A preliminary judgement by the EU's top court on Thursday (31 January) could boost the rights of millions of employees taking care of disabled relatives and prevent them from indirect discrimination.

Poiares Maduro, the advocate general at the European Court of Justice said that UK national Sharon Coleman, a legal secretary in London, was unlawfully forced out of her job for demanding flexible hours to look after her disabled son.

He argued she had suffered from "discrimination by association" and suggested that EU laws that guarantee fair treatment at work for disabled people extended to those connected with them.

"[It] protects people who, although not themselves disabled, suffer direct discrimination and/or harassment in the field of employment and occupation because they are associated with a disabled person," he said.

Romania and Cyprus said on Thursday (31 January) that they would not recognise a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.

"Cyprus, for reasons of principle, cannot recognise and will not recognise a unilateral declaration of independence", Cypriot foreign minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis was quoted as saying by French news agency AFP.

"This is an issue of principle, of respect of international law, but also an issue of concern that it will create a precedent in international relations," she added.

On the same day, Romanian president Traian Basescu made an even stronger statement after a meeting with NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Schefferat in Brussels.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Serbians will on Sunday elect their new president, in a choice between current pro-Western leader Boris Tadic and his nationalist and eurosceptic opponent Tomislav Nikolic.

The election has regularly been presented as a "referendum" on Serbia's future, particularly in terms of foreign policy.

The difference in positions between the candidates is quite stark: Mr Nikolic favours closer ties with Russia, while Mr Tadic sees EU integration as the only way forward for Serbia.

The latest polls put Mr Tadic slightly ahead of his opponent, with 2.1 to 2.35 million people saying they would vote for him, while 2 to 2.25 million voters said they would instead put their trust in Mr Nikolic, Serbian news site B92.net reports.

A bitter diplomatic row between Germany and the United States deepened yesterday after Berlin flatly rejected demands from Washington that it deploy troops in war-torn southern Afghanistan and angrily dismissed the request as "impertinent" and a "fantastic cheek".

Germany currently has some 3,200 soldiers stationed in comparatively tranquil northern Afghanistan and the capital Kabul as part of the current Nato peacekeeping mission. It has been urged to deploy troops in the south before but has consistently refused. Yesterday however, it became clear that Washington had stepped up pressure on Berlin to commit troops to the south.

The move followed increased Taliban attacks and threats from Canada that it would withdraw its Afghanistan contingent completely unless more Nato troops were sent south. Canada has lost 77 combat troops in the region.

Tony Blair has been holding discussions with some of his oldest allies on how he could mount a campaign later this year to become full-time president of the EU council, the prestigious new job characterised as "president of Europe". Blair, currently the Middle East envoy for the US, Russia, EU and the UN, has told friends he has made no final decision, but is increasingly willing to put himself forward for the job if it comes with real powers to intervene in defence and trade affairs.

Article continues Blair, who is being actively promoted by the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, recognises he would need to abandon his well-paid, private sector jobs if he won. His wife Cherie - often portrayed as seeking ever more wealth and well-paid consultancies for her husband - is understood to be supportive of him accepting the job.

Some Blair allies also say that he now recognises that as envoy in the Middle East he is not going to be allowed to become the key player in furthering Israeli-Palestinian talks this year, and will be reduced to a role of supporting political development in Palestine and boosting its economy.

The president of the European council of ministers is a post created under the Lisbon treaty. The president will be the permanent chair of the council of ministers, Europe's chief decision-making body.

Jonathan Powell, Blair's Downing Street chief of staff, is among the former lieutenants he has met to discuss a bid for the European role.

Some senior figures believe he could yet be a loser in the carve-up of four big European jobs due to be distributed at the end of the French presidency in the second half of this year. Some claim that if the commission president, José Manuel Barroso, wanted to remain in post for a second term, it would be difficult for Blair, a political ally and previous advocate for Barroso, to hold the parallel, prestigious European council job.

Le maire du VIIIe arrondissement de Paris confirme qu'il a uni le nouveau couple présidentiel. L'Elysée se refuse à tout commentaire.

