Soldiers mass outside Mauritania's presidential palace. Armed with heavy weapons, the troops are allied to the country's presidential guardsmen. Inside the palace gates, those guards have staged a coup, seizing Mauritania's president Abdallahi, they man they're employed to protect. The move came after Abdallahi sacked several top army officers. Seen here at his inauguration, Abdallahi had only been president since last year. Then he won elections, and took over from a military junta who'd toppled for country's former president in another coup in 2005. Like then, Wednesday's coup appears to have also been bloodless. Mauritania's population of three million are among the world's poorest people. The west African country has pinned hopes of future prosperity on offshore reserves of oil and natural gas. The coup leaders have installed the chief presidential guard as head of Mauritania's state council. They say Abdallahi is now a...