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AFGHANISTAN

• Military action in Afghanistan has successfully wiped out Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, and there is no doubt the leader will be caught, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday in London. The U.S.- and British-led campaign "has been a success but it is not complete yet," Blair said in an interview to be shown Wednesday evening on the BBC’s "Newsnight" program. Blair said Turkey would be taking over command of the International Security Assistance Force in the Afghan capital, Kabul, within weeks and denied that Britain had an open-ended commitment in the country. He said British troops would remain in Afghanistan for some time in an undetermined capacity to help Afghanistan develop its own army and security force after handing over control in Kabul to Turkey. (AP 151535 May 02)

• European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten will visit Afghanistan and Pakistan on May 20-23 and urge Afghan leaders to respect promises to build stability and democracy, the Commission said on Wednesday in Brussels. The European Union is the biggest donor of financial aid to Afghanistan and pledged some 2.3 billion euros in aid from 2002-2006. It has also supported Pakistan financially in return for its support in the U.S.-led war on terror. In a statement, Patten said he would urge Kabul’s interim government to carry out commitments made at a peace conference in Germany last year and to ensure the democratic legitimacy of any future permanent administration. (Reuters 151637 GMT May 02)

NATO

• The United States welcomed closer cooperation between Russia and NATO but remained noncommittal on Wednesday on whether Moscow eventually will be allowed to join the military alliance. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer praised the agreement but said the Bush administration was not signaling that Moscow would join NATO. "Over time, other assessments will be made," Fleischer said in Washington. "That’s going to depend on cooperation. It’s going to depend on events. And this is a garden that will be watered and now will grow." (AP 152028 May 02)

• U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday that Washington wanted a robust NATO enlargement behind the old Iron Curtain, a day after the alliance and former foe Moscow declared the Cold War dead. "He told us the enlargement should be a robust one, without saying what that means in terms of numbers," an eastern European diplomat said. "But the message was clear." (Reuters 151713 GMT May 02)

• The Georgian armed forces on Wednesday received a US $ 2.9 million grant from Turkey as part of a program to boost this former Soviet republic’s military capabilities. The Turkish government said they hoped the money would help Georgia in its bid to raise its military up to NATO standards. (AP 151826 May 02)

• Italy will deploy an anti-missile system and as many as 15,000 security forces as part of massive security measures during a NATO-Russia summit that will bring 20 heads of government and state to a seaside town near Rome on May 28. Speaking on the sidelines of the Reykjavik meeting, Gen. Tricarico, Berlusconi’s military adviser, said NATO’s AWACS surveillance airplanes and Italian Navy and Coast Guard vessels will be patrolling the area from land and sea, Ap.Biscom reported. (AP 151822 May 02)

EU

• Russia’s future cooperation with the European Union will depend in large part on whether the EU ensures that its expansion does not further isolate the Kaliningrad enclave, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday in Moscow. European Commission President Romano Prodi promised Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on Wednesday that the EU will try and settle the dispute ahead of its eastward expansion, expected in 2004. (AP 151942 May 02)

• Greece’s Premier, Costas Simitis, said on Wednesday in Athens that a European Union defense plan giving non-member Turkey a say on EU use of NATO facilities undermines the 15-nation bloc’s autonomy, and insisted Athens will veto the deal. "We reject the one-sided Ankara text. Without amendments which satisfy our aims and secure our interests, no text will be accepted," Simitis said. "The security of the EU, and even more the security of our country, cannot be the subject of ... uncertain regulations." (AP 151753 May 02)

• Britain and Spain said on Wednesday that "real difficulties" were blocking negotiations to resolve their 300-year-old dispute over sovereignty of Gibraltar. But foreign ministers Jack Straw and Josep Pique said after talks in London they remained committed to reaching agreement by mid-year on the future of the British colony. Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Peter Caruana said if Spain and Britain failed to put an agreement to a speedy referendum he would call one of his own within two months. (Reuters 151535 GMT May 02)

• The party of slain Dutch populist Pim Fortuyn stormed into parliament, leapfrogging centre-left ruling parties to come second only to the Christian Democrats in national elections, results showed on Thursday. In Europe’s latest rout by the right, Dutch voters dumped Prime Minister Wim Kok’s three-way coalition and awarded the opposition Christian Democrats (CDA) 43 of parliament’s 150 seats in Wednesday’s election. Fortuyn’s three-month-old party of political novices won 26 seats, according to the preliminary results out early Thursday. A definitive result will be issued on May 21 when all votes, including those cast overseas, are included. (Reuters 160034 GMT May 02)

BALKANS

• U.S. peacekeepers detained two local police officers on Wednesday after they interfered with NATO troops conducting an operation, a U.S. military spokesman said. The officers were turned over to UN police in the Serb enclave of Strpce. It was not immediately clear what prompted the Serb police officers to be detained, but the incident comes after days of tensions triggered when a group of ethnic Albanians who lived in the area before the 1998-1999 conflict returned home - a move protested by Serbs there. (AP 152230 May 02)

• Separatist forces in Montenegro made slight gains in municipal elections that reflected deep divisions over the key issue concerning the republic’s future - whether to seek independence or stick with Serbia. Pro-independence forces retained their grip on 11 of 19 municipalities - the same number as before Wednesday’s race. The separatists claimed victory, however, because their margin of success was slightly higher than in parliamentary elections a year ago, gaining 3 percentage points or about 7,000 votes over those who advocate union with Serbia. (AP 160109 May 02)

• Kosovo’s prime minister will visit the United States on a four-day tour next week set to include a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, officials said Wednesday. The invitation to Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi was extended to show support for the province’s new institutions, U.S. officials said while speaking on condition of anonymity. (AP 152117 May 02)

• A French army delegation led by Gen. Jean-Pierre Kelche, chief of staff of the French armed forces, arrived in Ukraine’s capital Kiev on Wednesday to discuss defense reform and cooperation. Officials are expected to discuss cooperation between both countries’ defense forces within NATO-sponsored and European Union programs, as well as share experience in army reform, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. Before departing on Friday, the delegation is expected to visit the Crisis Control Center of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry in Kiev, a shipbuilding plant in the southern Mykolaiv city and a military range in the Mykolaiv region, the Defense Ministry added. (AP 151950 May 02)

• Iraq may be seriously considering allowing UN weapons inspectors back into the country after a hiatus of more than three years, an American official said on Wednesday. "I think a lot of people are telling us the Iraqis are seriously thinking about this now," said James Cunningham, the deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations, in taped comments to a group of reporters obtained by the Reuters news agency. (Reuters 160329 GMT May 02)

 FINAL ITEM