On behalf of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left, Group President Lothar Bisky expresses his condolences to the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Dimitris Christofias, and the Cypriot people on the tragic and catastrophic blast that has taken place at the camp of the National Guard during which a number of people have lost their lives and the country's electric power supply has been severely damaged.

ACCA is delighted to announce the names of the 2011 recipients of the Simpson Scholarship. This year’s winners come from China, Malta, Nigeria, Russia, and the UK.

RICS this week announced the inauguration of its new presidential team, with the election of Malaysian-born See Lian Ong FRICS as its first ever non-British President for 2011/12. See Lian will replace the outgoing Robert Peto FRICS in a move which reaffirms the organisation’s increasingly international role as the world’s leading qualification for property professionals.

The European Commission issued a detailed opinion against the Greek draft law on online gambling on 7 July 2011 (see link). This detailed opinion confirms that the Commission has strong concerns about the compatibility of the draft Greek legislation with EU law.

EGBA has identified a number of provisions which are highly doubtful under EU law. These include:

FoodDrinkEurope welcomes the vote on the report on “a more efficient and fairer retail market” in the European Parliament plenary today.

The report, drafted by Corazza Bildt MEP, recognises the importance of food in the retail sector given that food represents around 50% of total retail sales in the EU(1), and acknowledges the imbalances between the different actors in the food chain.