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Bloemfontein, South Africa - As the Iraqi national anthem played ahead of Wednesday's Group A contest with international heavyweights Spain, a group of brightly coloured balloons was released. It carried a small version of the red, white and black Iraqi national flag high into the air and out of the stadium.

Berlin - German legislators spoke out Wednesday in parliament in support of the protests in Iran against last week's election result in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared re-elected.

During the snap debate, Johannes Jung, a Social Democratic supporter of the German government, demanded that Tehran free arrested demonstrators, investigate the deaths in the course of the clashes and permit free reporting about the conflict.

Prague - Czech President Vaclav Klaus, an opponent of the European Union's reform Lisbon Treaty, said that the bloc's deal with Ireland that would enable a new
referendum on the stalled pact should be submitted for ratification by the national parliament.

The treaty, which is designed to boost the EU's global standing through reforming its institutions, has been stalled since Irish voters rejected in a referendum a year ago.

Budapest - Hungarian police Wednesday moved in to break up a protest by the environmental group Greenpeace demanding to know what the government is doing with 132 million dollars from the sale of carbon credits.

The activists set up a green tent in front of the Prime Minister's Office in the Hungarian capital Budapest, and brandished placards calling for the money from the sale of part of its carbon emissions quota to be used for environmental projects.

Dhaka - Bangladesh will formally complain to the United Nations against claims of India and Myanmar in a row over maritime waters in the Bay of Bengal, the country's
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed said Wednesday.

The dispute centres on the extended continental shelf in the bay which Bangladesh shares with its neighbours - over 22000 square with India and 22,000 nautical miles with
Myanmar.