Military

WAR ON TERRORISM

¨         The U.S. official in charge of choking off funding to violent extremists like al Qaeda handed Liechtenstein a secret list of a dozen "high-impact terror" finance suspects on Monday as he started a five-nation tour. At a news conference in Vaduz, after meeting officials in the tiny principality, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Enforcement Jimmy Gurule declined to reveal the names or nationalities of the people on Washington's new list. (Reuters 211624 GMT Oct 02)

IRAQ

¨         The head of the U.S. Central Command said on Monday he discussed Iraq with Turkey's top general but made no requests for military assistance from Washington's apprehensive NATO ally. Visiting U.S. General Tommy Franks told reporters after meetings with Turkey's top general, Hilmi Ozkok, in Ankara: "We made no request of Turkey for specifics with regard to positions of any forces or any assets vis-a-vis an operation in Iraq. No requests were made." "Collaboration, consultation and discussion -- that was the purpose of our visit and we accomplished that," Gen. Franks added. (Reuters 211327 GMT Oct 02)

¨         U.S. President Bush said on Monday that he believed Iraq could be disarmed peacefully and he was willing to give diplomacy one more try, as diplomats at the United Nations conducted intensive negotiations over an elusive resolution on Iraq. As the president spoke, the United States, anxious to secure quick approval for any future action against Iraq, gave the other four key Security Council members a new draft of its resolution but no decisions were made. (Reuters 212350 GMT Oct 02)

¨         The United States will insist on a "zero tolerance" policy in enforcing any new UN resolution spelling out terms for arms inspections in Iraq, a White House spokesman said on Monday. Fleischer also played down suggestions of a new U.S. willingness to allow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to remain in power if he complies with U.S. demands. (Reuters 211632 GMT Oct 02)

NATO

¨         NATO governments will decide within a few weeks how many countries they will invite to join the alliance at the Prague summit in late November, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said on Monday in Washington. "I don't expect that the 19 (NATO member) governments will make their decision until they are absolutely clear in their own minds that all of these countries will add value to NATO's military capabilities as well as to NATO's outreach and the wider stability," he said. Lord Robertson spoke after talks at the State Department with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, mainly on preparation for the Prague summit on Nov. 21-22. He also had talks on Monday with U.S. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. President Bush said that the United States would soon spell out its position on expanding the alliance. (Reuters 212355 GMT Oct 02)

EU

¨         The European Union should appoint one person to be its foreign policy chief and external relations secretary, the European commissioner for institutional reform said in remarks published on Monday. Commissioner Michel Barnier proposed in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper that the positions of High Representative for Foreign Affairs Javier Solana and European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten be merged. "With this secretary of the union Europe would finally have, in the eyes of its citizens and the rest of the world, a single face and a strong voice to speak in its name," Barnier said. (Reuters 211146 GMT Oct 02)

BALKANS

¨         UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte piled pressure on Belgrade on Monday, delivering indictments for suspects she wants arrested and vowing to complain to the Security Council about obstruction of her work. Del Ponte said she had brought two previously-secret indictments linked to the Srebrenica massacre. The three subjects of the newly-unsealed indictments are Bosnian Serbs Drago Nikolic, Vujadin Popovic and Ljubisa Beara. The Swiss lawyer also voiced disappointment at Belgrade's failure to arrest suspects and open up its military archives. "It is a fact that we have so many fugitives...who are not arrested, particularly the accused from the military," she said. Del Ponte said the tribunal's president would present a formal complaint to the UN Security Council next week in New York. (Reuters 211822 GMT Oct 02)