Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A UNITED Nations (UN) Convention against Transnational Organised Crime has come into force, imposing a duty on ratifying countries to outlaw membership of an organised criminal group, which it defines legally. So far, said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 48 countries have ratified it, including Monaco, Nigeria, Serbia & Montenegro, Peru, Spain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Philippines, Tajikistan, Albania, France, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, China, Norway and Afghanistan.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PLANNED reform of the European Union’s (EU) Euro 12.5 million-per-year hop subsidy regime could push hop producers towards promoting speciality varieties, of interest to brewers seeking an edge in flavour and bitterness, a National Hop Association of England spokesman has said.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s (EC) proposals for the EU tobacco regime, published in detail last month (September), essentially recognise that subsidised tobacco growing in Europe on any significant scale is now coming to an end. If these plans are put in place it seems likely that in little more than three years’ time the only tobacco grown in the EU will be to serve small niche markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has blocked the participation of Belgium’s Wallonia regional government in a joint venture with Swiss steel specialist Duferco and France’s Usinor to produce carbon steel and alloy slabs. The new company – called Carsid SA – was to work from the Usinor Sacilor controlled Cockerill Sambre mill in Charleroi, following a 2001 closure announcement by Usinor of the plant’s hot-rolling line.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A SOLUTION to the problem of ink corrosion, one of the most serious and persistent of those facing museum and library curators charged with the preservation of old drawings and documents, may at last be in sight.

The InkCor project, backed by museums, research institutes and universities in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Slovenia, and largely funded by the European Union’s (EU) Fifth Framework Programme for research, is developing a treatment that will at the very least stabilise the present situation and slow down the corrosion.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THERE are many sights that one can rely on seeing in Paris every day. Patrons lining up at bakeries for fresh baguettes, traffic-filled streets choked amongst stunning architecture, perfectly lit River Seine views and busy cafes packed with people sitting, side-by-side, sipping over-priced drinks while watching other people walk by.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IRISH are the European Union’s keenest purchasers of alcohol and tobacco, considering annual household spending, according to European Union statistical agency Eurostat. Ireland’s consumers devoted six per cent of their spending on alcohol and tobacco in 2001 and 2000 – the latest available comparative statistics.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EXTERNAL social, environmental and economic costs imposed by nuclear energy are comparatively low, according to European Commission research. Estimated at Euro (cents) per kilowatt hour, nuclear electricity’s costs are below wind energy, but roughly level with hydro, ranging from 0.03 in Portugal and 1 cent in France and Greece.…

BY ALAN OSBORN and MONICA DOBIE
THE RELEASE of Euro 443 million in subsidies for European wine producers on the eve of the World Trade Organisation summit in Cancun dedicated to rooting out such payments has dismayed some New World growers while being welcomed in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS environmental health officers assess a hot summer that created high pollution concentrations and heat exhaustion, a new European Union directive on ground level ozone has come into force. The legislation requires EU Member States to assess ground ozone concentrations throughout their whole national territory and to inform the public of any readings above 180 ?g/m3.…