Military

AFGHANISTAN

¨         Azerbaijani troops will soon serve along with Turkish forces in the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, the former Soviet republic's president said Thursday in Baku. "We are actively participating in the anti-terrorist coalition and will continue to do so," Aliev said. "Our relations with the United States and other countries of the coalition will continue to expand." (AP 172101 Oct 02)

WAR ON TERRORISM

¨         U.S. Central Command chief General Tommy Franks held talks in Sanaa on security cooperation with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday amid efforts by the Arab country to crack down on Islamic militants. A Yemeni official said the talks focused on security cooperation and regional developments. (Reuters 171742 GMT Oct 02)

IRAQ

¨         France appeared favorably disposed to new U.S. proposals for a draft resolution that now drop any immediate authorization for a military strike against Iraq unless Baghdad balks at UN weapons inspections, diplomats said late on Thursday. The United States hopes to circulate its full text to key members of the council by Friday or early next week. "The United States does not need any additional authority even now, if we thought it was necessary to take action to defend ourselves," Secretary of State Colin Powell said after meeting chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix. The new U.S. measure directs Blix "to report immediately to the council any failure by Iraq to comply with its disarmament obligations." (Reuters 180239 GMT Oct 02)

¨         Iraq's best-known opposition leader said the Pentagon will soon start training around 10,000 Iraqi opposition forces for combat, according to an interview with an Italian newspaper to be published on Friday. "The Pentagon will train Iraqi forces. It hasn't started yet. I expect it to start soon," Ahmed Chalabi, the effective leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), told Il Sole 24 Ore, saying reports of around 10,000 men "for combat" were "accurate." "The INC, as an umbrella organisation, will provide the men and women. We have names of Iraqis ready to be trained. But the United States will not train political parties or militias. It will be an Iraqi military force." A future Iraqi state should be at peace with its neighbours, he added, including Israel. (Reuters 172057 GMT Oct 02)

¨         The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Carlos Pascual, said on Thursday that U.S. and British experts needed at least a week to form any conclusions on whether Ukraine sold an aircraft detection system to Iraq in breach of UN sanctions. As Ukraine's parliament set up its own probe into U.S. claims that President Kuchma approved the sale of a "Kolchuga" early warning system, the ambassador said the Western experts would return to London before filing their report. (Reuters 171435 GMT Oct 02)

EU

¨         The EU should send positive signals acknowledging Turkey's progress toward meeting EU entry requirements, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Thursday in London. Straw told a meeting sponsored by the German-British Forum that Turkey "has made significant progress in recent months towards meeting the political criteria necessary to start negotiations for EU membership." "These major changes are led by Turkey's desire to join the EU and European ideals. This requires reciprocal signals from the EU," he added. (AP 171619 Oct 02)

BALKANS

¨         Yugoslav and Serbian political and religious leaders gave a cool reception Thursday to a plea from Kosovo's chief UN administrator that they urge Serbs in the province to vote in upcoming local elections. "There has been hardly any improvement in the extremely bad security situation for Serbs in Kosovo ... or in respect for their human rights," said Yugoslav President Kostunica after meeting with Steiner. The top Kosovo Serb representative, Radmila Trajkovic, said Steiner's demand might be met if he agrees to decentralization of Kosovo, which would allow some autonomy to scattered Serb enclaves in the province. (AP 171617 Oct 02)

OTHER NEWS

¨         The U.S. Defense Department is looking into ways of juggling its resources between regions if called upon to fight and win two major wars simultaneously, a top Pentagon official said on Thursday. "We are in the process right now of talking to the combatant commanders on their war plans, and we're fleshing out those types of things for the types of capabilities that we will need," said Navy Rear Adm. Stanley Szemborski, deputy director of the office overseeing U.S. military modernization. He stressed that the process of considering ways of fighting two wars simultaneously had begun months ago. (Reuters 180006 GMT Oct 02)

¨         Britain will look very closely at U.S. plans for a ballistic missile defense shield and will seriously consider any request to use British bases for the program, the government said Thursday. Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told the House of Commons no request had been made by the U.S. administration to use British bases for the so-called program. "If a U.S. request ... is received, we will consider it very seriously. The government would agree to such a request only if it were satisfied that the overall security of the U.K. and the alliance would be enhanced," he added. (AP 171806 Oct 02)