One investigation followed complaints by emulator software vendors T3 and TurboHercules against IBM's practices, and focuses on the US computer giant's alleged tying of mainframe hardware to its mainframe operating system.

The second probe, opened on the European Commission's own initiative, concerns alleged discriminatory behaviour towards competing suppliers of mainframe maintenance services.

Three quarters of illegal shipments stopped by EU customs officials in 2009 were shipped by post or air, suggesting that Internet sales of illegal items have increased, according to an annual report on illegal trade flows by the European Commission's department for taxation and customs union.

New measures in the pipeline will allow easy persecutions not only of the perpetrators and planners of attacks, but also of those who indirectly support terrorism through a variety of means, such as disseminating bomb-making recipes on the Internet.

"The overall number of attacks have fortunately decreased. But terrorism methods and propaganda is changing and we need to tackle that in an intelligent way," EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said at a conference in Brussels earlier this week.

In its last meeting before the summer break, the Commission decided to authorise Sky Italia to compete for one of five Italian frequencies for digital terrestrial television (see 'Background').

"Sky Italia would be able to bid in an auction for terrestrial television, on the condition that they use the frequencies for free-to-air television as opposed to pay television," a Commission spokesman told a daily news briefing.

"Despite the conclusion that the top blogs are affiliated to larger media houses, seven of the top ten most influential blogs are actually independent," according to a survey by Waggener Edstrom, a Brussels-based  consultancy.

Her statement came as a new expert group was established by the European Commission to develop smart technologies in Europe, such as photonics, nano-electronics, biotech and nanotech.

"In this tight fiscal environment, we absolutely cannot go for a subsidy race. We need sustainable investment in the right areas and we need to eliminate barriers to business," Commissioner Kroes made clear during a press conference on Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), which took place in Brussels yesterday (13 July).

Having rejected the original SWIFT agreement negotiated by the European Commission and the US Treasury in February, MEPs approved the amended deal by 484 votes to 109.

The agreement will enter into force on 1 August 2010.

The revised EU-US agreement follows months of negotiations between Washington and Brussels in what had become a transatlantic bone of contention in the US-led war on terror.