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WAR ON TERRORISM

• In a potential blow to the U.S. war effort, Pakistan appears to be preparing to pull troops away from the Afghan border area, U.S. defense officials said Tuesday in Washington. The Pakistani military presence along the Afghan border has been a key element of the U.S. strategy for hunting down and capturing or killing Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who slipped across the border. Without Pakistan’s help, the United States has little short-term prospect of finishing off al-Qaida. (AP 282027 May 02)

• U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz will visit Singapore and the Philippines beginning this week to discuss the war on terrorism with regional leaders and meet American troops, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Wolfowitz will attend and speak at an Asian security conference sponsored by the International Institute of Strategic Studies in Singapore on June 1-2. (Reuters 281652 GMT May 02)

• German security officials said Tuesday that Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network is still active in the country, regrouping and recruiting new militants capable of carrying out new terrorist attacks. Top brass from Germany’s security services echoed recent U.S. government warnings that a threat of fresh attacks remains. Thousands of al-Qaida members are active worldwide and a "noteworthy number" are in Germany, Manfred Klink, head of Germany’s federal police, told a gathering of European security officials in Bonn. (AP 281910 May 02)

NATO

• Ukraine will formally notify NATO of its decision to apply for membership in the military alliance as soon as possible, a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday. Speaking to reporters in Kiev just as Russia and NATO signed a historic cooperation agreement at a military base in Rome, Ihor Kharchenko, deputy secretary of the foreign ministry, said Ukraine will not wait until NATO Secretary-General George Robertson visits the Ukrainian capital July 9 to formalize its intentions, as originally planned. National Security and Defense Council Chairman Yevhen Marchuk said Russia’s "rapid breakthrough" in relations with NATO in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks prompted Ukraine’s decision to seek membership, according to Interfax news agency. (AP 281612 May 02)

• The United States expanded international cooperation on development of its newest fighter jet on Tuesday with a US $125 million deal with Denmark. The 10-year deal makes Denmark the third NATO ally to chip in to help pay the estimated US $200 billion cost of developing the Joint Strike Fighter. (AP 281920 May 02)

BALKANS

• Bosnia’s NATO-led peacekeeping force grounded the Bosnian Serb air force on Tuesday and suspended its commander for allegedly spying on alliance planes flying over the Balkan country. A spokesman said the commander of SFOR had banned until further notice all movement and training of the Bosnian Serb air force and air defence, limiting its activities to administrative work. It was not immediately clear how many aircraft were affected. U.S. General John Sylvester also demanded immediate disclosure of the air force’s electronic intelligence monitoring operations. (Reuters 281558 GMT May 02)

• Montenegro’s president on Tuesday named former Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic – who quit after his government lost support in parliament over the Yugoslav republic’s decision to stay in a union with Serbia - as the new designate for the post. President Djukanovic said Vujanovic was the best man for the job because he had "proved his dedication to democratic reforms and his capability in dealing with the most delicate political situations." (AP 281710 May 02)

• Serb forces tried to hide the execution of hundreds of ethnic Albanians in disputed Kosovo by moving their corpses to mass graves near Belgrade, prosecutors told Slobodan Milosevic’s war crimes trial on Tuesday. Witnesses have previously described finding mass graves in Kosovo, but this was the first time the trial has heard of ethnic Albanian corpses being unearthed hundreds of kilometres away from the scene of ethnic fighting in the disputed province. (Reuters 281824 GMT May 02)

• The U.S. government’s training of foreign military forces is helping people who may one day commit human rights abuses and oppose America, an Amnesty International report says. U.S. training operations occur in about 150 countries, the State Department says. Since Sept. 11, the operations have increased. The report released this week by Amnesty said that far too often the training is conducted in secret and without oversight from high-ranking officials. The Amnesty report suggests the United States should link military training to human rights education and establish independent oversight of any use of the U.S. Special Operations Forces to train militaries abroad. (AP 290047 May 02)

• U.S.-led warplanes patrolling a no-fly zone over northern Iraq bombed an Iraqi air defense system on Tuesday in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire, the U.S. military said. The planes dropped bombs after Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery at them during routine patrols, the U.S. European Command said in a statement. The attack took place near the northern city of Mosul. (AP 281836 May 02)

• The European Union’s top foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, returns to the Middle East later this week to boost peace efforts in the region, officials said Tuesday in Brussels. Solana will visit seven countries during a six-day swing through the region starting on Thursday. He is to have talks with leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, his office said. Solana also plans to have talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. He will also be seeking more support to convene an international conference on the Middle East crisis this summer. (AP 281520 May 02)

 FINAL ITEM