Brussels, Sep 8 : The European Union Thursday termed as a "heinous act" the terrorist attack outside the Delhi High Court Wednesday that killed 12 people and injured more than 90, a statement said.

The explosion occurred around 10.30 a. m. outside the court where about 300 visitors were crowding a gate for passes to enter the complex.

Brussels, Aug. 26 : British Formula One racer Jenson Button has not ruled out the prospect of emulating the remarkable feat Michael Schumacher will chalk up in Sunday''s Belgian Grand Prix.

The legendary German will celebrate the 20th anniversary of his Formula One debut, which took place on August 25 1991 at the Spa circuit.

Although the two decades have included three seasons in retirement, it is still an incredible achievement by the 42-year-old to be competing at motorsport''s highest level.

Brussels, Jan 8 : The UN climate change summit in Copenhagen "has reminded us of the importance of the emerging countries, like India and Brazil", the European Union's first President Herman Van Rompuy has said.

"It has also taught us some other geopolitical lessons. These developments invite us to ask ourselves: How can we best collaborate with the other players?" he said at a Christian Social Union party conference in Wildbad Kreuth, Germany.

Brussels, Jan 5 : European Union (EU) experts are to meet Thursday to discuss whether the bloc needs to improve its airport security in the wake of the failed Christmas attack on a US airliner over Detroit, officials in Brussels said.

The meeting is expected to include a debate on whether to bring in EU-wide rules for the use of controversial body scanners, which look through the traveller's clothes to produce an image of their body.

Brussels, Dec 31 : A total of 137 journalists were killed in 2009, one of the most lethal years for media workers on record, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Thursday.

The Brussels-based organization said that 113 of the journalists had fallen victim to targeted killings, overshadowing the decrease to 109 killed in 2008.

IFJ President Jim Boumelha said that the Philippines, Mexico, and Somalia led the list of most deadly countries for journalists in 2009.

Brussels, Dec 23 : The Council of the European Union (EU) Tuesday mandated its executive body, the European Commission, to negotiate a broad nuclear partnership agreement with Russia.

The European Atomic Energy Community and the Russian federation will negotiate an agreement for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, a EU official said in a statement.

Brussels, Dec 16 : The European Commission said Wednesday it has resolved its long-running dispute with Microsoft after the US software giant agreed to allow customers a choice of Web browsers.

European Union (EU) competitions commissioner Neelie Kroes said the Commission had dropped the antitrust case it opened against Microsoft for restricting the use of browsers in its Windows operating systems.

Brussels, Dec 16 - One of the lesser known aspects of the world debate on climate change is the swarm of acronyms and abbreviations it has spawned.

Some of the most outstanding follow below:

BAM: the acronym stands for Border Adjustment Mechanism.

It refers to any attempt by a country to impose special import taxes on products from states which do not have laws on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, so that rival producers in the home country are not put at a disadvantage.

France is actively campaigning to have them in place, despite objections that they smack of protectionism.

Brussels, Dec 15 : Rich countries have not offered developing states enough help to clinch a deal on fighting global warming, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned Tuesday as he prepared to travel to the UN climate talks in Copenhagen.

Barroso "feels that not enough progress has been made, and there I'm talking about the developed countries," on the crucial issue of funding the fight against global warming, his spokeswoman, Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, told journalists in Brussels.

Brussels, Dec 11 - The European Union (EU) appears to have developed a yen for Italian pizza and has granted Neapolitan pizza a special label to protect it from any rivals.

The EU Wednesday gave pizza produced in the southern city of Naples a special label that protects it in the 27 EU countries from 'fake' or imitation 'Neapolitan pizzas'.

Neapolitan pizza is considered the benchmark for pizza everywhere in the world.

Brussels, Dec 11 - Germany is to pledge the highest single contribution to a EU fund aimed at helping poor nations cope with climate change, the German Press Agency has learned.

EU governments have so far vowed to provide a total of 3 billion euros ($4.4 billion) over the next three years to a global fund provided by rich nations.

The biggest single contribution thus far - 883 million euros - has come from Britain.

Brussels, Dec 9 :The European Union's executive Wednesday granted over 1.5 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in aid to 15 experimental clean energy projects.

The decision is part of a package of measures designed to fight the European recession and combat global warming by boosting investment into clean coal-fired power stations, offshore wind generators and international energy links.

Brussels, Dec 9 -  Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has condemned the coordinated car bomb attacks that killed over 120 people and injured 500 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and said terrorists were "seeking to undermine the democratic electoral process in Iraq".

"I want to express my dismay and horror at the series of attacks in Iraq," Frattini told journalists in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.

"The attacks claimed many innocent victims," Frattini said.

The high-profile attacks targeted sensitive sites and came two days after MPs approved a new new election law to govern national polls due early next year.

Brussels, Dec 7 : The European Union leaders are to push for a cash handout of at least 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to help poor countries fight climate change next year when they meet for a summit in Brussels Thursday, according to internal documents.

The EU is keen to convince world powers to sign up to a deal on fighting climate change at UN talks in Copenhagen. The bloc had not been due to offer a concrete amount of funding until after the Copenhagen talks, but it is now keen to put firm figures on the table to pressurise other major states do the same.

Brussels, Nov 27 : European Union veterans from Finland and Spain obtained two of the most prestigious seats in the new European Commission, which was announced Friday.

Olli Rehn of Finland, an economist and outgoing enlargement commissioner, was awarded the powerful economics affairs portfolio, while the post's incumbent, Joaquin Almunia of Spain, was moved to the influential competition portfolio.

The appointments follow days of secretive consultations in Brussels and not-so-secret horse-trading among the bloc's 27 national governments.

Brussels, Nov 26 : European Union regulators Thursday formally charged Dutch electronics giant Philips and other manufacturers of cathode ray tubes (CRT) of forming a cartel aimed at inflating the price of television sets and computer monitors.

The announcement by the European Commission in Brussels follows surprise raids carried out at the manufacturers' premises in November 2007, when CRT screens were still widely available.

Brussels -- Belgian commentators awaited with trepidation Friday the return of disgraced former premier Yves Leterme after incumbent Herman Van Rompuy was named as the European Union's first full-time president.

Leterme headed the Belgian government in 2008 at a time of vicious political infighting between the country's Dutch-speaking majority and French-speaking minority. Commentators warn that his expected rehabilitation could spark a new round of strife.

Brussels - Top diplomats from the so-called "5+1" group of world powers were to meet in Brussels on Friday to discuss how to respond to Iran's refusal to reach a nuclear deal, diplomats said Thursday.

Officials from the UN Security Council's five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany were to also hold talks with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, spokeswoman Cristina Gallach told the German Press Agency dpa.

Brussels  - Young women perform better than their male counterparts on their final university exams and are on average finished with their studies sooner.

In Germany for example the number of female freshmen at colleges and universities has been greater than the number of men for many years.

Despite these statistics one thing remains stubbornly the same: Women in top positions at large enterprises and important economic institutions are still a rarity. Economics and finance are still largely a male domain within the European Union.

Brussels  - Following tough negotiations, European Union governments and the European Parliament agreed Wednesday night on the 16-member bloc's budget for 2010.

A decision was reached to increase expenditure by 6 per cent to 122.9 billion euros, EU diplomats said Wednesday night in Brussels. The budget must still be approved by parliament in December.

"The budget is a powerful response to the economic crisis," said Hans Lindblad, Sweden's state secretary for finance, after the nearly 12-hour-long discussions.