Search Results for: France

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels

WITH the launch of the long-debated Galileo orbiting satellite system now largely secure, attention is being turned to its varied applications and services. These were debated last week (Thurs June 12) at a half day conference for European Parliament members and European Commission officials.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

ALGERIA’S paint sector has been experiencing healthy growth in recent years on the back of a petro-dollar fuelled construction boom, yet should the country’s initiatives at modernising and expanding its economy continue at the same pace as over the last decade, there is potential for significantly greater expansion in the paint and coatings market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HEADS of governments of the European Union (EU) and the European Commission have cleared the way for EU member states to reduce excise duties on petrol and diesel, as a short term measure to fight rising prices. A communiqué following Thursday and Friday’s (19-20 June) EU summit in Brussels, told the 27 member states: "Measures can be considered to alleviate the impact of higher oil and gas prices on the poorer sections of the population, but should remain short-term and targeted."…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE JAPANESE motor manufacturer Toyota is pushing ahead with a tie-up with the giant French energy firm EDF (Electricité de France) to develop plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHV) in Europe. Tests have begun in France on vehicles equipped with Toyota’s hybrid technology which combines a gasoline engine with an electric battery-driven motor that can be charged by plugging into the domestic electricity supply or at public charging stations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers are debating an urgent rescue package for a European fishing sector that is being buffeted by high fuel prices. European Commission officials are drafting formal proposals, which would suspend certain European Fisheries Fund subsidy controls for two years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITAIN has one of the European Union’s (EU) worst rates of salmonella contamination of slaughtered pigs, a new study from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has found. Analysing data collected from 2006 to 2007, the EU agency has concluded that 21.2% of slaughtered pigs within the UK had contracted the disease, compared to an EU-wide average of 10.3%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has made progress in a series of legal actions against European Union (EU) utilities alleging unfair trading. Notably, Brussels has launched anti-trust inquiries involving Germany’s E.ON (and E.ON Ruhrgas) plus Gaz de France (GDF), alleging illegal trust agreements to avoid supplying gas to each other’s home market following the liberalisation of the EU markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A CONSORTIUM of 14 research teams from across Europe has been formed to create a computer simulation of the international ITER fusion reactor, to model the technology required to operate it safely. The European Union (EU)-funded Euro 3.65 million EUFORIA project will forge a network of high-powered computers with sufficient capacity to undertake this modelling, which will involve massive amounts of data.…

By Paul Cochrane, Beirut

And with Lebanese political leaders looking to outside powers to consolidate their domestic position, whether you are pro- or anti- Western depends on the politics of the day.
But that, like any brief summary of Lebanon, is a simplification, as although the Hizbullah led opposition is ostensibly anti-Western, strongly backed by Iran and ardently anti-Zionist, fellow opposition party the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) is predominantly Christian and pro-Western.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A NEW pilot initiative is aiming to make European Union (EU) national electronic public procurement systems compatible, to ease cross-border online tendering. Although EU law insists that public procurement contracts are made available to suppliers from foreign member states, making such bids can involve difficult and unfamiliar paperwork.…