Munich - Franck Ribery has no intention of leaving Bayern Munich in the near future, but will not commit himself to the German Bundesliga champions on a long-term basis.

Confronted with big interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid and other clubs, The French star Ribery told Wednesday's edition of the Sport Bild weekly that "no one must be afraid that Ribery will leave the Bundesliga."

Ribery, 25, has contract in Munich until 2011 which Munich would like to renew as early as possible. But Ribery said "that depends on the talks between my adviser and the club."

Munich - Bayern Munich coach Juergen Klinsmann indicated Real Madrid had inquired about midfielder Franck Ribery but said he was confident the France star would be staying "for a long time" at the German champions.

"We have an exceptional player and the enquiries there have been - whether Real Madrid or whoever - speak for him," Klinsmann told Bavarian television late Monday.

Munich - Germany's five star hotel, the Alpenhof

Munich (Germany), Feb. 9 : President Barack Obama''s national security team has given a dire assessment of the war in Afghanistan, with one official calling it a challenge "much tougher than Iraq" and others hinting that it could take years to turn around.

U. S. officials said more troops were urgently needed, both from America and its NATO allies, to counter the increasing strength of the Taliban and warlords opposed to the central government in Kabul.

They also said new approaches were needed to untangle an inefficient and conflicting array of civilian-aid programs that have wasted billions of dollars.

Munich  - Eleven persons were temporarily detained by police Saturday during largely peaceful protests by several thousand persons demonstrating against the Munich security conference, police officials reported.

Police spokesman Peter Reichl said the 11 were taken into custody for, among other reasons, resisting police, violating the anti-mask ban, and insulting police officers.

Four persons, one of them a policewoman, were slightly injured in a skirmish in which pepper spray was used, but that otherwise the protests had been peaceful.

Munich  - Horst Seehofer, head of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party, Saturday evening said he had turned down an offer to resign by federal Economics Minister Michael Glos.

Seehofer, who is also prime minister of the southern state of Bavaria, was quoted by a spokesman as having said, "Michael Glos has my trust. I have told Michael Glos by telephone that I am not agreeing to his request."

Seehofer said he would hold "personal talks" with Glos in order to discuss the reasons which the Economics Minister had cited in his letter offering to resign.