The European Union’s external relations commissioner says the EU has agreed to lift sanctions on Cuba.

Tony Blair will travel to the Middle East next week to help find a solution to Gaza’s border crisis, a senior EU official said today.

Arab states became increasingly worried today about the worsening situation in Gaza following Israel's fuel cuts.

The European Union will pledge €455m in aid to the Palestinians for 2008, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said today.

Senior European Union officials will gauge the progress of Middle East peace efforts during talks in Lisbon, Portugal, with top diplomats from the region.

THE families of the children infected with the Aids virus in a Libyan hospital voiced outrage yesterday at the pardon and release of six medics who were flown to Bulgaria a day earlier.

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria today after eight and a half years in prison in Libya.

European Union authorities today voiced their backing for President Mahmoud Abbas in the conflict with Hamas following the militant group’s takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet on Sunday, an aide to the Israeli leader confirmed today - keeping their promise to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to hold regular talks.

Palestinian leaders have been asked by the US and EU to be more clear on the new coalition government’s stance on violence against Israel.

The European Union marked International Women’s Day today with a pledge to fight discrimination and domestic violence against women.

Israel today clamped down on the West Bank city of Nablus for the second time in a week, confining tens of thousands of people to their homes as troops moved searched for militants.

The supreme leader of Hamas has promised that the militant group will end missile attacks and other violence against Israel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today.

The European Union, the US, the UN and Russia convene today in Berlin in search of a way to advance stalled Middle East peace efforts amid strong scepticism about the Palestinians’ planned unity government.

European Union nations today assessed a power-sharing deal among Palestinian factions, but officials said nothing about whether they were considering resuming direct aid.

European Union officials said today they were cautiously optimistic about a Palestinian power-sharing deal reached by Hamas and Fatah political leaders in Saudi Arabia, but said it was too early to lift an international aid embargo against the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed today stepped down as the country’s interim leader soon after declaring a state of emergency, news reports said.

Bangladesh’s President Iajuddin Ahmed today declared a state of emergency, his press secretary said and state-run television said.

The European Union today urged Libya to free the Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV after a Libyan court decided to reimpose their death sentences.

Belarussian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich today received the EU’s top human rights award – the Sakharov Prize – in recognition of his fight for democracy in the ex-Soviet republic.

The European Commission today proposed to extend by three months a special aid deal for Palestinians as long as they do not have a national unity government.

The rival Fatah and Hamas movements today agreed on a candidate for prime minister of their emerging coalition government in Palestine, turning to a US-educated professor to end months of infighting and help lift a painful international aid boycott.

The European Union today dashed Ukraine's hopes for any quick membership in the bloc, saying that neither Ukraine nor the EU were ready for it to join.

Iran’s nuclear capability has increased “10-fold” despite Western pressure to roll back the country’s nuclear program, the firebrand president of the country said today.

US President George Bush today faces questions about North Korea’s claimed nuclear test and the political fallout from a congressional intern scandal.

European Union foreign ministers today considered a call for an immediate ceasefire for south Lebanon, working to overcome British reluctance and form a united front.

Israeli Cabinet ministers today decided not to expand the country’s Lebanon offensive, but ordered the call up of tens of thousands of reserve soldiers to boost the campaign, officials said.

Hamas is close to agreeing to major concessions over a document that implies recognition of Israel, a senior Hamas official suggested today.

ALLOWANCES to Palestinian health workers and funds for essential utilities could begin to flow from next month under a new mechanism developed by the European Union.

European Union leaders endorsed a plan today to channel aid to cash-starved Palestinians focusing on health, power supply and support for needy families while maintaining a funding freeze on the Hamas-led government.

EU leaders were today poised to endorse a plan to resume aid payments to cash-starved Palestinians focusing on health, social services and utilities such as heating and sanitation, while maintaining a funding freeze on the Hamas-led government.

A BATTLE to ensure female asylum seekers are not sent back to countries that practice female genital mutilation has blown up at the European Commission.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas today appealed for the European Union to give the Hamas-led government a “chance to adapt” to international requirements and not cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority.

Bolivian President Evo Morales has defended the decision to nationalise his country’s gas and energy sectors, saying before summit talks begin today with European and Latin American leaders that it was a necessary move to end 500 years of foreign exploitation.

Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela were heading today to a European summit amid criticism of recent moves making it tougher for foreign energy firms to do business in their countries.

The US slightly softened its hard-line position against Hamas, agreeing with other potential Middle East peacemakers to set up a new fund intended to avert a humanitarian crisis among the Palestinians.

European Union foreign ministers were today expected to give firm backing to a freeze on EU aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government, but stressed they would seek alternative ways of providing money for humanitarian projects.

THE European Commission has warned that it could find it very difficult to disperse aid in Palestine if its offices continued to be attacked and personnel were in danger.

Senior European Union officials stressed that a diplomatic solution over Iran’s nuclear programme is still possible but also appeared to leave open the possibility of Tehran being hit by sanctions.

The European Union today threatened to cut off aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government “unless it seeks peace by peaceful means,” in its strongest signal on the issue to date.

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera today left for three European countries to drum up support for island nation’s peace process, which has come under severe strain over a recent spike in violence and disagreement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to discuss Tehran’s nuclear programme with European Union leaders in Vienna this week, ahead of talks with Iranian negotiators in Moscow.

The top Hamas leader today told Mahmoud Abbas that the Islamic militant group was ready for a political partnership after trouncing the Palestinian leader’s Fatah Party in legislative elections – a shocking upset sure to throw Middle East peacemaking into turmoil.

The European Union today said it will pledge €83m at next week’s international conference in Beijing to help fight the bird flu virus.