Prime Minister John Howard, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd and Defence Force head Angus Houston have joined mourners at Brisbane’s Saint Stephen’s Cathedral for the military funeral of trooper David Pearce.

The Canadian government plans to extend the country’s Afghanistan mission until at least 2011 — two years beyond the proposed February 2009 deadline.

Abkhazia demands that Tbilisi withdraw its troops from the breakaway Georgian region’s border, a spokesman for the Abkhazian president said on Tuesday.