ATHENS, Greece - The European Union Sunday failed to convince Russia to lift its ban on Polish meat imports. The negotiations between EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev ended with each side reiterating its position but no joint solution being found, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. Russia imposed the ban in 2005 after claiming Poland was putting unsanitary meat from other countries into food it was exporting to ... [full story]

LONDON - A British company, Dallex Trade, violated European sanctions against Sudan last year by transporting ammunition to the African nation. While most European companies have upheld the arms boycott on Sudan in light of human rights violations occurring there, Dallex Trade shipped ammunition to the Sudan People's Liberation Army last November in defiance of the boycott, the Times of London reported Sunday. The company is registered in London, yet remains a veritable mystery with ... [full story]

LONDON - The British military's first transsexual officer is suing for sexual discrimination after having her army position withdrawn this month. Former Parachute Regiment officer Jan Hamilton, who was born a man but now lives as a woman, has accused the military of rescinding her post as the British army's head of media operations in Gibraltar due to her sexual identity, The (London) Daily Mail said Saturday. "They have fired me simply because of my ... [full story]

BAGHDAD - Gunmen in the Iraqi city of Mosul killed 23 members of a religious minority Sunday, while a series of raids and bombings occurred in Baghdad. Mosul police said the unidentified gunmen pulled the 23 Yazidi followers from a bus and shot them dead while leaving individuals of other faiths unharmed, the BBC reported. The Yazidi faith, which is followed primarily by ethnic Kurds, focuses on an angelic figure deemed evil by some Christians ... [full story]

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban has demanded that France withdraw its troops from Afghanistan as a condition for releasing five people taken hostage. The demands also call for the Afghan government to release all Taliban prisoners, The New York Times reported Sunday. The Taliban claims it is holding two French aid workers and three Afghan colleagues kidnapped April 3 in southwestern Afghanistan. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, contacted the Times's bureau in Kabul Saturday ... [full story]

LONDON - Insurance coverage taken out by many British troops isn't taking care of soldiers who need medical treatment of lasting psychological disorders. While increasing numbers of British soldiers have developed psychological illnesses as a result of their combat time, the Pax insurance scheme used by many in the British military does not offer coverage such disorders, the Sunday Telegraph said. That lack of coverage has left thousands of troops ineligible for compensation for combat-related ... [full story]

EDINBURGH, England - Scottish officials have begun to take notice of the growing criminal trend of using potentially deadly chemicals to make cheap counterfeit alcohol. With factories reportedly creating thousands of bottles of the dangerous booze each day, the customs department has created an investigative squad to stop the alcohol from reaching national pubs, The Scotsman reported Sunday. Police suspect British gangs are behind the counterfeiting trend, that is thought to cost the alcohol industry ... [full story]

LONDON - Bangladesh ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was prevented from boarding a flight home from London Sunday. Hasina was barred from boarding the flight after the Dhaka military-backed interim government in Bangladesh asked all international airlines not to carry her as a passenger, the BBC reported. Dhaka government officials said Hasina would be arrested in connection with the deaths of four protesters during a riot last year if she returned home. Hasina said she will ... [full story]

LONDON - There could be criminal charges in an alleged cash-for-access plan involving Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party, the Sunday Telegraph reports. Blair, and others in his Labor Party, were at the center of a plan to raise millions of dollars from the moment the party assumed power in 1997, the Telegraph alleged. As many as five people could be prosecuted and Blair may be called as a witness at the trial, the Telegraph ... [full story]

SYDNEY - Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson in Baghdad Sunday pledged Australia's full support to the Iraqi government. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. says Nelson told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Australia intends "to play a bigger role in the reconstruction drive that is currently on in Iraq." Australia currently has about 1,500 troops serving in Iraq -- largely deployed in the south with British forces. While reviewing the Australian forces at the Tallil Air ... [full story]