A roundup of today's other world news in brief
Britain to send 500 more troops to Afghanistan
LONDON – Britain will send 500 more soldiers to Afghanistan early this month, British prime minister Gordon Brown said yesterday, raising troop numbers to 9,500.
Mr Brown’s confirmation of an earlier, conditional pledge comes a day before US president Barack Obama is expected to announce 30,000 more troops to fight the Taliban and to help train Afghan forces so that foreign forces can eventually be withdrawn.
Also yesterday, French defence minister Hervé Morin said France had no plans to raise troop levels in Afghanistan and believed countries should put more emphasis on aid as a way to help.
“France considers that it has made an extremely big effort and that there is no question for now of raising numbers,” he said. – (Reuters)
Doherty sorry for singing Nazi song
MUNICH – British rocker Pete Doherty apologised yesterday after being booed off a stage in Munich for singing the Nazi anthem Deutschland, Deutschland Über Alles.
Doherty, lead singer of Babyshambles, faced boos and jeers from a crowd at a music festival in Munich on Saturday organised by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) radio when he sang the song, which was the Nazi national anthem.
Doherty was asked to leave the stage by a moderator and he threw the microphone at her, according to a report in the Munich TZ newspaper yesterday. Radio station BR demanded an apology. – (Reuters)
Release of Roman Polanksi delayed
ZURICH – Swiss authorities will not release Roman Polanski into house arrest at his Alpine chalet for a few more days, the French consul said yesterday.
Jean-Luc Fauré-Tournaire said Polanski was well but his release might not happen for a few more days.
A spokesman for the Swiss justice department declined to give any time, but said Polanski still needed to deposit his bail of $4.5 million (€3 million) and electronic monitoring had to be set up at his chalet in Gstaad.
Polanski is fighting extradition to the US over a 1977 case of unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl. – (Reuters)