Brussels - NATO and Russian diplomats were keen to find a way to revive an arms-control treaty which Russia suspended in 2007 at their first formal meeting since August's Russian-Georgian war, the alliance's spokesman said Wednesday.

Brussels  - NATO could curtail or scrap a planned goodwill visit of a flotilla of warships to Pakistan, Singapore and Australia in a bid to fight pirate attacks in the waters off Somalia, the alliance's spokesman said Wednesday.

NATO currently has four frigates in the Gulf of Aden fighting piracy. They are set to leave the region on Thursday and visit Karachi, Singapore and Perth in a show of diplomatic goodwill, before returning to anti-piracy tasks in late June.

Washington, Apr. 12 : US President Barack Obama has said that the revamped policy for Pakistan and Afghanistan is positively backed by all the US NATO allies.

Reffering to his last week's meeting with the NATO allies in Strasbourg, Obama said all the ally countries has shown their unity for the new policies.

"It was heartening that our NATO allies united in Strasbourg behind our strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and contributed important resources to support our effort there," Obama said.

Copenhagen  - Newly-designated NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen formally handed in his resignation Sunday as prime minister to Danish Queen Margrethe II.

Rasmussen, 56, is to be succeeded by his namesake, 44-year-old Finance Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, as head of the government.

The formal resignation comes a day after the NATO summit in Strasbourg chose Rasmussen as alliance's next secretary general to succeed outgoing NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Rasmussen would take over his NATO post on August 1.

Baden-Baden, Germany  - NATO leaders meeting in the German resort of Baden-Baden failed to reach consensus late Friday on naming Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the next NATO secretary general, officials told dpa, the German news agency.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul resisted impassioned pleas by US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to agree to have the 56-year-old Rasmussen succeed outgoing NATO head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Baden-Baden, Germany - NATO leaders failed to agree on the appointment of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the alliance's next secretary general during dinner talks in the German city of Baden-Baden, officials said Friday.

Rasmussen, 56, had been tipped as the frontrunner to replace the current NATO chief, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, when the Dutchman steps down at the end of July.