Military

NATO

¨         Failure to admit Romania to NATO later this year could harm anti-corruption efforts, a U.S. senator said Monday. Acknowledging that "significantly greater progress" needed to be made by the former communist country to tackle endemic graft, Sen. John McCain said excluding Romania from NATO when it expands in the fall would be counterproductive. "Entry into NATO has become so important that it could actually be harmful to the progress (in fighting corruption), if Romania is not accepted," he told reporters. McCain said Romania was a "strong candidate" to join the military alliance due to its location. It is located on the eastern rim of Europe, bordering the Black Sea, the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. "We need to shore up the southern flank. This would also be a bridge to Turkey and will give us a solid basis," he said. "I don't think there is any doubt that NATO will be expanding its missions and roles in the future," McCain said. "Romania has a bridge to a part of the world which is not always the most stable and can play a very important role."(AP 191307 Aug 02 GMT)

U.S.-IRAQ

¨         President Bush will meet at his Texas ranch on Wednesday with his top national security advisers, including Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, but officials sought to dampen speculation they were readying military action against Iraq.  The White House said the meeting would focus on reforming the military's weapons, strategy and finances, and developing a system to defend against a missile attack on the United States.  John Pike, an expert on defense policy and the director of GlobalSecurity.org, said Bush may launch airstrikes against suspected chemical and biological weapons plants and other military facilities as soon as late November.   He said deposing Saddam, the stated goal of Bush's Iraq policy, could wait for later.(Reuters 1741 190802 Aug 02 GMT)

AFGHANISTAN

¨         The United States said on Monday it was pressing the Afghan government to investigate reports that hundreds of Taliban prisoners died in the north of the country after surrendering last November. "We are looking into the circumstances surrounding the events that are reported ... We've stressed and continue to stress to Afghan authorities the importance of investigating allegations of human rights violations and war crimes," said U.S. State Department official Philip Reeker.  The Boston-based organization Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said it was the first time the U.S. government had indicated it was prepared to look into the allegations. "We welcome that ... to the extent that they are focusing on these events. We think it's a step forward," PHR executive director Leonard Rubenstein told Reuters.   PHR on Sunday demanded a commission of inquiry under UN Security Council auspices to investigate an alleged mass grave site at Dasht-e Leili near the northern town of Sheberghan.  The organization believes the grave contains the bodies of hundreds of Taliban and other prisoners captured by Washington's Afghan allies towards the end of the U.S. military campaign to drive the Taliban out of power.(Reuters 2123 190802 Aug 02 GMT)

OTHER NEWS

¨         The European Union will soon establish its policy on Washington's call for immunity from the International Criminal Court and expects candidate countries to adhere to it, Denmark's prime minister said Monday. That policy was likely be set on Sept. 4 at a meeting of EU officials, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a news conference to wrap up a two-day gathering of Nordic and Baltic prime ministers in Riga. The Danish prime minister said EU officials would meet on Sept. 4 specifically to decide on the EU's policy vis-à-vis the U.S. immunity bid, but he provided no further details. He said the gathering would likely be in Brussels. "We're going to form a common EU position and most candidate countries have indicated that they will follow this common position," said Fogh Rasmussen, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency. Discussions about EU and NATO expansion also were on the agenda for the annual meeting of representatives from Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.(AP191448 Aug 02 GMT)