Delivering mail has become such a hazardous job in parts of Auckland that dog rangers armed with poles and nooses are to be used to protect postmen on their rounds. Last week the situation became so perilous that postmen were ordered to stop delivering mail in some Otara streets. Residents had to pick their post up from a regional sorting centre in neighbouring Papatoetoe.The rangers will accompany postmen on their rounds for a week, after which New Zealand Post will decide whether further action is needed.The company said that while dogs were an occupational hazard for postmen, in parts of Otara the danger had become "quite extreme" and firm action was required. The area is said to be home to large numbers of roaming, aggressive dogs.

"This is certainly one of the most serious cases we have had to deal with," said a spokeswoman, Rowena O'Neil."We have at times stopped delivery to certain houses elsewhere, but there are so many dogs in this area that we stopped altogether." She said it was rare to suspend deliveries, but the company was not prepared to put its employees at risk.Nat Bercher, an Otara resident, said: "You can barely walk down the road, there are so many dogs around. It's like the Bronx." The local authority, Manukau City Council, said it planned to launch a crackdown on 400 dogs that were not registered.. George Robertson, the secretary general of Nato, took colleagues by surprise yesterday by announcing he will quit in December after rejecting a request to stay in office for another year. The former secretary of state for defence said he had "been asked by a number of governments to stay on, but I believe four years is the right term in this demanding and onerous job and I'm looking forward to another full and active year ahead before I go."One Nato diplomat said that Lord Robertson felt the tasks he set himself at Nato had been achieved, and there was a "range of possibilities" for the future. "He's certainly not going into retirement," he said.Lord Robertson, a close ally of Tony Blair, could expect to be given a ministerial post in the Lords, or alternatively might stand for the Scottish Parliament in the hope of becoming First Minister. But the path to the top job in Scottish politics looks difficult and Lord Robertson, 56, may prefer to work in the private sector.Nato officials are already speculating about possible successors with Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland, a potential candidate.

But the timing is bad for Mr Kwasniewski, whose presidential mandate expires in late 2005. He said yesterday he had "no intention of assuming any other responsibilities whether they are in Poland or abroad". Other names mentioned include the former prime ministers Antonio Guterres of Portugal and Wim Kok of the Netherlands, and Norway's Defence Minister, Kristin Krohn Devold, who could become the first woman to lead Nato.Lord Robertson needed some persuasion to accept the job, which he took up in October 1999. During his tenure Nato put new focus on improving its capabilities, successfully managed a Balkan crisis, agreed to a big expansion of members and forged a new link with Russia.But Washington's sidelining of Nato during the war in Afghanistan, and splits in the alliance over the prospect of a US-led war against Iraq, led to Nato's role in international security being questioned.. The Bush administration brushed aside European calls for a postponement of an attack on Iraq yesterday, declaring that United Nations weapons inspections would not work. But even they could not ignore the insistence of France, Germany and others that the inspectors must be given the time to do their job and that any use of force against Saddam Hussein had to be backed by a second Security Council resolution.General Powell had seemed the closest to a sympathiser among Mr Bush's top advisers But even he signalled yesterday he had lost patience. "The question isn't how much longer do you need for inspections to work.

Inspections will not work."Hours later, Mr Bush stepped up the rhetoric. "We must not be fooled as in the past," he said in remarks aimed at friends abroad as much as at a cheering audience in St Louis "He wants to play a game But for the sake of peace we must not let him. The resolutions of the Security Council will be enforced."He issued a separate warning to President Saddam and the "killers" in Baghdad. Should the US go to war, he said, there would be "serious consequences" for any Iraqi general or soldier who used weapons of mass destruction on US troops.