Belgium

The European Union urged President Viktor Yushchenko Thursday to act fast to restore stability after sacking Ukraine’s government, while saying it is sure he remains committed to western values. The European Commission said it was watching developments closely after Yushchenko — who was elected in December after the country’s ”Orange revolution” — appointed a senior regional official as acting prime minister.

United Nations relief coordinator Jan Egeland on Saturday urged the world to help the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as it experiences one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in recent years, comparing the loss of life to that in the December 2004 tsunami crisis.

A third-division provincial girls’ football team entered the annals of Belgian soccer on Saturday after suffering a crushing 50-1 defeat because of the absence of a single but crucial player: their music-loving goalkeeper. SK Berlaar’s goal was left unguarded after their goalie opted instead to go to a rock festival

The European Union’s executive commission said on Thursday that it has decided to provide €7,9-million to support preparations for planned elections in Côte d’Ivoire. ”These elections represent a crucial stage for reconciliation in the country,” EU development commissioner Louis Michel said in a statement.

Nato on Tuesday moved closer to approving non-combat aid for the African Union’s beleaguered peacekeeping force in the Sudanese region of Darfur. The North Atlantic Council of alliance ambassadors said they approved the ”initial military options” for possible Nato support for the peacekeeping mission and said their efforts would centre on military transport, training and planning.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Monday pressed Iran to stick by commitments to freeze its nuclear activities, ahead of what he said will be ”tough” talks with the European Union this week. Arriving for regular ministerial talks in Brussels, he confirmed that the talks with Iran will take place in Geneva on Wednesday.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, banned from entering the European Union, was able to go to Rome for the pope’s funeral because of waivers in EU rules on sanctions for such countries as Zimbabwe, Belarus and Myanmar, an EU diplomat said on Thursday.

Belgium’s interior minister was left red-faced on Thursday after it emerged that photos comparing United States President George Bush to a chimpanzee had been used in a police training manual. The pictures in question show a series of the US leader’s facial expressions next to shots of a chimpanzee making apparently similar faces.

The European Union’s foreign and security policy chief, Javier Solana, on Wednesday promised strong support for the creation of an independent state of Palestine, saying the 25-nation bloc is determined to help Palestinians build up the structures of a viable and separate state.

The European Union threatened on Wednesday to slap unspecified ”measures” on the West African nation of Togo, where Faure Gnassingbe has been installed as President by the army. The EU said it fully supports efforts aimed at restoring ”constitutional order and the democratic process” to Togo.

British Minister of Finance Gordon Brown claimed strong backing from his European Union colleagues on Tuesday for a plan to revive Africa through debt cancellation and a doubling in aid. Fresh from a four-nation African tour, Brown said a meeting of EU finance ministers agreed on the need to ease the burden of Africa’s debt.

European Union leaders gather on Thursday to make a long-awaited decision on launching entry talks with Turkey. They are widely expected to give the green light despite last-ditch haggling over the exact terms of the offer. Turkey cautioned on the eve of the two-day EU summit that it will not agree to start negotiations ”at any price”.

A large majority of European parliamentarians on Wednesday voted for Turkey’s entry into the European Union, setting the scene for the bloc’s expected decision on December 16 and 17 to fix a date for opening entry talks with Ankara. A total of 407 EU lawmakers voted in favour of Turkey’s membership of the union.

The European Union and the United States recommitted themselves to a smooth transatlantic relationship on Friday and hoped the second term of US President George Bush will no longer be marred by nasty political and trade disputes. But French President Jacques Chirac remained wary of Washington’s global economic and political clout.

The European Union reached a settlement on Tuesday of its long-running antitrust case against the Coca-Cola Company, under which the world’s biggest soft-drinks company agreed to change sales practices that helped it win roughly half of the market in Europe.

The European Union’s head office criticised security forces and rebels in Côte d’Ivoire on Tuesday for continued violence as well as foot-dragging in organising elections called for in a deal last year that ended the country’s civil war. A Côte presidential spokesperson said the government is open to dialogue with the EU.

A SN Brussels airliner made an emergency landing after an ”agitated” passenger — a cat — got into the cockpit and attacked the co-pilot, the airline said on Tuesday. The pilot decided to return to Brussels as a precaution, and the 58 passengers left Brussels two hours later on another flight.

A gas pipeline in southern Belgium exploded in a ball of fire on Friday, killing at least 14 people and injuring 200, many of them seriously. Belgian authorities immediately rolled out a high-level disaster reaction plan as hundreds of firefighters and emergency service personnel raced to the scene of the explosion in Ath.

Sudan on Monday rejected the use of the term genocide to describe events in its eastern Darfur region in a resolution by the United States Congress. ”What is happening in Darfur is not genocide. It is a humanitarian crisis provoked by fighting which is not our fault,” Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said.