Brussels - Police in Belgium are examining CCTV footage from a Brussels bank which is said to show a child similar to missing British toddler Madeleine McCann, the Belga news agency reported Saturday.

A security guard said he saw an English-speaking blonde girl of five or six years accompanied by a woman, police spokesman John Berckmans said.

Berckmans said the criminal police laboratory was investigating the pictures to see whether they are of sufficient quality for an identification.

The footage was taken Monday in a bank branch in the Brussels district of Molenbeek.

Brussels  - The European Union as a body called Friday for an immediate ceasefire and a return to peace talks in the Georgian separatist province of South Ossetia as fighting continued to rage in the area.

The EU "calls all parties to cease hostilities immediately and to resume talks without delay in order to permit a political solution to the crisis while respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia," a statement on behalf of the EU by the French government, which currently holds the bloc's presidency, said.

Brussels - The European Union's executive body on Friday agreed to publish the list of objects which passengers are banned from carrying on board aircraft, ahead of an expected ruling from the European Court on the issue.

The European Commission has decided to publish the list, and it will appear in the EU's official journal "in a matter of days," officials in Brussels said.

The list ranges from firearms, harpoon guns and hand grenades to ice picks, skateboards and fishing rods.

Poisons, pepper sprays and all kinds of liquids in quantities of more than 100 millilitres are also on the list.

Brussels - The European Union on Friday allocated an extra 21 million euros (32.4 million dollars) in emergency aid to Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia, officials said.

"The challenges in the Horn of Africa are huge and multi- dimensional ... Humanitarian aid is an expression of Europe's solidarity with those who are the most vulnerable," EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said in a statement.

Friday's decision allocates 13 million euros in aid to Somalia, with shelter, health care and water among the key targets. The EU's executive, the European Commission, has already sent 14 million euros in food aid to the country this year, officials said.

Brussels - Around 100 protesters against China's human- rights record demonstrated outside the headquarters of the European Union on Friday as the Olympic Games opened in Beijing.

"The Olympic flag symbolizes peace, harmony and the solidarity of nations. The Beijing Games have become a nightmare for the millions of people in China who love peace," a statement issued by the Congress of Tibetan Youth in Belgium said.

"China's leaders have intensified the detention, torture and even execution of hundreds of Uighurs, Tibetans and Chinese dissidents under the pretext of 'security' and 'safe games,'" it said.

Brussels  - The head of NATO is "seriously concerned" by the outbreak of fighting in Georgia and calls on all sides to return to the negotiating table, a statement released in Brussels said Friday.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is "seriously concerned about the events that are taking place in the Georgian region of South Ossetia," and said that NATO is "closely following" the situation, the statement said.

De Hoop Scheffer "calls on all sides for an immediate end of the armed clashes and direct talks between the parties," it said.