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• US opens trade office in Libya to boost ties
  

  The United States has opened a trade office in Libya to boost economic ties with the oil-rich state, the official JANA news agency reported on Monday. It said the U.S. assistant secretary for trade, Israel Hernandez, was at the official opening on Sunday with Libyan government representatives

• Rice says she will go to Libya (AFP)
  

  21 minutes ago TBILISI (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday she would go to Libya soon after the signing of a compensation deal for American victims of Libyan attacks in the 1980s and US reprisals. The agreement was by top US and Libyan officials in Tripoli on Thursday after a series of high level meetings.

• Italy to compenstae Libya for occupation
  

  Italy to compenstae Libya for occupation

• Rice arrives in Libya on historic visit (AP)
  

  By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 25 minutes ago TRIPOLI, Libya - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Libya, becoming the highest-ranking American official to visit the North African country in more than a half-century and opening a new chapter in U. S. relations with the one-time pariah state.

• Libya halts oil sales to Switzerland: company (AFP)
  

  5 minutes ago TRIPOLI (AFP) - The Libyan government has decided to halt oil deliveries to Switzerland, the Libyan oil company Tamoil has said. "Libya has requested the company to halt all oil deliveries to Switzerland," Tamoil CEO Issam Zanati told AFP in a telephone interview. "It is a decision of Libya and not Tamoil," he said.

• Italy to invest $5bln in Libya over 25 years (AFP)
  

  12 minutes ago BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday that Rome will invest five billion dollars in Libya over the next 25 years as part of a deal to resolve disputes dating back to its colonial rule of the country. Berlusconi made his comments during a visit to the Mediterranean city of Benghazi where he is due to meet Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and seal a friendship and cooperation accord between Rome and Tripoli.

• Rice primed for historic visit to Libya (AP)
  

  By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago LISBON, Portugal - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she is excited about her landmark trip to Libya, when she will become the highest-ranking American official to visit the North African country in more than a half-century. Rice told reporters in Portugal before leaving for Libya later Friday that it was a "historic moment" in long-difficult relations between Washington and Tripoli.

• Condoleezza Rice visits Libya next week
  

  U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will embark on a historic visit to Libya next week, a US official told AFP Tuesday, the first such a trip to Tripoli Libya by a secretary of state in more than 25 years. Her visit comes less than one month after a U.S.-Libyan agreement to compensate

• Sudan jet hijackers free passengers, hold crew: Libya (AFP)
  

  3 minutes ago TRIPOLI (AFP) - The two hijackers of a Sudanese airliner freed all the passengers at a remote airbase in the Libyan desert on Wednesday but continued to hold seven crew members, a Libyan official said. "All of the passengers have left the plane," the official told AFP from Kufra oasis where the aircraft was forced to land on Tuesday evening.

• Hostages' location a mystery as Libya says not there (AFP)
  

  50 minutes ago CAIRO (AFP) - The whereabouts of 11 tourists and eight Egyptians kidnapped more than a week ago is uncertain on Saturday after a Libyan official denied reports the hostages and their abductors are in Libya. "With research operations now finished, we can confirm that the hostages and their abductors are not in Libya," the senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity overnight on Friday.

• Lebanese prosecutor charges Libya's Gadhafi (AP)
  

  By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer 21 minutes ago BEIRUT, Lebanon - A Lebanese prosecutor has charged Libya's Moammar Gadhafi and six other Libyan officials in the disappearance of a top Lebanese Shiite cleric 30 years ago, judicial officials in Beirut said Wednesday. Prosecutor Samih al-Haj charged the Libyan leader with "incitement to kidnap and withhold the freedom" of the imam and his companions, the officials said.

• Libya: Hijacker of Sudanese plane ready to free women and children
  

  Libya: Hijacker of Sudanese plane ready to free women and children

• Kidnapped tourists still in Libya: Sudan (AFP)
  

  31 minutes ago KHARTOUM (AFP) - As a desert kidnap drama entered its second week, 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians are still being held in Libya by their captors, a leading Sudanese official said on Friday. "The kidnappers took them across the Libyan frontier by vehicle. They are still there, according to our contacts," Ali Yousuf, head of protocol at the Sudanese foreign ministry, told AFP.

