Five nations today signed an agreement to set up a European Gendarmerie Force that would offer paramilitary support for international peacekeeping missions.

Plans to set up a European paramilitary police force based on the French gendarmes or Italy’s Carabinieri to support international peacekeeping missions top the agenda at a meeting for EU defence ministers opening today.

Midfielder Mark van Bommel could face injury heartbreak this summer as an-ongoing Achilles tendon problem threatens to ruin his chances of being fully fit for Euro 2004.

Alfred Henry "Freddy" Heineken, who helped make his namesake beer one of the world's most popular brands, has died at the age of 78.