Sat, Nov 21 2009
INTERCEPTED: Would-be immigrants are offered a drink after arriving at the port of Arguineguin on Spain's Canary Island of Gran Canaria, July 13 2009. About 64 would-be immigrants, six of whom could be minors, were intercepted aboard a fishing boat on their way to European soil from Africa, according to local authorities.

European Union justice ministers are to discuss an EC proposal to set up an EU agency for migration.
Mediterranean countries including Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Italy win backing from the European Council for a tougher line on illegal immigration
Third-country nationals will benefit from more consistent and transparent application procedures, European Council says after approving new rules for Schengen visas on June 25 2009.
Prime minister Costas Karamanlis, whose country is among those feeling the brunt of illegal immigration, is to raise the issue at the June 18 and 19 2009 European Council meeting.
A flexible immigration policy in line with job market needs while supporting the integration of immigrants and tackling illegal immigration among EC justice and home affairs priorities.
Welcomed by the UK government, France and Germany, as well as the US, the naming of Belgium’s Herman van Rompuy as European Council President and Catherine Ashton as foreign policy chief has caused misgivings in some circles, including Turkey which believes that Van Rompuy will oppose Turkish membership of the bloc.
The dinner meeting of EU leaders to decide on the European Council President and the bloc’s new foreign minister and head of secretariat could take a few hours or all night, says host Fredrik Reinfeldt, Sweden’s prime minister.
Russia and the European Union have agreed on an early warning system if another natural gas cutoff looms. Some say that Bulgaria, among other countries hard-hit by the January 2009 crisis, is now better prepared. Not everyone is convinced.
Five Bulgarian films screened at the World Film Festival in Bangkok.
A complicated game, played partly in the dark, and with elements of everything from poker to tug ‘o war – that’s the way Europe’s leaders will come up with its new European Council President, foreign minister and European Commission.