• Sudan says kidnapped tourists are in Libya
  

  Sudan says kidnapped tourists are in Libya

• Italy's Berlusconi arrives in Libya to sign pact (Reuters)
  

  By Salah Sarrar 25 minutes ago BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrived in Libya on Saturday to sign a "friendship pact" under which Italy will pay billions of dollars in compensation for abuses committed during its colonial rule of the North African country.

• Libya deposits funds in US victims account
  

  Libya has deposited a "substantial" sum of money into a $1.8 billion fund for victims of terrorism but payments can be made only when Tripoli gives the remaining agreed amount, the United States said on Thursday. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch said Libya put the money

• Hijacked Sudanese plane lands in Libya: report (Reuters)
  

  34 minutes ago KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A Sudanese passenger plane was hijacked on Tuesday after leaving the town of Nyala in Darfur and has landed in Libya, the Arabic satellite TV channel Al Jazeera said. Al Jazeera said 87 passengers were on board the plane, which belongs to a private local operator.

• Rice kicks off historic Libya visit
  

  U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice travels to Libya on Friday for a landmark meeting with its leader Moamar Gaddafi to mark the end of the Arab nation's international isolation. It will be the first time in 55 years that a U.S. secretary of state has visited Tripoli. Eager to show Iran

• US and Libya close to resuming full ties: diplomat (AFP)
  

  by Imed Lamloum 4 minutes ago TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libya and the United States are close to a deal that would see compensation paid for US victims of Libyan attacks and a full normalisation of diplomatic ties, an American official said in an interview published on Thursday. "We hope we will (soon) conclude discussions on the deal between the two governments," US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Welch told the daily Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

• Libya: Israel guilty of "piracy in the high seas"
  

  Libya: Israel guilty of "piracy in the high seas"

• Rice to make a historic visit to Libya
  

  Less than four months before the end of Bush's eight-year White House term, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will mark one of the rare diplomatic successes of President George W. Bush with her first visit to Libya this week. Eager to show Iran and North Korea how they could benefit from a

• Eid al-Fitr begins Tuesday for most Mideast Muslims, Libya (AFP)
  

  12 minutes ago RIYADH (AFP) - Eid al-Fitr festivities marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan will be celebrated on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Libya and Jordan, officials said. Religious authorities in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines, said that the new moon had been sighted and that Ramadan ends on Monday with the feast to follow the next day.

• Rice arrives in Libya for "historic" visit
  

  Rice arrives in Libya for "historic" visit

• Italy-Libya set to turn page on colonial-era disputes (AFP)
  

  by Imed Lamloum 21 minutes ago BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrived in Libya on Saturday to sign an accord aimed at resolving colonial era disputes that have long troubled relations between Rome and Tripoli. Berlusconi is to meet Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi to seal an an agreement that he said in a newspaper interview would allow the "turning of the page on the past.

• Rice in Libya on historic visit (AFP)
  

  by Sylvie Lanteaume 11 minutes ago TRIPOLI (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Libya on Friday for a landmark meeting with its leader Moamer Kadhafi as she hailed the West's reconciliation with the long-ostracised nation. Rice landed in Tripoli on the first leg of a tour of north African states, becoming the first US secretary of state to visit the north African country in half a century.

• Darfur rebels hijack plane to fly to France: Libya
  

  The hijackers of a Sudanese passenger plane with more than 100 people on board have claimed to belong to a Darfur rebel group and want to fly to Paris, Libyan officials said Wednesday. The Sun Air Boeing 737 was hijacked shortly after it took off from Nyala, the largest city in Darfur, on

• Sudanese jet hijackers want to fly to Paris: Libya (Reuters)
  

  By Salah Sarrar 3 minutes ago TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Hijackers who forced a Sudanese airliner to land in Libya have demanded fuel to fly on to Paris, Libya's state news agency Jana said on Wednesday. "The pilot relayed to the airport head that the hijackers do not want any negotiations and they have only one demand, that the plane be refueled to go to Paris," Jana said, quoting Khaled Sassia, head of the airport at Kufrah in southeast Libya.

