Paris  - The new French special envoy to Afghanistan, Pierre Lellouche, said in an interview published Wednesday that NATO allies fighting on Afghan soil must not again revert to the unilateral approach taken by former US President George W Bush.

"It is normal that we act as co-pilots in the international strategy in Afghanistan," Lellouche told the daily Le Monde. "We must not again fall into the American unilateral excesses of the Bush administration, which provoked a deep gulf between the United States and its NATO allies."

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the Sudanese government on Wednesday to cooperate with the joint UN- African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur despite the arrest warrant issued against President Omar al-Bashir.

Islamabad - The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday, in last ditch efforts to save the life of an abducted colleague, sought assistance from the Pakistani government, a day before a deadline set by the captors expires.

John Solecki, the head of the UNHCR in Pakistan's south-western province of Balochistan, was kidnapped by unknown gunmen from provincial capital Quetta on February
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Berlin - A high-level delegation of Iranian parliamentarians arrived in Berlin on Wednesday for talks with their German counterparts and government officials.

The six-member delegation is led by influential conservative politician Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

It is due to meet German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and the coordinator for Germany's intelligence services at the federal chancellery, Klaus-Dieter Fritsche.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday called for a worldwide solution to the economic crisis while urging nations to work together to regulate financial markets.

The two leaders met for the first time since Obama took office on January 20 and one month ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) summit of the world's leading economies.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama said Tuesday preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon would diminish the need for the United States to base a missile-defence system in Eastern Europe.

Obama commented on the planned deployment after The New York Times reported that he sent a secret letter to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev conveying his position. But Obama downplayed suggestions that he would give up the system in return for a stronger commitment from Russia in confronting Iran.