Amman  - International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Thursday said Sudanese President Omar al- Bashir's trips to neighbouring countries was "a sign of desperation."

"It seems to me that al-Bashir's trips are nothing more than a sign of desperation rather than a challenge to the ICC," Moreno- Ocampo said in a telephone interview with the Doha-based al-Jazeera satellite television channel.

Washington/Tel Aviv  - Israel carried out an airstrike in Sudan in January that killed 39 people, hitting a 17-truck convoy transporting arms earmarked for Gaza, the American network CBS reported Thursday.

A government minister in Sudan was accusing the United States Air Force of being behind the airstrike.

However, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reported he had been told that Israeli aircraft carried out the attack. He said this was the "semi-official American version" of the event.

The Israeli military issued a statement, saying "Israel does not comment on these kind of publications."

Cairo  - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is the subject of an international arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity, arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday.

The trip was al-Bashir's latest in a tour of countries that, like Egypt, have not signed the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court (ICC), and so are not obligated to act on the warrant the court issued for al-Bashir earlier this month.

Cairo - Al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri Tuesday demanded Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir "repent" for kicking the terrorist group's leaders out of Sudan and called on the Sudanese people to "prepare for a guerrilla war against the West."

"The Bashir regime is reaping what it sowed. It expelled those who took refuge in Sudan, including Osama bin Laden," al-Zawahiri said in a message released Tuesday according to the Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks messages from terrorist groups.

New York  - The United Nations said Tuesday that it has agreed with the Sudanese government to assess the humanitarian situation in Darfur and begin stop-gap relief programmes.

The new measures follow Sudan's expulsion of 13 international relief organizations as a knee-jerk reaction to the indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur conflict by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC also issued a warrant to arrest al-Bashir.

Cairo  - Sudan President Omar al-Bashir will visit Egypt on Wednesday despite an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), an Egyptian official said on Tuesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told German Press Agency dpa that al-Bashir will meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss developments after the ICC decision.

Wednesday's visit will be al-Bashir's second trip abroad since the arrest warrant was issued, after his brief visit to Eritrea on Monday.