New York  - The Sri Lankan government has been urged to hold back its final military battle in areas where tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped, the United Nations' chief humanitarian emergency coordinator said Friday.

The UN's John Holmes recently visited the troubled island nation to gain first-hand information of the humanitarian situation in refugee camps.

Beirut  - A Lebanese investigating judge rejected Friday a release request by the defence of four high-ranking Lebanese generals, detained since 2005 for suspected involvement in the murder that year of ex-premier Rafik Hariri, a judicial source said Friday.

"Judge Sakr Sakr has denied all requests for the release of the four detained Lebanese generals," a Ministry of Justice source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on condition of anonymity.

The judge took his decision following deliberations with the public prosecution, the source said.

Liberec, Czech Republic - Andreas Kuettel of Switzerland became surprise large hill ski-jumping world champion on Friday as Austria met disaster in a snow-marred competition held in one round.

Kuettel, 29, soared 133.5 metres for 141.3 points get the gold. Former champion Martin Schmitt of Germany came second with 133m for 140.9 points and Anders Jacobsen was third for Norway with 132.5m for 139.5 points.

Saltillo, Mexico  - Daimler AG opened a new truck plant in the northern Mexican city of Saltillo on Friday, which will manufacture about 30,000 heavy-duty Freightliner trucks for the United States, Mexican and Canadian markets.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon attended the ceremony at Daimler Trucks North America's second plant in Mexico, which was built with an investment of 300 million dollars. The company said it expected the plant to generate 1,400 direct jobs and 200 indirect jobs, as well as an additional 1,100 jobs in the local autoparts industry.

Washington  - Afghanistan is making inroads in stemming an opium drug trade that has fuelled a growing insurgency in the war- torn country, according to an annual report on the global drug trade by the US State Department Friday.

But the US singled out Myanmar, as well as Latin American powers Venezuela and Bolivia for having "failed demonstrably" to combat drug trafficking in their own countries.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama announced Friday that he will withdraw most US combat troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010, sharply reducing the American presence but keeping in place thousands of soldiers to support and train Iraqi forces.

There are presently more than 140,000 US troops in Iraq. Obama plans to keep about 35,000 to 50,000 soldiers to help train and equip the Iraqis and participate in special counterterrorism missions. The pace of the withdrawal will be determined by the commanders on the ground.