SCIENCE WRITING CLIPPINGS
Clippings here include articles that have appeared in the New Scientist, Nature, the Guardian, Scientific American, and the EUobserver. Click on the headline to take you through to the article. Note that the New Scientist and the EUobserver are paywalled.
NEW SCIENTIST
Wonder stuff: Making every material you’ve never heard of
…It’s all down to the bothersome way we hunt for materials. When we realise we need one for a particular job, we either scour nature or try combining elements in novel ways to find something that fits. There’s no guarantee of success, and failures eat up time. We can’t make every possible material at once. But what if we were to make them inside a computer, all the materials we can imagine – and all the ones we can’t? That’s just what is beginning to happen, with a virtual materials hypermarket that is starting to build up its stock…
NATURE
Infectious disease: TB's revenge
With ordinary TB, patients start to feel better after a few weeks or months on a selection of four mainstay antibiotics. But of the 542 people with TB at the hospital in 2005 and early 2006, 221 (41%) had a multi-drug-resistant (MDR) form, against which these therapies are mostly powerless. Worse, 53 of them did not even respond to the few antibiotics that form a second line of defence. Eventually, doctors had nothing left to try: all but one of the 53 died, half of them within 16 days of diagnosis. It was the first major outbreak of what became known as extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB — and a wake-up call to the world that TB had taken a turn for the worse.
…The bridge that took Bamunoba from a Ugandan village to Stellenbosch is the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). The aim of AIMS, which was started in 2002 by cosmologist Neil Turok, is to recruit the brightest students from across Africa and match them up with a faculty of top-tier mathematicians, computer scientists and physicists from around the world for a one-year postgraduate diploma in maths. Turok argues that a generation of mathematically trained graduates will empower Africa by strengthening the continent’s research base and by focusing on fields that are key to industry and policy, ranging from mathematical modelling to computing, censuses and financial management. “There is nothing more cost-effective for development than mathematics,” says Turok, who is head of Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo…
Nanotechnology: Armed resistance
… Reporting by Nature suggests that several broad trends have come together to precipitate the violence. Over the past decade, Mexico has invested heavily in nanotechnology relative to other developing countries, because it sees the field as a route to economic development; mainstream green groups worldwide have grown increasingly concerned about nanotechnology's health and environmental risks; and there has been a shift towards extreme ideas and tactics among radical environmentalists critical of technology. In Mexico, this has been set against a general background of growing violence and political upheaval…
… Since van de Kamp's time, the Barnard 'system' has been a staple of sci-fi, from short stories and novels, to films and television series. In Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and Arthur C. Clarke's The Garden of Rama (Bantam, 1991), it is a way station for interstellar travellers. Michael Moorcock uses an imagined planet orbiting the star as the site of a refugee camp for humans fleeing social breakdown on Earth. For Isaac Asimov, a Barnard-system planet is home to invertebrate marine animals. In a series of comic-book strips in the 1970s, Will Eisner sited humankind's first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization on a planet in the system. And in the short-lived Battlestar Galactica spin-off series Galactica 1980, the dastardly Cylons are believed to be hiding there.
Recently, the status of this sci-fi staple itself wobbled. In August, a survey by a team of eight astronomers, led by Jieun Choi of the University of California, Berkeley, and covering 25 years' worth of measurements, concluded that Barnard's star does not have any planets — Earth-size or otherwise.
Drop in IQ linked to heavy teenage cannabis use
… By being able to compare an individual's IQ before and after cannabis use, the authors could rule out previous neuropsychological deficit as a cause of the decline.They were also able to dismiss an effect of education by finding no difference in the proportion of heavy cannabis users in the full study sample and in those with only a high-school education or less. This should answer the challenge from the ‘education hypothesis’ — that heavy cannabis users are more likely to have dropped out of education. In the same way, they could also control for other complicating factors, such as schizophrenia, the use of other drugs, and the possibility that a subject might have been high when their cognitive abilities were tested…
US northeast coast is hotspot for rising sea levels
Research from the US Geological Survey (USGS) shows that sea levels are rising much faster between North Carolina and Massachusetts than anywhere else in the world. The news comes less than two weeks after North Carolina's Senate passed a bill banning state agencies from reporting predictions of increasing rates of sea-level rise.
