Brussels - The European Union will not deal with a new government in Madagascar that seizes power through violent means, officials in Brussels warned on Monday.

"The EU of course rejects acts of violence. If a new head of state is lifted to office through violent means and against the constitution, we will not recognize them," said Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Brussels  - The European Union could boycott a planned United Nations conference on racism, set for April 20, because of alleged anti-Western and anti-Semitic references in draft documents, the bloc's presidency said Monday.

"The EU will probably send suggestions. If the conference papers are in line with that we will stay, otherwise there is a strong call to withdraw," Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, said after talks with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Moscow  - Just seconds before blast off, Russia delayed the launch Monday of one of Europe's most technically advanced space missions, a Space Forces spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying the launch was delayed for 24 hours for "technical reasons."

The 450-million-dollar European Space Agency (ESA) satellite is to reach orbit strapped to the back of a modified Russian ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in north-west Russia.

Damascus - A European parliamentary delegation on Saturday met with members of Hamas's political leadership-in-exile in Damascus to discuss ways to end the group's international isolation.

The six-member EU delegation, which includes lawmakers from Britain and Ireland, said that their meeting with Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus was intended to encourage more Europeans to recognise Hamas as a legitimate movement that was democratically elected by its people.

Valletta, Malta  - EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot made a "solemn appeal" for Europe-wide solidarity Saturday in an attempt to help Malta deal with illegal immigration problems.

Barrot was in Malta as part of a fact-finding mission into conditions faced by illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, who try to enter the EU by reaching the island.

Brussels - European Union member states which host subsidiaries to General Motors on Friday closed ranks to protect jobs on their territory after talks with the firm, vowing to coordinate all their actions rather than going it alone.

The ministers of 12 EU member states linked to GM and its subsidiaries "agreed to ensure that no national measures should be taken without prior information and coordination with other involved countries," a statement from the EU's executive, the European Commission, which hosted the talks, said.