By Ashraf Badr and Andrew Heavens
CAIRO/KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Authorities know the whereabouts of kidnappers who seized 19 hostages in the Egyptian desert, but have no plans for any rescue operation that could harm the captives, a Sudanese Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday.
Masked kidnappers snatched the hostages -- five Italians, five Germans, a Romanian and eight Egyptians -- from a desert safari near Egypt's southern border with Sudan and Libya on Friday and were thought to hav

Ghana midfielder Michael Essien is facing at least six months on the sidelines following the knee injury he suffered on Friday night against Libya in a 2010 World Cup qualifier in Tripoli.

A solid performance from Libya saw them run out 1-0 winners over Ghana in Tripoli in a 2010 World Cup qualifier, putting them firmly in control at the top of Group 5 with 12 points and only one game remaining.

Milovan Rajevac ripped into his Black Stars flops after Friday night's 2010 World Cup qualifier against Libya saying they had not showed the desire required to win a game of this nature.

Michael Essien will miss the start of Chelsea's Champions League campaign and Ghana's 2010 World Cup qualifier against Lesotho after his role in Ghana's World Cup qualifier against Libya was cut short by injury.

Condoleezza Rice has become the most senior US official to visit Libya in more than half a century

WASHINGTON, Sep 5 (IPS) - Human right organisations are urging U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, who is touring North African nations
over the next several days, to press for the release of Fathi
Aljahmi, a long-time political prisoner during her visit to Libya
Friday.

TRIPOLI (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Libya on Friday for a landmark meeting with its veteran leader Moamer Kadhafi, hailing Washington's reconciliation with the former enemy state.

Italy has signed an agreement to pay Libya USD5 billion for its colonial occupation of the North African nation.

For the first time in more than half a century, a sitting U.S. secretary of state is in Libya, with the arrival of Condoleezza Rice to meet with the man that Ronald Reagan called the "Mad Dog of the Middle East."