NATO Secretary General George Robertson is to become deputy chairman of telecoms group Cable & Wireless from next year, it was announced today.

Naser Oric, a Bosnian Muslim wartime commander and former bodyguard of Slobodan Milosevic, was handed over to the Yugoslav tribunal today to face allegations of war crimes against the Serbs.

US President George W Bush said yesterday he had made it “very clear” to Turkey that its troops should not unilaterally enter northern Iraq.

AN emergency summit of Europe’s leaders today faces an uphill struggle to salvage unity over Iraq in the face of deepening divisions.

UNITED NATIONS weapons inspectors yesterday issued a grim warning to Saddam Hussein that there must be a “drastic” change in his conduct if he is to avoid a war.

IRAQ has increased food rations to let citizens stock up for a possible war with the United States, its trade minister said yesterday.

NATO took a giant step forward yesterday, welcoming seven former Communist countries into the military alliance and paving the way for a 20,000-strong rapid reaction force.

US President George Bush warned European allies yesterday that NATO countries face threats from terrorism in this century as dangerous as those from German armies in the past.

Nato must quickly refocus its military muscle so it can “root out and destroy” threats from terrorists or renegade states, the alliance head told defence ministers today at the start of talks to overhaul the 53-year-old organisation.

NATO and Russia have reached a historic agreement to combat common security threats in the post-September 11 era.

Nato would examine carefully any evidence suggesting that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was linked to the September 11 terror attacks, the alliance’s secretary general George Robertson said today.

The world must match the new ‘‘inventiveness’’ of global terrorists, Nato Secretary-General George Robertson said today.

NATO secretary-general George Robertson has said the US has provided "clear and compelling evidence" that Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden was responsible for last months attacks in the United States.

Nato defence ministers say they are preparing for a long co-ordinated assault on terrorism, following their briefing by American officials in Brussels.

An advance party of British troops was today setting out for Macedonia to begin Nato’s reconnaissance mission in the troubled Balkan state.

Rival factions in Macedonia have signed a peace accord aimed at ending six months of fighting.

Nato Secretary-General George Robertson faces the a tough task in Moscow this week of trying to calm Russia’s alarm over the alliance’s eastward expansion.