Search Results for: London

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Balderson, Ontario

STRONG family links and a dislike of European Union bureaucracy was what brought David James, 62, to Canada to start over again. In 1998, the James family, including wife Ann, 61, daughter Debra, 39, and son-in law Rob, 39, packed up their belongings and moved to a small farming community called Balderson, roughly 50 miles from Canada’s capital, Ottawa.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

LORRY drivers in Britain aged 30 or under could be affected by a proposed European Union (EU) directive that would limit the maximum validity of a commercial vehicle driver’s licence to 15 years. Paul Waters, (NOTE: SPELLING IS CORRECT) transport adviser to members of the Freight Transport Association, said at present a lorry driver’s license in the UK ran until the holder was 45 and then had to be renewed every five years.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, in London

A CAR that can think for its driver is a step nearer reality, thanks to a new European Union (EU)-funded project now underway in Switzerland. The 10-partner BACS (Bayesian Approach to Cognitive Systems) project, co-ordinated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, is creating thinking robots that can react in the right way to incomplete information, in the same way that humans and animals do.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

CURRENT European Union (EU) president Finland will this year urge fellow member states to raise the political profile of alcohol across Europe as a threat to public health, bringing in specific measures to curb abuses. Its views are particularly important this year, because the European Commission is buffing up just such a plan for release in September or October, and the Finns will be pushing or agreement at the EU Council of Ministers in December.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, in London

EUROPEAN Union (EU) lawmakers are stepping up the development of a legally binding technical standard to ensure the safe operation of hydrogen fuel cells in road vehicles. The European Commission has begun a public consultation (which runs until September 15) on the matter, seeking to ensure that the rapid technical development of hydrogen power by automakers is not held back by safety fears and conflicting national safety rules.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission looks likely to be blocked from forcing the UK and Dutch governments to repay Euro 7.4 million’s worth of subsidies for downsizing their fishing fleets by transferring two boats apiece to Argentina. Brussels was angered when both countries subsequently registered four replacement vessels, claiming this contravened the grants’ conditions.…

BY MARK ROWE, in Munich

FOOD allergies can only be truly understood if they are studied at a pan-European level, according to scientists at a key European science convention. Dr Sian Astley, of the Institute of Food Research (IFR), in Norwich, said that only by studying allergies across different countries could the scale of the problem be understood.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

ACCOUNTANTS who feared that a change in UK rules would curb the growing trend in environmental accounting need not worry. Although the Business Review, which replaced the Operating and Finance Review (OFR) earlier this year, only requires quoted and large private companies to report significant environmental issues, the business case for companies and organisations to keep track of their environmental footprint continues to grow.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, in London

AFTER years of tests and international negotiations, Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation network at last has announced the technical details of its signal, crucial information for auto and component suppliers wanting to develop components to exploit the system.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, in London

TWO years after it was launched, the European Union’s (EU) RAPEX system for alerting safety authorities and consumers to auto and other product safety problems and recalls has been accepted by Europe’s automotive industry. This is despite it regularly circulating bad news about safety and other defects, associated with some of the biggest names in the EU auto sector.…