ABUJA, NIGERIA -- A deadline for an agreement over Sudan's troubled Darfur region was given a second two-day extension, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports. African Union mediators initially set a Sunday deadline for two rebel groups and the Sudanese government to agree to an A.U. proposal, though the deadline passed without an agreement. Khartoum said it would sign the African Union proposal, but the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement and Army have refused to sign, said a special envoy from the A.U.

10 Somali Pirates Repatriated Without Charges

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- The U.S. military has released a group of Somali pirates who were captured by the Navy in March, Agence France-Presse reports. Ten of 12 suspected pirates were transferred to the International Committee for the Red Cross and repatriated, said a U.S. official; the other two, who were wounded, will be released when they are healthy. The men fired on a U.S. Navy vessel, but the government decided not to prosecute them, the official said.

Robot Vehicles to Race in Urban Environment

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon's research branch, is sponsoring a new race for robotic vehicles, reports MSNBC. The latest challenge calls for autonomous vehicles to navigate heavy city traffic; to take place in November of 2007, the race will be held in a mock urban area. A sport utility vehicle won DARPA's last $2 million Grand Challenge competition by navigating more than 100 miles of open terrain and desert.