Mosul—Iraq's third-largest city, urbane center of the nation's northern regions, built on the remains of the once-great Assyrian empire, made free through the sacrifices of thousands of Iraqis, Kurds, and Americans—fell to a gang of Islamist insurgents Monday.

Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen reportedly shot one of their own men to death, accusing him of collaborating with American spies, and strung his body up under a soccer goalpost near a site where a U.S. drone attack reportedly killed five local residents late last year.

Early one morning last October, Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai headed home after morning prayers in Tripoli, Libya, and was snatched by U.S. forces for his alleged role in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa. Thanks to a nearby security camera, we now know what such a kidnapping looks like.

"U.S. officials" tell the Washington Post that Abu Sufian bin Qumu, a Libyan jihadi leader held as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay after the 9/11 attacks, assisted in the attack on an American consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other U.S. citizens.

We already knew that Al Qaeda fighters filed expense reports and followed corporate-style rules. But a new report from the Associated Press shows that the terrorists keep detailed, almost obsessive receipts for all expenses, even for items as small as a single lightbulb or a jar of mustard.

Al Qaeda can't stop apologizing. Five weeks after an affiliate of the terror group sought forgiveness for cutting off the wrong guy's head, the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda has apologized for an assault on a Yemeni hospital during a terror attack two weeks ago that left 52 people dead.

Today the Daily Beast reported that an intercepted conference call between “more than 20 al Qaeda operatives” led nearly two dozen U.S. embassies scattered across Southwest Asia and North Africa to shut down over the weekend, a precautionary measure that American officials later extended through August 10. Based on testimony from three unnamed U.S. officials, reporters Eli Lake and Josh Rogin say al Qaeda lieutenants in Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Egypt and Islamic Maghreb discussed vague plans of attack with al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and the terrorist group’s Yemeni leader, Nasser al-Wuhayshi. One of the unnamed officers compared the call to a meeting of the “Legion of Doom.”

For the first time in history, a group of managers were able to sit down and prepare for a major project on a conference call. It's just that all the managers were al Qaeda managers, and the major project was a terrorist attack.

Suicide bombers just attacked the Indian consulate in Afghanistan. Twenty-three people were injured and nine children died in the blast. Yesterday the State Department issued a travel alert and announced that 22 US embassies would be closed on Sunday due to fear of an al Qaeda attack.

The State Department has issued a "world-wide terrorism alert" for travelers after picking up heightened "chatter" that "Al Qaeda and its affiliates are plotting attacks against U.S. interests globally." Bon voyage?

This morning, perennial candidate Jimmy McMillan—best known for his formidable facial hair and trademark catch phrase-cum-political party—announced his endorsement for beleaguered mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner after a chance encounter at an IHOP in Harlem.

As many as 500 prisoners, most of them senior al-Qaeda members awaiting execution, reportedly escaped from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison last night during what Reuters is calling a "military-style assault to free them."

According to a letter obtained by the Associated Press, the bosses in Al Qaeda are not unlike the managers at your job; lower level terrorists in the group's North African division reportedly have to fill out expense reports, attend meetings, return supervisor's phone calls in a timely fashion, and, of course, produce (terror-inducing and deadly) results.

When it debuted in 2010, Inspire, al Qaeda's English-language magazine, drew mockery—from us and others—for its seemingly laughable mission to bring modern media packaging and splashy headlines to the world of primitive holy war. It turns out that, if initial reports about the confession of Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are correct, it accomplished precisely what its proprietors hoped it would.

At a press conference this afternoon, Canadian police revealed they had thwarted a terrorist plot to derail a passenger train operating somewhere in the Toronto area. Calling the bust a "multi-jurisdictional" effort, one which involved both Canadian and American law-enforcement agencies, authorities with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police offered few details but said they had taken into custody two men: Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, neither of whom is a Canadian citizen.

According to a document found by the Associated Press in Timbuktu, members of al-Qaeda in North Africa were in possession of a fairly detailed instruction manual for avoiding drone attacks. The document, which includes an easy-to-use list, is a copy of a paper reportedly penned by Abdallah bin Muhammad, a senior commander of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. It was apparently left behind by the North African group as they fled French troops last month.

Al Qaeda's second in command has been confirmed dead. Watch for Zero Dark Thirty 2, out next Oscar season.

On yesterday's show, Rush Limbaugh put forward another of his signature "theories," noting in advance that he was "picking it off the wall."

In 2007, the New Yorker published staff writer Raffi Khatchadourian's lengthy and nuanced profile of "American Al Qaeda" Adam Gadahn, the California-born death metal enthusiast who converted to Islam, moved to Pakistan, and rose to the leadership of Al Qaeda. What the magazine has never reported: Gadahn wrote back.

The thing about this lawsuit is that it hinges on the testimony of a man who might be more hungry for fame than Kim Kardashian and Kanye West combined.