The vast majority of some 22,000 swimming beaches in the EU are clean and safe, the European Environment Agency said Tuesday. The EEA annual report for 2012 showed the water met the minimum standards required for bathing at 94 percent of all swimming beaches in the European Union. At 78 percent of the beaches, the quality of the water was found to be excellent, the top rating, with Cyprus leading the way as all of its 112 swimming beaches got the best review.

The European Union on Monday denied an Israeli media report that it was delaying labelling of products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Haaretz newspaper reported on Sunday that the EU had delayed labelling the products to end of June at the request of the United States. "Contrary to what was recently reported in the Israeli media, work on the effective enforcement of EU legislation with regard to the labelling of settlement products has not been delayed. Nor has the EU been asked to postpone such work," a statement said.

BRUSSELS - The small glass bottle filled, and refilled, with golden olive oil has long been a staple on many restaurant tables across Europe. Now, the European Union is going to ban it. The European Commission, the EU's executive, said Friday that, as of next year, restaurant customers will only be allowed to use oil from non-refillable bottles with proper content labeling to douse their crusty bread or garden salad. EU spokesman Olivier Bailly said consumers often get fooled by being served cheap olive oil. Non-refillable bottles would also improve hygiene, he claims.

BRUSSELS - A senior EU official says China may be illegally dumping and subsidizing the import into Europe of mobile telephone networks and their essential elements. But Competition Commissioner Karel De Gucht says an official investigation, while approved by the European Commission, won't be launched now as officials seek an amicable resolution. Wednesday's announcement came as the Commission, the EU's executive arm, is nearing the end of an investigation into whether China illegally dumped solar panels into the EU.