The U.N. Security Council is unanimously backing informal talks on the future of the disputed Western Sahara ahead of a fifth round of negotiations between Morocco and the group that wants independence for the region.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ordered Clive Cussler to pay $13.9 million in legal fees to the production company that turned his novel “Sahara” into a box-office flop.

The United Nations’ new envoy to the Western Sahara on Sunday reasserted the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination, a stance that could further complicate negotiations with Morocco, which refuses any such solution to the long-standing conflict.

The United Nations’ new special envoy to Western Sahara arrived Saturday in the contested desert territory in a bid to restart negotiations between the Polisario independence movement and Morocco.

Al-Qaida’s North Africa branch claimed Wednesday it is holding hostage a senior U.N. peace envoy, his aide and four tourists kidnapped in the Sahara Desert in recent weeks.

Algerian officials say 13 people have drowned in a Sahara desert town in flash floods caused by torrential rains.

Egyptian and Sudanese troops, backed by European commandos, rescued a tour group that was kidnapped in Egypt and taken on a 10-day dash across the Sahara to the frontier of Chad. The 19 European tourists and Egyptian guides returned to Cairo unharmed Mond

Egyptian and Sudanese troops rescued an abducted 19-member European tour group in an assault on the kidnappers in the remote Sahara borderland, officials said. The tourists and their Egyptian guides returned safely to Cairo on Monday.

A group of 11 European tourists and four Egyptians were kidnapped during an adventure safari to one of the remotest sites in Egypt deep in the Sahara desert and were taken across the border into neighboring Sudan, officials said Monday.

A tiny woman and two children were laid to rest on a bed of flowers 5,000 years ago in what is now the barren Sahara Desert.