Brussels  - The European Union's executive body is to demand that banks keep more of their riskiest securities on their own books and submit to international supervision on Wednesday as the global financial storm showed no signs of abating.

In a long-awaited move, EU Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy is set to demand that banks which sell high-risk debts, such as mortgages, as assets should keep at least 5 per cent of those assets on their own books, officials said.

He is also expected to call on banks to set aside a proportion of their capital as a safety net against the collapse of other banks with which they have financial ties.

Brussels/Paris - The bosses of Dexia stepped down on Tuesday after the struggling Franco-Belgian bank became the latest victim of the global credit crunch and was bailed out by three European governments.

Belgian media reports said Axel Miller, a Belgian who acts as its chief executive officer, and Pierre Richard, a Frenchman who chairs the board of directors, both tendered their resignation in the wake of the 6.4-billion-euro (9.2-billion-dollar) capital injection.

The company issued a statement confirming that the governments of Belgium, France and Luxembourg had agreed to support the bank.

"All the necessary measures will be taken to preserve the interests of Dexia's depositors," Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said.

Brussels- More than 300 European Union observers are already in Georgia and ready to begin monitoring the "swift withdrawal" of Russian forces, EU officials said Monday.

"We are extremely pleased with the response from member states and with the preparations" leading up to the launch of the mission, foreseen for Wednesday, said Cristina Gallach, the spokeswoman of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

"We want to monitor the swift withdrawal of the Russian troops from where they are now" and ensure that the Georgian police is allowed back into Georgian villages, Gallach added.

Brussels/New York  - An agreement was signed Friday formalizing the existing political cooperation Between NATO and the United Nations, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

The paper was signed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York by the secretary generals of both organizations, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer for NATO and Ban Ki Moon for the UN, Appathurai said.

The agreement did not bring about any "dramatic changes" for the cooperation in crisis regions like Afghanistan or Kosovo, where NATO acted on behalf of the UN, he added.

Brussels - New European Union rules on battery recycling and disposal came into force across the 27-member bloc on Friday in what officials described as an "important step" in the fight to protect the environment and human health.

The new system "represents another important step towards our goal of making Europe into a recycling society," as well as helping protect health, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.

Brussels - Belgian-Dutch banking giant Fortis was forced to deny rumours that it was experiencing liquidity problems as its shares took a battering for a fifth day in a row Friday.

"We underline the solid position of the bank," Fortis said in a statement released in Brussels and Utrecht.

"Fortis solvency is solid and well above the regulatory minimum," the bank said, adding that its core capital stood at the end of June at an above-target level of 4 billion euros (5.86 billion dollars).