Search Results for: France

BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris

SETTING a new pollution tax on all road vehicles that varies according to the way they were driven, and mandating clearer targets for reducing emissions, would lead to more efficient climate change policies: that was the view of experts from the US and Europe meeting at the International Transport Forum in Paris last month (NOTE: JANUARY) for a round-table debate on transport’s role in tackling climate change.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has ordered three member states to reform their national water laws, or face the imposition of massive daily recurring fines of Euro 1,000s.

France has been censured for breaching EU directive 98/83/EC on drinking water quality.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Mauritania have agreed to renegotiate and downsize their fishing agreement granting EU fishing boats the right to exploit the north African country’s fishing stocks. These talks follow the embarrassing news that EU fishing fleets have failed to avail themselves of the rights made available to them in the existing agreement, which had been hailed as a groundbreaking deal.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

SIGNIFICANT falls in heart attacks and strokes in France and Italy have indicated that the introduction of public smoking bans in Europe are having beneficial health effects, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) has claimed.

In France, the National Sanitary Institute has just released statistics showing that the rate of admissions in emergency wards of patients with myocardial infarction and strokes has fallen 15% since French public smoking ban came into effect in January 2007, preventing smoking in restaurants hotels and casinos.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi

AFTER 30 years of international sanctions, limited uranium reserves and stiff political opposition to the recent Indo-US nuclear deal, Indian scientists are still pushing ahead with nuclear research – following the country’s long established Three Stage Nuclear power programme.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by the UK government that it intends to build a new generation of nuclear power plants stands out, not just because of the scale of the proposals, but because it is the first such comprehensive initiative in Europe for some years.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE FRENCH-OWNED Carrefour food retailer has announced major plans for expansion in Romania where it expects to achieve sales of exceeding Euro 1 billion in 2008. The company’s eleventh Romanian hypermarket was recently opened in Braila, with an investment of Euro 20 million, and nine more will be opened in 2008-2009, said a company spokeswoman.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels

THE FÉDÉRATION Internationale de l’Automobile has warned road accident fatalities in 2007 rose in some European countries compared with 2006. These included the Czech Republic (up 17 %), Denmark (+33 %), Finland (+13 %), Slovenia (+12 %) and Sweden (+6%).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered compulsory GM-free certification for a wide range of Chinese rice products, because of concerns unauthorised illicit exports of the genetically modified Bt63 have been sold into Europe. From April 15, only consignments tested by an official or accredited laboratory using a specific testing method and accompanied by an analytical report assuring they do not contain Bt63, can enter the EU.…

BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris

WAYS in which CO2 emissions from road transport could potentially be reduced were the subject of two days of discussion by experts from Europe and the US during a recent round-table meeting held at the International Transport Forum in Paris.…