Brussels, March 19 - NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said it is "absolutely ridiculous" for Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to accuse the US of colluding with the Taliban.

"I reject the idea that was publicly launched by President Karzai that one way or the other there is a so-called collusion between NATO, ISAF, US and the Taliban. It's an absolutely ridiculous idea," reported Xinhua citing Rasmussen as saying Monday at his monthly press conference in Brussels.

Brussels, March 14 : European Union (EU) leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels Thursday and Friday to iron out measures to promote growth and create jobs in Europe which is still mired in the debt crisis.

Despite "consistent and courageous" efforts taken at European and national levels, "we have yet to tackle the most immediate fears and concerns of many of our citizens", European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday, referring to weak growth and high jobless rate.

Investigators in Europe are continuing to hunt down a band of thieves who were able to rob diamonds worth estimated $50 million from a Swiss jetliner on a runway ion Brussels.

Caroline De Wolf, spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, which is the victim of the robbing incident, said that it is not known what the thieves will do with the diamonds. She said that they took away both rough and polished diamonds and it is not possible to trace the diamonds. Experts suspect that the thieves might have already stolen the diamonds but at a very low piece, which is about 20 to 30 per cent of their actual value.

Brussels, Feb 16 : The European Union has approved tighter controls on beef within its member states to determine the extent to which horsemeat is being fraudulently labeled as beef and sold to consumers.

The 27-member bloc also gave the green light for tests to determine whether horsemeat found at slaughterhouses contains residues of phenylbutazone, an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat horses that is potentially harmful to people.

Brussels, July 24 - Moody's Investors Service late Monday lowered its outlook on top-rated Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg to negative from stable, citing increasing uncertainties about the euro debt crisis as a whole.

The rating agency said its decision is also based on the growing risk of a Greek exit from the euro, which would set off "a chain of financial sector shocks" and it is the single currency's top-rated states who are going to share the burden of support, reported Xinhua.

A new research has shown that portable MP3 players can lead to temporary hearing loss if used for more than an hour.

Hannah Kempler, of Ghent University, Belgium said, "It is well known that excessive occupational noise exposure can lead to noise-induced hearing loss. Excessive noise exposure can lead to metabolic and/or mechanical effects resulting in alterations of the structural elements of the organ of Corti [the inner ear organ in mammals that contains auditory sensory cells or ''hair cells'']."

The Hinduja Group has informed that will pay USD 1.69 billion to purchase KBC's private bank. The private banking arm of Belgium's KBC is expected to join financial services arm of Hinduja Group. The deal between the Indian family-owned conglomerate and the Belgian banking and insurance group has been finalized and it has been announced to the media.

The satellite service provider, Eutelsat Communications and Euro 1080 has come down on an agreement that claims of airing newer contents for their viewers as the 3D TV channel being broadcast through Eutelsat, via the Eurobird 9a satellite.

This move of Euro 1080 adds a ton of its own experience in 3D TV viewership as it aids in providing its own production company, Alfacam which is famed for its pioneering development in having the HDTV format and currently the same is engrossed in the production and recording of sports events and live concerts in 3D.

Hindusthan National Glass & Industries (HNGI) Ltd has announced that the company is going to tie up with a company from Belgium. As per the senior officers of HNGI, there will be joint venture with Belgium-based OMCO International.

Both the companied have decided to set up two glass mould manufacturing facilities in India. They have selected Puducherry and Bahadurgarh, Uttar Pradesh for the operation of these two facilities. Apart from that there will be 50:50 joint venture between these two companies.

Official reports have revealed that an anticipated Belgian Parliament vote on banning wearing the Islamic burqa in public Thursday was disrupted when the country's coalition government collapsed.

Prime Minister Yves Leterme tendered his resignation after a key Flemish party member quit the 5-month-old coalition, throwing the government into crisis slightly more than two months before the country takes over the rotating EU presidency.

CBH Resources Ltd., producer of zinc, lead and silver in Australia, said today that the company had received whole new takeover offer from Nyrstar NV after the close of the market on Friday last week. Nyrstar NV, a zinc producer of Belgium, now offered 19.5 cents per CBH share and $1,000 for every convertible note.

CBH board has rejected the previous bid of Nyrstar in March and advised its shareholders to accept the offer of Toho Zinc.

Belgium's famous detective- Hercule Poirot is seeking global credence that entitles David Suchet's award-winning portrayal of the 'sleuth with the little grey cells'.

As the reports of ITV Studios Global Entertainment state the much acclaimed Agatha Christie-created detective's TV series has now been showcased for screening in 220 territories which is comparatively more than US's 192 member states.

Their country is on the road to becoming the first European nation to ban the full-body veils worn by Muslim women, lawmakers in Belgium have said.

The EU Observer has reported on Thursday that a key panel of the Belgium Federal Parliament unanimously voted in favor of a proposal to ban both the burqa and the niqab, two forms of the veil that cover the entire body and face.

Women who wear the coverings could be fined and jailed for up to seven days, if parliament approves the ban.

A ban would liberate women from a burden and increase security, Corinne De Permentier, speaker of the lower chamber, says.

Nyrstar NV, a zinc producer from Belgium, has recently offered an improved takeover bid of 19.5 cents per share for the Australian miner CBH Resources. CBH Resources has also confirmed today it has received an improved takeover offer worth $A213.5 million from Nyrstar. However, CBH has not decided yet whether to accept the offer or not.

Brussels, Jan 8 : The UN climate change summit in Copenhagen "has reminded us of the importance of the emerging countries, like India and Brazil", the European Union's first President Herman Van Rompuy has said.

"It has also taught us some other geopolitical lessons. These developments invite us to ask ourselves: How can we best collaborate with the other players?" he said at a Christian Social Union party conference in Wildbad Kreuth, Germany.

Brussels, Jan 5 : European Union (EU) experts are to meet Thursday to discuss whether the bloc needs to improve its airport security in the wake of the failed Christmas attack on a US airliner over Detroit, officials in Brussels said.

The meeting is expected to include a debate on whether to bring in EU-wide rules for the use of controversial body scanners, which look through the traveller's clothes to produce an image of their body.

Brussels, Dec 31 : A total of 137 journalists were killed in 2009, one of the most lethal years for media workers on record, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Thursday.

The Brussels-based organization said that 113 of the journalists had fallen victim to targeted killings, overshadowing the decrease to 109 killed in 2008.

IFJ President Jim Boumelha said that the Philippines, Mexico, and Somalia led the list of most deadly countries for journalists in 2009.

Brussels (Belgium), Dec. 26 : A fight is on to save the historic Bastogne military barracks in the Belgian Ardennes from closure.

According to The Telegraph, the campaign follows the Belgian government''s decision to close 23 barracks across the country by 2011, including the so-called ''Heinz'' barracks at Bastogne where US General Anthony McAuliffe had his headquarters during famous Battle of the Bulge in 1944.

Brussels, Dec 23 : The Council of the European Union (EU) Tuesday mandated its executive body, the European Commission, to negotiate a broad nuclear partnership agreement with Russia.

The European Atomic Energy Community and the Russian federation will negotiate an agreement for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, a EU official said in a statement.

Brussels, Dec 16 : The European Commission said Wednesday it has resolved its long-running dispute with Microsoft after the US software giant agreed to allow customers a choice of Web browsers.

European Union (EU) competitions commissioner Neelie Kroes said the Commission had dropped the antitrust case it opened against Microsoft for restricting the use of browsers in its Windows operating systems.