that continue to rage in the country a year after it returned to democracy.

Riven by ethnic rivalries, a Tuareg rebellion and an Islamist insurgency in its vast desert north, the west African nation has struggled for stability and peace since a military coup in 2012.

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Flags at Half-mast as France Mourns Mali Crash Victims

Flags flew at half-mast in France Monday in mourning for the 118 victims of the Air Algerie plane tragedy, as investigators waited for the black boxes from the crash to arrive.

Thousands of kilometers away on the remote desert site of the accident in Mali, experts were sifting through the remains of the aircraft to try and determine why it plunged to the ground with such force that it completely disintegrated.

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Lebanese Delegation Heads to Mali to Identify Victims of Plane Crash

An official Lebanese delegation headed on Sunday to Paris en rout to Mali to follow up the probe into the Air Algerie plane that crashed three-days ago and to carry out the necessary procedures to identify the bodies of the Lebanese victims.

Haitham Jomaa,director general of the emigrants dept. at Lebanon's foreign ministry, chaired a delegation to follow up the probe into the crash of the McDonnell Douglas 83, which crashed over Mali on Thursday.

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Contact Lost with Algerian Jet that Took Off from Burkina Faso, Official Says Wreck Found in Mali

An Air Algerie plane missing since early Thursday over Mali with 116 passengers and crew, including some 50 French nationals, on board probably crashed, French President Francois Hollande said.

Speaking on French television, Hollande said: "Everything leads us to believe that the plane has crashed."

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