Afghanistan

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is in Afghanistan, at the start of an international tour designed to boost his foreign policy credentials.

A spokesman said Senator Obama arrived Saturday in Kabul, where he is expected to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Obama is traveling along with two other U.S. senators, Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island. The congressional delegation will also visit Iraq.

The U.N. refugee agency says the number of people fleeing violence and repression worldwide has risen to 11.4 million, largely due to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Launching the report, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said that for the second year in a row the number of people fleeing their countries and displaced from their homes is on the rise.

"We have today 11.4 million refugees worldwide, but we have 26 million people displaced within the borders of their own countries," he said.

South Korean officials say they have made contact with at least one of the 21 Korean hostages kidnapped last month by Taleban insurgents in Afghanistan.

A South Korean official in Seoul, who refuses to be identified, says the Taleban allowed one of the hostages to speak by telephone to diplomats at South Korea's embassy in Kabul on Saturday.

The official in Seoul says Monday, that no further details of the contact are being released. However, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported later that a self-styled Taleban commander said three female hostages, speaking in Korean, took part in the conversation.

A purported Taleban spokesman says Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. President Bush will be responsible if anything bad happens to the hostages. The two leaders are meeting in Washington. The Taleban wants Kabul to release some Taleban prisoners in exchange for the South Koreans, but Afghanistan has refused to take part in such a trade.

South Korean protesters light candles during a rally demanding the safe return of South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of South Korean troops from that country in Seoul, 25 Jul 2007

A deadline set by Taleban kidnappers in Afghanistan has passed, with no word on the fate of their 22 Korean hostages.

A purported Taleban spokesman says the hostages would be killed unless Afghan authorities release Taleban prisoners in exchange for the Koreans.

The Taliban claimed responsibility Friday for the kidnapping of 18 South Korean Christians and two German nationals, and said that they would only free the Germans if Berlin withdraws troops from Afghanistan.

Nato and US-led troops are failing to co-ordinate with their Afghan allies and thereby causing civilian deaths, President Hamid Karzai has said.

He criticised his Western allies' "extreme" use of force and said they should act as his government asked.

"Innocent people are becoming victims of reckless operations" because the troops had ignored Afghan advice for years, Mr Karzai told reporters.

He was speaking after a week in which up to 90 Afghan civilians were killed.