Search Results for: Poland

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE TEMPORARY right of European Union (EU) member states to levy reduced rates of VAT on clothing and footwear repair services could become permanent. The European Commission has proposed governments henceforth always can reduce VAT on such services by up to 5% from their standard rate.…

By Alan Osborn

The 27 EU member states will have to speed up their educational progress if they are to meet a range of self-imposed targets deemed necessary if the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs is to be successful by 2010.…

By Keith Nuthall

WE all know about Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. These social utility websites allow us all to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, exchange messages, post pictures and play silly games – such as throwing a digital sheep at someone or giving them a pixellated hellraiser cocktail.…

By Alan Osborn

Budapest has been chosen as the site of the new European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), beating four other contenders (Wroclaw in Poland, Sant Cugat del Vallès near Barcelona in Spain, Jena in Germany, and Bratislava/Vienna) for the prize.…

By Keith Nuthall

Research funding for a global project that seeks to harness the thermodynamics of the stars to create a sustainable and safe nuclear fusion reactor is starting to be released. 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.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A REPORT from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has revealed that almost a half of OECD member countries (including many in Europe) have potentially dangerous nutrient and pesticide concentrations in drinking water sources.

Tests carried out in recent years (NOTE: CALLED MID-2000’S IN THE REPORT) on surface water and groundwater monitoring sites in agricultural areas show these pollutants often "exceed national drinking water recommended limits" said a new OECD report on the environmental impact of farming.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PLANNED acquisition by British American Tobacco (BAT) of certain roll-you-own tobacco and snus sections of Denmark’s Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni (STK) has been approved by the European Commission. To secure this agreement, BAT had to promise selling-off certain brands in Norway (notably Petterøe’s and Tiedemanns Rød), where the expanded company would have had a dominant position.…

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

RICH European countries spend more on transport than poor countries, the latest comparative figures from European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat show. The average proportion of all household spending devoted to transport in 2005 was 13.5% in Britain and 15.7% in Finland, but just 5% in Bulgaria and 8.1% in Poland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ENVIRONMENTAL health officers think they are helping keep people fit and well by reducing pollution and food disease. But maybe the best move the cold, rheumatism and asthma sufferers of Britain can make to be healthy is emigrate to a Greek island, sunbathe (moderately) and eat fish, vegetables and olive oil.…