expires
later this week.
The European Commission has decided to
take legal action against
Hungary because of new laws which it says infringe EU regulations. The president of the commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said Hungary would be issued with a warning over the laws which are alleged to
jeopardise
the independence of its central bank and judiciary. The Hungarian government has since offered to negotiate, saying it hoped to address the commission's concerns without going through the full legal process.
A Canadian company has begun drilling for oil in Somalia. It's the first oil exploration there for more than 20 years. Peter Biles reports.
Drilling operations have started at a well in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland. There are also plans for a second well, and the company says it will take about 90 days for each drilling and evaluation. The area is part of the same geological system that produces oil and gas across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen. Oil exploration was carried out in Somalia more than 20 years ago, but came to a
standstill
after the overthrow of Siad Barre's government in 1991. Analysts say the latest venture is a huge gamble although the Puntland region is relatively peaceful.
World News from the BBC
State television in Ethiopia says gunmen have shot dead five foreign tourists in a remote area near the border with Eritrea. It's believed that some of the tourists were German. The Ethiopians say the gunmen crossed from neighboring Eritrea with whom Ethiopia has a long-running border dispute.