Oslo - Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit's physician has advised her to cancel public engagements for the coming two weeks, the palace said Monday.

The princess sustained a minor concussion after falling down some stairs during a visit to Ukraine last month, and has since been on sick leave.

The medical recommendation means that the princess will miss out on the upcoming functions to mark the 60th birthday of Britain's Prince Charles.

Marseille - New rules of military engagement are necessary for the 17,000 UN peacekeeping troops stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday in Marseille.

"The rules of engagement now are very restrictive," Kouchner said ahead of an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in the southern French city of Marseille. "We can not have soldiers there who are not allowed to shoot. I'm not saying we should make war. But we should be able to carry out defensive missions."

Baghdad - A continuing wave of violence claimed 11 Iraqi lives and injured another 20 on Sunday and Monday, including an official from Iraq's oil ministry.

Saheb Salman Qotb, an undersecretary at the Iraqi Oil Ministry, was injured in a blast Monday in front of house in northern Baghdad, police sources said. One of his security guards was also injured in the attack, the source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Ljubljana - Slovenian centre-left leader Borut Pahor was formally tapped as prime minister-elect Monday and pledged to focus on the economy as the tiny European Union nation faces tougher times.

Pahor's Social Democrats won the most votes in September 21 parliamentary elections and were expected to lead a four-party coalition government with 55 seats in the 
90-member parliament.

Pahor, speaking after President Danilo Tuerk formally nominated him to head the next government, pledged to work to stabilize the economy.

Frankfurt - Two key German banks announced Monday they were tapping the government's 470-billion-bank-euro (600-billion-dollar) rescue fund in the wake of the world financial crisis.

While Germany's second biggest bank Commerzbank AG said it was seeking an 8.2 billion-euro capital injection after reporting a third-quarter loss, state controlled HSH Nordbank AG said it had turned to the fund for 30 billion euros in debt guarantees after posting a nine-month loss.

Frankfurt - German Bundesliga clubs Bayer Leverkusen and Cologne were both fined by the German Football Federation (DFB) Monday after flares and firecrackers landed on the pitch in the recent derby match between the sides.

Cologne have been hit with a fine of 23,000 euros (29,500 dollars) while Leverkusen, which hosted the game on October 24, have to pay 10,000 euros.

The missiles were fired from the Cologne fan section at the BayArena ground in the direction of a linesman and a Leverkusen player.