Deauville, France  - European Union defence ministers were due to meet in the French coastal town of Deauville on Wednesday as the bloc's observers began a delicate ceasefire monitoring mission in Georgia.

Some 350 observers from 22 EU countries are tasked with ensuring that Russian troops withdraw to the positions they held prior to the August conflict, as agreed in a September 8 peace deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Initial reports out of the South Caucasus indicated that the observers were having some difficulties being allowed into the buffer zones around South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Brussels  - The European Union on Wednesday approved in record time Britain's nationalization of troubled financier Bradford & Bingley, the country's eighth-biggest mortgage lender, saying that it was in line with EU rules.

On Monday the British government decided to take the lender into public ownership and sell off its savings and deposits business to Spanish banking giant Santander in a deal which the buyer valued at 612 million pounds (1.1 billion dollars).

The move was made in consultation with experts from the EU's executive, the European Commission, which oversees the bloc's rules on competition and state aid.

Brussels  - The European Union's executive body is to demand that banks keep more of their riskiest securities on their own books and submit to international supervision on Wednesday as the global financial storm showed no signs of abating.

In a long-awaited move, EU Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy is set to demand that banks which sell high-risk debts, such as mortgages, as assets should keep at least 5 per cent of those assets on their own books, officials said.

He is also expected to call on banks to set aside a proportion of their capital as a safety net against the collapse of other banks with which they have financial ties.

Brussels - The European Commission on Tuesday urged United States lawmakers to assume their responsibilities and swiftly approve a massive rescue plan amid global financial turmoil.

"The turmoil that we are facing has originated in the US, and has become a global problem," said commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger.

Copenhagen  - European countries were Monday urged to step up cooperation and information exchange over threats linked to climate change such as floods, droughts and loss of biodiversity.

Vulnerable areas in Europe include coastal zones, mountainous regions, the Mediterranean and the Arctic, a new report said.

"This report makes strikingly clear that many regions and sectors across Europe are vulnerable to climate change impacts," Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the Copenhagen-based European Environment Agency (EEA), one of the contributing agencies, said.

Marseilles (France), Sept 29: Visiting Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will address the Ninth India-European Union Summit here today, a day before India and France ink a landmark agreement to conduct bilateral nuclear trade with each other.

The two-day Ninth India- EU Summit, hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, opens in Marseilles today.

According to Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commissioner for External Relations and the Neighbourhood Policy, the European Union views India as a vital partner.