Tel Aviv  - A major attack attack against an Israeli target in Europe has been thwarted in recent weeks, Israel's Channel 2 television reported Wednesday, quoting security officials.

The attack, linked to the Lebanese radical Shiite Hezbollah movement, was averted thanks to intelligence sharing between Israel and an undisclosed European country, said the channel, which gave no further details.

Israel has feared a revenge attack for the February 2008 assassination in Damascus of Hezbollah's second-in-command Imad Mughniyeh.

Brussels - The European Commission on Wednesday slapped a 131-million-euro (173-million-dollar) fine on five companies that contributed to higher petrol costs by fixing the price of marine hoses used to transfer crude oil to and from ships.

The five companies - Bridgestone, Dunlop Oil & Marine/Continental, Trelleborg, Parker ITR and Manuli, were found guilty of operating a marine hoses cartel between 1986 and 2007.

"For 20 years, this cartel added to the prices consumers paid for their oil deliveries," said EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

Berlin - With the global economy in the grip of severe slowdown, a leading German banker warned Tuesday that parts of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) could face a major shakeout in their economies and banking systems.

"The economic crisis threatens to broaden out and engulf nations such as Ukraine," Juergen Fitschen, who called on the European Union (EU) and other key international groups to step up efforts to help shield more economically fragile parts of the CEE from the financial firestorm currently sweeping the world economy.

Podgorica - The Montenegrin parliament dissolved itself late Monday, paving the way for early elections, expected to be scheduled for March 29.

Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's ruling coalition pushed the dissolution of the assembly through, saying it wanted to win a new four-year term for reforms, taking Montenegro closer to the European Union.

The opposition criticized the move, accusing the authorities of panicking amid the growing pressure of the global financial crisis.

Amsterdam - Small museums enjoy cult status in the Netherlands exhibiting items as varied as tulips, handbags, trees and dredges.

The latter in the town of Sliedrecht, near Rotterdam, is the National Museum of Dredging (Nationaal Baggermuseum).

"And here we have our Rembrandt," said curator Hans Wijn as he pointed to a glass display case with a model of the dredge Pharaon. Used for many years in the Suez Canal, it was sunk during the Suez Crisis in 1956.

London, January 25 : British youths feel most estranged as compared to their European counterparts, reveals a new study.

According to the European happiness league table, Brits between 16- to 24-year-old age bracket had least levels of belonging and trust, and lacked behind those elsewhere in Europe who comparatively had more sense of meaning and community spirit.

The survey, created for the first time by the New Economics Foundation, further found young people in the UK were also less likely to share a close bond with their neighbours.