The benchmark FTSE 100 Index clung on to positive territory today despite slipping back from earlier gains.

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin emphasised his country’s solidarity with Europe during a speech in Edinburgh yesterday.

At least 10 people were killed today in a new terrorist attack in Chechnya, just two days after dozens of people died in a truck bombing in the war-ravaged Caucasus republic.

EUROPE should abandon the NATO alliance if it wants to have a meaningful say in world affairs, European Commission President Romano Prodi said yesterday.

Europe should abandon the Nato alliance if they want to have a meaningful say in world affairs, European Commission President Romano Prodi said today.

NATO broke a month-long impasse last night over preparations in case of war in Iraq.

Nato was bidding to break its damaging deadlock over Iraq this afternoon – by isolating the French.

Efforts to heal Europe’s deep splits on Iraq were on hold today, awaiting the outcome of tomorrow’s report to the United Nations Security Council by chief weapons inspector Hans Blix.

Nato was still deadlocked today as emergency talks went on to repair the damage of a 16-3 split over Iraq.

Nato delivered another setback to the US today as four allies held up plans for the alliance to send planes and missiles to defend Turkey if there is war with Iraq.

In one outburst after another, French and German ministers lashed out at the US defence secretary today with one even evoking a four-letter word, in the clearest sign yet the Iraqi crisis has split the Atlantic alliance.

Tensions over Nato’s expansion to the East flared today as the alliance’s two-day summit closed with a diplomatic row and a protest from Russian communist hardliners.

Two young Russian protesters shouted “Nato is worse than the Gestapo,” and threw a tomato at alliance Secretary-General Lord Robertson in Prague today.

Admitting seven more former Soviet bloc nations and readying Nato forces for rapid-reaction missions worldwide will make the alliance a credible force in the fight against terrorism, President George Bush said today.

Nato’s enlargement to take in seven former communist countries will invigorate the alliance and strengthen its ability to fight “global terrorists who hate freedom,” President George Bush said today.

US President George Bush has said he does not believe Saddam Hussein will disarm, even if doing so would allow the Iraqi leader to stay in power.

The world was almost united today as people around the globe reflected on last year’s terror attacks against the United States.

Nato must reform itself to combat the terrorist threat following September 11, Prime Minister Tony Blair warned fellow alliance leaders today.

Nato has declared Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance, embracing its former Cold War enemy as an ally in the battle against modern-day threats like terrorism.

Russia’s first action as a limited partner in Nato was ... a joke.

Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who harshly rejects United Nations allegations that he ordered murders and deportations during the Balkan wars, was today to continue presenting his own defence at the war crimes tribunal at The Hague.

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

Nato chief Lord Robertson was flying east today for talks aimed at strengthening Russia’s relationship with the military alliance and devising ways of making joint decisions in the war against terror.

Heeding Nato and European Union warnings that Macedonia faces the risk of renewed ethnic warfare, leaders of the country’s majority Macedonians and ethnic Albanians pledged to revive stalled reforms under a Western-sponsored peace accord.

The US President has praised America's friends in Nato for their swift and solid support.

President George Bush was today visiting New York to see its response to the devastating World Trade Centre terror strikes.

Vladimir Putin today pledged to take Russia’s co-operation with Nato and the EU to a new level in the fight against international terrorism.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said today he wants to work closely with Nato and European authorities to tackle not only the immediate terrorist threat but the root causes terrorism.

The head of Nato today told European countries they need to jack up military spending in the wake of the United States terror attacks and warned that America will expect them to shoulder more responsibility within the alliance in future.

Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson today condemned the terrorist attacks on America as an affront to everything the 19-nation alliance stood for.

Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson was today arriving in Macedonia to urge full implementation of remaining parts of a peace plan for the troubled Balkan country.

Millions fell silent today in a public act of mourning for the victims of the US terror attacks.

Nato have confirmed that they security council has instigated a 'mutual defense clause'.

Nato tonight delivered the backing America was seeking over the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

The European Union held emergency talks today to see how it can stand by the United States and assess the political, financial and economic impact of the terrorist atrocities in New York and Washington.

NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson will arrive in Macedonia today to inspect the weapons-collecting mission.

Nato was expected to give the go-ahead today for the full deployment of a British-led force to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia.

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

Macedonia's army has pounded an ethnic Albanian village with helicopter gunships after at least seven soldiers were killed by land mines.

Ethnic Albanian rebels have killed 10 Macedonian soldiers in an ambush this morning about 10 miles west of the capital, Skopje.

Macedonian Government officials and ethnic Albanian leaders have gathered in the southern city of Ohrid to resume high-level peace talks aimed at ending a rebel insurgency in the north of the country.

Ethnic Albanian rebels have remained in the four villages in northern Macedonia which they invaded earlier this week, despite a promise to withdraw as part of a new ceasefire deal.

NATO secretary general Lord Robertson and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solano have cancelled a trip to Macedonia amid fears that peace talks aimed at preventing a civil war could collapse.

European Union foreign ministers will seek tomorrow to salvage diplomatic efforts to avert a full blown civil war in Macedonia as renewed fighting dims peace hopes.