The North Atlantic Council (NAC) of NATO met in a special Foreign Ministerial session on 19 August 2008 to discuss the situation in Georgia and its implications for Euro-Atlantic stability and security.

South America has established a military and political bloc to oppose NATO. Proponents of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez are going to be supported by Brazil that adopts a reasonable attitude and plays a major role in the region. Officially, the reason for a new bloc was the recent conflict between Ecuador and Columbia. But the actual aim is to weaken the US influence in the region that has been the area of its vital interest for 200 years.

NATO leaders wrapped up their Bucharest summit with a closed-door meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Croatian President Stipe Mesic has welcomed U.S. President George W. Bush, a day after the NATO summit in Bucharest invited Croatia and Albania to begin membership talks.

One of the biggest gatherings of world leaders, the 20th annual NATO summit which began on Wednesday continued today in Bucharest.

The NATO summit has convened in formal session in Bucharest, Romania. Members are focusing on military operations in Afghanistan and how and when to enlarge the alliance.

Macedonia's delegation says it is leaving the NATO summit in Bucharest early to protest the alliance's failure to invite it to begin membership talks because of a dispute over the country's name.

A NATO spokesman says he does not expect the bloc to start the membership process for Georgia and Ukraine at this week's summit in Bucharest.

An American official says the NATO summit has agreed to back plans to put a missile defense system in Europe.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen launched a new web-based television channel meant to improve understanding of the Alliance roles, operation and missions at the NATO Summit in Bucharest.

As NATO leaders gathered in Romania for summit talks, U.S. President George W. Bush urged the alliance to continue to expand eastward and to increase its presence in Afghanistan.

As talks among NATO leaders get under way in Bucharest, much of the emphasis will be on what the alliance can and should do to help stabilize Afghanistan. France is expected to announce additional troop deployments and U.S. President George W. Bush has appealed to NATO allies to step forward with more forces as well.