The EU has failed to agree where to place the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the EU's flagship innovation and education project, due to a Polish veto. But Hungary's capital Budapest looks certain to win the seat when the bloc returns to the issue in June.

EU ministers in charge of competitiveness discussed the issue over dinner on Thursday evening (29 May), with negotiations dragging on into the early hours of Friday morning

Corporations should be held liable in Europe for human rights abuses and environmental damage incurred outside the EU, according to a new legal study presented by a civil society network in the European Parliament on 29 May.

The study, unveiled by the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ), recommends a set of policy proposals aimed at making companies based in Europe legally responsible for abuses committed by subsidiaries or subcontractors abroad. 

British business has launched a European Parliament offensive following fears that Brussels could legislate to increase regulation on the private equity and hedge fund industries.

In a clear signal that the battleground over investment companies has moved beyond Westminster, the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) and the CBI have sent delegations to woo MEPs. The move has come in response to a damning report by the leading MEP and former Danish prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

The report, submitted to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, calls for greater disclosure from private equity managers and hedge funds about their investments. This echoes similar demands by the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee last summer, which led to a voluntary British code of conduct for private equity.

Mr Rasmussen also wants a legislative proposal at the European Parliament by November, which would incorporate measures to limit the amount of debt private equity could use to purchase a company. This would severely hurt private equity's potential profits and the number of deals it can afford to complete.

Macedonia is holding a snap general election called after Greece vetoed the ex-Yugoslav republic's attempt to join Nato because of its name.

Macedonia is also the name of a Greek region and Greeks resent a perceived attempt to claim the heritage of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great.

The country's ruling coalition is also divided over recognising Kosovo as an independent state.

Around a quarter of the population are ethnic Albanians like most of Kosovo.

Open Day.  As it does each year, Parliament will open its doors to the public on Saturday 7 June.

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On Sat.7 June, the European Parliament and the other Institutions are organising the Festival of Europe to celebrate the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. As in the past, the aim of this event is to bring the EU closer to citizens and to inform them of affects upon their daily lives. On the Open Day, the general public are invited to visit the institutions' premises and take the opportunity to discuss Europe with EU and national decision-makers and officials. Various fun activities will be offered both inside Parliament and outside, in the European quarter.

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Programme of the event

A Eurocrats-only express service will be launched next month to ferry MEPs and officials in luxury at 186mph between one European parliament in Brussels and the other in Strasbourg. The buffet car will, of course, be fully stocked.

The Strasbourg Express will leave Brussels for the first time at 9.57am on Monday, July 7. Each return journey will cost the taxpayer about £158,000, but the fare-paying public will be banned. MEPs will pay £170 for a return ticket, but will then be reimbursed.

"The public will not be able to buy tickets or use this train," said Thalys, the high-speed train operator that will run the service.
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While ordinary passengers make do with a rickety scheduled service known as "the cattle truck", which has no refreshments, Eurocrats can enhance the enjoyment of their journey with a choice of fine French, Australian and Chilean wines.

Whether gravy will actually be served is a moot point, but along with popular Belgian beers, savoury snacks will be on offer.

The idea of unilaterally imposing EU tariffs on non-climate-friendly imports, should there be no international accord on how to combat climate change, took centre stage at Thursday's Climate Committee hearing on competitiveness, trade, financing and sustainable employment. Compared with an international deal, such tariffs would be a distant second best, said World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy.

The climate change problem, Mr Lamy told committee members, "will not be changed by one player." Unilateral steps "would only divert trade patterns", without making a "significant change" on a global scale. "I would caution against a spaghetti bowl of measures that achieve neither trade nor environmental goals", he said, adding that "a consensual international accord on climate change, one that embraces all major emitters" is, from the WTO perspective, the optimal outcome".  

Trade measures to counter climate change?

Several MEPs pressed Mr Lamy on the implications of such "unilateral steps", should there be no international consensus on climate change. If the EU were to consider "border adjustment measures" on trade, asked Avril Doyle (EPP-ED, IE), would WTO rules defend the European position?

Washington has pinpointed the frontier areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan as the most pressing central point in which to win the war on terror.

Michael Chertoff, the US secretary for homeland security, told the BBC that successes against al-Qaeda should not lead to a weakening of resolve.

He warned that militants in Pakistan were training recruits who could mix inconspicuously in Western society.

He questioned whether Pakistan's rulers had the right strategy to respond.

Hillary Clinton's efforts to secure the Democratic party nomination for president have suffered a setback.

The party took a compromise decision to allow delegates from Florida and Michigan, two states previously debarred, to attend its convention.

However, although this increases Mrs Clinton's support, the delegates will only have half a vote each.

She is still badly trailing Barack Obama, who remains the clear leader in the race for the nomination.

MIAMI -- The federal government is showering households with tax rebates to spur spending and invigorate a troubled economy. But many Americans are so consumed with debt and the soaring price of gasoline that they are opting to save the money or use it to pay bills, according to surveys, sales data and interviews with people from Florida to California.

Between late April and the end of last week, the Treasury handed out more than $50 billion of the $100 billion in tax rebates it plans to distribute to 132 million households. But only once in the last six weeks have chain stores registered an increase in sales, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, whose weekly sales survey is a widely watched barometer.

"The initial sense is that people are not running out to the malls to spend their checks," said Stuart G. Hoffman, chief economist at the PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh. "It's not quite proving to be a hot potato that's burning a hole in people's pockets."