Nigeria

U.S., others temporarily close consulates

The United States closed its consulate in the Nigerian city of Lagos after receiving a “terrorist threat” by telephone, a U.S. military official said Friday. The move prompted Britain, Germany, Italy and Russia to close their nearby diplomatic missions.

The closure of the American mission began Thursday afternoon after “there was some kind of terrorist threat made,” U.S. Maj. Holly Silkman, a spokeswoman for the Germany-based U.S. European Command, told reporters in Dakar, Senegal.

The threat was “called in,” she said without elaborating.

Silkman was in Dakar for U.S.-led counterterrorism exercises involving Nigeria, Senegal and seven other African nations.

Nigerian authorities are working with the United States in the investigation, Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Belgium

EU summit ends ‘in a deep crisis’

Talks on the European Union’s budget collapsed in acrimony Friday, abruptly ending a summit that diplomats had hoped would pull the EU out of its constitutional dilemma. The EU president warned that the 25-nation bloc was now “in a deep crisis.”

Talks on the European Union’s budget collapsed in acrimony Friday after Britain refused to relinquish its annual rebate, diplomats said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair had said he would only consider changes to the rebate – worth about $5.5 billion annually – if the EU agreed to overhaul agricultural spending, which accounts for more than 40 percent of the EU’s budget.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said early today that in coming weeks EU diplomats and others “will tell you that Europe is not in crisis. It is in a deep crisis,” he said after the two-day summit.

The Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Sweden, and Britain all contribute more to the EU budget than they get back in benefits. They want spending in 2007-2013 capped at 1 percent of the EU’s annual gross national income.

Mexico

Crackdown on border town continues

Mexican officials said Friday that there are no plans to withdraw federal troops and police from Nuevo Laredo, saying the security operation there is just beginning.

The clarification came amid rumors and concerns that the government was soon to pull out of the beleaguered border city.

A government official said that the number of soldiers may be reduced in coming weeks, but that federal police officers called in to stabilize the situation would remain in place until the city has rebuilt its own police force and local officials feel they can take control again.

The official did not provide any dates for a future withdrawal or any other specifics about the activities of federal agents in Operation Safe Mexico.

In remarks Thursday night and Friday, President Vicente Fox declared there would be no retreat.

“We are doing very well and are having very important results and will not let down our guard,” he said. “We will continue until we settle this problem, until we bring new security and calm to the families.”

Authorities, citing national security, would not give the exact number of soldiers and federal police in the city as part of the campaign. One official said, however, that the operation would ultimately involve more than 1,000 people from the army, the Federal Preventative Police and the AFI, the Mexican equivalent of the FBI.