The European Union is pressing for agreements to be sealed with Ukraine by the end of this year as both parties seek to dilute Russia's dominance as a gas supplier.

But Kyiv is torn between EU cooperation and Russia's promise to cut its gas bills in return for control of its pipelines.

At the end of April, Ukraine's government asked parliament to lift a ban on the privatisation of state energy firm Naftogaz, which includes pipelines that pump Russian gas to Europe. That could allow Kyiv to sell or lease them to Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom.

Orbán told the World Jewish Congress (WJC), which is holding its four-yearly assembly in the Hungarian capital, his concern about rising hostility against Jews there and elsewhere in Europe. He said anti-Semitism was "unacceptable and intolerable".

He recounted the steps his conservative government has taken to outlaw hate crimes and preserve the memory of the Holocaust, during which about half a million Hungarian Jews died.

Ahead of the September Bundestag elections, the German Social-Democrats (SPD) are faced with the difficult task of distinguishing themselves from the right while vowing to keep German finances in order 'à la Merkel.'

An internal EU report last year recommended that the EU take action against Huawei and ZTE as their increasing dominance of mobile networks challenged homegrown companies and made them a threat to EU security.

De Gucht could pursue the action in the face of opposition from a majority of member states, but is simultaneously involved in a high-stakes negotiation designed to wrap the telecoms subsidy case with an existing trade dispute on solar panels.

Politicians apporved the new laws late on 3 May in the latest round of manoeuvring in a political crisis that has paralysed legislation in the impoverished former Soviet republic for months.

Moldova's last government, led by Prime Minister Vlad Filat, resigned in March after losing a confidence vote amid feuding among leaders of a dominant pro-European coalition.

Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the Ifo Institute at the University of Munich, wrote recently that the migration of Roma will inevitably erode the German welfare state.

This position contradicts earlier statements by the European Commission, which said it had no evidence of so-called ‘benefit tourism’ from newer member states.

The European Commission is due to present a recast of the 2002 Environmental Noise Directive this spring aimed at producing quieter living and working environments. Recent railway legislation has also sought to accelerate modernisation of transboundary rail services and infrastructure.

With more than 400,000 older, squeakier cargo wagons crisscrossing Europe, research shows that the noise they produce poses health risks.

BASF employee Bernhard van Ravenzwaay will officially get a professor seat at the Dutch agricultural university in exchange for BASF funding, PAN Europe said in a statement issued on Thursday (2 May).

The environmental organisation said van Ravenzwaay has a track record of studies published with a favourable outcome for the chemicals industry, suggesting his university research will be biased.

By acquiring a professorship in university, BASF might try to buy credibility for the views of industry, PAN Europe claimed.

The court refused the petition by the Scotch Whisky Association, SpiritsEurope and wine producer association CEEV, holding that the minimum pricing act was not outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.

The court also stated that the proposed order setting a minimum price per unit of alcohol was within devolved competence and within the powers of Scottish ministers.