* Loew to name reduced squad on Wednesday (updates with quotes, details)

HAMBURG, May 13 (Reuters) - A second-string Germany team launched the country's World Cup preparations with a lacklustre 0-0 draw against Poland in a friendly international on Tuesday less than a month before the start of the finals in Brazil.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Two employees of WWF have received death threats in Democratic Republic of Congo because of the conservation group's opposition to plans by British company Soco International to search for oil in a national park, WWF said.

PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Tuesday it would begin training Libyan policemen in the coming weeks, more than a year after pledging to do so as part of efforts to help restore security in the North African state.

LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian judge has ruled the Federal High Court should have jurisdiction over Chevron's asset sale dispute with Nigeria's Brittania-U, the local firm's lawyers said, dealing a blow to Chevron which had hoped to have the case dismissed.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's president asked parliament on Tuesday for a six-month extension of a state of emergency in three northeastern states due to persistent attacks by Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls last month.

ACCRA, May 13 (Reuters) - New restrictions in Ghana on foreign exchange accounts will not be effective unless the West African nation resolves underlying macroeconomic imbalances, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

MARIKANA South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa sent more police to the strike-hit platinum belt on Tuesday to protect miners returning to work this week as producers pushed ahead with plans to end the sector's longest and most costly bout of industrial action.

ABUJA (Reuters) - U.S. surveillance aircraft were flying over remote areas of northeast Nigeria as part of an international hunt for about 200 girls kidnapped a month ago by Boko Haram militants who stormed their school.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Food Programme will help to feed nearly 6.5 million Ethiopians this year, the U.N. agency said on Tuesday, with the country hit by locusts, neighbouring war and sparse rainfall.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - A South African prosecutor asked on Tuesday for Oscar Pistorius to be sent for a mental evaluation after a psychiatrist told the Olympic and Paralympic track star's murder trial he had an anxiety disorder.

AKOSOMBO Ghana (Reuters) - Ghana's President John Mahama said on Tuesday he had not decided on whether his country should enter an assistance programme with the International Monetary Fund but the government was for now concentrating on a "home-grown" fiscal strategy.

AKOSOMBO, Ghana May 13 (Reuters) - Ghana's President John Mahama said on Tuesday he had not decided on whether his country should enter an assistance programme with the International Monetary Fund but the government was for now concentrating on a "home-grown" fiscal strategy.

AKOSOMBO, Ghana May 13 (Reuters) - Ghana's President John Mahama said on Tuesday he had not taken any decision on whether his country should enter an assistance programme with the International Monetary Fund.

ABUJA (Reuters) - A mother of one of 200 abducted Nigerian schoolgirls has identified her daughter on a video by Islamist rebels that shows the girls in captivity, a school leader told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday.

BERLIN, May 13 (Reuters) - Germany coach Joachim Loew is planning to see out his contract through to 2016 regardless of how his team fares at next month's World Cup in Brazil, where they are considered one of the favourites.

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad's President Idriss Deby said its border with Central African Republic had been closed pending an end to intercommunal violence there that has killed thousands and forced nearly one million people to flee their homes.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Additional police were deployed to South Africa's platinum belt on Tuesday to provide security for thousands of striking miners who are expected to start returning to work this week, in defiance of orders from their union, a police spokesman said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has deployed manned surveillance aircraft over Nigeria and is sharing satellite imagery with the Nigerian government to find more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist insurgents, a senior Obama administration official said on Monday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations has shelved plans to deploy surveillance drones as part of its peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast due to improved security, but is now seeking a company to provide the unarmed aircraft for its peacekeeping mission in Mali.