Pristina - The European Union's law enforcement mission in Kosovo, the Eulex, handed out its first war crimes conviction in the former Serbian province on Wednesday, sentencing an Albanian to 17 years in prison for murder.

Gani Gasi, 59, was sentenced for shooting and killing a man and wounding three members of his family in 1998. The verdict was reached by a panel of two Eulex and one Kosovo judge.

The prosecutor was also a member of Eulex, a mission of 1,900 policemen, judges, prosecutors and customs officials deployed in late 2008 to help Kosovo along its first sovereign steps.

Brussels- The European Union on Wednesday scaled back its monitoring of Microsoft in a case concerning the software giant's publication of key communication codes, saying that the company's good behaviour meant that full-time supervision was no longer needed.

Brussels  - The European Union stands ready to bail out eurozone members in the "unlikely" event that they experience severe financial problems, officials in Brussels said Tuesday.

"In the unlikely event - and I stress in the unlikely event - that a euro area country were to experience financing difficulties, a solution would be found," said Amelia Torres, spokeswoman for EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

Torres was reacting to media reports quoting Almunia as saying the EU had drawn up confidential plans to help euro members at risk of defaulting on their public debt.

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.

Brussels  - A number of mid-sized European Union members will complain to the bloc's presidency about their exclusion from world talks on the financial crisis when other similar-sized states have been invited, top officials in Brussels said Sunday.

"We have - we are going to approach the presidency about this matter with other countries," Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told journalists at the opening of an EU summit.

However, the move will be made by EU foreign ministers in the coming days, not at Sunday's emergency EU summit in Brussels, he said.

Brussels  - One possible explanation for the ongoing rows within the European Union over who should attend international talks on the financial and economic crises is that the bloc includes at least six countries which currently head international organizations.

THE CZECH REPUBLIC is the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, which hands over every six months. It took over the job from France on January 1 and is to pass it on to Sweden on July 1.

The Czech EU presidency has called two emergency summits on the economic crisis, the first on Sunday to reject protectionism, and the second in May to discuss the troubles of the labour market.