The FINANCIAL -- Hungary's proposed amendments to its controversial media law are a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done, the chief of the Council of Europe said on Tuesday.

The FINANCIAL -- The new EU sanctions on Syria target a tobacco company, the central bank's governor and the Venezuelan-born chief of an oil firm, the Official EU Journal showed on Tuesday.

The FINANCIAL -- Greece tries again Tuesday to form a government, hoping a technocrat solution to disputes over a tough EU-IMF bailout deal will avoid new polls and keep it in the eurozone as time runs down fast.

The FINANCIAL -- Francois Hollande was sworn in as president of France on Tuesday with a solemn vow to find a new growth-led strategy to end the debt crisis threatening to unravel the eurozone.

The FINANCIAL -- The moment France's president-elect Francois Hollande is sworn in on Tuesday, he leaves his cosy post-election no-man's land for potentially bruising encounters on the European and world stage.