Brussels/Copenhagen  - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, 56, has officially thrown his hat into the ring for the position of NATO secretary general, Danish media reported Thursday.

According to the newspaper Politiken, Rasmussen made his announcement at a meeting of NATO ambassadors on the eve of a NATO summit in Germany and France to celebrate the defence alliance's 60th anniversary.

Turkey opposes Rasmussen's candidacy, which means the heads of NATO countries will have to deliberate on the decision during the summit.

Brussels - There can be no alternative to a two-state solution for the Middle East, said Quartet envoy Tony Blair in Brussels on Wednesday, a day after the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in.

"There is no alternative to a two-state solution, except the one-state solution. And if there is a one-state solution, there's going to be a big fight," Blair said after a meeting with European Union officials in Brussels.

Brussels  - The European Commission on Wednesday decided to drop its antitrust charges against MasterCard after the payments card company agreed to reduce the fees it charges for international transactions.

MasterCard had already bowed to EU pressure in June by temporarily repealing its multilateral interchange fees (MIFs), which had been found to breach the bloc's competition rules.

Brussels  - European members of NATO must not slacken their military efforts in the struggle against the radical Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan, outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday.

"Afghanistan is not US President Barack Obama's war. It's our war, the international community's," de Hoop Scheffer said in Brussels during an interview.

Brussels  - Just four days before NATO leaders were due to gather for a summit, there was still no consensus on who should be the alliance's next chief, diplomats in Brussels said Monday.

"There is a lot of talk going on now about choosing a successor" to the current secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, but there "is no consensus yet," senior US officials said.