LAMPEDUSA, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - One by one, a group of would-be immigrants stepped down shakily from the coastguard patrol boat on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.

The 33 men, carrying no luggage, made the perilous journey from north Africa in search of a new life in Europe.

ROME, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Hundreds of Italian troops began patrolling the streets of major cities and sensitive areas Monday in a controversial move to boost security approved by the right-wing government last week.

ROME, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Italian authorities on Monday deployed 3,000 troops into major cities and sensitive zones in a controversial move to boost security, media reported Monday.

BEIJING, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Suspected terrorists killed 16 policemen in China's northwest Xinjiang region on Monday, state press reported, the latest in a series of security alerts ahead of the Olympics.

Following are key facts about Xinjiang and the alleged threat there:

AKSU, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Speeding down a remote desert highway, Yusup reflects on life as one of China's eight million ethnic Muslim Uighurs and his tone turns as bleak as the sun-fried landscape.

BEIRUT, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Arab media reported on Sunday that a brigadier general thought to be the Syrian regime's liaison with Hezbollah in Lebanon has been assassinated.

The reports came almost six months after the killing in a Damascus car bomb of top Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughnieh, which the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel.

AKSU, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - China has blamed Muslim separatist militants of the outlawed East Turkestan Islamic Movement for plotting attacks on the Beijing Olympics, which begin on August 8.

Following are key facts about ETIM, which is listed by China and the United States as a terrorist organisation:

AKSU, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Chatting amiably in the stifling heat of China's far western Xinjiang region, a group of ethnic Uighurs suddenly turn to stone when the mainly Muslim area's most taboo subject is raised -- terrorism.

WASHINGTON, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - A key US national security agency on Friday defended the right of border officers to seize laptops from travelers even if they are not suspected of criminal activity, as lawmakers and rights activists slammed it as unconstitutional and alarming.

BEIJING, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - China said Friday it was capable of thwarting any terrorist attacks during the Beijing Olympics, both in the capital as well as in the restive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, state media reported.