Brussels  - Shareholders in Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis on Wednesday rejected its emergency nationalization, throwing into chaos state plans to split up the crisis-hit lender.

In two votes, 57 per cent of shareholders rejected the sale of the Dutch parts of the bank to the Dutch state, while just over half of shareholders rejected the sale of the bank's Belgian arm to the Belgian state, and thence to French banking giant BNP Paribas, local media reported.

Brussels - The European Union's executive is keen to help fight piracy in the Straits of Malacca and the waters of Singapore, the bloc's maritime-affairs commissioner told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Wednesday.

The European Commission "is currently looking at how it can address security issues more broadly, not only in the Horn of Africa region, but also in the Straits of Malacca and off Singapore, where we want to help build on recent successes in reducing the incidence of piracy," Joe Borg told dpa.

Brussels - The European Union executive in Brussels on Wednesday welcomed the formation of a power-sharing government in Zimbabwe and urged new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to bring about "positive change" to the poverty-stricken country.

"I welcome today's inauguration of Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister of Zimbabwe. All parties within this power-sharing government must now work - without delay - to immediately improve the social and economic conditions for the people of Zimbabwe," said Louis Michel, the EU's aid commissioner.

Brussels - The head of the European Union executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, was to make a rare appearance at Monday's meeting of eurogroup finance ministers amid deep divisions on how to deal with the economic and financial crises.

The informal dinner-time talks in Brussels are regularly attended by the EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet.

Brussels - The Czech presidency of the European Union wants the bloc's leaders to hold emergency talks on the economic crisis by the end of this month, officials in Brussels said Monday.

European Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek was "positively considering the idea of hosting an informal meeting of heads of state and government of the whole of the EU."

Brussels - Europe has not yet done enough to protect its internet and communications systems from web-based attacks, the politician whose country fought the world's first-ever cyber war told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Wednesday.

"A lot has been done, but whether enough has been done or not, I hesitate: most probably not," Estonian Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo said in an exclusive interview with dpa.