Brussels  - The European Commission wants to ban smoking in bars and restaurants across the European Union, officials in Brussels said Monday.

However, discussions on a smoking ban in all of the member states' workplaces are still at the preliminary stage, meaning any new rules are unlikely to be implemented before 2010.

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 traded at 356 euros by late morning, up 69 per cent from Friday. At one point it had been up 90 per cent, and Germany's N-TV news television said the gain had bolstered Frankfurt's DAX stock index by 200 points.

Analysts said it was unlikely to be luxury car-maker Porsche's own purchases that were driving the price, although Porsche revealed Sunday it had advanced its stake from 35 to 42.6 per cent of Volkswagen Group. Additionally, it has captured options for an additional 31.5 per cent of Volkswagen.

Frankfurt  - European shares opened sharply down Monday after a steep fall in stocks across Asia signalled another tumultuous week on global bourses.

After a wave of panic selling in Asia's stock markets, Europe's blue-chip Stoxx 50 slumped by 5.9 per cent in early trading to 1,994 points as recession fears deepen.

This came in the wake of big falls in opening trade across Europe's national bourses with London sliding more than 5 per cent, Paris' CAC 40 index cascading down by nearly 6 per cent and Frankfurt's key DAX dropping by 5 per cent.

Braunschweig, Germany - If you use a radio-controlled watch in Western Europe, or observe an airport clock, the chances are that both are being calibrated from a laboratory in the north of Germany.

When European clocks were set back by one hour early Sunday morning, ending summer time, the change was largely automated using signals from a bank of atomic clocks in Braunschweig.

The 45-year-old man in charge of them, Ekkehard Peik, is head of the Time and Frequencies Department at the German Agency for Physics Technology.

"Our system of clocks has never stopped," he says proudly.

It sometimes happens that one clock fails and has to be replaced, but the set keeps going.

Beijing - Asian and European Union leaders on Saturday called for the international community to act quickly and decisively at a conference on responses to the global financial crisis next month in Washington.

"Lessons should be learned from the financial crisis, the responsibilities should be clarified for governments, companies and supervision respectively," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told reporters at the close of the biannual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Frankfurt  - European markets faced up to a Black Friday as a wave of panic selling triggered by growing recession fears sent shares and currencies into a dramatic tailspin.

Already under siege as profit worries have grown, shares across Europe spiralled down after the OPEC oil producing nations' cartel cut production raising concerns about increase energy costs as the world economy was engulfed by a sharp slowdown.

With Wall Street slumping by more than 4 per cent shortly after its Friday opening, investors in Europe continued to dump stocks leaving the blue-chip Stoxx 50 down 6.1 per cent at 2090 as European trading came to an end.