 | | | | | | | Newsletter | 15.02.2009, 17:15 UTC | | | Newsline | | | World news: international | | | | | | | | | World News | | | | | Current Article | | | | Afghanistan joins US review of its war on terror
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he will send a delegation to the United States to join Washington's strategic review of its war on terror. Speaking at a joint news conference with the US special envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, Karzai said their countries would co-operate in reassessing the situation in Afghanistan. The administration of President Barack Obama is planning to scrutinise both military and non-military aspects of US policy in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan. Washington is considering sending up to 25,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and increasing spending on development assistance, in an effort to undercut a spreading Taliban insurgency. The review, which was ordered by President Obama last week, is to be completed before a NATO summit to be held in April. |  | | Pakistani Taliban release Chinese hostage
Pakistani Taliban militants have freed a Chinese engineer after holding him captive for nearly six months. A spokesman for the militants in the nortwestern Swat Vally said that Long Xiaowei had been released as a goodwill gesture to the Chinese people. Meanwhile concerns are growing for the abducted UN official John Solecki. The head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Quetta was abducted by a militant separatist group earlier this month. On Friday, the Baluchistan Liberation United Front threatened to kill the US citizen within 72 hours if the Pakistani government failed to release some 140 prisoners. | | | Soviet veterans mark 20th anniversary of Afghan withdrawal
Politicians and war veterans have gathered in Moscow to mark the 20th anniversary of the withdrawal of the last Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Veterans took part in a march in the centre of the Russian capital to commemorate the approximately 15,000 Soviet troops that died during the 10 year Afghan campaign. Flowers were left at the grave of the unknown soldier at the Kremlin and Russian leaders were expected to attend a memorial concert on Sunday afternoon. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to support the then-Communist government. It was subsequently drawn into a protracted conflict against a US-sponsored insurgency. | | | Zimbabwe's MDC says official faces new charges
Zimbabwean authorities have downgraded the charges against a senior MDC official who was arrested on Friday. The lawyer representing Roy Bennett said that treason charges had been dropped and that his client would now face accusations over planning to commit acts of terrorism and sabotage. Bennett, who only recently returned from three years of self-imposed exile in South Africa, is expected to appear in court on Monday. Bennett's MDC party has accused hardliners within President Robert Mugabe's party of trying to scupper a power-sharing deal. Bennett, a white coffee farmer from Chimanimani, was to become deputy agriculture minister in the new unity government. | | | Venezuelans vote in Chavez referendum
Venezuelans are voting in a key referendum that could change the constitution by scrapping electoral term limits. President Hugo Chavez hopes the constitutional amendment will allow him to seek indefinite re-election after spending ten years in office. Without a constitutional amendment, Chavez will have to step down as scheduled in 2013. Opinion polls gave the Yes campaign a slight lead, although many Venezuelans were undecided. Results are expected to be announced late on Sunday. | | | Scientists say global warming worse than predicted
Climate researchers are warning that carbon dioxide emissions have soared over the past nine years, despite widespread concern over global warming. International scientists presented fresh data at the annual American Science conference in Chicago. They said carbon emissions had increased at 3.5 percent per year since 2000. That's up sharply from the annual 0.9 percent of the 1990s. Scientists warned that as a result temperatures could rise far more strongly over the next century than previously predicted. Moreover, improved satellite measurements reportedly showed that sea levels were also rising faster than expected. | | | La Teta Asustada wins Golden Bear
At the Berlin Film Festival, the Golden Bear award for best picture has been awarded to La Teta Asustada, or, The Milk of Sorrow. The Spanish-Peruvian production revolves around Fausta, the product of a rape inflicted on her mother during the decades of political violence in Peru from the 1980s to 1990s. | | | | | |  | | |  Up-to-date news at DW-WORLD.DE | | | | | | |  | | | Note
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Germany Set to Appoint Special Afghan Envoy
