Brussels - NATO defence ministers meet on Thursday and Friday amid concerns that a "Vietnam Syndrome" may undermine the alliance's efforts in Afghanistan.

The talks in Budapest come just days after the departing commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, warned that NATO would never defeat the Taliban.

Brussels  - Europe's carmakers Monday asked governments to provide them with a 40-billion-euro (54-billion-dollar) loan and to approve an incentives scheme for the scrapping of old vehicles to help them develop more environmentally-friendly vehicles at a time of financial and economic crisis.

"Car makers face increasingly hesitant consumers and call on governments to respond, stimulate the economy, relieve the credit crunch and restore consumer confidence," said Christian Streiff, head of the automobile industry's trade association, ACEA.

"Only then will consumers have the means and the confidence to invest in new vehicles," said Streiff, who is also the CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroen.

Brussels  - A demonstration by unions for more buying power disrupted transport Monday across Belgium.

Brussels - European women should be given longer and better-paid maternity leave and be allowed to ask for flexible working hours when they return to work, the European Union's executive body said Friday.

"Only 65.5 per cent of women with dependent children are in work, compared with 91.7 per cent of men. Our proposals to improve maternity leave will help women to combine work and family life," EU equal-opportunities commissioner Vladimir Spidla said.

Brussels - The European Commission said Thursday that it had given the green light to a planned multibillion-euro bail-out for Germany's ailing mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate.

Brussels - The European Union's executive decided on Thursday to launch a formal review of current anti-dumping measures against Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes, effectively keeping those measures in place despite opposition from EU member states.

"The European Commission today decided to launch an expiry review into the (anti-dumping) measures. The practical implication means the measures will continue for the duration of that review," Peter Power, spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, said.

"The review could last anything up to 12-15 months, but we will try and expedite this," he said.