The U.S. Defense Department says insurgent and sectarian attacks in Iraq have soared to record highs over the last three months, to about 1,000 incidents each week.

U.S. federal authorities say Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman has been hospitalized, and warns that his death could trigger possible terror attacks in the United States.

The U.S. State Department's top diplomat for Africa says el-Qaida figures are now running the Islamic Courts movement which controls most of Somalia. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer says U.S. diplomats are working to try to prevent the conflict in Somalia from becoming a broader war in the Horn of Africa. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.