Brussels  - Eurogroup finance ministers were meeting in Brussels on Monday amid growing concerns that the European economy may get stuck in recession until
2010, prompting possible new bail-outs of troubled countries and shedding some 6 million jobs in the process.

Latest projections from the European Central Bank (ECB) suggest euro area gross domestic product (GDP) could shrink by up to 3.2 per cent this year, far more than previously expected.

GDP could either fall by 0.7 per cent or rise at the same rate in 2010, the ECB said.

Washington  - Five Chinese ships shadowed and manoeuvred dangerously close to a US naval vessel sailing in international waters in what appeared to be an act of coordinated harassment, the US Defence Department said Monday.

The incident took place against the USNS Impeccable on Sunday in the South China Sea, about 120 kilometres south of Hainan Island, and was one of several recent acts of "aggressive conduct" by the Chinese Navy, defence officials said.

Madrid  - Spain remains opposed to the independence of Kosovo by "political conviction" and in line with international law, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Monday.

Zapatero spoke at a joint press conference with Serbian President Boris Tadic, who was on his first state visit to Spain.

Spain is one of the few countries not to have recognized the independence Kosovo declared in 2008, allegedly for fear that it could encourage separatist tendencies in Spanish regions.

Brussels - Eurogroup finance ministers were to meet in Brussels on Monday evening amid growing concerns that the European economy may get stuck in recession until 2010, shedding some 6 million jobs in the process.

Latest projections from the European Central Bank (ECB) suggest euro area gross domestic product (GDP) could shrink by up to 3.2 per cent this year, far more than previously expected.

GDP could either fall by 0.7 per cent or rise at the same rate in 2010, the ECB said.

Ankara  - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Ankara on Saturday declared Turkey a "friend for all times" and thanked her hosts for Turkey's military contribution to NATO's mission in Afghanistan, for economic investment in Iraq and for Ankara's role in the now stalled Israel-Syria peace process.

Damascus/Washington  - Senior US officials met with Syrian counterparts in Damascus Saturday for the highest level talks between the two countries in years, as part of US President Barack Obama's initiative to expand dialogue in the Middle East.

Acting US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman and White House aide Daniel Shapiro met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and other Syrian officials for discussions on bilateral and regional issues.