1.   The Russian minister, according to Interfax, touched upon the issue of a NATO military exercise underway in northern Norway.

2.   And the crisis response exercise currently underway in Poland is a very similar scenario of separating warring forces and keeping peace between rival ethnic groups.

3.   The North Korean diplomat said the decision was made in light of joint US-South Korean military exercises underway in South Korea.

4.   Large-scale Iranian exercises underway in the Gulf are not a threat or an impediment to US operations, the Pentagon said Thursday.