Franco-German plans to change Europe's infamous Lisbon Treaty barely a year after it was finally approved will raise tensions at an EU summit in Brussels today.

LEGAL experts are examining the Lisbon Treaty to see if it is possible to make the changes Germany wants without holding a referendum.

The European Union has demanded that Iran immediately and unconditionally release 15 British sailors and marines and warned of undefined “appropriate measures” if Tehran does not comply.

European Union officials from Britain, Germany and France heard out Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator Javad Vaedi today at closed-door talks called by Iran to try to stall a deepening crisis between Tehran and the West over its nuclear programme.

The staid conference room in Brussels could not have seemed further from the bloodstained streets of Baghdad.

Latin American countries urged the European Union yesterday to do more to help fight poverty by providing more trade access to its vast market and by stepping up aid to help combat the cultivation of drugs.

THE EU is increasing its support for ordinary citizens in Belarus in an effort to counter what it says is the country’s collapse into dictatorship.

Iran’s supreme leader yesterday harshly condemned US President George Bush’s State of the Union address, saying his administration would fail in its attempt to uproot the ruling Islamic establishment.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has accepted an invitation to meet European foreign ministers next month.

US President George W Bush will make another trip to Europe next year where he is likely to find the atmosphere warmer than in recent years.

EU leaders and Turkey have made the historic decision to start membership talks next year, but the latest candidate immediately stirred up a row.