Representatives of 45 nations and international bodies met in Madrid Monday to consider plans to strengthen an African Union peacekeeping force in war-torn Somalia.

The AU force, known as AMISOM, comprises about 7,200 troops, and the meeting of the UN-backed International Contact Group on Somalia, which is to conclude on Tuesday, will "look into a possible reinforcement," Spain's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Stepping up the fight against maritime piracy in waters off the coast of Somalia and finding ways to boost support for the country's transitional government will be among the other topics discussed, it added.

Delegates from 45 nations and international organisations, including the United States and the European Union, are taking part in the meeting which was closed to the press.

Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and the top United Nations envoy to the country, Augustine Mahiga, are among the participants.

Ahmed warned in a speech before the UN General Assembly on Saturday that Somalia is "a weak link" in the fight against international terrorism and urged nations to continue to assist in training its forces and supporting the AU peacekeeping contingent.

"Hamas continued to gain strength this past summer as about 100,000 youngsters underwent radical anti-Israel indoctrination at dozens of summer camps run by the terrorist group – which also attacked United Nations camps, its main competition – according to a report released on Tuesday by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

According to the report, more than 100,000 children and teenagers participated in the Hamas camps, which included paramilitary training and military parades. The Islamic Jihad terrorist organization also opened 51 different summer camps for over 10,000 children.

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Lesueur, a general delegate at the Thomas More Institute, said the EU had a role to play in putting an end to the conflict between Morocco and Algeria over Western Sahara, a 266,000 square-kilometre territory that has been a bone of contention between the two countries.

According to him, the new distribution of portfolios within the European Commission should accelerate progress, as several commissioners are concerned by the issue. He also proposed to appoint a coordinator.

"We urge the EU to reinvest itself in the region and place its relations with the Maghreb at the top of its agenda," he said.

Moreover, "the EU should help projects and business development," he said, stressing the importance of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), launched in 2008 under the French EU Presidency.

On migration, Lesueur explained that Morocco had problems similar to those faced by Europe in dealing with its southern neighbourhood. As sub-Sahel migrants move north to reach Europe, "Maghreb countries are transforming themselves into transit countries, and are also slowly turning into host countries," he said, remarking that thousands of Senegalese are currently living in Algerian capital Tangiers.

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The ministerial conference of the Alliance of Civilizations, to be held in Cordoba on 3 and 4 May as part of the Spanish EU presidency, will address the impact of the crisis provoked by the Swiss decision to ban the construction of minarets in mosques.

The meeting will take the title Religious freedom in democratic societies and with the participation of some 300 people, including ministers, religious scholars and leaders of EU countries, as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for organizing the event.

Among the guests will have a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, who will present the impact it is having the measure in his country on the minarets in the Muslim worship centers.

Most Swiss citizens approved the ban on building minarets in a referendum held on 29 November.

The Swiss Government has been saying that this decision should not be interpreted as an attack against Islam or its adherents, although it has caused great unrest in Muslim countries and has encouraged far-right parties in other European countries to go in the same direction.

A meeting of delegates will attend Córdoba candidate countries for accession to the EU, the EU institutions and the Council of Europe.

Also invited to the bishops of the eight cities of Andalusia and the representatives of the major religious communities.

The conference will feature several panels, which will discuss issues such as pluralism of faiths, the role of religious leaders and combating radicalization and religious extremism.

It is not yet confirmed attendance of Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos s deputy for Córdoba.

Moratinos organized in the capital of Córdoba in October 2007 a meeting to discuss a religious intolerance and discrimination against Muslims in Western countries. It was held on that occasion by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The Alliance of Civilizations was initiated by Spain and Turkey in 2004 to help foster understanding between religions and cultures.

The group of friends of the Alliance, integrated into United Nations, has around one hundred countries.

Spanish frigate Victoria.

The Spanish frigate is participating in the so-called Operation Focus inside the Operation Atalanta, the EU operation to control and monitor the pirates from theSomali ports in which they operate. This morning, a helicopter from the Victoria located a whaler, who was used as the mother ship, and several suspicious skiffs. Upon reaching the area to inspect the boats, the military have seized the frigate weapons and other material for acts of piracy. Aftwerwards and following the instructions of command of Operation Atalanta, they went to destroy the mother ship.

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Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said Friday Europe must think about Turkey's membership from a global and strategic perspective and approve Turkey's membership.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Ankara on Friday, Ilves said that he was pleased to be in Turkey.

“I had visited Mr. Gul while he was the prime minister. I have warm feelings towards Turkey and have made statements in the past in support of Turkey,” Ilves said.

“Relations between Turkey and Estonia began a long time ago. Turkey had recognized Estonia as a new country at a time of occupation by the Soviet Union and rejected the Soviets' occupation of Estonia. Turkey has always had great support for Estonia,” Ilves said.

“Turkey has the right to be present in the EU. Europe must look at Turkey's membership from a strategic perspective,” Ilves said.

“There are Turcology departments in Estonia's universities and many Estonians know how to speak Turkish. It is crucial for the peoples of our two countries to get to know each other. Estonians come to Turkey as tourists and we expect to see Turkish tourists in Estonia,” Ilves also said.

1. Erdogan calls Israel "principal threat" to peace in the Middle East.
2. Germany: Merkel calls for "biligualism and integration" of Turkish immigrants.
3. Merkel against Erdogan's initiative of Turkish schools' net.
4. Turkish constitutional reform angers judges.
5. Erdogan seeks influence through Turkish emigrants.
6. Saudi King awards Erdogan.
7. Erdogan's double standards.

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7,000 Moroccan ulemas (Islamic scholars) rejected in a common message the Christian proselitism in their country and considered it even like a "moral rape" and "religious terrorism" that "tries to divert Moroccan children from their faith".

The collective text released this weekend is the last episode of the campaign by the authorities in Rabat against foreign Christians who settled in Morocco accusing them of proselytizing and trying to shake the faith of Muslims, a crime in the Moroccan criminal code.

Throughout the month of March about 70 Christians have been forced to flee the country, as calculated by the different churches, but the Moroccan Interior Ministry acknowledged only the expulsion of 16 who ran a small orphanage in Leuh Ain, in the Atlas Mountains .

The Christian victims of the decision of the Interior are all Protestants except a Franciscan who lived in Larache. It is the first Catholic ever expelled from northern Morocco, as the Archbishop of Tanger has said. He also denies that they had been proselytising, while attending the small community of foreign Catholics in that city.

The message of the ulemas expressed "full support and great pride" of those who subscribe to "the relevant historic decisions taken by the government to abort the hypocritical  part by a Christian group of proselitizing" in the country. Their performance with the children, the message continues, is "a moral violation, a form of religious terrorism and is equivalent to the abduction of innocent children."

"These tough decisions," the statement concluded, "reassure us about the future of the national faith protected by Divine Providence that watches and by His Majesty Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, as defender of the faith (...)" . The text of the scholars of Islam was spread by its highest hierarchical body, the Supreme Ulema Council chaired by the monarch (NOTE: speaking about division of State and Religion).

The Archbishops of Rabat and Tangiers, the apostolic nuncio in Rabat and the official representative of Protestant churches in Morocco have demanded an explanation to the authorities on the wave of expulsions, but so far they have obtained none. Some Moroccan converts to Christianity have been the victims in March apparently of police harassment.

At least two governments, the U.S. and the Netherlands, have criticized the measures taken by the Moroccan authorities, but not the Spanish that is currently chairing the European Union. The bulk of the expulsions were carried, however, during the first weekend of March. At that time it was held in Granada the first summit between Morocco and the EU supported by Spain.