Brussels - The European Commission on Friday moved to stiffen controls and penalties on fishermen who exceed their country's fishing quotas amid depleting stocks.

According to a new regulation put forward by the European Union's executive, member states that fail to crack down on over-fishing could see a suspension or reduction of funds they receive from Brussels.

And guilty fishermen could face fines of up to 300,000 euros (375,000 dollars).

Brussels - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's plans for a Europe-wide security pact look set to be Russia's priority at the European Union-Russia summit in the French resort of Nice on Friday.

Medvedev first spoke of his desire to create a "treaty on the basic principles for security and intergovernmental relations in the Euro-Atlantic region" in a speech in Berlin on June 5. He added details in a speech in the French spa town of Evian on October 8.

Brussels - The European Commission on Friday threatened to refer the United States to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Washington's plans to subsidize its ailing car industry.

"Of course, if it is illegal state aid, we will act at the WTO level," Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told French radio station Europe 1.

Brussels/Paris, Nov. 14 : U. S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has accused Russia of engaging in Cold War brinkmanship through its threats to position nuclear weapons on its European border.

Gates claimed that the Kremlin was trying to intimidate President-elect Barack Obama into dropping American plans for a new missile defence system based in Eastern Europe.

Brussels - The 15-member eurozone officially slumped into recession Friday after its economy contracted by 0.2 per cent for a second quarter in a row, the European statistical office said.

Brussels - The 15-member eurozone officially slumped into recession Friday after its economy contracted by 0.2 per cent for a second quarter in a row, the European statistical office said.

Figures from Eurostat showed that gross domestic product in two of the euro area's biggest economies, Germany and Italy, fell by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, after falling by 0.4 per cent in the second.

The other eurozone heavyweight, France, saw its GDP grow by just 0.1 per cent in the third quarter, after contracting by 0.3 per cent in the previous three months.