A French government report has proposed a radical overhaul of the “assimilation” model which requires immigrants to abandon their culture for that of France, including ending the ban on Muslim headscarves in schools and naming streets and squares after notables of foreign origin. In response to fears over growing racism and ethnic divisions in the country, it recommends emphasizing the “Arab-Oriental” dimension of French identity, barring the media from mentioning a person’s ethnicity and promoting the teaching of Arabic and African languages in schools.

Syria’s moderate rebels have launched a social campaign to win support from civilians to quell growing influence by al-Qaeda-linked militant groups in opposition-held areas, a newspaper reported Monday. “We realized that in order to fight al-Qaeda we need to counter them not just militarily but on the social side as well,” a senior adviser to the Supreme Military Council told The Independent newspaper.

France launched its second major African intervention in a year on Friday as its troops rushed to the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, to stem violence that already claimed over 100 lives this week. France, which capital Bamako earlier this year, began assembling a new 1,200-strong force for CAR just hours after winning U.N. backing to go ahead on Thursday.

The Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas movement has cancelled its upcoming anniversary celebrations, for the first time since it came to power six years ago, as the territory grapples with economic woes. Hamas said it would be inappropriate to hold the annual celebrations, used to display the group's control on the region, as deep economic challenges rip the crowded coastal strip. "The decision to cancel the rally is a message of solidarity recognising the difficult circumstances experienced by our people in Gaza," Hamas official Ashraf Abu Zayed was quoted by AP news agency as saying.

Inside the Gaza government press office, a fresh-faced young woman makes her case in fluent English; outside, scowling bearded officials bark orders at masked militants. In the Gaza Strip, the Islamist movement Hamas that runs it shows two faces. Wearing a brightly coloured veil and smiling broadly, 23-year-old Israa al-Mudallal admits with disarming candour that she still has a lot to learn in her role as Hamas's first-ever spokesperson for the foreign press.

If it hadn’t been drowned out by the ongoing wars in Mali and Syria, you would have heard all about the brutal civil war that broke out in the Central African Republic (CAR) in December of 2012. I guess there's only so much war you can read about at any given time, but the one currently tearing through the bush of the Central African Republic is a significant one. One UN official is even claiming a high threat of genocide in the coming months as Christian and Muslim militias face off in a war of escalating sectarian violence.

Al Qaeda is building its most dangerous stronghold ever in the borderlands between Syria and Iraq. Hundreds of new jihadist fighters are flocking to this battlefield in the heartland of the Middle East. And with the civil wars in both countries all but certain to endure for the foreseeable future, the danger from this stronghold is growing.