Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers around the world:

Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Canada, on Aghanistan:

A report on the murder of a Canadian aid worker in Afghanistan last summer should give serious pause for reflection to Canadians who think that this country's combat role there should be ended and replaced by aid and reconstruction work.

Mike Frastacky, a Vancouver carpenter, was building a school in northern Afghanistan when he was killed by anti-government forces — hauled from his bed, tied up and shot three times after the terrorist leader gave the order, "Kill the infidel".

A report on the incident by Afghan security investigators reveals that the killers were terrorists affiliated with the Taliban or its extreme Islamist ally Hezb-e Islami, and that his death was a planned, political murder rather than a random act of violence. He was killed because he was doing reconstruction.

This is the threat that every aid and reconstruction worker in Afghanistan lives with on a daily basis, and their situation seems likely to become more dangerous rather than less as the Taliban becomes increasingly violent in its efforts to regain power. ...

These events emphasise the importance of a continued combat role for Canada and its Nato allies in the Afghan war. ...

Maintaining Canada's will to fight that war, however, is certain to grow more difficult as casualties mount. ...

Daily Telegraph, London, on response to the knighthood of Salman Rushdie>

Pakistani protests over the presentation of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie were escalating yesterday to ever-more shrill and offensive heights. Incited by demagogic remarks from some of Pakistan's hard-line politicians, crowds in the streets of Islamabad were burning effigies of the Queen while the Senate, Pakistan's upper house of parliament, approved a unanimous resolution demanding that Britain withdraw the honour from the author of a "blasphemous book". The Pakistani legislature may be thought to be within its rights to express what it describes as its "annoyance over blatant disregard for the sentiments of Muslims". But it is of another order entirely for the religious affairs minister of Pakistan, a country that regards itself as an ally of the West in the war on terror, to incite violence within the United Kingdom.

Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq may have been forced to "clarify" his inflammatory suggestion that suicide bombing was an appropriate response to the Rushdie knighthood, but the Pakistan government has, as yet, offered no official condemnation of his statement. Nor, apparently, has the British Government called for one. Even allowing for the diplomatic delicacy of dealing with an ally, it seems peculiarly feeble to limit our response to these ugly threats to an expression of "deep concern" from Britain's high commissioner. ...

This Day, Lagos, Nigeria, on Africa and the GB>

The G8 Summit held in Heiligendamm, Germany last week lived up to its profile: Leaders of all the member countries were present with the usual pomp. And for Africa, it was yet another time to receive more promises from the world's most industrialised nations. But if the continent must overcome its peculiar challenges, it should be prepared to rise above its beggarly tendencies and reshape its own destiny.

This point was made by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda at the pre-Summit meeting of African leaders in London when he reminded his audience about the centrality of power to development.

No doubt, Africa's plight is comparable to anaemia, and an acute case at that. But in trying to boost its capacity to meet its enormous needs and also compete globally, it must rely less on the hand-outs and pledges of other blocs.