BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders are set to offer Serbia a fast track to candidacy for membership in the bloc and pledge to step up preparations for a police mission to stabilize Kosovo, a draft statement for Friday’s EU summit said.

EDINBURGH, Scotland – Defense Secretary Robert Gates is asking European allies for more troops to help stabilize Afghanistan, where the government is weak, the insurgency is relentless and casualties are mounting.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Lebanon has asked the United Nations to help it investigate a car bomb that killed a top general this week in the latest of a string of political assassinations, the world body said on Thursday.