Brussels - The European Union's top health official Tuesday ruled out the need for travel restrictions to areas affected by outbreaks of swine flu for the time being, and insisted that properly cooked pork meat is safe to eat.

"At this juncture I do not see any point in restricting travelling," said EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou.

On Monday, the commissioner had issued a personal recommendation inviting citizens to "avoid non-essential travel" to Mexico and other badly affected areas.

Luxembourg/Brussels - The European Union was gearing up on Monday for a series of emergency meetings on the worldwide swine flu outbreak amidst fears of a global pandemic. EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has asked for EU health ministers to hold crisis talks on the issue "as soon as possible," officials in her office said.

The commissioner herself is set to travel to Luxembourg on Monday to give an emergency briefing on the issue to EU foreign ministers, who are holding a scheduled meeting there, diplomats said.

Brussels - A row over border demarcation which has led European Union member Slovenia to block its neighbour Croatia's EU hopes is set to move up a level on Monday as EU foreign ministers debate the issue for the first time.

Diplomats in Brussels fear that the Slovenian block, which comes as the accession negotiations of Turkey and Macedonia are also stalled because of rows with individual EU members, is casting a shadow over the EU's entire enlargement policy.

Brussels  - The European Union is set to extend the bloc's arms embargo, trade restrictions and visa bans on Myanmar and its leaders until April 2010, diplomats in Brussels said Friday.

EU foreign ministers are set to discuss the situation in Myanmar at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday. Diplomatic sources say that they are likely to prolong the bloc's sanctions for a year in protest at the Myanmar government's crackdown on pro-democracy forces.

Brussels - The European Union is to send a 90-strong election observation team to Lebanon ahead of polls on June 7, the EU's executive, the European Commission, announced Friday.

"I am confident that the forthcoming parliamentary elections will result in the formation of a stable government ... I hope that the presence of European observers can contribute to ensuring that the elections will take place in a transparent and credible manner," EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.

Brussels - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is "most concerned" by the recent upsurge of fighting in Sri Lanka, he told journalists in Brussels on Thursday.

"I am most concerned at the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka," Ban said on the sidelines of a conference dedicated to the piracy crisis in Somalia.