Brussels - The head of the European Union executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, was to make a rare appearance at Monday's meeting of eurogroup finance ministers amid deep divisions on how to deal with the economic and financial crises.

The informal dinner-time talks in Brussels are regularly attended by the EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet.

Brussels - The Czech presidency of the European Union wants the bloc's leaders to hold emergency talks on the economic crisis by the end of this month, officials in Brussels said Monday.

European Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek was "positively considering the idea of hosting an informal meeting of heads of state and government of the whole of the EU."

Brussels - Officials in Brussels said Friday they would go ahead with plans to invest billions of taxpayers' money on energy and internet projects in spite of political and legal objections from key European Union players such as Germany, France and Italy.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso wants to use 5 billion euros (6.4 billion dollars) of what he says are spare EU budget funds to link up the member states' electricity grids, build gas pipelines, create wind farms and spread broadband internet connections to the countryside.

Brussels  - European Union leaders will hold an unprecedented "double-summit" day on May 7, with heads of state and government due to discuss both the bloc's relations with its eastern neighbours and new gas supply routes from the Caspian Sea, Czech presidency sources said Thursday.

The summit on the so-called "Eastern Partnership" - originally proposed by Poland and Sweden last year - is one of the key events of the EU's Czech presidency, which runs until the end of June.

Brussels  - Most people do not associate sharks with Europe - Jaws was filmed near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, not in Portugal.

But sustained demand for fins from Asia, and a growing appetite for shark meat back home, are placing many European cousins of the Great White on the path of extinction.

As Joe Borg, the European Union's fisheries commissioner, put it: "Many people associate sharks with going to the cinema, more than with beaches or restaurants. But the latest information we have confirms that human beings are now a far bigger threat to sharks than sharks ever were to us."

Brussels  - NATO soldiers will only be allowed to target Afghan drug traffickers if they can be shown to be providing "material support" to the Taliban insurgency, the alliance's spokesman said Wednesday.

James Appathurai said NATO Supreme Commander General John Craddock had agreed to clarify the rules of engagement following reports that senior officers on the ground were refusing to fight drug gangs which were not proven to have links with the Taliban.