• European tourists kidnapped in Egypt moved to Libya (AFP)
  

  by Peter Martell 30 minutes ago KHARTOUM (AFP) - Bandits who kidnapped 19 tourists and Egyptians in the desert have moved them from Sudan to Libya, shadowed by Sudanese forces who have said they will not put the hostages' lives at risk. "The kidnappers and the tourists have moved to Libya, about 13 to 15 kilometres (eight to nine miles) across the border," Ali Yousuf, director of protocol at the Sudanese foreign ministry, told AFP.

• Rice meets Kadhafi on historic Libya visit (AFP)
  

  by Sylvie Lanteaume 3 minutes ago TRIPOLI (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on a landmark visit to Tripoli Friday, heralding a new chapter in Washington's reconciliation with the former enemy state. Rice described her brief visit -- the first to the oil-rich north African country by a US secretary of state in more than half a century -- as "historic" and a sign the United States does not have permanent foes.

• Sudanese plane hijackers surrender in Libya (Reuters)
  

  By Salah Sarrar 37 minutes ago TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The hijackers of a Sudanese airliner surrendered to authorities in Libya on Wednesday after releasing all the passengers and crew, Libya's aviation authority said. The airliner, with 95 people on board, was seized on Tuesday after leaving Sudan's war-torn Darfur region for Khartoum.

• Airliner hijacked from Darfur to Libya (AP)
  

  By KHALED EL-DEEB and MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press Writers 30 minutes ago TRIPOLI, Libya - Hijackers in Sudan's wartorn Darfur region seized a jetliner carrying nearly 100 people, including local Darfur officials, and forced it to land at a World War II-era airfield in the heart of the Sahara Desert in neighboring Libya, officials said.

• Sudanese plane hijackers surrender in Libya (AFP)
  

  by Afaf Geblawi 24 minutes ago TRIPOLI (AFP) - Two hijackers of a Sudanese plane surrendered to Libyan authorities at a remote desert airport on Wednesday after freeing all passengers on board, almost 24 hours after the drama began in Darfur. "The hijackers surrendered without any violence and the crew are safe and sound," a Libyan official said from the airport in Kufra, an oasis in the southeast of the north African country.

• Sahara kidnappers move hostages to Libya: Sudan (Reuters)
  

  Reuters - Kidnappers holding 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians moved from Sudan into Libya with their hostages Thursday, a Sudanese spokesman said.

• Rice set to make history in Libya (AP)
  

  By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 17 minutes ago LISBON, Portugal - When Condoleezza Rice spends a few hours in Libya and shakes hands with Moammar Gadhafi, she will close a nearly three-decade era of bitter animosity between the United States and the North African nation that has sometimes gotten personal.

• Hijackers of Darfur plane surrender in Libya (AP)
  

  By KHALED EL-DEEB, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago TRIPOLI, Libya - Two hijackers who commandeered a jetliner from Sudan's Darfur region and diverted it to a remote desert airstrip in southern Libya surrendered and freed all hostages Wednesday after a daylong standoff, officials said.

• Hijacked Sudan passenger jet lands in Libya (AFP)
  

  by Abdelmoniem Abu Edries Ali 8 minutes ago KHARTOUM (AFP) - A Sudanese passenger jet hijacked shortly after takeoff on Tuesday from the country's war-torn region of Darfur by unknown assailants has landed in Libya with more than 100 people on board. The Sun Air Boeing 737 took off from Nyala, the largest city in Darfur, at 4:40 pm (1340 GMT) and was bound for Khartoum, airline officials said.

• Israeli navy turns back Libyan ship heading to Gaza
  

  Israeli navy turns back Libyan ship heading to Gaza

• Switzerland: Case against Gaddafi son dropped
  

  Switzerland: Case against Gaddafi son dropped

• Hijackers of Darfur plane refuse negotiations (AP)
  

  11 minutes ago TRIPOLI, Libya - Libya's official news agency is reporting that hijackers of a plane that departed from Sudan's Darfur region are refusing to negotiate after landing at a remote desert airfield in southern Libya. The JANA news agency says the hijackers are also refusing to release women and children and allow provisions onto the plane.

