50 sentimos dagdag pasahe sa jeep nakabitin pa rin

FUNCHAL (AFP) - NATO's chief fended off Russian concerns over the bloc's expansion and a new US missile defense system, insisting both would mean greater security.

"NATO enlargement is not a threat to anybody," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on the opening day of a meeting in Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

"NATO enlargement means more democracy, more stability, more security, more rule of law, more democratic control of the armed forces. Who could be worried about NATO enlargement? I'm not," he added to applause from the gathering.

Moscow has opposed successive NATO enlargements in eastern Europe.