Diplomats

NATO intends to expel two Russian diplomats from its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Moscow labeled the reported move "rude," "provocative," and "outrageous." NATO declined to confirm it was expelling the envoys, with a spokeswoman telling CNN: "We as NATO do not comment on this issue." Russia's Foreign Ministry issued an angry statement about the expulsion. "We have learned about a rude provocative act against two staff members of the Russian mission at NATO, whom the alliance security service would like to expel from Brussels under a far-fetched pretext and without any clear explanations," the statement said.

Eliciting an angry, tit-for-tat response from Moscow, the United States Thursday ordered four Russian diplomats to leave the country, saying they were implicated in the case of accused spy Robert Hanssen. The State Department also said another 46 diplomats not directly tied to that scandal must leave this summer. Within hours, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the move forced Russia to match the expulsions. Asked when the U.S. diplomats would leave, he said, "You won't have to wait long.

Western diplomats acting for eight aid workers on trial in Afghanistan for trying to convert Muslims to Christianity have held their first brief meeting with Taliban officials in almost two weeks. The diplomats met for about 15 minutes with Taliban head of protocol, Abdul Gaffoor Afghani, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul to address concerns about the closed nature of the trial, believed to be in its third day. Diplomats said the meeting covered concerns regarding a lack of information about the trial, the duration of the trial, how it would proceed, and access to legal representation for the accused.

U.S. diplomats on Tuesday made their first face-to-face contact with the 24 crew members from the Navy spy plane since it made an emergency landing on Chinese soil this weekend following a midair collision with a Chinese fighter. But the meeting ended without the release of the crew.President Bush warned China that its failure to release the crew members, whom he described as being in "good health," could hurt U-S.-Chinese relations. "Our approach has been to keep this accident from becoming an international incident," Bush said in brief comments Tuesday outside the White House.

The State Department said Monday enough Foreign Service officers have volunteered for duty in Iraq that no diplomats will have to be sent there against their will. The department had threatened to force diplomats to accept assignments in Iraq or risk losing their jobs. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday that such "direct assignments" won't be necessary -- at least this year. "All of the Iraq jobs have been filled by volunteers, a total of 252," he told reporters at his daily briefing.

The Russian embassy's press attache, Vladimir Frolov was a handler for accused spy and FBI agent Robert Hanssen, an intelligence source told CNN on Monday. Frolov has been permanently recalled to Moscow, unexpectedly cutting short his second tour of duty. The source could not say why Frolov was pulled back to Moscow. The FBI had no comment. Intelligence sources also told CNN the Bush administration is considering whether to demand a widespread withdrawal of Russian diplomats the United States suspects of being intelligence officers.

Two North Korean diplomats will hold a second round of meetings Friday with Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Richardson is not a member of the Bush administration, but he is well known to the North Koreans. He has negotiated with them before. Richardson is former U.N. ambassador and energy secretary in the Clinton administration. CNN anchor Paula Zahn talked with CNN's Ed Lavandera in Sante Fe about what is expected to expected come out of these meetings. The following is an edited transcript: ED LAVANDERA: Good morning, Paula.

U.S. and British diplomats are safe after Zimbabwe police, soldiers and "war veterans" stopped their convoy Thursday and threatened to burn them alive, U.S. officials said. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said five American Embassy employees and two local staff members had been detained. "While this immediate incident has been resolved, it will not be forgotten," McCormack said. Just hours after the incident, Zimbabwe Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche said that all aid organizations were ordered to cease operations in the country until the presidential runoff is concluded, a journalist in the country said.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria warned Sunday that it had received threats of a possible attack on diplomatic missions in Lagos, the nation's most populous city. "As a result of this information, Nigerian police have heightened their vigilance along Walter Carrington Crescent and are monitoring traffic more closely," the statement read, referring to the location of the U.S. Consulate General. The embassy, which declined to provide any more information, urged U.S. citizens in the capital Abuja, and Lagos, to be vigilant and aware of their surroundings.

The United States is sending the first team of diplomats into the Libyan capital since its embassy was shuttered earlier this year, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said Friday. Joan Polaschik, the deputy chief of mission, is scheduled to arrive Saturday to establish what the State Department calls a "modest" diplomatic footprint. Polaschik will have "a couple of policy people with her and some more security folks and building folks to work on getting the premises ready for the reopening as soon as we can," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.