NATO ambassadors discussed escalating tensions between alliance hopeful Georgia and Russia yesterday ahead of a meeting with Moscow’s NATO envoy.

European Union foreign ministers will try to overcome differences today over whether to offer Serbia a path to EU membership despite the Balkan nation’s failure to track down suspected war criminals.

Slovenia, the former Yugoslav country of 2 million, took over the European Union presidency today, becoming the face and the voice of the 27-nation bloc of 500 million people for the next six months.

Cyprus’ insistence that the EU pressure on Turkey towards establishing relations with the divided island’s government today threatened to derail Ankara’s first detailed negotiations to join the EU before they could begin.

THE European Union told Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko yesterday that he was unwelcome in the 25-nation bloc after his re-election last month in a vote observers said was rigged.