US puts Algerian al-Qaeda figure on terror blacklist

The United States added an Algerian Islamist who once called for a global "jihad" against France to its terror blacklist on Wednesday.
The state department said Abu Obaida Yusuf al-Annabi is a leading member of al-Qaeda's north and west African franchise, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).
He has regularly appeared in the group's propaganda videos, and in 2013 famously demanded that Muslims retaliate against France's intervention in Mali.
"Jihad is now the duty of everyone capable among you," he said, in a recording dated April 25 that year, three months after French troops deployed to quash an Aqim offensive.
Branding him a "specially designated global terrorist," the US state department described Al-Annabi as leader of Aqim's "council of notables" and its media chief.
Americans are forbidden from aiding or dealing with designated terrorists, and the suspect's property can be seized if it falls under US jurisdiction.