EU nations on Wednesday were nearing an agreement on revising the bloc`s controversial farm subsidy scheme, including raising milk quotas and reducing farm handouts, but the talks were expected to continue overnight.

The UN food agency said Wednesday it would need 42.6 million dollars (33.6 million euros) to carry out reforms called for by an independent review.

About half the funds will be spent next year, focussing on measures to improve `systems, programme, culture and organisational restructuring,` Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) budget director Manoj Juneja told AFP.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Developing countries on Friday dismissed the International Monetary Fund's pace of reforms to increase their voice in the troubled institution as 'disappointing and unacceptable.'

The Group of 24 developing countries, representing the majority of the IMF's membership but only an impotent minority in its operations, reiterated its call for a greater voice and democratic representation in the 185-nation Fund.

ROME, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The management of the embattled UN food agency and its 189 member states must 'co-own' a sweeping reform process to get the organisation 'back on its feet,' a panel of outside experts said Thursday.

'The FAO has been attempting reforms for two decades now with, frankly, very little success,' said Leif Christofferson, team leader of a three-year outside evaluation of the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

TRIPOLI, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Libya has returned to ex-queen Fatma Cherif a Tripoli mansion confiscated when Moamer Kadhafi overthrew her late husband king Idris Senussi in 1969, an official from the Kadhafi Foundation told AFP.

The move is the latest in a quickening reform programme championed by Kadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, who heads the Kadhafi Foundation, aimed at reversing the land confiscations championed by the regime in the years after the overthrow of the Western-backed monarchy.

WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - The new heads at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund face the tough task of restoring credibility to the powerful financial bodies which hold an annual summit this month, analysts say.

'Both (Robert) Zoellick and Dominique Strauss-Kahn are certainly competent people. But I don't think it is so easy for them to make change on their own,' said Daniel Bradlow, an international law professor at American University in Washington, where the institutions are based.

BRUSSELS, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on Friday questioned Bosnia's desire to work towards EU membership, amid an impasse in talks on reforming the country's police force.

'I regret that yesterday evening the talks failed finally, after several weeks of hard efforts, and I regret that key party leaders have not shown the political will nor spirit of compromise necessary to reach a compromise and deliver on the citizens' aspiration for European integration,' Rehn told reporters in Brussels.

DUBAI, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has just issued rules to regulate succession and overhaul the judiciary in the oil powerhouse, but reformists say any real change must bring political participation.

A group of reformists has been behind bars for months, while a prominent activist is on trial on charges of inciting a women's protest, amid an apparent crackdown on Islamist reformers.

BRUSSELS, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Turkey should give added impetus to its reform programme to open the way for faster progress in its EU accession, European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Tuesday.

Addressing a conference in Istanbul, Rehn praised Ankara for strengthening its democratic institutions and earning 'an impressive endorsement of its reform agenda from the voters.'

WASHINGTON, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the next head of the International Monetary Fund, faces the daunting task of redefining a 185-nation institution increasingly seen as irrelevant.

The Frenchman won, as expected, the IMF executive board's 'consensus' nod on Friday, setting the business-friendly socialist on track to lead the IMF at a critical juncture for its survival.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Tuesday charged that a key United Nations human rights panel needed to focus less on Israel and more on places like Iran, and called for sweeping reforms.

'To be credible on human rights in the world, the United Nations must reform its own Human Rights Council,' Bush said in a speech to the UN General Assembly, with many of the 47-member body's representatives looking on.

DUBAI, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - A reformist Saudi prince has called for the creation of a political party in the ultra-conservative desert kingdom where parties are banned.

The initiative of Talal bin Abdul Aziz, father of billionaire businessman Prince Al-Walid, is 'a reaction to the policy of 'exclusion' in the decision-making process,' his office said in a statement posted on his website Monday.

Prince Talal, who is a half-brother of King Abdullah, said the creation of such a party as part of a 'futuristic vision' of Saudi Arabia depended on a decision by the king.

DUBAI, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia has freed reformist lawyer Issam Basrawi, one of nine advocates of an Islam-based constitutional monarchy held without trial for more than seven months, a fellow activist said on Friday.

