Military

NATO

¨         Prosecutors said on Wednesday three alleged Muslim militants arrested in the Netherlands on terrorism charges were plotting to attack a U.S. military base in Belgium. The three men were due to appear in court next week on previously announced charges related to a plan to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris. Two were arrested in Rotterdam two days after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. The third member of the group was recently extradited from Canada, where he had won a residency permit under another name two years ago. Spokeswoman Pollyan Spoon of the Rotterdam prosecutor's  office said the men had revealed the plans for the attack in Belgium during interrogation. "There is new evidence," she told The Associated Press. No details were released about which base had been targeted or when. Amine Mezbar and Mohammed Berkous, both Algerians, are scheduled to appear in court on Monday for a pretrial hearing alongside Frenchman Jerome Courtailler. Mezbar was transferred from Canada to the Netherlands July 19 and taken into custody in Rotterdam, where the two other suspects have been held since their arrest on Sept. 13.(AP 281802 Aug 02 GMT)

BALKANS

¨         NATO-led peacekeepers have uncovered more than 6,000 grenades in an area bombed during the alliance's air war with Yugoslav forces, an official said on Wednesday. The cache was found while NATO-led peacekeepers were digging out an ammunition bunker in Goles, a mountain in central Kosovo about 15 kilometers (10 miles) west of the Province's capital Pristina, said Capt. Steven Lowe, a spokesman for British forces. The find is the second in the last two days by the peacekeepers in the province.(AP 281308 Aug 02 GMT)

¨         Police said on Wednesday they had charged three ethnic Albanians over the machinegun killing of two policemen, which Macedonia (sic)  said was part of a bid to wreck next month's general election.   They said the suspects were former members of the NLA.  "We have strong evidence that the three suspects were discussing and planning details for the attack several hours before it took place," the police official said.  He said police were still seeking two others suspected of actually firing the machineguns and killing the policemen. (Reuters 1535 280802 Aug 02 GMT)

¨         A hand grenade exploded next to the office of a former Albanian rebel leader in Macedonia (sic)  on Wednesday, just weeks before his party is due to contest a general election amid smoldering ethnic tension.   Police said the grenade caused only minor damage when it detonated in a bakery just a few meters (yards) from former guerrilla chief Ali Ahmeti's headquarters in the capital Skopje.(Reuters 1208 280802 Aug 02 GMT)

IRAQ

¨         The United States will seek the removal of President Saddam Hussein whether or not he allows a resumption of UN weapons inspections in Iraq, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. "The case for regime change is broader than just WMD (weapons of mass destruction)," the official told Reuters, speaking on condition that he not be identified.   Sen. John Warner of Virginia, top Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, called for more congressional inquiry into President Bush's demand for "regime change" in Iraq.   Citing what he called a "crescendo" of debate, Warner said the committee should hear from Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, widely seen as a leading supporter of pre-emptive military action. White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to say directly whether Saddam could avoid a U.S. attempt to oust him. However, "this is a regime that needs to be changed," he told reporters covering Bush during his vacation Texas.  McClellan said the White House would cooperate with the planned congressional hearings -- in contrast with its unwillingness to send representatives to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Iraq last month. "We look forward to participating and being cooperative with Congress as those hearings are held," he said.(Reuters 2218 280802 Aug 02 GMT)

¨         The British government said Thursday it is considering calling for a deadline to be set for Saddam Hussein to allow UN weapons inspectors to return to Iraq. The  Foreign Office issued a statement that said the government would discuss this possibility with its allies, including the United States. But it did not say whether the UN Security Council should set the deadline or what should be done if the Iraqi leader ignored it.(AP 282224 Aug 02 GMT)