Brussels  - NATO governments have approved the deployment of a new counter-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia consisting of seven vessels, alliance officials said Wednesday.

"NATO ambassadors have now approved the operational plan for the deployment of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 to conduct counter- piracy operations off the coast of Somalia," said NATO spokesman James Appathurai.

Brussels- European Union governments Wednesday cautioned Israel against demolishing some 90 buildings in East Jerusalem, warning it would deprive more than 1,000 Palestinians of their homes.

"If implemented, the demolition would deprive more than 1,000 Palestinians of their homes and would be the largest destruction of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem since 1967," the Czech presidency of the EU said in a statement issued on behalf of the bloc's 27 member states.

Brussels - A row over VAT rates on nappies looked set to get dirty on Wednesday as the European Union's executive said it would have to discipline five countries for levying too little tax on disposable diapers.

"Sooner or later, the European Commission has to go ahead with those infringement (proceedings) and ask the (European) court to give an interpretation," commission taxation spokeswoman Maria Assimakopoulou told journalists in Brussels.

Brussels, Mar. 11 : The European Union has revealed a secret list of items banned from hand luggage following a legal challenge by a man, who was barred from flying with a tennis racquet.

Austrian sportsman Gottfried Heinrich was kicked off a plane for carrying a tennis racquet, and the European Commission was forced to reveal the contents of the confidential memo to airlines outlining which everyday objects were considered a potential terrorist threat, reports The Telegraph.

Brussels - The European Union's executive has raided former French power monopoly EDF, suspecting it of breaking the EU's rules on fair trading, officials in Brussels confirmed Wednesday.

The European Commission "has reason to believe that EDF may have violated (EU) antitrust rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant market position ... The suspected illegal conduct may include actions to raise prices on the French wholesale electricity market," the Brussels-based body said in a statement.

Brussels (Belgium), Mar. 11 : United States Vice President Joe Biden has claimed that at least 70 percent of Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan are mercenaries fighting only for money.

He said that these elements could be persuaded to lay down their arms.

Stepping up U. S. calls for outreach to "moderate" elements of the insurgency, The News and the Washington Times both quoted as saying that he was in favour of applying the same tactics used by American troops in Iraq's Anbar province.