Warsaw - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his government would approve a strategy for entry into the eurozone after meeting with an opposition party leader on Monday.

Tusk said the government had prepared a plan to enter the eurozone that would be accepted on Tuesday and later be presented to President Lech Kaczynski.

Tusk met with Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and said there was a "clear difference of opinion" on when to switch currencies, with Kaczynski advocating an unspecified later date.

Amman - A regional conference on security cooperation between Mediterranean and European countries opened in Amman Monday with the participation of 56 states.

The two-day meeting entitled "Regional Security: the Mediterranean as a Model" is sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Jordanian foreign ministry.

The meeting is designed to boost cooperation between OSCE and states in the region particularly in the sphere of combatting terrorism.

Kassel, Germany - Germany's BASF chemicals and oil group announced Monday a takeover bid for Norwegian oil and gas group Revus Energy ASA that values it at 581 million euros (726 million dollars).

The BASF oil division, Wintershall, offered 110 Norwegian kroner per share, a premium of 145 per cent above the closing price in Oslo last Friday and 44 per cent above the average of the past six months.

An announcement at Wintershall's office in Kassel said the board of Stavanger-based Revus had recommended shareholders accept the bid for all Revus shares.

Moscow - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, facing domestic criticism over a failed war with Russia, on Monday dismissed his prime minister and named the country's ambassador to Turkey as his replacement.

He was expected to announce a new cabinet this week in what he said were needed "radical democratic reform" Monday.

Meanwhile, the country's influential former head of parliament Nino Burjanadze formed a new opposition party set to vehicle growing criticism of Saakashvili's management of the war.

Frankfurt - Rare Volkswagen shares commanded giddying prices Monday on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange after Porsche announced it was within sight of 
75-per-cent control of Europe's biggest carmaker.

The stock spiked 200 per cent before settling to 520 euros at the close of electronic trading, up 146 per cent from Friday.

Analysts said it was not luxury car-maker Porsche that was paying the high price, but short sellers who had expected the stock to fall in value and suddenly needed to settle contracts.

Helsinki - Economic output in Iceland was estimated to drop some 10 per cent next year, the prime minister of Iceland said Monday.

"We are going to get through this crisis and move on," Prime Minister Geir Haarde told reporters before a meeting of Nordic prime ministers in Finland.

Haarde said he hoped the cash-strapped North Atlantic nation will be able to get loans from its Nordic neighbours.