Valencia, Spain - Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said Tuesday that the alliance should re-evaluate its relations with Russia without severing them.

The relations should be reconsidered after Russia's "disproportionate" use of force in Georgia, but not broken because they were a "strategic asset," Scheffer said at the
54th annual meeting of the NATO parliamentary assembly.

Geneva - A new ceiling artwork meant to inspire dialogue, human rights and global solidarity was unveiled Tuesday at the United Nation's Geneva offices.

The work, created by Spanish abstract painter Miquel Barcelo, graces a room where groups like the UN's Human Rights Council and the High Level Group of the Alliance of Civilizations meet.

Madrid- Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon on Tuesday unexpectedly gave up his inquiry into alleged human rights crimes committed during the 1936-39 civil war and General Francisco Franco's ensuing 36-year dictatorship.

Franco and his collaborators could no longer face legal responsibility for crimes, Garzon, a magistrate at the National Court, said in a judicial resolution after receiving the death certificates of the dictator and 44 others.

Madrid - Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon on Tuesday suddenly gave up his investigation into human rights crimes committed during the 1936-39 civil war and General Francisco Franco's ensuing dictatorship.

Franco and 44 of his collaborators could no longer be held legally responsible for the crimesbecause they are dead, Garzon said in a judicial resolution.

Garzon also said he was not responsible for investigating mass graves where Franco's opponents were buried. He transferred that responsibility to the authorities in regions where the graves were located.

Valencia, Spain - Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Giorgi Baramidze on Tuesday warned of a new military conflict between Russia and his country while the parliamentary assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) adopted a resolution urging Russia to respect the sovereignty of other countries.

A new Russian military intervention was "very likely" unless the international community was on the alert against it, Baramidze said in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia, where about 300 delegates from 50 countries were wrapping up the five-day 54th annual meeting of the NATO parliamentary assembly.

Madrid - US vice-president-elect Joe Biden will visit Spain to improve bilateral relations that deteriorated during the presidency of George W Bush, the daily El Pais reported Tuesday.

The visit was agreed on Monday during a telephone conversation between Biden and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who got in touch with each other to discuss the results of Saturday's economic summit in Washington.

Biden was expected in Madrid soon after taking office.