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Deutsche Welle

Barack Obama has been officially nominated as the Democratic Party presidential candidate. Democrats made history by nominating Barack Obama as the first black presidential nominee of a major US party. Earlier Hillary Clinton called for Obama to be voted by acclamation. She dramatically halted a roll-call vote at the Democratic National Convention and proposed the Illinois senator be nominated in a gesture of party unity. Senator Obama will give his acceptance speech on Thursday, coinciding with the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech.

The German government has again joined other Western nations in condemning Russia's decision to recognise the independence of the rebel Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Ulrich Wilhelm, said in a statement that Merkel had told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by telephone that the decision did not comply with international law.  French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that Russia may destabilise other countries, such as Moldova and Ukraine. Georgia has said it will reduce its diplomatic relations with Russia to a minimum following the decision and cut staff at its Moscow embassy. Meanwhile, Russia says its navy is monitoring the build-up of NATO troops in the Black Sea.

For the first time in over a year, a German soldier has been killed in Afghanistan. Three others were injured when the armoured vehicle he was travelling in struck a remote-controlled bomb near the northern city of Kunduz. The incident comes just weeks before the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag votes on whether to raise the number of Bundeswehr troops stationed in Afghanistan from 3,000 to 4,500. Most are stationed in the northern of the country as part of the International Security Assistance Force. 27 German troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

In Libya, the two hijackers who kidnapped a Sudanese plane with 95 passengers on board have surrendered. Libya's aviation authority said the hijackers were taken to one of the halls at Kufrah airport in Libya after they gave themselves up. The hijackers earlier released all passengers aboard the plane but had kept six crew members hostage. The Sunair Boeing 737 was seized on Tuesday after leaving Sudan's war-battered Darfur region for Khartoum. The hijackers, thought to be members of a splinter group of the Sudanese Liberation Army,  had demanded the plane be refuelled and allowed to leave for Paris.

A German aid agency is halting aid deliveries to almost half a million people affected by civil war in northern Darfur province in Sudan due to increasing attacks on relief staff. The German World Food Program said that in the past five weeks, armed gangs had attacked aid workers, threatened to kill them on two occasions and stolen seven trucks with supplies. The Bonn-based agency said it was now trying to secure safety guarantees from the various fighting factions.  Many of the around 80 humanitarian organisations in Darfur have reduced staff or operations, and some have pulled out altogether due to violence.

A Thai court has ordered thousands of anti-government protesters to leave the office compound of the prime minister. The demonstrators from the People's Alliance for Democracy have been occupying the compound since Tuesday in a bid to force Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to step down. Earlier, a court issued arrest warrants for nine leaders of the campaign on charges of inciting unrest and trying to overthrow the government. Two thousand police were positioned around the area.The PAD accuses Samak of ruling as a proxy for ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Samak has accused the protesters of trying to provoke a coup.

Somali gunmen have released the local head of the UN refugee agency who was seized in June near Mogadishu. A UN spokesman said Hassan Mohammed Ali was in good health and released unconditionally. Abductions are common in Somalia, where an interim government and its Ethiopian military allies have been battling Islamist insurgents since the start of last year.A Canadian freelance journalist and an Australian freelance photojournalist were kidnapped on Saturday in the same area where Ali was seized, in Elasha, southwest of the capital Mogadishu.

German energy giant E.ON says it plans to cut up to 1,800 sales jobs over the coming years in Germany. E.ON says it plans to shut about 40 of its 60 service locations by 2012 in order to improve competitiveness. E.ON currently employs around 15,000 people in Germany, and said in a statement it hoped to achieve the job cuts without layoffs.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt have added Hollywood glamour to Wednesday's opening of the 65th International Venice Film Festival. The two actors are starring in the movie “Burn After Reading” which premiered at the event. Of the 52 films selected, 21 will compete for the Golden Lion which is to be awarded on September 6. The movie “Jericho” by Christian Petzold is the first German movie to be screened in Venice since 2004. Veteran German director Wim Wenders is the president of the jury.