These games want to change attitudes and make a difference in the real world. But are sims about Darfur too much of a stretch?

The UK Border Agency has reacted with fury to a court ruling allowing a Sudanese asylum seeker who raped a 12-year-old girl to remain in Britain.

A British aid worker has been released almost three months after being kidnapped by an armed gang in Sudan.

Khalil Ibrahim, who died on 24 December, was the leader of the main Darfur rebel group in Sudan.

The leader of Darfur's main rebel group, Khalil Ibrahim, was killed in fighting early yesterday west of the capital Khartoum, the Sudanese army has announced.

The Sudanese army said it killed the leader of the main Darfur rebel group in fighting today and touted his death as a key victory.

A day after losing one-third of its territory to the newly independent South Sudan, the government of Omar al-Bashir is facing a new threat from rebels in the Nuba Mountains who have vowed to "march on Khartoum".

Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir arrives in Beijing this week, drawing the ire of human rights groups who have attacked China for playing host to the war crimes-indicted leader.

A Darfur-style crisis is unfolding on the border between north and south Sudan, aid workers have warned, with large-scale ethnic cleansing and bombing of civilians sparking a humanitarian alert.

US Senator John Kerry says Sudan's northern government will win quick US incentives if an independence referendum in the south goes smoothly, but further improvement of ties will depend on progress toward peace in the separate conflict in Darfur.

Sudanese government troops have killed at least 40 rebels and wounded many more in a new offensive in the country's troubled Darfur region, a military spokesman was quoted as saying.

Three Latvian helicopter crewmen contracted to the UN World Food Programme were kidnapped in the South Darfur capital Nyala, a spokesman said yesterday.