A new research report from comScore shows that the number of Europeans accessing news on their smartphones has risen by 74% in the past year.

Its study of ‘mobile news’ access in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom revealed that almost 37% of all smartphone users looked at online news via an app or web browser, an increase of 74% over the past year.

The European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee says it wants to see wholesale roaming service suppliers cutting prices below the EU price cap. It’s approved legislation that would allow consumers to buy roaming services separately from their ‘home’ mobile service.

The new rules would also set limits on retail data roaming charges and would further reduce roaming price caps for calls and SMS text messages.

Yesterday at Mobile World Congress, Ford revealed that its new B-MAX car would be launched in Europe with the company’s SYNC in-car connectivity system.

Ford SYNC is already available in the USA, although the B-MAX was making its first public appearance. 3.5 million people are expected to be using SYNC in Europe by 2015.

Panasonic has revealed its new smartphone for the European market. It follows the company’s announcement in December that it was working towards the launch of a dustproof and waterproof Europe-focussed smartphone in March 2012.

The new Panasonic ELUGA - the name comes from ELegant User-oriented GAteway - is an Android smartphone that meets IP57 for dust and water resistance.

Telefónica Digital has announced a global partnership with mobile commerce business Sybase 365.

It means Sybase 365 will help develop Telefónica’s mobile wallet, with the first Telefonica wallet services expected to launch commercially in Latin America and Europe during the first half of this year.