Brussels  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel was 90 minutes late for Sunday's European Union summit in Brussels owing to engine trouble in her aircraft departing from Berlin.

According to official sources, a warning light indicating engine overheating flashed on in the twin-engined government plane's cockpit soon after take-off. The pilot turned off the engine and steered for the nearest airfield, Hanover, making an emergency landing there.

Merkel was forced to wait in Hanover for a replacement aircraft to carry her on to Brussels.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that she expects an honest assessment of the financial situation within Eastern Europe at a European Union (EU) summit meeting this weekend.

Merkel said that, as far as the EU member states are concerned, "we should be given an honest status of the situation," adding that this was not necessarily the case at the EU's December's summit.

The heads of all 27 EU member states are due to meet in Brussels Sunday for an extraordinary summit convened to discuss the global economic crisis.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected Monday pressure to decide about a controversial museum appointment which has raised tension with Poland in recent weeks.

Ethnic Germans expelled from eastern Europe after the Second World War have demanded that their national leader, Erika Steinbach, be appointed to the board of a planned taxpayer-funded museum in Berlin depicting the refugee ordeal.

There was "no urgency" on the issue, Merkel's deputy spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters Monday in Berlin.

Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Saturday for unified international rules for the financial markets, on the eve of a meeting with the heads of Europe's leading economies.

There could no longer be "blank spots" where regulations don't apply in the wake of the financial meltdown, Merkel said in her weekly video podcast.

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Saturday for unified international rules for the financial markets, on the eve of hosting a meeting with the heads of Europe's leading economies.

There could no longer be "blank spots" where regulations don't apply in the wake of the financial meltdown, Merkel said in her weekly video podcast.

The comments came 24 hours before Germany is set to welcome France, Spain, Britain, Italy and the Netherlands for a one-off pre- summit meeting, before April's G20 summit in London.

Berlin - European leaders and finance ministers meet in Berlin Sunday to draw up an action plan to combat the world economic crisis and beef up market regulation amid the threat of a financial meltdown in Central and Eastern Europe.

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