Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN scientists studying the geological disposal of nuclear waste have released papers indicating that the process could be safe over the very long term. Indeed, an assessment of European Union (EU)-funded projects on the issue published by the European Nuclear Society (ENS) has suggested that "spent fuel is an effective isolation barrier for tens of thousands to millions of years".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has been alarmed by coordinated ‘bot-net’ attacks on computer networks in Britain, Estonia, Georgia, France, and elsewhere, and is beefing up its cyber-defences. Keith Nuthall reports.

IT takes a lot to spark the lumbering bureaucratic behemoth known as the European Union (EU) into hasty action.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WINNERS

PHILIPS-VAN HEUSEN

This was a Champagne year for Philips-Van Heusen, owner of Calvin Klein, Arrow, Bass and, since May, Tommy Hilfiger. Its acquisition of Netherlands-based Tommy Hilfiger helped it more than double sales for the third quarter – to $1.5bn, (although profits slipped year-on-year to $80.7m from $86.6m the previous year).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EURO EUR6million research project will see scientists collect, isolate and classify marine organisms, including sea anemones, tunicates and micro and macroalgae, from the world’s seas and oceans, and look for active biochemicals with potential medical uses. The 2010-1014 MAREX project is coordinated by the University of Helsinki, Finland, working with researchers from Belgium, Britain, Chile, Finland, France, India, Italy, Lebanon, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RETAIL – WINNERS AND LOSERS

WINNERS

H&M

The Sweden-based brand expanded across the world this year, planning to open 220 new stores, mostly in western Europe and the US. Hennes & Mauritz’ (H&M) third quarter sales of SEK26.89bn (US$4bn) showed a sharp 14% increase on the previous quarter.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD, KARRYN MILLER, GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE, KEITH NUTHALL

FOR niche spirits, obscure can be good – and so products made in countries not renowned for their spirits production can gather export market cache. Latin America and the Caribbean are regions where effort by buyers can pay dividends.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST

THE NEW president of OICA (the International Association of Vehicle Manufacturers) has warned American auto-manufacturers that they risk being left behind in the global race for new technologies. Speaking at his Paris office with wardsauto, Patrick Blain, now six months into his new job, and after this month’s OICA general assembly in Bucharest (October 20 and 21), said it was European and Asian automakers who are setting the pace and working together with their governments to effectively tackle issues of emissions and rising fuel costs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is moving ahead with boosting controls on plastics ingredient bisphenol A (BPA), despite the European Food Safety Authority (ESFA) declaring existing European Union (EU) regulations to be sufficient.

The agency’s panel for food contact materials, enzymes, flavourings and processing aids had concluded it "could not identify any new evidence [leading it] to revise the current tolerable daily intake" limit within consumers’ bodies of 0.05 mg/kg.…

BY LEE ADENDOORF

NETWORKED clothing that can show you where it is at all times, talking to mirrors and shelves on the shop floor, is no longer the stuff of science fiction, but a reality developing rapidly in stores around the globe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, MJ DESCHAMPS, PAUL COCHRANE

MOROCCO is perfectly placed to be a major bio-based oils and fats exporter to Europe. It is of course very close – being separated from Spain by only nine miles of sea. And with its agriculture fed by plentiful sunshine and its rich fishing grounds, Morocco has huge potential to become a major oil and fat feedstock producer as well as an oils and fats manufacturer in its own right though its developed industrial sector.…