U.S. special envoy for Sudan Andrew Natsios is to meet senior European Union and NATO officials in Brussels Friday as he continues a mission aimed at ending violence in Darfur. He held talks in Khartoum earlier this week on a proposed African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force for the region. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in Kandahar today with a large delegation of Afghan and international officials for security talks with local leaders from the country's volatile south, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Romania's President Traian Basescu today said that the Western military alliance would be able, if requested, to take up additional tasks, such as boosting energy security for member states.