Cuts leave Greek heritage in ruins
…While legitimate archaeology is being hampered, looting is on the rise. The country is pockmarked with holes dug by the poor and desperate hoping for ‘buried treasure’, and organized criminals perform more professional excavations. “There is no doubt that there has been an increase in the past 3–4 years in both organized and amateur illegal digs and this is definitely related to the cuts,” says Christos Tsirogiannis, a forensic archaeologist and researcher at the University of Cambridge, UK, who specializes in investigating the criminal networks behind trafficking in antiquities. He escorts the Greek police art squad on raids to identify looted antiquities. “There is always a rise in this form of crime in regions rich with antiquities during times of crisis — in recent years in Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan,” says Tsirogiannis…
Europe science ministers approve 2014–20 funding framework
After long and hard negotiations, European Union (EU) science ministers have given their backing to a general structure for Horizon 2020, the bloc’s 2014–20 research-funding programme. The proposed budget is some €90 billion (US$111 billion), but both eastern European countries and the European Parliament have urged measures to ensure that less-developed EU states will share equally in the largesse.
Rediscovered photos reveal Greenland's glacier history
…Most studies of Greenland's glaciers have been done only since imaging satellites became available in the 1970s, so the data are relatively short-term. But using photographs from 1930s aerial surveys of the southeast coast of Greenland, together with US military aerial shots from the Second World War and recent satellite images, Bjørk and his colleagues have been able to observe changes at high spatial resolution from a period in which few glacier measurements were previously available…
… On 11 May, the cell sent a four-page letter to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera claiming responsibility for the shooting of Roberto Adinolfi, the chief executive of Ansaldo Nucleare, the nuclear-engineering subsidiary of aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica. Believed by authorities to be genuine, the letter is riddled with anti-science rhetoric. The group targeted Adinolfi because he is a “sorcerer of the atom”, it wrote. “Adinolfi knows well that it is only a matter of time before a European Fukushima kills on our continent.”
Slo-mo microbes extend the frontiers of life
… Aerobic microbes require oxygen to generate the energy to maintain an electric potential across their membrane and to keep their enzymes and DNA ticking over. While anaerobic microbes can replace oxygen with sulphate, nitrate or sulphur, this is less energy efficient than aerobic respiration, so the researchers think that the sea-floor critters may be living at the absolute minimum energy requirement needed to subsist. And they must be doing something right: the community of microbial couch potatoes, described today in Science1, is 86 million years old…
Restoring sight with wireless implants
… Recent clinical trials with multielectrode-array implants — interfaces that connect neurons to electronic circuitry — have restored some clarity of vision. But the surgery is complex and the implantation produces a range of unwanted side effects, including inflammation, loss of neurons, and an accumulation of astrocytes and microglia that form a sheath around the array. This increases the space between the electrode probes and also insulates the electrodes, reducing functionality.
Nobel, Fields Medal winners launch campaign against EU research austerity
European Nobel and Fields Medal prizewinners have launched a continent-wide campaign to protect European Union (EU) research funding from austerity.
Researchers issue animal-research transparency declaration
Responding to a significant drop in support for the use of animals in research in the UK, the country’s leading research universities, medical charities and drugs companies today launched a new transparency initiative aimed at winning over members of the public to the need for animal research.
The good news is that tuberculosis prevention efforts appear to have broken the back of the spread of the disease, according to the World Health Organisation’s latest annual report on the scourge, with new cases of TB falling by 2.2% between 2010 and 2011. The mortality rate has decreased 41% since 1990 and access to TB care has expanded considerably since the mid nineties, when tuberculosis was declared a global emergency by the UN body, with the WHO estimating that some 20 million lives have been saved since 1995.
EU reversal on biofuels policy kicks off fresh battle
The frequently caustic battle over European biofuels policy has kicked off again this week as the European Union is set to reverse gear and end years of support for the controversial energy source.
MacArthur Foundation 2012 ‘genius grants’ announced
The US-based MacArthur Foundation selected its annual crop of MacArthur Fellows — US citizens working in any field who are awarded ‘no-strings-attached’ grants, popularly referred to as ‘genius grants’, of US$500,000, paid out in quarterly instalments over five years. This year, 10 of the 23 fellows are scientists.
South Korea aims to be second nation to engage in ‘scientific’ whaling
South Korea has announced that it hopes to launch a programme of ‘scientific’ whaling, a development that would make it the second such country to engage in the practice alongside Japan.
UK fracking safe but US operations marred by ‘poor practices’
Hydraulic fracturing — or ‘fracking’, as it is popularly known — presents a “very low risk” of contaminating drinking water or triggering forceful earthquakes in the United Kingdom, and can safely be performed as long as companies engage in different practices from those that have produced concern in the United States.
Bahrain and Syria jail medical workers to undermine protests
Bahrain and Syria are imprisoning doctors for treating wounded anti-regime protesters, a tactic that aims at extinguishing medical neutrality in order to undermine anti-regime protests, the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies has warned.
