Brussels  - The European Commission wants to ban smoking in bars and restaurants across the European Union, officials in Brussels said Monday.

However, discussions on a smoking ban in all of the member states' workplaces are still at the preliminary stage, meaning any new rules are unlikely to be implemented before 2010.

Leverkusen, Germany - Bayer Leverkusen have renewed the contract of veteran midfielder Bernd Schneider by one year until 2010, the Bundesliga club said on Monday.

London  - Michael Schumacher believes Lewis Hamilton could one day beat his record of seven Formula One world titles.

"I would say, absolutely, yes," the former Ferrari driver told the BBC in an interview to be broadcast later Monday.

"Nobody thought, even me, that I could beat (Juan Manuel) Fangio. Then I did. Records are there to be beaten."

Vienna - Austrian skier Matthias Lanzinger will sue the ruling body FIS for compensation over a crash at a World Cup race in Norway in which he lost his lower leg.

The Austrian Press Agency APA reported on Monday that Lanzinger's lawyer, Manfred Ainedter, has sent an according letter to FIS president Gian-Franco Kasper.

The compensation claim comes in the wake of a report from a Munich doctor who said that Lanzinger's left leg had to be amputated below the knee due to a delay in medical treatment.

Lanzinger, 27, crashed during a super-G in Lillehammer in March. He was first taken to hospital in nearby Lillehammer and then on to a special clinic in Oslo.

Nairobi- Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga, in a show of support for US presidential candidate Barack Obama, paid a surprise visit to Obama's relatives in the east African country, reports said Monday.

Odinga met with the 86-year-old Sarah Obama, the Democratic candidate's step-grandmother, and other members of his family in the tiny village of Kogelo in western Kenya, according to Kenya's The Standard newspaper.

Hosur (Tamil Nadu) Oct. 27 : Factory workers and industrialists in Tamil Nadu’s Hosur area are upset over the acute power shortage, which is causing lay offs and a concern for social security for all here.

Hosur is a town and a municipality in Krishnagiri district here. But consequent to heavy load shedding, the small, medium and even large scale units have felt compelled to lay off their workforce.