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KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur's new chief mediator Djibril Bassole made his first visit to Sudan on Sunday to begins the uphill task of reviving a stalled peace process.

KABUL (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has called for more U.S. troops to be sent to Afghanistan, but many in the war-torn country doubt whether more soldiers will help stem the rising tide of violence.

LONDON (Reuters) - Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Sunday Zimbabwe's main opposition was preparing to hold talks with President Robert Mugabe's party.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flies to Europe this week to meet leaders in Germany and Italy, woo businessmen and hold talks with Pope Benedict.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit Indonesia's Central Java, but there was no tsunami risk or reports of damage, the country's meteorological agency said on Sunday.

KABUL (Reuters) - Presidential hopeful Barack Obama called the situation in Afghanistan "precarious and urgent" on Sunday and said Washington should start planning to transfer more troops there from Iraq.

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A foreign airstrike killed nine Afghan policemen in western Afghanistan overnight after a clash in which both sides mistook the other for Taliban militants, Afghan officials said on Sunday.

KOHAT, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships have killed 15 Taliban militants and captured 60 in an operation that began mid-week in a troubled northwestern town, the military said on Sunday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Add one more contest to the spectacles on show during the Beijing Olympic Games -- the national protest hurdle.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki did not back the plan of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and his comments to a German magazine on the issue were misunderstood, the government's spokesman said on Sunday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki did not back the plan of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and his comments to a German magazine on the issue were misunderstood, the government's spokesman said on Sunday.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Militants fired on an army outpost and killed three villagers in separate attacks in Thailand's restive Muslim south, police said on Sunday, days after an unknown rebel group declared a ceasefire.

MANAGUA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people filled Nicaragua's capital on Saturday to celebrate the country's 1979 leftist revolution, giving a lift to President Daniel Ortega as his government faces simmering protests.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president described talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear program as a step forward on Sunday, official media said, even though the meeting in Geneva failed to produce any breakthrough in the standoff.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Kalmaegi, killed 18 people and injured another eight, while seven are still missing after it hit the island, an official from the National Fire Agency said on Sunday.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - At most outdoor festivals the longest queues are generally for the portable toilets and bar but at World Youth Day in Sydney, the Catholic Church's version of Woodstock, one of the biggest queues is for confessing sins.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's U.S.-backed president entered into defense pact with the left-of-center government of Brazil on Saturday, marking a step in regional cooperation aimed at fighting cocaine-funded Marxist rebels.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico has awarded Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy the country's highest honor for his work defending the rights of immigrants during his decades in Congress.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Police recovered a Pablo Picasso print and arrested one person in connection with an armed robbery at Sao Paulo's Pinacoteca Museum last month, local media reported on Saturday.

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab League criticized the International Criminal Court's prosecutor for seeking the arrest of Sudan's president on genocide charges, saying diplomacy should be given a priority to solve the conflict in Darfur.