Brussels - The European Union on Friday brought into force the latest round of UN sanctions on Iran in the dispute over its nuclear programme.

An announcement published in the EU's official journal ordered the bloc's 27 member states not to enter into new commitments for grants, financial assistance and concessional loans to the Iranian government, but to continuously monitor the dealings of their own banks with Iranian institutions, especially Bank Saderat.

It also mandated member states to inspect cargoes carried by Iran Air Cargo and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line, as long as there are "reasonable grounds" for suspecting that they are carrying nuclear-related cargoes.

Brussels - European Union chief foreign policy adviser Javier Solana spoke Thursday with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili Thursday about the worsening situation in South Ossetia in Georgia.

In a statement issued by Solana Thursday evening in Brussels, he said he had expressed his "serious concern" about the situation. He urged the president to do everything in his power to quickly end the violence and open peaceful discussion between the conflicting parties.

Brussels  - The European Commission on Thursday invited companies which want to offer satellite-based communications and entertainment services to mobile receivers across Europe to apply for a licence to do so.

Traditionally, the European Union's broadcasting market has been divided into 27 national systems, making it difficult for satellite companies to offer services across the bloc.

But a law which came into force this week mandates the commission, as the EU's executive, to handle the approval process for the whole bloc.

The commission has therefore called on EU-based companies interested in offering services such as mobile satellite internet and TV to apply for permission to offer such services before October 7.

Brussels  - Farmers in Europe should see bumper cereal crops this year, but it is too early to predict what impact this will have on food prices, officials in Brussels said Thursday.

"Favourable weather conditions and an increase in the planted area farmed should lead to a total cereals harvest close to 301 million tons for this year in the European Union, 43 million tons more than in 2007," a press release from the European Commission, the EU's executive, said.

That works out as a 16-per-cent increase over 2007's poor harvest, and a 9-per-cent rise compared with the average production over the last five years, the statement said.

Brussels  - The military junta which overthrew Mauritania's government must return that government to power for any future elections to count as valid, officials in Brussels said Thursday after coup leaders promised a poll.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, has "taken note" of the promise, but insists that "those elections should be held in the framework of the constitution," a spokesman for EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said.

"In this connection, the release of the democratically-elected president and prime minister is an essential precondition," he said.

Brussels  - The European Union on Wednesday said that it was "deeply concerned" by what it saw as further breaches of human rights in Iran following the condemnation to death of members of the Kurd minority and the arrest of two prominent AIDS campaigners.