Warsaw  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk are expected to discuss several sensitive issues Monday during their meeting in the Polish port city of Gdansk, with Ireland's recent rejection of the Lisbon Treaty most likely at the top of the agenda.

Tusk has said the Irish referendum would not disqualify the treaty and the European Union would look for ways to bring it into effect.

"The treaty is good for integration in the EU," he said, "and therefore good for Poland."

Berlin - Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected Friday the suggestion that the European Union was in a crisis after the Irish rejection of the EU treaty.

Speaking to reporters at Binz on Germany's Baltic coast, Merkel said, "The situation is not an easy one. The European Union has already surmounted many difficult situations. That is why I'm quite sure that we'll find a way here to make progress."

The chancellor added that she could not yet say what a solution to the problem would look like.

Mexico City - Looking ah

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's trip next week to four Latin American countries marks the rising importance of the region, German government sources said Thursday.

The growing economies of the region, with powerhouses like Brazil and Mexico, had added to its political significance, they said.

The highpoint of the chancellor's trip, which begins on Tuesday and ends on May 20, is to be her participation in the fifth European Union-Latin American and Caribbean Summit (EU-LAC) to be held May 16-17 in Lima.

Aachen, Germany - European leader