Berlin - Human rights is to remain as a component in German foreign policy, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday.

"We should not remain silent when there is an issue of human rights," said Merkel, whose chancellorship has been marked by friction with some governments on what she sees as rights issues.

Germany would support human rights all over the world, she said, adding that Berlin had a "values-driven" foreign policy.

Pristina - The Nobel Peace Prize went to the right hands, said the premier of Kosovo, which declared independence on guidelines laid by the recipient, Finnish diplomat Martti Ahtisaari.

"The Nobel Peace Prize accorded to President Ahtisaari is a prize given to the right person, to the man ... who contributed so much for global peace and especially for the cause of Kosovo," Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in Pristina.

Kiev - Ukraine's new ruling majority in parliament hit a glitch on Wednesday with one member party declaring a formal coalition agreement on the deal is yet to be signed.

MP Ksenia Liapina speaking for the Our Ukraine People's Union party (OUPU) said parliament leaders had four days to hammer out a common platform and get it approved by party rank and file, or the country's long-running political crisis would continue as before.

Stockholm- Swedish defence group Saab on Wednesday questioned some of the assessments made by Norway in its recent decision to select a US-made jet fighter over the Sweden's JAS Gripen.

Norway last month said it would buy the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) when it replaces its aging fleet of 48 F-16 jet fighters.

The US jet fighter fulfilled all criteria set up by Norway and also had a lower price tag than the JAS Gripen, Oslo said.

Saab is vying to supply jets to other countries and has some concern that the Norwegian assessment will impede those efforts.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel added her voice Wednesday to calls for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to step down.

"Especially in Zimbabwe's case, we must do our very best to attain life without the terrors of President Mugabe," she said in Berlin in a speech marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Parma, Italy  - The dioxin contamination found in Irish pork does not necessarily pose a health risk to humans who ate the product, the European Union's food safety authority (EFSA) said Wednesday.

EFSA said in a statement it based its conclusions on the "limited data" provided to it by the EU executive, the Commission, and on the assumption that exposure to dioxin only began in September.