Brussels  - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told her European Union counterparts Wednesday that her government is willing to reopen border crossings into the Gaza Strip for humanitarian reasons but insisted that weapons smuggling to Hamas must be halted.

"In order to help in answering the humanitarian need in the Gaza Strip, we are willing to cooperate in this as far as it is needed," Livni told reporters after a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Brussels - The European Union will Wednesday pile pressure on visiting Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni to re-open Gaza, so that humanitarian aid can reach Palestinians in need, said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

"It is very important that Gaza is opened. And that means opening the crossings, so that the help which the international community is willing to give can arrive to those in need," Solana said ahead of a dinner-time meeting in Brussels between Livni and EU foreign ministers.

Riga  - The Latvian government breathed a collective sigh of relief Tuesday when European Union finance ministers meeting in Brussels approved payment of the EU's 3.1-billion-euro (4-billion- dollar) slice of a 7.5-billion-euro (9.7-billion-dollar) economic assistance package brokered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Prague  - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country chairs the European Union until June 30, said he hopes US President Barack Obama can be as strong as his predecessors.

"I would wish him that he is not afraid to tackle problems as forcefully as his predecessors," Topolanek said.

Topolanek's centre-right government, a close ally of outgoing US president George W Bush, is waiting to hear from Obama on plans to place a US missile defence base in the Czech Republic and Poland, former Soviet satellite states.

Brussels - European Union finance ministers were meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss how to mitigate one of the bloc's sharpest economic downturns in decades.

"This is one of the worst crises," said German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck.

"We can't avoid a recession, but we can try and limit it," he said shortly after his arrival in Brussels.

Prague  - Czech President Vaclav Klaus urged Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to disavow a controversial artwork marking country's EU presidency in Brussels, which sparked a diplomatic row with Bulgaria and irritated Slovakia.

In a January 14 letter published Monday on the website of the Czech weekly business magazine Euro, Klaus called on Topolanek to join him in an apology to Bulgarian leaders.