UK switching power

LONDON: All coal-fired power stations in Britain would close by 2025, the government announced yesterday. The 12 coal-fired stations currently operating generate almost a third of the country’s electricity.

New gas-fired power stations would be a priority. Nuclear power also had a central role in Britain’s energy future. – Xinhua

Russia to act on doping

MOSCOW: Russia’s Sports Minister, Vitaly Mutko, said yesterday that World Anti-doping Agency officials were coming under pressure in their probe into doping allegations against Russian athletes. He said sportsmen would be harshly punished for doping and that Russia was capable of solving the problem itself. – Reuters

More Kosovo unrest

PRISTINA: Police and protesters clashed in Kosovo for a second day yesterday in a deepening crisis over relations with former ruler Serbia.

The opposition is angry in particular about an agreement to grant ethnic Serb areas in Kosovo greater local powers and the possibility of some financing from Belgrade. – Reuters

Germany boosts forces

BERLIN: Germany would send 130 more soldiers to Afghanistan, the government said yesterday after a cabinet meeting to discuss support for Afghan forces struggling to tackle an Islamist insurgency.

The Taliban’s recent seizure of Kunduz prompted the US-led military coalition to revise its Afghanistan strategy. – Reuters