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NATO

• The head of the U.S. European Command on Tuesday visited American military instructors training troops in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia to fight terrorists who U.S. officials fear are hiding out in the Caucasus Mountains. Gen. Joseph Ralston met with Georgian President Shevardnadze and thanked him for his backing of the U.S.-led anti-terrorism campaign. "I was very pleased with the report I got from talking to the soldiers," Ralston told reporters after visiting the military academy where the training is under way. About 70 U.S. troops are in Georgia, but the training corps will at times expand to 150, officials said.(AP 042008 Jun 02 GMT)

• Slovak President Rudolf Schuster left on Tuesday for North America, where he is expected to meet President Bush and discuss upcoming elections key to Slovakia’s aim of gaining NATO entry this year. Slovakia hopes to be invited to join NATO at the alliance’s summit this November in Prague. But the entry bid could be torpedoed if autocratic ex-Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar – who currently leads opinion polls -- returns to power in the vote, which must be called before the end of September. Schuster will figure prominently after the Slovak vote, as he will choose the party that will lead negotiations on forming the next cabinet. He is also scheduled to meet Bush on Friday, along with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice. Meciar’s HZDS is expected to win the most votes in the autumn elections, but it is not clear whether it will be able to find allies to form a majority cabinet after the polls.(Reuters 1759 040602 Jun 02 GMT)

• The Netherlands on Tuesday backed a multi-billion dollar U.S-led plan to develop a supersonic "stealth" fighter in the biggest ever global project of its kind. The Dutch parliament in the Hague voted to join a program spearheaded by top U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp and the Pentagon to build a radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) forecast to cost $200 billion to develop. The Netherlands expects to gain orders of up to $12 billion in lucrative long-term contracts for its defense and aerospace industries after parliament in the Hague gave the government the green light to spend $800 million up front on the project. "We are very pleased parliament gave the green light. We consider the JSF the best plane at the best price," a Defense ministry spokesman said. Denmark, Britain and Canada have already signed up for JSF with Italy expected to follow suit. Talks are also under way with Norway and Turkey to develop the jet.(Reuters 1700 040602 Jun 02 GMT)

• The Turkish government and The Boeing Co. have agreed upon a 1.1 billion (dollars) contract for four surveillance aircraft. The sophisticated Airborne Warning and Control System radar-tracking planes are a major project of Turkey’s multibillion dollar modernization program and will help the NATO-member overcome a gap in its radar surveillance. Now, the U.S. State Department and Congress must approve the contract, which could take several months.(AP 050356 Jun 02 GMT)

BALKANS

• The Yugoslav parliament on Tuesday passed a law granting amnesty to ethnic Albanian rebels who fought Serbian security forces last year in a tense area in the country’s south. The amnesty law passed easily in the parliament's 138-seat lower chamber, 70-26. The amnesty will apply to ethnic Albanian insurgents who took up arms against Serbian troops, fighting to join an area in southern Serbia often referred to as Presevo Valley to neighboring Kosovo, a province administered by NATO. Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus told the assembly that the law, drafted by his government earlier this year, was a crucial part of the peace deal for the buffer zone. "We told them (the militants) to give up their guns and we would give them amnesty," Labus said before the vote. "It may have been a flawed settlement, but it brought peace."(AP 041918 Jun 02 GMT)

 FINAL ITEM