Despite years of inaction by Sudan’s government, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held out hope that President Omar al-Bashir might still order his country’s courts to prosecute war crimes in Darfur and possibly avert his own war crimes trial by the International Criminal Court.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir today offered a ceasefire in Darfur and promised to disarm militias in a new push to show the government is serious about ending the conflict.

Sudan’s army is deploying on the streets of Khartoum and a leader of a Darfur rebel group says hundreds of his fighters are on the city’s outskirts, clashing with security forces.

DARFUR rebels said yesterday they had attacked an army base in West Darfur, killing a large number of soldiers in a renewal of fighting in the troubled area near Sudan’s western border with Chad.

CHINA will shut down or punish dozens of video-sharing websites for carrying content deemed pornographic, violent or a threat to national security under rules that tighten internet controls, a regulator said yesterday.

McDONALD’s, Coca-Cola and other sponsors have paid tens of millions of dollars to link their names with the Beijing Olympics.

Militants in Nigeria's restive oil region have today invited actor George Clooney to visit the area and asked for United Nations intervention in the conflict.

A SENIOR officer with the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur in western Sudan was attacked yesterday by gunmen who seriously wounded his driver, the force said in a statement.

THE UN’s peacekeeping chief’s recent warning that the planned mission for Darfur may not deploy does not come as a surprise.

EDWARD HORGAN (Letters, December 10) is probably right when he suggests the proposed EU “humanitarian mission” to Chad is a cover to project and protect European influence and unfair trade, in Chad’s case to project France’s influence in particular.

Negotiators moved to lower expectations ahead of the opening of the Darfur peace talks today, with almost none of the key rebel leaders present to negotiate an agreement with the Sudanese government.

A Darfur town has been razed to the ground since it came under the control of Sudanese troops this week, the United Nations says.

In a rare, high-profile visit to the West, Sudan’s president today met with the pope and Italy’s premier, and offered to declare a cease-fire with Darfur rebels to coincide with the start of UN-backed peace talks next month.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon voiced optimism today for a peaceful resolution of Sudan’s conflicts as he headed to the south of the country to inspect progress in the peace deal between former southern rebels and the government.

SUDAN has expelled European and Canadian diplomats for “interfering in its affairs”.

Non-African troops will not be needed for the new Darfur peacekeeping force in Sudan because countries on the continent have committed enough soldiers, the head of the African Union said.

President George Bush’s envoy to Sudan said the US administration is preparing to impose new economic sanctions to counter Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s refusal to allow UN peacekeepers to deploy in Darfur.

US President George Bush’s envoy to Sudan said the US administration is preparing to impose new economic sanctions to counter Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s refusal to allow UN peacekeepers to deploy in Darfur.

The head of one Darfur’s main rebel groups said he is willing to call a ceasefire if the Khartoum government stops attacks on civilians in the war-torn region and agrees to re-negotiate the Darfur peace deal – but warned of a new offensive if it fails to do so.

ONE of the biggest remaining Darfur rebel alliances yesterday said it would respect a ceasefire and was ready to resume peace talks with Sudan’s government.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Darfur human rights activist Mossaad Mohamed Ali were today named winners of the Olof Palme Prize for 2006 for their work to protect human rights, peace and security.

Sudan braced for a diplomatic showdown today as the government confirmed it intended to secure the chairmanship of the African Union.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today told the UN Human Rights Council to immediately address the escalating atrocities in Darfur by sending an independent team of investigators to the volatile Sudanese region.

The chief of the only Darfur rebel group that signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government set an ultimatum today for Khartoum to disarm the feared janjaweed paramilitary group by the end of December.

Darfur rebels have attacked an oil field in Southern Kordofan, making a rare extension of their campaign eastwards toward Khartoum, the rebels and government said today.

Tony Blair has taken ownership of his first ever mobile phone, it was revealed today.

IF only Muslim leaders had been as vociferous about the plight of the people of Darfur as they have been about the Pope’s recent speech, then the lives of many of their fellow Muslims could have been saved.

THE African Union plans to send more troops into Sudan to reinforce its extended Darfur peacekeeping mission, an AU spokesman said yesterday.

A TRUE measure of the Irish Government’s commitment to conflict resolution in our aid programme is their effort in Darfur, as pointed out in your editorial headlined ‘Government must act on Darfur crisis’ (Irish Examiner, September 19).

The hut of thatch walls was as rickety and windblown as any other in Zamzam Camp for refugees on the sand dunes of western Sudan, but dozens of men and boys squeezed inside to watch the TV broadcasts of the World Cup.

SUDAN yesterday denied Darfur rebel reports that its troops had attacked their camps, breaking a ceasefire and a peace deal signed this month to end the conflict which has killed tens of thousands.

The African Union stepped up pressure on Sudan’s holdout rebels to sign a deal to end Darfur’s three-year civil war and appealed for a stronger African peacekeeping force to monitor implementation of the peace agreement signed by the government and the main rebel group.

Sudan appeared ready today to agree to disarm Arab militias in Darfur and to accept more rebels into its security forces, key concessions that could clear the way for real progress at the Darfur peace talks.

The US and Britain pressed Sudan’s government and Darfur rebels to meet today’s deadline for a peace deal, even as ground units stepped up fighting that has killed at least 180,000 people and left millions more homeless.

The Sudanese government confirmed today that it will sign a draft agreement with rebels from its Darfur region as talks continued despite a question marking hanging over the deal.

A Sudanese Darfur rebel faction has demanded that the African Union (AU) extend its deadline for the concluding peace talks, as Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo pressured the warring sides to sign a proposed deal.

Tens of thousands of Sudanese people marched through Khartoum protesting against plans to deploy UN peacekeepers in conflict-torn Darfur.

The UN Security Council has demanded that the warring parties in Sudan’s Darfur region honour a ceasefire agreement and reaffirmed its determination to hold accountable anyone impeding the peace process and breaking the arms embargo.

The main rebel movement in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region threatened to quit peace talks with the government, alleging fresh attacks on its positions.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged donors yesterday to fund a bigger African force to help end bloodshed in Darfur, where experts say hundreds are still dying daily nine months after the mission first deployed.

Nato allies agreed today to consider offering logistical help to the African Union’s peacekeeping force in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.

A tribute band concert in the style of Live Aid was announced today to help the victims of the crisis in Darfur.

SUDAN’S government and Darfur rebels agreed to formally end faltering talks yesterday as the African Union urged both sides to stop fighting so peace efforts could resume in January.

Saying they hoped African leaders could solve without sanctions what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the leaders of Egypt, Chad, Nigeria and Libya discussed the crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region with the Sudanese president.