BRUSSELS, July 20 (UPI) -- The European Commission needs to restore confidence in the energy sector as it struggles to overcome a market dependent on Russia, officials say.

BRUSSELS, July 16 (UPI) -- The European Commission adopted new regulation calling on member states to monitor gas supplies with the aim of averting a potential energy crisis.

BRUSSELS, July 15 (UPI) -- The EU environment commissioner warned action is needed to save species and habitat types the have been placed under EU legal protection.

ANKARA, Turkey, July 14 (UPI) -- A major 1,800-mile pipeline to bring gas from the Caspian Sea and the Middle East to Europe, while bypassing Russia, has been given a formal green light by the five states it will cross. An intergovernmental agreement to promote the Nabucco pipeline's construction has been signed in Ankara by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his counterparts from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, July 14 (UPI) -- The Czech government said it plans to impose travel visas on Canadian diplomats in retaliation for Ottawa's decision to require Czech visitors to obtain visas.

ANKARA, Turkey, July 14 (UPI) -- Delegates from 18 countries met in Ankara on Monday for the signing of a "milestone" intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco gas pipeline to Europe.

BRUSSELS, July 13 (UPI) -- Job losses escalated in the European Union in June with France leading the list of nations in the number of layoffs, the European Commission said.

FRANKFURT, Germany, July 13 (UPI) -- The European Central Bank might by headed by a Frenchman, Jean-Claude Trichet, who used to run the Banque de France, but its headquarters is in Frankfurt, and its soul and its policies continue to be profoundly German.

BEIJING, July 13 (UPI) -- Many of the 178 million pirated items seized at the borders of European Union countries in 2008 came from China, EU authorities said.