New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland are among the top five least corrupt nations, according to a new survey released by Transparency International. Canada is in the top ten. Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan are the most corrupt.

Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan and the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, has decided against traveling to Istanbul for a summit of Muslim nations.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met a group of African leaders at a forum Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to discuss another round of aid after the $5 billion USD China has offered in the past three years.

No country is free of “a woman’s problem,” be it full legal rights, maternity care, access to birth control, religious representation, political leadership, civil liberties, education opportunities, pay equality or protection from sexual violence.

A cargo plane bound for Sudan crashed shortly after take-off from Sharjah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, situated approximately 16 flight miles from Dubai International Airport. All six crew members died in the accident.

Two aid workers kidnapped by armed men in July in the Darfur region of Western Sudan have been released, after an ordeal which lasted more than 100 days.

The international aid agency Oxfam has launched a £9.5 million ($15 million) emergency appeal for East Africa as 23 million people in the region find their lives under threat from hunger.

At least 76 people have been killed, with one report putting the number of deaths at over 100, after civilians and security forces in a village in Southern Sudan were attacked by armed men from a rival ethnic group.

Despite readily available vaccines, death rate of sickle-cell anemia in African children remains to be a growing concern, researchers said Thursday.

A female journalist in Sudan, found guilty under the country's penal code of wearing trousers that were deemed indecent, has been sent to jail for one month after she refused to pay the $200 fine that was imposed on her by a court in Khartoum.