BRUSSELS, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission said Monday, for the first time, that it would be ready to lower the bar in trade talks with the 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific rim countries making up the so-called ACP group.

The Commission's trade directorate chief David O'Sullivan told members of the European Parliament that Brussels would be prepared to reduce its ambitions on services oriented agreements and focus only on a goods deal.

BRUSSELS, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission accused non-governmental organisations on Thursday of 'playing poker' with Europe's former colonies by urging them to reject new trade pacts.

The 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific rim countries making up the so-called ACP group and the European Union are struggling to clinch new agreements by the end of the year, when current preferential market access is due to expire.

GEORGETOWN, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - Leaders of the 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) are Saturday due to consider banning artery-clogging trans-fats, as part of a measures to fight non-communicable diseases believed to be the biggest killers in the region.

Chairman of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development (CCHD), George Alleyne, said the special summit on lifestyle diseases to be held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, would discuss New York City's decision to prohibit the use of trans-fats that cause obesity, blood circulation and heart problems.

MIAMI, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Tropical Storm Ingrid emerged over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, becoming the ninth named storm of the 2007 Atlantic season, the US National Hurricane Center said.

With winds of up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour, Ingrid was about 1,350 kilometers (840 miles) east of the Lesser Antilles, a chain of popular tourist islands, the center said.

BRUSSELS, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson warned Tuesday he could not 'pull a rabbit out of the hat' to save talks on new trade pacts with ex-European colonies ahead of a looming deadline.

The 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific rim countries making up the so-called ACP group and the European Union are struggling to conclude the new agreements by the end of the year, when a current preferential market access accord is due to expire.

BILWI, Nicaragua, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of residents of Nicaragua and Honduras sought aid Saturday in the wake of Hurricane Felix, while rescuers expressed fears that the death toll of at least 100 would surely rise.

Mixed reports of the full extent of the damage wrought by Felix, which whipped the two Central American countries mid-week, filtered out as authorities attempted to reach isolated communities that had been in its path.

BILWI, Nicaragua, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - Crews from US helicopters reported bodies floating in the Caribbean as authorities on Friday scoured the coastline of Nicaragua and Honduras for more victims of Hurricane Felix, which has killed at least 100 people.

The account from crews of two US choppers assisting in the rescue effort confirmed fears the death toll would likely rise in the wake of the powerful storm that battered Central America this week.

OTTAWA, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - Canada announced Friday that it was sending one million Canadian dollars (950,000 USD) in emergency humanitarian aid to Nicaragua and Honduras to help those hit by Hurrican Felix, which killed more than 100 people.

Included in the aid are 10,000 blankets headed to Nicaragua on a Canadian Air Force Airbus C150, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

'Canadian officials will be arriving today in Managua, Nicaragua, to assist in the implementation of Canada's aid operation,' said Beverley Oda, minister of international cooperation.

BILWI, Nicaragua, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico geared up for flooding from rain-swollen rivers Thursday in the wake of two devastating hurricanes that left at least 109 dead and scores more missing.

Nicaragua and Honduras in a joint death toll Thursday, said that Hurricane Felix killed 100 people in their two countries.

TEGUCIGALPA, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - The bodies of 24 native Miskito Nicaraguans, whose fishing boat had capsized, were found near the Caribbean coast of Honduras in the wake of devastating Hurricane Felix, an official told reporters Thursday.

'This morning I was told that a boat was recovered with 24 bodies, 21 men and three women,' government representative for the Gracias a Dios region, Carolina Echeverria said.