Basrawi, who is in his late sixties, was released late on Thursday, Khaled al-Omair told AFP by telephone from Riyadh.

His release came one week after activists said they had petitioned King Abdullah calling for all nine reformists to be freed.

'We hope this is a good omen and that the others will also be released,' Omair said.

BRUSSELS, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso called for gas and power companies to be broken up to boost competition and for 'tough conditions' on foreign groups seeking to invest in Europe.

'If a company sells electricity and gas and at the same time owns the network it has every incentive to make sure that its competitors don't get fair access to its grid,' he said as he outlined proposals for boosting competition.

DUBAI, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - A group of Saudi activists urged the government on Tuesday to okay a human rights society they set up four years ago by enacting a relevant law and to free two detained founders of their association.

In a statement received by AFP, the six activists, including two women, said they had formed a committee to follow up the application for a licence for the rights watchdog that was first presented to authorities in January 2003.

DOURO VALLEY, Portugal, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - EU farm ministers on Monday tried to patch up their differences over plans to shake up Europe's wine sector over drinks in the Douro Valley -- the home of Portugal's Port wine industry.

The ministers are seeking an agreement on a reform package proposed by the European Commission in early July which aims to deal with Europe's chronic overproduction and tackle growing competition from overseas.

The plan includes uprooting excess vines and launching an overseas marketing drive.

DUBAI, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi activists sent a petition to King Abdullah on Thursday urging the release of nine advocates of an Islam-based constitutional monarchy held for more than seven months without trial.

The petition, timed to coincide with the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, was endorsed by 135 reformists including 49 women, Mohammad bin Hudeijan al-Harbi, one of the signatories, told AFP by telephone from Riyadh.

'We sent it by post. We did not request an audience because we have become used that such audiences are not possible,' he said.

BRUSSELS, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Turkey must provide 'very strong signals' of reforms by November if it is to avoid a negative annual report on its progress towards EU membership, a European official said Wednesday.

After the legislative and presidential elections in July and August, 'there is a completely new and much better situation now, the landscape is clear and Turkey can now relaunch the reforms,' said Jean-Christophe Filori, a Turkey expert at the European Commission.

HONG KONG, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - China's plan to allow mainland investors to buy Hong Kong stocks for the first time may further boost the territory's market, but analysts fear it could create a dangerous bubble.

China last month announced a pilot scheme to let individuals directly invest in stock markets outside the mainland for the first time, with a trial to be launched to purchase Hong Kong shares.

RIYADH, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - Prominent Saudi reformist Abdullah al-Hamed and his brother went on trial on Saturday on charges of inciting a women's protest and obstructing security forces, their legal representatives said.

The first hearing in a court in Buraida, some 320 kilometres (200 miles) north of Riyadh, was closed to the public, Khaled al-Omair and Matruk al-Faleh said in a statement.

BEIJING, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - China must promote political reform and democracy or its economic reforms will be in vain, Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday in a speech just weeks before a pivotal Communist Party gathering.

China will 'continue to push political system reform, expand the people's democracy, strengthen the rule of law and promote the principle of a fair society,' Wen said in a speech at the World Economic Forum meeting in Dalian, northeast China.

SHANGHAI, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - A long awaited plan to allow mainland investors to directly invest in Hong Kong shares could be launched within two months despite continued delays, state press said Wednesday.

'It is likely to be launched within one or two months,' the China Securities Journal reported, citing an unnamed government regulator.

The trial plan will be launched in the key cities of Tianjin, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and individuals would be able to join in the programme via three designated major Chinese banks, the newspaper said.

SARAJEVO, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - The leaders of Bosnia's two main Muslim parties on Thursday accused an international envoy of trying to cement ethnic division in the country through his proposal for police reforms.

Haris Silajdzic and Sulejman Tihic rejected the proposal put forward by High Representative Miroslav Lajcak, saying it failed to reach the European Union's stated aim of unifying Bosnia's police forces.

DUBAI, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi activists will address a petition to King Abdullah urging the release of nine advocates of an Islam-based constitutional monarchy held for seven months without trial, one of them said Thursday.