• Sudan plane hijacked after Darfur takeoff
  

  A Sudanese passenger jet was hijacked on Tuesday shortly after takeoff from Nyala, the largest town in the country's war-torn Darfur region, and was heading for Libya, an airline employee said. "The plane took off from Nyala at 4:40 pm (1340 GMT) en route to Khartoum," an employee in

• Lebanon issues arrest warrant for Gaddafi
  

  Lebanon has issued an arrest and is seeking the death sentence for Libyan leader Muamar Gaddafi and six other Libyan officials over the disappearance of a top Lebanese Shiite cleric 30 years ago, judicial officials said Wednesday. Gaddafi was also indicted for allegedly "inciting the

• Libyan nuclear file should be example for Syria, Iran: US (AFP)
  

  21 minutes ago VIENNA (AFP) - Libya's cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog and its investigation into Tripoli's clandestine nuclear weapons programme should be an example for other countries, a top US official said Wednesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors, at its week-long meeting here, adopted by consensus a resolution commending Libya's cooperation in the agency's probe.

• Sudanese hijackers from hardline Darfur rebel faction: airport (AFP)
  

  9 minutes ago TRIPOLI (AFP) - The hijackers of a Sudanese plane with more than 100 passengers on board have said they are from a hardline Darfur rebel group, the director of Libyan airport where the aircraft stopped said on Wednesday. The hijackers, who had not previously identified themselves or made any demands except for fuel, have said they belong to the Sudanese Liberation Army faction of Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur, who lives in Paris, and apparently want to fly there, said the director of the Kufra military airport in southeastern Libya.

• Gaddafi promises Libyans a share of oil wealth
  

  Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday accused corrupt officials of looting the country's oil wealth and said its 5 million people should be given the money directly. Gaddafi urged a sweeping reform of government bureaucracy, saying most of the cabinet system should be dismantled to free

• Sudan: Plane hijacked in southern Darfur (AP)
  

  By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press Writer 27 minutes ago KHARTOUM, Sudan - A man holding a knife hijacked a plane, carrying more than 100 people Tuesday in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, a security official said. The passenger plane was seized soon after taking off from Nyala, the capital of southern Darfur, on route to Khartoum, and was diverted to Libya, said the official, speaking from Nyala airport.

• Sudan plane hijackers are Darfur rebels: Al Jazeera (Reuters)
  

  23 minutes ago KHARTOUM (Reuters) - The men who hijacked a Sudanese passenger plane to Libya are from a branch of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), one of the original Darfur rebel groups, the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera said on Wednesday. It said the 10 hijackers were followers of Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur, whose faction refused to sign the 2006 peace agreement with the government.

• Palestinian doctor describes torture in Libyan jail (AFP)
  

  12 minutes ago PARIS (AFP) - A Palestinian-born doctor imprisoned in Libya on charges of infecting children with AIDS has offered new and harrowing details of his incarceration, according to judicial testimony seen by AFP Friday. In his account to French judges, Doctor Ashraf al-Hajuj describes being raped by a German Shepherd, having his nails ripped off and being given electric shocks.

• Gaddafi warns Iran of same fate of Iraq as Western power to discuss further sanctions
  

  Gaddafi warns Iran of same fate of Iraq as Western power to discuss further sanctions

• Sudan forces kill six kidnappers, arrest two
  

  Sudanese forces have killed six kidnappers who had abducted 19 tourists and Egyptians in a remote desert nine days ago, and arrested two, Sudanese presidential advisor Mahjoub Fadl Badri told reporters on Sunday. "Sudanese forces followed the tracks of the kidnappers from Jebel Oweinat, a

• Servants drop charges in Hannibal Kadhafi case: lawyer (AFP)
  

  25 minutes ago GENEVA (AFP) - Two servants who accused the son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi of mistreating them in a Geneva hotel have dropped their legal complaints against him and his wife, their Swiss lawyer said Tuesday. "In a free, considered and informed manner, my clients have decided to withdraw the legal complaint that they filed," said lawyer Francois Membrez.

• Hala Sarhan on Libyan satellite channel
  

  Hala Sarhan on Libyan satellite channel

• Chelsea midfielder Essien tops Ghana poll
  

  Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien has been named Ghana Footballer of the Year after a media poll here.

• Sudan hijackers free passengers but hold crew (Reuters)
  

  By Salah Sarrar 12 minutes ago TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The hijackers of a Sudanese plane that was forced to land in Libya freed all the passengers on Wednesday but still held six crew members, Libya's aviation authority said. The airliner was seized on Tuesday after leaving Sudan's war-battered Darfur region for Khartoum and was forced to land at the remote Sahara desert oasis of Kufrah.

