Turnhout, Belgium - Belgian cyclist Tom Boonen will not face further sanctions over cocaine use, a court in Turnhout ruled on Tuesday.

The judges accepted a request by Boonen's lawyer to dismiss the charges against the 28-year-old Quick-Step cyclist.

Boonen, who is idolized like a pop star in Belgium, tested positive for cocaine during an out-of-competition test in May last year.

The judges said that he had been penalized enough by testing positive. His image suffered as a result and he had to pay a fine issued by his team.

Barcelona - Spanish police Tuesday detained 13 people on charges including the falsification of passports and drug trafficking, police said.

Police were investigating whether the detainees had links with the terrorist network al-Qaeda.

Eleven of the suspects were held in Barcelona and 2 in Valencia in the east of the country. They included 11 Pakistanis, an Indian and a Nigerian national.

Brussels - European Union member states should stop hiding behind their bank secrecy rules and step up joint efforts to crack down on tax evaders, officials in Brussels said Monday.

The call came from Laszlo Kovacs, the EU commissioner in charge of taxation and customs, who wants national tax authorities to share more information about the savings held by EU citizens in different member states.

Brussels - The European Commission is to launch a probe of the European Union's energy markets amid widespread discontent among consumers, who fear that they are being ripped off by their electricity and gas providers, officials in Brussels said Monday.

The move comes as the EU's Brussels-based executive is struggling to open up the bloc's national energy markets to more competition in the face of fierce resistance from former monopolies.

Brussels - Iceland would find it easier to join the European Union than other membership hopefuls since it already follows most of the bloc's rules, officials in Brussels said Friday.

Iceland enjoys full access to the EU's internal market through the European Free Trade Association and the European Economic Area, and also complies with most EU laws, officials said.

Brussels - The United States will not get away with expanding "Buy American" protectionist measures as part of its economic rescue plan, European Union officials warned Thursday.

"The one thing we can be absolutely certain about is that if a bill is passed which prohibits the sale or purchase of European goods on American territory, that is not something we will stand idly by and ignore," European Commission trade spokesman Peter Power told journalists in Brussels.