Jerusalem - Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday in a New Year's message to the Iranian people sharply criticized the leadership in Tehran.

In an audio message broadcast partly in Farsi ahead of the Iranian news year's holiday of Nowruz, Peres accused the government of Iran of doing everything it could to harm Israel and its people.

Brussels  - European Union leaders clinched a deal Thursday on the use of 5 billion euros (6.9 billion dollars) in community funds to stimulate the economy, after Germany received assurances that the money would be spent by the end of 2010.

"Some of the details still have to be ironed out, but the 5- billion-euro package has been agreed in principle," a diplomat familiar with the talks told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Brussels - European Union leaders clinched a deal Thursday on spending 5 billion euros (6.8 billion dollars) in community funds, diplomats said.

The agreement was reached after the EU's biggest contributor, Germany, received assurances that the money would only be spent on projects that are capable of being implemented by 2010.

Brussels - Neither Luxembourg nor any other European Union country will feature in a possible "black list" of tax havens to be drawn up at next month's Group of 20 summit in London, diplomats in Brussels said Thursday.

Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of the tiny but wealthy grand duchy, received assurances from fellow EU leaders during a summit in the Belgian capital that his country would not be singled out.

Washington  - A day after his Senate confirmation, newly minted US Trade Representative Ron Kirk wasted little time in pledging close relations with the European Union when he met Thursday with EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton.

Yet the tension between Europe and the US was made clear already on Wednesday, when Ashton, in a private speech, urged the reluctant United States to help kick-start the stalled Doha world trade talks and warned against protectionism.

Washington  - The United States was reviewing relations with Madagascar following the "undemocratic" transfer of power in the country, the US State Department said Thursday.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said it was too early to say if the review would results in a cut-off of the millions of dollars in aid the United States provides annually to the troubled African nation.

"We've taken a close look at this. And we believe recent political developments in Madagascar constitute an undemocratic transfer of power," Wood said.