• Essien out for at least five months with injury
  

  Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien will be out of action for at least five months after rupturing an anterior cruciate knee ligament

• Kadhafi hails full US ties after 39 years in power (AFP)
  

  by Imed Lamloum 35 minutes ago BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi said his regime's long estrangement from the United States was finally over as he marked the 39th anniversary on Monday of his overthrow of the Western-backed monarchy. "The whole business of the conflict between Libya and the United States has been closed once and for all," Kadhafi said in an anniversary speech to the General People's Congress, Libya's equivalent of a parliament.

• Kidnapped tourists back in Sudan: foreign ministry (AFP)
  

  3 minutes ago KHARTOUM, (AFP) - Bandits who kidnapped 19 tourists and Egyptians in the desert have taken their hostages back to Sudan but are now heading towards Egypt, Sudanese officials said on Sunday. "Security organs on Saturday detected the return of the kidnappers. . . with their hostages into the Sudanese borders," said Ali Yousuf, director of protocol at the foreign ministry, the official news agency SUNA reported.

• Libyan leader slams Arab leaders over Gaza
  

  Libyan leader slams Arab leaders over Gaza

• Sudan says airliner hijacked in southern Darfur (AP)
  

  By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press Writer 17 minutes ago KHARTOUM, Sudan - A man waving a knife hijacked a jetliner carrying about 100 people Tuesday in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, forcing it to land at a World War II-era airfield in the heart of the Sahara Desert in neighboring Libya, officials said.

• Rice presses Tunisia for reform (AP)
  

  By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 21 minutes ago TUNIS, Tunisia - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed for democratic reform in Tunisia as she met Saturday with the president of this American ally and partner in the war on terrorism. "We talked about internal matters here in Tunisia and about the course of reform," Rice told reporters after meeting President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the capital, Tunis.

• Gaddafi offers Rice kitchen diplomacy and locket (Reuters)
  

  By Sue Pleming 11 minutes ago RABAT (Reuters) - The heart of many homes is the kitchen and that is where Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi hosted Condoleezza Rice for a Ramadan meal this week, a symbolic gesture to try to end decades of enmity. The casual setting in a small kitchen on the compound bombed by U.

• Libyans savour joys of consumerism (AFP)
  

  by Imed Lamloum 51 minutes ago TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libyans are shaking off decades of deprivation resulting from an iron-fisted socialist rule, international isolation and sanctions to savour the joys of their new market economy. Gone are the days of having to queue outside gloomy state shops to buy subsidised consumer goods in Libya, which is an OPEC member and Africa's number two oil producer with reserves estimated to total 42 billion barrels.

• Kadhafi warns 'arrogant' Iran of military humiliation (AFP)
  

  7 minutes ago TUNIS (AFP) - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on Tuesday warned "arrogant" Iran that it faces military humiliation on the scale of Iraq for its refusal to respond to western powers over a nuclear impasse. "What Iran is doing stems simply from arrogance," Kadhafi said during a visit to Tunisia after Tehran ignored another western deadline to accept an incentives package in exchange for full transparency on its nuclear drive.

• Stranded Sudan jet hijackers to free women, children (AFP)
  

  by Imed Lamloum 14 minutes ago TRIPOLI (AFP) - Hijackers claiming to be Darfur rebels agreed on Wednesday to free women and children among around 100 passengers on board a Sudanese jet stranded at a remote airport in the sweltering Libyan desert. A Libyan official said the hijackers "agreed this morning to our request to free" women and children aboard the Sun Air Boeing 737, hijacked shortly after takeoff from Darfur's main city Nyala on Tuesday and bound for Khartoum.

• Algeria goal burst sinks Senegal in World Cup qualifier (AFP)
  

  23 minutes ago JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Algeria, Libya and Malawi triumphed this weekend to keep alive hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. A three-goal second half burst helped the Desert Foxes of Algeria edge the Teranga Lions of Senegal 3-2 in Blida and take one-point advantage in Group 6 with one round to play.

