Brussels - European Union warships will be allowed to shoot at pirates caught hijacking commercial vessels off the coast of Somalia, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Monday.

Solana was speaking after EU foreign ministers in Brussels formally endorsed the bloc's "Atalanta" mission, which starts Tuesday.

London - Peter Reid moved on Tuesday to dismiss reports linking him to the vacant managerial position at Sunderland.

The Thailand manager seemed to suggest in his newspaper column that he would be keen to the club he twice led to seventh position in the Premier League.

"I said that in a certain amount of time I want go back to England," he explained to reporters in Thailand.

"But I have a contract in Thailand that I want to fulfil. I didn't say I wanted to go back to Sunderland, sometimes in England you get misquoted.

"I haven't been offered the job at Sunderland and I will not take it if I am offered it. I haven't asked for the job at Sunderland.

Berlin - Ireland is planning to make a new bid in October 2009 to ratify the EU reform treaty rejected by voters last June, German government and parliamentary sources said Tuesday.

In return, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen is seeking legal guarantees on Irish sovereignty over issues such as abortion, neutrality and taxation, they said. He also wants permanent representation for Ireland in every EU Commission.

The Lisbon Treaty, which aimed to streamline decision-making in the 27-nation bloc, cannot enter force until all member states have ratified it. Apart from Ireland, the Czech Republic is the only member not to have endorsed it.

Berlin - Germany increased Monday its humanitarian aid for Zimbabweans, giving 1 million euros (1.3 million dollars) to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to supply hospitals.

London - Recently-divorced US pop icon Madonna is claiming more than 5 million pounds (7.3 million dollars) damages from a British newspaper for the publication of photographs of her wedding to film director Guy Ritchie eight years ago, her lawyer said Monday.

At proceedings at the High Court in London, lawyer Matthew Nicklin said that the pictures, published by the Mail on Sunday newspaper on October 19, had been copied "surreptitiously" by an interior designer during work at her home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

Beirut  - Lebanon's Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Seniora has agreed with Iranian officials to draw up a framework for bilateral cooperation between the two nations ahead of a possible visit by Seniora to Tehran, a governmental source said Monday.

Mohammad Shibani, Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, met with the prime minister over the weekend and renewed his invitation for Seniora to visit Tehran, the source, who requsted anonymity, said.