Copenhagen - Danish television reported Saturday that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed reservations about the choice of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the next NATO secretary general, indirectly contradicting remarks a day earlier by Turkey's president.

In a telephone interview with television network NTV in Copenhagen, Erdogan said there was "considerable irritation in the Islamic countries" over Rasmussen's actions during the early-2006 controversy over the Prophet Mohammed cartoons in Denmark.

Budapest - Hungary's Socialist Party was divided in two on Friday evening over the nomination of Finance Minister Lajos Bokros for prime minister, the state news agency MTI reported.

Bokros is backed by one faction of the party while the other prefers Electrolux Hungary boss Janos Takacs, nominated by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany in the morning.

The liberal Free Democrats, whose support the minority Socialist government needs, said Bokros was the only candidate acceptable to them.

Prague - Political talks in Prague on Friday left chances open for outgoing Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to complete his term at the European Union's helm under a "restructured" cabinet.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus and opposition Social Democratic leader Jiri Paroubek, whose party ousted the government, debated an option of swearing in a "partially" reconstructed Topolanek cabinet, Klaus' office said in a statement.

Vina del Mar, Chile  - US Vice President Joe Biden, in Chile to discuss world economic issues as well as relations within the Americas, Friday proposed that Latin America and the United States "work together, as partners," and move "toward a new day" in their relations.

Biden arrived in Chile Friday, where he was to meet with President Michele Bachelet ahead of a so-called Progressive Leaders' Summit in the seaside resort of Vina del Mar intended to prepare for next week's G20 summit in London on the global financial crisis.

Budapest - Hungary's Socialist Party leadership met Friday to discuss the possibility of backing former finance minister Lajos Bokros as the leader of an interim government.

The meeting was called after the liberal Free Democrat party rejected Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's nomination of Electrolux Hungary boss Janos Takacs as his replacement, the daily newspaper Nepszabadsag reported.

Moscow  - Russia plans to create a military force directed at defending its interests in the Arctic by 2020, the National Security Council said in a strategy document published Friday.

The reported posted on the council's web site outlined the government's plan to set up a special force "to guarantee Russia's military security in diverse military and political circumstances."

A spokesman for the council told news agency Ria-Novosti that Russia's strategy did not signal confrontation.