• Libyan official: Hijackers release passengers (AP)
  

  By KHALED EL-DEEB, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago TRIPOLI, Libya - A Libyan official says the hijackers of a plane from Sudan's Darfur region are releasing passengers — but not crew — after landing hours earlier at an airfield in southern Libya. The civil aviation did not provide additional details and spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

• Rice seeks closer counter-terror ties in Maghreb
  

  U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushed for closer north African counter-terrorism cooperation on Saturday on a tour of an oil-rich region periodically hit by violence blamed on al-Qaeda. Rice, visiting Algeria and Tunisia a day after holding a historic meeting with Libyan leader Muammar

• Egypt hostages freed, in good health: state TV
  

  All 19 hostages, 11 Western tourists and eight Egyptians, captured in a remote border area of Egypt more than a week ago have been freed and are in good health, state-run Egyptian television said on Monday. The hostages were on their way back to Cairo, the state television reported, quoting an

• Sudanese rebel group denies hijacking plane (Reuters)
  

  8 minutes ago KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A spokesman for the Abdel Wahed faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) on Wednesday denied the Darfur group had any role in hijacking a Sudanese passenger plane. "We took no part in this hijacking at all. It is completely against our aims, values and objectives.

• Egypt kidnap tourists' location found: Sudan (AFP)
  

  31 minutes ago KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudan and Egypt have located 19 kidnapped tourists and Egyptians but "do not want an operation that harms the hostages," Sudanese foreign ministry undersecretary Boutros Sadiq said on Tuesday. "They are now in an area of no-man's land between the Sudanese, Libyan and Egyptian border, in the area of Jebel Uweinat," Sadiq told journalists in Khartoum.

• Libyan leader son announces withdrawal from politics
  

  Libyan leader son announces withdrawal from politics

• Egypt scours desert for kidnapped tourists (AFP)
  

  by Charles Onians 16 minutes ago CAIRO, (AFP) - Egypt renewed efforts on Tuesday to free 19 people including European tourists kidnapped in the remote desert and taken to Sudan, after Cairo went back on an official statement that they had been freed. "Egyptian efforts are ongoing to release the abducted tourists," MENA news agency quoted an unnamed official as saying after Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said in New York that all 19 had been freed "safe and sound.

• Rice in Algeria after landmark meeting with Kadhafi (AFP)
  

  19 minutes ago ALGIERS (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked terrorism in Algeria Saturday with President Abedelaziz Bouteflika, as her North Africa visit edged towards its conclusion. "We have talked about our strong interest in fighting terrorism, our counter-terrorism cooperation and I said to the president that I was very saddened at the loss of life of innocent Algerians in recent terror incidents," Rice said after their two-hour meeting.

• Rice urges end to Western Sahara dispute
  

  Wrapping her multi-leg tour in North Africa, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks in Morocco Sunday on issues including terrorism, where an Al-Qaeda-linked group has claimed attacks. Rice met her Moroccan counterpart Taieb Fassi-Fihri as part of the last leg of her tour of the

• Egypt team in Sudan to help secure tourists' release (AFP)
  

  by Charles Onians 6 minutes ago CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt has sent a team to Sudan to try to secure the release of 19 people including European tourists kidnapped in the remote south and taken into the Sudanese desert, a security official said on Tuesday. "Egypt has sent intelligence officers to Sudan where they are working with the Sudanese authorities to secure the hostages' release," the official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

• Sudan says location of Egypt kidnappers known (Reuters)
  

  By Ashraf Badr and Andrew Heavens 21 minutes ago CAIRO/KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Authorities know the whereabouts of kidnappers who seized 19 hostages in the Egyptian desert, but have no plans for any rescue operation that could harm the captives, a Sudanese Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday.

• Westerners rescued after Egypt kidnapping (Reuters)
  

  By Alastair Sharp and Ashraf Badr 23 minutes ago CAIRO (Reuters) - Eleven European tourists and eight Egyptians kidnapped from a remote border area of Egypt have been freed and half of the hostage-takers killed, Egyptian media said on Monday. The hostages were freed in what Egyptian media called a "rescue and recovery operation" although officials gave scant and contradictory details on how authorities secured the release or how the kidnappers were killed.