The reformists, held for alleged links to terror funding, had been mulling the formation of an Islamic political party in a country ruled by an absolute monarchy where political parties are banned, according to the petition.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon was due to travel to Italy on Wednesday for a three-day seminar to discuss vital reforms and ways of improving the running of the United Nations, his spokeswoman said.

The conference in northern Turin would bring together the top hierarchy of the UN to 'discuss UN global issues and reforms,' Michele Montas said.

'It will examine the UN's readiness and capacity to perform its duties, including -- but not limited to -- the promotion of peace and security,' she added.

ROME, Aug 27, 2007 (AFP) - The Food and Agriculture Organisation's longtime chief Jacques Diouf Monday 'welcomed' the findings of a damning report which said the UN food agency needed a rapid makeover or face oblivion.

Diouf, who is heading the agency for a third six-year term, 'welcomed the Independent External Evaluation of FAO as a significant and historic effort to improve the organization's work,' a statement said.

He said the report 'recognizes that change is a shared responsibility of the (FAO) secretariat and the member countries.

ROME, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) needs deep reform or faces fading into insignificance, an independent report commissioned by the UN body said on Thursday.

'FAO is today on the brink. If the current muddle-through strategy (...) is continued, the result will be increasingly rapid decline,' said the report by a panel of independent experts who started work in 2005, made available online.

The FAO has been in crisis since the 1980s and its influence, budget, and finances have all dropped significantly, the experts charged.

BENGHAZI, Libya, Aug 21, 2007 (AFP) - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Saif al-Islam Kadhafi late Monday outlined a planned new constitution for Libya, while stressing his father was among the 'red lines' that could not be changed.

'Our next challenge is to set up a series of laws, which we can call constitution or social contract or something else. The important thing is to have a contract that will organize the lives of Libyans,' Kadhafi said in a speech in Benghazi, 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) east of Tripoli.

SHANGHAI, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - China will act again to curb short-term speculation, insider trading and price rigging on the nation's booming stock markets, according to new rules released by the Shanghai bourse.

The rules, to be introduced on September 1, give the Shanghai Stock Exchange more power to suspend trading of stocks with large price movements and force companies to disclose more information.

DUBAI, Aug 18, 2007 (AFP) - More than 60 Saudi activists have signed a petition calling for the release of a group of reformists held in the ultra-conservative kingdom since early February accused of funding terrorism.

The petition, a copy of which was obtained by AFP in Dubai, was signed by 67 activists and sent to the justice ministry and advisory Shura council in Riyadh, as well as to two government-sanctioned human rights watchdogs.

SHANGHAI, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - The Chinese government has approved a bailout plan for China Everbright Bank, which hopes to bring in a strategic investor and list on the stock market, state press said Thursday.

Central Huijin, the central bank's investment arm, is set to inject 20 billion yuan (2.65 billion dollars) by the end of September, the China Business News reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

SHANGHAI, July 30, 2007 (AFP) - China is expected to establish a growth enterprise market for new, smaller companies next year in the southern city of Shenzhen, state press reported Monday.

A plan for setting up the long-anticipated market has been filed to the State Council, or cabinet, the China Securities Journal reported, citing Wang Shouren, Secretary General of the Shenzhen-based Venture Capital Association.

DUBAI, July 23, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi reformist Abdullah al-Hamed was released on Monday four days after he was arrested and accused of inciting a women`s sit-in in the ultra-conservative kingdom, a fellow activist said.

Hamed and his brother Issa, who was detained with him on Thursday, were freed on the condition that they report to the authorities if summoned, Mohammad bin Hudeijan al-Harbi told AFP by telephone from Riyadh.

DUBAI, July 22, 2007 (AFP) - A Saudi reformist on Sunday came out in support of detained fellow activist Abdullah al-Hamed, whom officials have linked to an arms find, saying his arrest could be due to his pro-reform activities.

'I am concerned that Hamed`s detention has to do with the fact that he is a leading advocate of a civil society,' Matruk al-Faleh, who along with Hamed and a third reformist spent 17 months in jail before being pardoned by King Abdullah in August 2005, told AFP by telephone from Riyadh.