Berlin - Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) reshuffled its leadership a year ahead of federal elections, during a meeting of top party leaders near Berlin Sunday.

The party nominated Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to challenge Angela Merkel for the chancellorship and summoned back as chairman veteran Franz Muentefering.

Making the announcement at Werder, south-west of Berlin, Steinmeier said Kurt Beck, the long-serving premier of Rhineland- Palatinate, who has led the party since 2006, had resigned as chairman.

Steinmeier, who spoke of a "difficult day" for the party, is to serve as interim chairman until the SPD formally votes in Muentefering at an extraordinary general meeting to be held in the weeks ahead.

Berlin -

Berlin- German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed the hope that Serbia would soon make rapid progress in its attempt to join the European Union

(EU), following talks with his Serbian counterpart, Vuk Jeremic, in Berlin Thursday.

But granting EU candidate status to Serbia before the end of the year "would be a bit overambitious," Steinmeier said.

Stockholm - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday said he was "not surprised" over Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf's resignation.

The German foreign minister said he hoped Musharraf's resignation - made just as impeachment proceedings were to begin - would contribute to a calmer situation in Pakistan, citing the need for Pakistan as a stable partner in the region.

Berlin- German Foreign Minister Fra

Kabul - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Saturday that violence in Afghanistan had worsened over the past year, and promised more support from Germany for the building and reform of the Afghan police and military.

Aggression in the south of the country by Taliban insurgents has increased, Steinmeier said in a logistics school for the Afghan army, built by Germany in Kabul. The training of soldiers and police in Afghanistan must therefore be strengthened, he said.