The US envoy for the Sudan, Andrew Natsios, arrived in the war-torn African country last night for talks on the Darfur crisis.

US president George Bush today welcomed an agreement to bring North Korea back to six-party arms talks and said the United States will insist the communist regime abandon its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable fashion.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says there has been progress in Darfur but the world will not accept mere promises from Sudan’s new government to halt the violence.

The United States is focusing on providing clean water and basic sanitation in South Asian areas hit by an earthquake and tsunamis, to try to prevent illness and more deaths among survivors.

US aid to victims of the earthquake that sent deadly waves crashing onto shores in Asia and Africa has been doubled to $35m (€25.7m) and is likely to be much more in an international aid effort expected to run into the billions.

SUDAN’S Darfur region, already engulfed in a conflict that has forced 1.8 million people to flee their homes, faces a new threat - a drought that has all but wiped out this year’s harvest.

SATELLITE photos of the Darfur region of western Sudan show more than 300 villages completely destroyed, confirming the many reports of systematic killings by Arab militias.

An American civilian who was beheaded in a grisly video posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site had been warned to leave Iraq but refused, US officials said today.

Nine Sudanese working for an American aid agency have been killed during clashes between warring tribes.

Seeking to demonstrate actions over words, the Earth Summit in South Africa today focused on public-private partnerships as a way to promote sustainable development.

US transport planes airdropping relief supplies into Afghanistan will fly with fighter escorts.