Brussels  - Finland is to double the number of its troops in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan to some 200 in time for elections on August 20, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said Monday as European Union colleagues discussed a police-training mission there.

"We will double our presence from about 100 to 200 for the elections, and in that sense I hope that we have responded to the requests (for more troops) that have come from the United States," Stubb told journalists in Brussels.

At the regular meeting, EU foreign ministers were set to discuss the 27-member bloc's role in stabilizing Afghanistan at a time when the new US government has called on European members of NATO to boost their commitments in the country.

London, Feb 23 : A leaked report has revealed how European Union MPs are becoming millionaires at the expense of taxpayers in just one five year term through expenses and allowances.

The internal report into the system of allowances conducted by Robert Galvin, a European Union internal audit official, was kept secret when it was carried out last year

Brussels - Sri Lanka's government and the Tamil Tiger rebels (LTTE) sh

Berlin - European Union (EU) leaders and finance ministers meet in Berlin Sunday to draw up an action plan aimed at combating the world economic crisis amid fears that financial pressures were intensifying across the EU and Eastern Europe.

Hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Sunday's meeting has been called to set out Europe's position on financial market reform and tackling the recession ahead of the April summit in London of the Group of 20 (G20) major economic powers.

Prague/Ramallah - The European Union condemns Israeli plans for settlement expansion in the West Bank, the Czech EU presidency said in a statement delivered on behalf of the 27-member bloc.

The EU called on Israel in the statement issued late Friday to reconsider plans for construction in the vicinity of the Adam settlement in the West Bank, as it would violate international law and Israel's commitments made to the Palestinians in the Annapolis peace talks.

The union said that expansion of the settlements "is a major obstacle to peace in the Middle East."

Brussels  - The situation of human rights in Belarus topped the agenda on Friday as the European Union's top diplomat and the Council of Europe's human-rights commissioner met in Brussels.

EU High Representative Javier Solana and Council of Europe commissioner Thomas Hammarberg discussed human rights and political freedoms in Belarus, a statement from Solana's office said.

The two men's meeting came a day after Solana paid his first ever visit to Belarus, in a move seen as indicating the growing desire for a rapprochement in Minsk and Brussels.