The safety of medical devices such as surgical equipment or implants is to be significantly improved after the adoption of a proposal by the European Commission, today by the European Parliament. There will be stricter rules for the use of potentially toxic materials, for which adequate labelling will be required. Furthermore the safe single use of devices is enhanced.

Britain said Wednesday it was freezing most contacts with Iran until 15 captured sailors and marines are freed and the Royal Navy released map coordinates to reinforce its claim that the group was seized illegally outside Iranian waters.

The European Union and NATO have welcomed the signing today of a long-awaited border treaty between Latvia and Russia. NATO's Secretary-General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called the signing an "important step" and said he looked forward to the treaty's early ratification.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski said today it is "unrealistic" to expect a new EU treaty to be adopted before 2009 to revive the stalled constitutional process.

The EU executive took France to court Wednesday to try and overturn minimum French retail prices for cigarettes.

The European Commission today asked the European Court of Justice to order Poland to stop building a highway that goes through a protected environmental area.

Azerbaijan's deputy foreign minister, Araz Azimov, was in Brussels today looking for EU support on Baku's stance on the disputed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani government fears that any decision granting independence to the Balkans' predominantly ethnic-Albanian territory of Kosovo could set a precedent for Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a mainly Armenian population.

The Quartet of Middle East peacemakers will discuss its approach to the new Palestinian unity government between Fatah and Hamas on Monday, European Union officials said.

Statements about Romania by Moldovan officials have recently become increasingly harsh. Officials accuse Romania of trying to undermine Moldova's statehood and security. What underlies this negative turn in Moldovan-Romanian relations?