THIS year, Western troops will withdraw from Afghanistan after 13 years of war.

US and Russian special forces have collaborated in raids on drugs labs in Afghanistan which destroying $250m (€181m) of heroin and morphine, a Russian news agency is quoting the country’s anti-narcotics chief as saying.

More than 5,000 opposition protesters massed in the Belarusian capital Minsk today to mark the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster despite police fencing off a downtown square where they had planned to rally.