• Sudan troops besiege kidnappers' desert hideout
  

  Sudanese forces were laying siege on Wednesday to a remote desert hideout where bandits are holding 19 people captive, including European tourists, but said they would not storm the area. The tourists, along with Egyptian drivers, guides and a guard, were snatched by masked gunmen on Friday

• Kidnappers seize foreign tourists in Egypt (Reuters)
  

  By Alaa Shahine 4 minutes ago CAIRO (Reuters) - Masked kidnappers in Egypt have seized 19 hostages including German, Italian and Romanian tourists in a remote desert area near the Sudanese and Libyan borders, Egyptian officials said on Monday. The kidnapping was the first of foreign tourists in Egypt in living memory, although Islamic militants have hit the country's tourist industry in recent decades through bomb and shooting attacks that have killed hundreds.

• Desert hostages return from Egypt amid doubts about raid (AFP)
  

  by Deborah Cole 6 minutes ago BERLIN (AFP) - Europeans held captive by bandits for 10 days along with other hostages returned home from Egypt on Tuesday amid conflicting accounts of their liberation. Five Germans were greeted by their families and senior officials when they landed in a chartered plane at Berlin's Tegel airport from Cairo after being released with 14 other hostages Monday, the foreign ministry said.

• Darfur rebels dismiss AL peace initiative
  

  An Arab League-sponsored initiative, aimed at bringing peace to the war-ravaged western Sudanese region of Darfur was dismissed by Darfur rebel groups on Thursday. They said the move came five years too late. Arab League foreign ministers decided on Monday to establish a committee headed by

• UN chief hails Qatari-led push for Darfur peace (AFP)
  

  19 minutes ago UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN boss Ban Ki-moon on Friday welcomed the establishment of an Arab League panel led by Qatar that will work with the African Union and United Nations to sponsor peace talks in Sudan's Darfur region. "The Secretary General welcomes the establishment of the ministerial Committee on Darfur" under the joint chairmanship of Qatar, the Arab League and the African Union Commission that will work closely with AU-UN Joint chief mediator Djibril Bassole, Ban's press office said in a statement.

• Sudan troops surround kidnappers' desert hideout (AFP)
  

  by Charles Onians 31 minutes ago CAIRO (AFP) - Sudanese forces on Wednesday surrounded bandits and their 19 captives, including European tourists, snatched in the Egyptian desert five days ago, but said they had "no intention of storming the area. " An Egyptian tourism ministry official said the situation for the 11 foreigners and eight Egyptians was unchanged on Wednesday, after Sudan said it had pinpointed the group and that its forces "are besieging the area.

• U.N. Security Council to debate Israel settlements (Reuters)
  

  Reuters - The U.N. Security Council has agreed to end months of silence and discuss Israeli settlement activities on land the Palestinians want for a future state, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Thursday.

• Armed robberies in Egypt's remotest desert (AP)
  

  By MAGGIE MICHAEL and SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writers 24 minutes ago CAIRO, Egypt - The abduction of a European tour group in a distant corner of Egypt's desert underlines the potential dangers of adventure tourism pushing deeper into remote destinations and getting closer to conflict zones.

• Arab FMs to hold emergency meeting over Gaza slaughter
  

  Arab FMs to hold emergency meeting over Gaza slaughter

• Four-goal Adebayor changes his mind and punishes Swaziland (AFP)
  

  by Allan Williams 23 minutes ago JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Arsenal star Emmanuel Adebayor ended a one-month national team boycott by scoring four goals as Togo sank Swaziland 6-0 Saturday in a 2010 World Cup-African Nations Cup qualifier. The striker told London newspapers he would shun the key Group 11 clash in neutral Accra to protest poor organisation of a team which defied the odds by reaching the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

• Western tourists freed after Egypt kidnapping (Reuters)
  

  By Will Rasmussen and Alastair Sharp 22 minutes ago CAIRO (Reuters) - Eleven European tourists and eight Egyptians abducted in a remote desert corner of Egypt have been freed unharmed and half of their kidnappers have been killed, Egyptian officials said on Monday. The freed hostages arrived in Cairo aboard an Egyptian military plane.

