Brussels - NATO is willing to discuss how to respond to new security threats with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), of which Russia and the United States are both members, the trans-Atlantic alliance said Wednesday.

However, Russia should refrain from issuing "confrontational statements" and stop being a source of concern for NATO's allies and its partners, for instance by threatening to deploy short range missiles in Kaliningrad, NATO foreign ministers said in a joint statement issued at a meeting in Brussels.

Brussels - The European Union is ready to defend commercial vessels from Somali pirates once NATO's mission expires later this month, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday.

"We have a responsibility to escort, deter and protect, and it will be done with very robust rules of engagement," Solana said ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

Brussels - The European Union's executive was set Wednesday to unveil a plan to strengthen ties with former-Soviet neighbours, such as Ukraine and Georgia, which EU leaders pushed up the political agenda in the wake of the summer's Russian-Georgian war.

The so-called "Eastern Partnership," originally proposed by Poland and Sweden in May, is aimed at strengthening the EU's ties with Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova - and possibly Belarus if Minsk shows itself open to democratic reforms.

Brussels - Terrorism poses "a direct threat" to Pakistan's territorial integrity, Britain's David Miliband warned Wednesday as NATO foreign ministers met to discuss the alliance's anti-Taliban operations in neighbouring Afghanistan.

"There is a direct threat to the integrity of the Pakistani state that is posed by terrorism," Miliband said as he arrived at the alliance's headquarter in Brussels.

Miliband was commenting on last week's coordinated terrorist attacks in India's business capital of Mumbai, which have left nearly 200 people dead.

Brussels - NATO foreign ministers were groping for unity on Tuesday as they debated whether the alliance should re-open high- level talks with Russia and how closely it should cooperate with membership hopefuls Georgia and Ukraine.

"The first point is to avoid in any case disagreements and divisions among our members, because otherwise we'd give a very bad message to the outside world," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told journalists as he arrived at the Brussels meeting.

Brussels - European Union governments endorsed Tuesday plans to raise the total amount of money available to member states which run into trouble as a result of the global credit crunch - from 12 billion euros (15 billion dollars) to 25 billion euros.

In a statement, a council of finance ministers meeting in Brussels said the higher ceiling was needed because of "the evolution of the international economic situation" and because the EU has expanded to accommodate 12 new member states since the facility was created, in 2002.