Military

WAR ON TERRORISM

¨         Suicide squads are being trained in Pakistan by al-Qaida operatives to hit targets in Afghanistan and the bombers' families are being promised US $50,000, say Afghan and Pakistani sources. The Pakistani government denies the presence of camps here. But privately, some officials in Pakistan's intelligence community and Interior Ministry say they believe there is such bomb training and that it is protected by Pakistani militants and Taliban sympathizers in the Pakistan military. (AP 130220 Dec 02)

IRAQ

¨         The United States and Russia gave chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix recommendations on sensitive material that should be deleted from Iraq's weapons declaration before it is given to the 10 non-permanent Security Council members. All five permanent members were asked by Blix to make suggestions by Friday about cutting sensitive material. (AP 130115 Dec 02)

¨         The U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington and its battle group have begun steaming back to the U.S. East Coast, the Navy said on Thursday, a move analysts said made a large-scale U.S.-led attack on Iraq less likely in the near future. The move left the Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group in the region. Two others were en route, the Harry S. Truman and the Constellation. The whereabouts of a fourth, the Yokosuka, Japan-based Kitty Hawk, were not immediately clear. The Washington's homeward leg coincided with the Bush administration's apparent willingness to let the UN arms inspection process move forward after Iraq submitted a 12,000-page weapons declaration last weekend. (Reuters 122257 GMT Dec 02)

NATO

¨         NATO chief George Robertson said on Thursday that commitments made at last month's Prague summit to boost the alliance's military strength had to be carried through to keep Washington doubters at bay. "If the European, and Canadian, allies meet the commitments laid out in Prague, it will be a vivid demonstration of their determination to carry their fair share of the security burden," he said in the text of a speech due to be made at a conference. "If they do not, it will be very difficult indeed to argue with those in Washington who continue to see their allies as freeloaders in security," he said, adding he would do his best to make sure that the promises made at Prague to boost capabilities were met. (Reuters 121912 GMT Dec 02)

¨         The European Union agreed on Thursday on a deal with Turkey to give the EU assured access to NATO planning and assets for its own military operations, removing a long-running irritation with Ankara, diplomats said. Diplomats said the complex arrangement -- known in security jargon as "Berlin Plus" -- would be submitted to NATO's North Atlantic Council on Friday for ratification, and sealed with an exchange of letters between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and NATO Secretary-General George Robertson. "It seems we have reached an agreement on Berlin Plus, depending on whether Turkey will accept it or not. But it seems as if Berlin Plus has reached harbour, we have had a formal decision taken on that tonight in the EU," Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh told reporters. (Reuters 130019 GMT Dec 02)

EU

¨         European Union leaders have put off a decision on Turkey's entry into the bloc for at least two years and sent a strong signal to other applicants that the EU is not an open-door club with money to spare.  The 15 EU leaders stood firm against intense lobbying by the United States on Turkey's behalf and strenuous efforts by the 10 mainly former communist nations to get more money on joining. "The message from this summit is that the EU is not a bloc that you just show up to and join automatically -- no matter how loud you shout," a European diplomat said. (Reuters 130332 GMT Dec 02)

BALKANS

¨         Going from door to door throughout Bosnia, NATO soldiers this year have collected a record amount of weapons and ammunition from people who kept them in their homes for years after the Bosnian war ended. This way, "Operation Harvest has achieved a level of success in 2002 that has never been seen before," a NATO spokesman said. The amount represents an increase of 150 percent compared to the same period last year. (AP 121323 Dec 02)

¨         The United Nations on Thursday formally ended its peacekeeping mission in the Adriatic and police training operation in Bosnia, whose leaders were told to do more to help capture war criminals and reduce their bloated bureaucracy. In Bosnia, the 1,500 UN-led international police force will be taken over by the European Union at the end of the year. Jacques Paul Klein, the American UN envoy who represented the United Nations in Bosnia, said that organizing a multi-ethnic police force had been far more successful than making the judiciary and prison system work. (Reuters 122305 GMT Dec 02)

OTHER NEWS

¨         Two construction sites in central Iran, Natanz and Arak, may be used for a clandestine program to develop nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said in Washington. The officials, speaking Thursday on condition of anonymity, generally endorsed reports issued by an Iranian resistance group this summer that accused Iran of building facilities for their nuclear programs at the two sites. The rebel group cited their own sources inside the Iranian government. (AP 130040 Dec 02)