• Sudan says six tourist kidnappers killed in shootout (AFP)
  

  by Peter Martell 6 minutes ago KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudanese forces on Sunday killed six heavily armed bandits who kidnapped 19 European tourists and their Egyptian guides in a remote desert nine days ago, the army said. The shootout erupted as Sudanese troops were scouring the desert for the 11 tourists and eight Egyptians who were snatched during a desert safari in southwestern Egypt and taken into Sudan, an army statement said.

• African Champions League draw offers Ahly comfortable passage
  

  No sooner had the draw for the 2009 African Champions League qualifying rounds been made Thursday than Egyptian giants Al-Ahly assumed their traditional role

• Egypt desert hostages freed after 10-day ordeal (AFP)
  

  by Samer al-Atrush 17 minutes ago CAIRO (AFP) - A group of European tourists and their Egyptian guides who were kidnapped by armed bandits in a remote desert 10 days ago have been freed unharmed, officials said on Monday. "The hostages have been freed and are in good health. They are being brought to Cairo airport," Egyptian state television quoted an official as saying.

• Champions Al Ahly crash out
  

  A goal from Mohamed Barakat was not enough for Al Ahly Al Ahly have crashed out of the African Champions League after being beaten on the away

• Egypt says bandits demand German ransom
  

  Bandits who kidnapped 19 tourists and Egyptians last week in the desert have asked for Germany to be responsible for paying a ransom of six million euros, an Egyptian security official said on Thursday. "There are negotiations ongoing with the kidnappers now. The Egyptian negotiating team

• European hostages return home after desert kidnap (AFP)
  

  by Deborah Cole 19 minutes ago BERLIN (AFP) - Europeans held hostage in the desert for 10 days returned home from Egypt Tuesday, with one of them reportedly calling the abductors "rather kind criminals" who decided on their own to free them. Five Germans were greeted by their families and senior officials when they landed at Berlin's Tegel airport from Cairo after being released with 14 other hostages Monday, the foreign ministry said.

• Top teams chase places in last qualifying phase
  

  Burkina Faso and Cameroon will be guaranteed progress into the last phase of the African zone World Cup qualifiers if they win their qualifying matches at the weekend

• Sudan tracks tourists, kidnappers in remote Sahara (AP)
  

  By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago ABU SIMBEL, Egypt - Sudan said Tuesday it knows the location of 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians kidnapped while on a Sahara desert safari, but there were no immediate plans for a rescue operation. The kidnappers are believed to be desert tribesman who seized the tourists in a remote corner of Egypt and took them across the border to Sudan.

• Qaeda deputy Zawahiri releases video in English (AFP)
  

  29 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AFP) - Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second-in-command to Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, has released his first English-language video call for jihad in Pakistan, the US-based IntelCenter said Sunday. The message was aired on Pakistan's ARY television network, IntelCenter said in a statement, adding that it marked "the first official message ever.

• Bandits take kidnapped tourists from Egypt to Sudan (AFP)
  

  by Charles Onians 17 minutes ago CAIRO (AFP) - Masked bandits kidnapped a group of 19 foreign tourists and Egyptians at gunpoint as they were on a desert safari in a remote corner of southwestern Egypt and took them to Sudan, officials said Monday. "This is an act of banditry not of terrorism," the tourism ministry said in a statement, adding that those responsible have asked for an undisclosed sum of money as a ransom.

• In Sudan tob trends, the 'Hummer' may be the new 'Ocampo' (AFP)
  

  by Jennie Matthew 6 minutes ago KHARTOUM (AFP) - Fashion-conscious women in Sudan anxious to look their best for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan are scouring the capital in search of this season's must-have item -- which may not even exist. Many have heard about the mysterious Ocampo, but few have seen it and fewer still have got their hands on one.

• Saudi project puts Arabs on genetic map
  

  Saudi researchers have mapped the first Arab genome in a project to put the Arab world on the global genetic map and improve healthcare. Geneticists from Saudi Biosciences say unlocking the genetic profile of 100 people from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries will help tackle medical

• Europeans kidnapped in Egyptian desert near Sudan (AP)
  

  By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago CAIRO, Egypt - Kidnappers seized 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians during a Sahara desert safari to Gilf al-Kebir, a giant plateau famed for its prehistoric cave paintings, officials said Monday. The tour company was negotiating with the captors, who demanded millions of dollars in ransom.

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