«J'ai marié deux électeurs du VIIIe arrondissement, qui habitent 55, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.» C'est avec ce trait d'humour que le maire du VIIIe arrondissement de Paris François Lebel a annoncé samedi sur Europe 1 avoir célébré l'union de Nicolas Sarkozy et Carla Bruni dans la matinée à l'Elysée.

The mayor of the 8th arrondissement has announced he married Sarko and Bruni this morning. Without publishing the bans, and at the Elysée palace - this seems barely legal ; marriages are public in France.

Again, Sarkozy believes he is above the law.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

"The Nordic Region should be declared free of genetically modified organisms and the Nordic countries should join other European states like Austria, Greece and Poland, which have already declared themselves GMO-free zones," according to a proposal by the Lef-Socialist Green Group (VSG) on the Nordic Council.

The growing number GMO-free zones is due to widespread scepticism about the health aspects of genetically modified food products, according to the Group.

"Research suggests that the use of genetically modified products has a negative impact on health," the VSG notes.

It is important to maintain biological diversity. The alternative, according to the group, is to have only a few genetically modified species and for multinational companies to enjoy a monopoly of them.

The VSG is calling on the Nordic governments to work towards a GMO-free region.

"It would provide a boost to sustainable development and underpin the positive environmental and health image the Nordic Region aims to project," the Group says.

Nordic MPs have long been interested in the question of genetically modified organisms. The Centre Group on the Nordic Council previously proposed stricter labelling of genetically modified products, for example.

What do Denmark, restaurants in New York and McDonalds have in common? They have all banned the dangerous trans fatty acids. Professor Steen Stender, Gentofte Hospital, explained this at the Nordic Council hearing in the Welfare and Citizens' and Consumer Rights Committees in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm on 30 January 2008. The background was a Social Democratic proposal for a Nordic ban as in Denmark.

Steen Stender was chair of the Danish Nutrition Council's working group on trans fats, whose research resulted in a Danish ban on more than 2 gram trans fats per 100 gram in foodstuffs from 2004. This legislation has worked. A large part of the populations were already wary of the dangerous fats in e.g. margarine. However, a small group of drivers and young people, for example, who often live on fast food or food products from petrol stations, ate more than 5 grams a day. This led to a significant risk of heart disease.

Steen Stender has since gathered data on a typical trans fat meal in a number of countries. Below you can see the content of industrially produced trans fats in a fast food meal, 100 gram biscuit and 100 gram microwave popcorn in the selected countries. The data collection is from 2005-06:

Hungary: 42 gram
Czech Republic: 41 gram
Poland: 39 gram
USA: 36 gram
Iceland: 35 gram
France: 25 gram
Germany: 25 gram
Portugal: 24 gram
Spain: 24 gram
Great Britain: 24 gram
Netherlands: 23 gram
Russia: 23 gram
Austria: 22 gram
Italy: 21 gram
Norway: 16 gram
Sweden: 14 gram
Finland: 10 gram
Switzerland: 5 gram
Denmark: 0.4 gram

Before the Danish ban the comparable figures for Denmark in 2001 were 30 gram. The tough Danish thresholds for trans fatty acids could save thousands of human lives, if they were applied to all the nearly 500 million EU citizens. About 50,000 EU citizens die every year too young from heart disease because they have eaten foods containing industrially produced trans fatty acids.

When articles on the Danish ban were published in prestigious medical journals it led to media pressure in the USA. Both McDonalds and KFC voluntarily changed to less dangerous forms of fats in their food.

The EU Commission gave up conducting a lawsuit against Denmark for distorting competition. Steen Stender would rather have won a lawsuit. This point of view was backed up by Henrik Dam Christensen, who previously sat in the EU Parliament. Following the hearing the Social Democratic proposal on a ban in the other Nordic countries like in Denmark will be discussed at the next Nordic Council meeting in Stavanger in April, but generally speaking, most of the politicians agreed that something must be done - both in the Nordic region and in the EU.