NON-EU farmers in poor countries are to get €760m extra from the EU to help them increase production — but not from unused Common Agriculture Policy spending, as had first been proposed last July.

The European Union is proposing a UN-organised summit of the nations bordering eastern Congo, and says Rwanda and Congo would attend such a meeting.

International envoys converged on eastern Congo to help end some of the worst violence in years as thousands of anxious, hungry refugees struggled to get home amid a fragile ceasefire.

The European Commission has today allocated €5m in humanitarian aid for victims of the conflict between Georgia and the Russian Federation.

The withdrawal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from the presidential run-off election in Zimbabwe is “understandable” as the poll was unlikely to be free and fair, European Union chiefs said today.

Organising financial help for Burma will remain difficult until the West is given the “full picture” of the scale of the crisis, the European Commission warned today.

Europe’s farmers could respond to international food shortages and soaring prices if they were unshackled from the Common Agricultural Policy, a British MEP said today.

I HAVE been appointed by the European Parliament to carry out a comprehensive report into how the EU can help combat child labour around the world.

Governments gave strong backing today to Kenya’s power-sharing agreement and promised support to help the country emerge from two months of ethnic violence sparked by a disputed presidential election.

Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan embarked on a final push for a compromise from Kenya’s feuding president and opposition leader today.

America branded 10 leading Kenyan politicians “criminals” today and banned them from entering the country.

EU foreign ministers today threatened to cut aid to Kenya unless its rival political factions agree to a power-sharing pact and restore stability.

Fierce fighting over land killed 22 people and left 200 homes burned in Kenya's troubled western Rift Valley, officials said today, yet another eruption of ethnic clashes following the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.

Kenya's opposition party called for another day of "peaceful rallies" across Kenya in defiance of a ban and despite 20 deaths in this week's demonstrations.

A NUMBER of Irish aid agencies told the EU’s Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid they are concerned that Europe is putting its own economic interests ahead of Africa’s aid needs.

The European Commission today suspended its humanitarian aid projects in the Gaza Strip, citing the escalating violence.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today backed an initiative by Italy to push for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty.

A top leader of Somalia's ousted Islamic movement, apparently afraid for his life now that the once-powerful militia has been chased into hiding, surrendered to authorities and is in custody in neighbouring Kenya, officials said today.

Somalia's Ethiopian-backed government and its rivals in an Islamic movement fought to a bloody standstill today, and geared up for a major push as fearful villagers fled.

Bodies lay in the streets and fighters pounded each other with heavy artillery and mortars for a third day today as Somalia’s Islamic leader announced the country was now at war, leaving a day-old peace initiative in tatters.

Somalia’s transitional government and its Islamic group have agreed to return to peace talks, officials said today.

Fighting broke out today between Somalia’s government troops and rival Islamic militia near where an EU envoy was meeting with senior leaders to press for peace talks.

The EU will work closely with the seven nations of the Horn of Africa to defuse regional conflicts and prevent them spreading to other parts of Africa and the Middle East, the union’s development commissioner said in Brussels today.

The European Union today announced it granted an extra £11m (€16.3) to help fill gaps in funding for the elections in Congo.

EU countries will wait for the outcome of UN talks tomorrow before announcing what contributions they might make to a planned international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, an EU diplomat said today.

The European Commission’s president today appealed to warring sides in the Middle East to immediately end the month-long conflict and allow for humanitarian assistance to reach the civilian population in southern Lebanon.

European Union foreign ministers will hold special talks on Tuesday to discuss efforts to end the conflict in Lebanon, diplomats said today.

The European Union yesterday committed €70m in aid to Somalia to help rebuild the drought-stricken and civil war-plagued nation.

The EU today said it was giving a further €5m in emergency humanitarian aid to millions of victims affected by a severe drought in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia and was readying a further €40m in funds if suffering intensifies.

The European Union today proposed plans to boost the production of alternative fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol through additional aid and investment, aimed at reducing Europe’s heavy dependence on oil and natural gas.

THE European Union announced a €166 million aid package for 10 African countries yesterday, saying the continent’s poorest nations must be remembered on the first anniversary of the tsunami in Asia.

The United Nations today nearly doubled its appeal for donations for victims of the south Asia earthquake to $550m (€455.7m) at a donors' conference.

Ministers and high-ranking officials from 65 United Nations member countries were to meet today in a new attempt to mobilise funds for the victims of south Asia’s devastating earthquake before winter sets in.

The European Union today committed £2.5m (€3.6m) in primary emergency relief for the victims of the huge earthquake that struck southern Asia over the weekend.

THE EC pledged yesterday to give €15 million in humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe.

EU foreign ministers will hold emergency talks on Friday to discuss the bloc’s response to the Asian tsunami disaster.

The EU has set by €300m in an emergency fund to aid countries hit by the deadly tidal waves.

The European Union today committed more than €4m in emergency aid to help victims of the massive earthquake and tidal waves that hit coastal communities in several south Asian nations.

WITH Western leaders conspicuous by their absence, Rwanda marked the 10th anniversary of the genocide of 800,000 people yesterday as bewildered and angry as ever at the world’s failure to stop one of the 20th century’s worst crimes.

Supporting proposals in neighbouring France to outlaw Islamic headscarves in public schools, Belgium’s Interior Minister Patrick Dewael said today he favoured imposing a similar ban in Belgium.

NATO chose Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as its new secretary general yesterday.

Five “groups of kamikazes” – 14 attackers in all – carried out the deadly series of suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco’s commercial capital, killing 28 people, the interior minister said.

US SECRETARY OF STATE Colin Powell yesterday promised a UN role in the reconstruction of post-war Iraq — but insisted the coalition would play the leading part in its future.

Nato has called an emergency meeting after France today blocked the start of Nato military planning to protect Turkey from the threat of Iraqi missile attack.