NATO agrees on new chief at summit

By Noah Barkin and Crispian Balmer

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - NATO named Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as its next leader on Saturday, averting a damaging split with Turkey at a 60th anniversary summit marred by rioting protesters.

U.S. President Barack Obama prodded European allies to do more in Afghanistan, but received pledges for only 5,000 extra troops, the majority of whom will go on a temporary basis to provide security during August elections.

The meeting of the 28-nation military alliance, created after World War Two to defend Europe's borders, exposed trans-atlantic divisions despite a new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan that Obama's European allies broadly welcomed.

The summit was also plagued by unusually destructive protests, with masked youths burning down a seven-storey hotel and riot police unleashing volleys of teargas and shock grenades to try to contain the violence.

Obama was cheered by crowds waving American flags when he arrived in France on Friday with his wife Michelle, offering the prospect of a new era of cooperation with Europe following the strains under his predecessor, George W. Bush.

"The United States came here to listen, to learn and to lead, because all of us have a responsibility to do our part," Obama told reporters at the end of the two-day summit.

"America cannot meet our global challenges alone. Nor can Europe meet them without America."

Obama then flew to Prague for a U.S.-European Union summit on Sunday and will go on to Turkey, the last stop on a tour that started at the G20 economic summit in London. In Strasbourg, as in London, Obama played a big role in securing a compromise deal but did not win major concessions from allies.