Berlin - Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta Tuesday accused Pakistan of being responsible for instability along their mutual border, but also acknowledged Afghan mistakes, during an international security conference being held in Berlin.

Spanta said Pakistan was assisting international terrorism through its ISI intelligence agency and through its military.

But he also noted a "culture of impunity" within Afghanistan, where former warlords continued to hold sway in many areas and drug lords were gaining the upper hand in others.

Berlin - The German cabinet decided Wednesday to extend the mandate for German troops serving with the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

The deployment of naval personnel and ships to halt arms smuggling from the Mediterranean would be extended for 15 months, rather than the usual 12, to take it past the German elections at the end of September next year, government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.

Spremberg, Germany  - An electricity plant that burns lignite coal but does not pollute the atmosphere with carbon dioxide was billed Tuesday in Germany as the future of coal power.

The utility Vattenfall built the pilot plant on the Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Estate at Spremberg near Germany's Polish border. It burns lignite dust mixed with pure oxygen, then captures the resulting carbon dioxide to be buried in deep rock.

"Coal has a future, but emissions of carbon dioxide don't," said Tuomo Hatakka, chief executive of the Swedish-based utility's German unit, Vattenfall Europe, just before Tuesday's commissioning of the experimental plant.

Berlin - The outgoing leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), Kurt Beck, weighed into unnamed members within his party Tuesday for "leaking misinformation" to the media, in a statement explaining his unexpected decision to quite as federal chairman.

Beck, premier of the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, said he had taken the decision after due consideration and "intense self- examination."

Speaking to journalists in the state capital of Mainz, Beck said "deliberate untruths" had been planted in the media about him on Saturday.

Osten, Germany  - Few would argue that the "good, old days" are long bygone. But visitors to Germany's Osteland region - the triangle between Hamburg, Cuxhaven and Bremerhaven - can find plenty of nostalgia, from hand-powered ferries to post coaches travelling the moors.

Brobergen is a small town on the Oste river. Once upon a time, the river was vital for shipping traffic. Nowadays, it attracts attention due to the lack of graded banks. As the city is only 50 nautical kilometres from the sea, the tides can cause variations of up to one metre in water levels.

Berlin - Germany's largest Jewish umbrella organization Tuesday criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for failing to condemn right-wing extremism in her home town of Templin.