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• Norway, a member of the NATO alliance, warned Tuesday that any unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq could weaken the international war on terrorism. "It would undermine the cohesion in the broad, international coalition and weaken the chance to control terrorism in the longer term," Foreign Minister Jan Petersen said in a foreign policy address to parliament. Norway has strongly supported the United States in its war on terrorism and has sent military personnel to join U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan. But when it comes to Iraq, Petersen said international long-term pressure is the best way to force changes. "There is no question that Saddam Hussein is a despot who has used weapons of mass destruction against his own people and launched military attacks on neighboring countries," Petersen said. "Iraq must meet the demands of UN resolutions."(AP 261402 Feb 02 GMT)

• Russia and NATO have exchanged proposals for a new joint council, the opening moves in a drive to cement Moscow's new-found friendship with the West and secure its goodwill as the alliance prepares to expand eastwards. Diplomats said a deal on the forum, under which Russia would sit as an equal with the defense alliance’s 19 nations and have a say in decision-making, will almost certainly be ready for a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, this May. "There was a Russian proposal and a NATO counter-proposal which set the stage for serious discussions between the two sides," said a diplomat at the NATO’s headquarters in Brussels who requested anonymity. He said Guenther Altenburg, NATO assistant secretary general for political affairs, was due to discuss the proposals with Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Gusarov in Moscow on March 4. NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur said the list of topics would be limited at the outset to ensure that the forum meets the aim of cooperation and avoids confrontation. "You could expect the list to grow over time as people build trust and find commonalities," he said.(Reuters 1612 260202 GMT Feb 02)

• British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said on Tuesday that Britain wanted Latvia to become a member of NATO, adding to the evidence that alliance membership for the ex-Soviet Baltic states has broad support. "Britain remains a supporter of NATO enlargement. We believe that this will contribute to the greater security of Europe," Hoon told a news conference during a visit to Latvia. "All candidates must maintain momentum in defense reform. Britain wants to see Latvia as a full member of NATO," he said.(Reuters 2214 260202 GMT Feb 02)

BALKANS

• Three bodies found in a mass grave in Serbia have been identified as U.S. citizens of ethnic Albanian origin and Washington wants their killers found, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Tuesday. "An investigation is under way to identify the perpetrators of these murders committed during the Milosevic regime," he said. Boucher said it would be "difficult" to find who killed Chicago-born brothers Mehmet, Agron and Ylli Bytyqi, aged 21, 23 and 24 respectively, who were arrested by Serbian police near Kosovo’s boundary with Serbia proper on June 26, 1999, a few weeks after the end of NATO’s air war with Yugoslavia. But he said his country certainly intended to pursue the investigation and "we have heard from the governments involved that they intend to pursue it with us as well." (Reuters 2247 260202 GMT Feb 02)

• For the second time in a week, Montenegro’s independence-minded president hinted Tuesday he may be willing to shelve a referendum likely to lead to Yugoslavia’s final breakup. Milo Djukanovic has long supported Montenegro’s separation from the federation of Yugoslavia, which also includes much larger Serbia. However, he has recently shown some response to Western efforts to keep the two feuding republics together. Although Djukanovic has continued to say he supports a referendum that will decide his republic's future, he has recently suggested that he might postpone the vote. "The President has... presented his views about the interim solution which would preserve Montenegrin interests as well as interests of other participants in this process," a statement from Djukanovic's office said.(AP 261905 Feb 02 GMT)

• Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Tuesday that Turkey needed clarification on the mandate of the Afghan peacekeeping force before it could decide whether to take over command from Britain. British Prime Minister Tony Blair telephoned Ecevit on Monday to discuss the force as diplomatic wrangling continued over whether Turkey would assume command, sources in Ankara and London said. "It’s not just a question of financial support," Ecevit said after meeting senior government officials on Tuesday. "What kind of possibilities, what kind of terms, will be a matter for discussion. We need to know these details if we are to take over the responsibility," he told reporters in remarks shown live on NTV television. The Turkish Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Blair had called Ecevit to discuss Afghanistan but declined to comment on details of the conversation. In London, a spokesman for Blair would say only: "They discussed the possibility of handing over the leadership of ISAF."(Reuters1845 260202 Feb 02 GMT)

• The Pentagon has shut down a short-lived office that reportedly considered planting false news stories abroad to curry favor for U.S. policies. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld denied on Tuesday that the Office of Strategic Influence would have spread misinformation. The office was closed, he said, because the criticism has made doing its job impossible. "The office has clearly been so damaged that it’s pretty clear to me that it could not function effectively," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news briefing. The Pentagon will continue trying to get its message across, just not through the Office of Strategic Influence, Rumsfeld said.(AP 262219 Feb 02 GMT)

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