NATO chief: AWACS will aid anti-Islamic State operations

NATO's chief today said alliance leaders this week will approve the use of NATO AWACS aircraft to assist the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State extremist group.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he expects the alliance summit in Warsaw also to agree on a new role for NATO in the Central Mediterranean, where the European Union has deployed ships to halt human-trafficking.

At a news conference, Stoltenberg outlined the ambitious agenda of the alliance's two-day summit, which opens Friday in the Polish capital.

He also said the alliance and Russia weren't able to agree to hold a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council before the summit, as NATO had wanted. But he said he hopes a meeting can be convened shortly after the meeting in Warsaw.