Washington  - US President Barack Obama will make his first trip to Europe later this month with stops in Britain, France, Germany and the Czech Republic, the White House said Thursday.

During the March 31 to April 5 trip, Obama will attend a conference of the world's largest economies in London before heading to the NATO summit in the French city of Strasbourg and German town of Kehl.

He will then attend an EU gathering in Prague. The Czech Republic currently hold the rotating EU presidency. Obama's maiden trip abroad as president took place last month in Canada.

Washington - North Korea's threats Thursday against South Korean airlines that fly into its airspace are "distinctly unhelpful," the US State Department said.

The North Korean government issued a statement saying it cannot guarantee the safety of South Korean civilian airlines flying near or in its airspace over the Sea of Japan while the United States and South Korea conduct joint military exercises.

"They are distinctly unhelpful," State Department acting deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

London  - The British government is re-establishing contacts with the political wing of the militant group Hezbollah after "positive political developments" in Lebanon, officials confirmed Thursday.

"We have reconsidered our position on no contact with Hezbollah, in place since 2005," a spokesperson for the Foreign Office said.

"This is in light of more positive recent political developments in Lebanon, including the formation of the National Unity Government in which Hezbollah are participating," the spokesperson said.

London  - Amnesty International Thursday accused the government of Sudan of holding the population of the troubled region of Darfur "hostage" by banning 10 aid agencies from working in the east African country.

"Millions of lives are at stake and this is no time to play political games. Aid agencies provide the bulk of the humanitarian aid required by more than two million vulnerable people," said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International's Africa Programme Deputy Director.

Brussels  - A planned system to defend the United States against missile attacks which provoked outrage and threats of counter-measures in Russia is a "very important" project, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Thursday.

Dhaka  - The Bangladesh parliament Thursday unanimously approved separate motions for regaining memberships of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and International Parliamentary Union (IPU), officials said.

Approving the motions in the House, lawmakers from both sides of the political divide said the country, which returned to democratic system two months ago ending two years rule of a military-backed government, needed a sustainable parliamentary democracy for the greater interests of its people.