EDINBURGH – NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen  said yesterday he was confident the alliance would agree to  increase substantially the number of troops battling Taliban  insurgents in Afghanistan.

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STOCKHOLM – The European Union and Russia hope to lay the  foundations of a new economic and political partnership at a  summit today despite differences over energy, trade,  human rights and climate change.

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BEIJING – U.S. President Barack Obama urged a reluctant  China yesterday to let its yuan currency rise in value at a  summit where strains over trade between the two giants crept  into proclamations of goodwill.

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MOSCOW – Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev’s much-vaunted  anti-corruption drive has so far failed to halt bribery costing  Russia $300 billion a year, watchdog Transparency International  said yesterday.

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WASHINGTON – The Obama administration created a new task  force yesterday to crack down on financial fraud, an  increasingly important political issue after a spike in mortgage  scams and big Wall Street trading scandals.