SECURITY SCARE OVER NORWEGIAN ROCKET LAUNCH

Oslo - Willy Claes, secretary-general of the Nato, said elements in Moscow might be exaggerating the security scare triggered by the Norwegian rocket launch "for internal political reasons", AFP reports.

"The Norwegian authorities announced the launch of this scientific missile properly last December, as the Russian ambassador in Oslo also rightly put it," Mr Claes said.

He said he "did not have all the details", but stressed that the malfunction was to be handled as a misunderstanding.