Italian anti-GM group wins destruction of 30-year-old olive-tree project
The sudden government-ordered destruction of a 30-year-old publicly-funded research project in Italy involving transgenic olive trees, cherry trees and kiwifruit vines — one of the longest-running trials on genetic modification in Europe – began on Tuesday under pressure from an environmental group.
Interviewed on New Hampshire Public Radio on the subject:
Nearly 70% of food on American supermarket shelves contains genetically-modified ingredients. In Europe, only 5% of commercial food is GM, and that number is shrinking, due to an entrenched and vocal opposition. The genetic rights foundation, a Rome-based NGO, recently claimed victory in popular opposition to modified crops. The GRF urged the Italian government to destroy a grove of transgenic olive and cherry trees that were part of 30-year-publicaly –funded research project. The government quickly complied, despite appeals from researchers. Leigh Phillips has been covering the story as science reporter for Nature.
GUARDIAN
EU bans GM-contaminated honey from general sale
…Vivian Moses, professor of biotechnology at the University of London and the chairwoman of Cropgen, an advisory group on GM foods, said: "These beekeepers believe that there is a sensitivity among consumers of the presence of GM material, that the honey containing GM loses quality. They are just protecting their economic interest. "But scientifically this doesn't add up to anything, as the crop has been judged as safe for human consumption."…
Europe divided over nuclear power after Fukushima disaster
Europe's nuclear power faultlines in the wake of the Fukushima disaster were exposed on Wednesday as Switzerland moved to phase out its nuclear power plants and the extent of British and French lobbying to water down nuclear safety checks was revealed. The UK, with the backing of France and the Czech Republic, managed to have terror attacks excluded from a series of new nuclear safety tests ordered after the Japanese tsunami led to radiation leaks from Fukushima nuclear reactors in March.
EU decides against stricter net neutrality rules
The European commission has decided against introducing legislation to protect net neutrality, saying media scrutiny and giving consumers enough information about their internet service provider will be sufficient to protect an "open and neutral" internet.
EU countries to stress-test nuclear facilities after Japan plant crisis
… Energy ministers, senior national officials and industry representatives meeting in Brussels on Tuesday unanimously backed rapidly drawn plans to test all such installations to ensure their safety against earthquakes on the scale of that which hit Japan on 11 March, but also relating to threats from tsunamis, terrorism, disruptions of cooling systems, the integrity of operational systems, back-up systems, overall design and the possibility of power cuts.
EU pledges €90m in climate funds for Pacific island states
Pacific island states on the frontline of climate change are to receive €90m (£76m) in EU cash for climate-related projects in return for siding with the European bloc at international climate negotiations. The cash may appear small in EU terms, but represents as much as 19.5% of the nominal GDP of Vanuatu, and more than 12 times the GDP of the Pacific Islands Forum's poorest member, Niue. Such an injection of cash does not come without strings attached however. Piebalgs is to make the funding announcement at a high-level climate conference on Vanuatu organised by the European commission where the he will present an EU-Pacific action plan for the island states to sign.
European commission extends carbon market freeze indefinitely
The European commission's emergency suspension last week of trading in carbon allowances to put a halt to rampant theft of credits by hackers has been extended indefinitely until countries can prove their systems are protected from further fraud.
Amount of clone-derived meat in UK 'unknown'
The Food Standards Agency has admitted that it does not know how many embryos from cloned animals have been imported into Britain, after it was revealed that meat from one had already entered the food chain and been eaten.
Clone-derived meat entered UK food chain last year, says FSA
Meat from the offspring of a cloned cow entered the UK food chain a year ago, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) revealed today, in the first official confirmation of a breach of food laws.
Hackers shut down EU carbon-trading website
Anti-carbon trading activists shut down the website of the European Climate Exchange (ECX), over the weekend, replacing the site with a spoof page lampooning the industry.
GM crop ban may be lifted in EU
The European Union will take a huge stride tomorrow towards freeing up the production of GM crops when the European commission proposes allowing national governments to make up their own minds on whether to permit their cultivation.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
African Great Ape Habitat Underwent Massive Shrinkage Since 1990s
… Great-ape watchers may have become accustomed to reading about habitat loss and population declines, and indeed, researchers have previously engaged in a range of site-specific efforts and landscape surveys aimed at assessing the decline of suitable environmental conditions for African great apes. But what makes the new survey all the more unnerving is that until now, very few studies have combined the considerable body of existing geographic-information-system and remote-sensing information and ape population data on such a scale.
North Carolina Sea Level Rises Despite State Senators
Could nature be mocking North Carolina's law-makers? Less than two weeks after the state's senate passed a bill banning state agencies from reporting that sea-level rise is accelerating, research has shown that the coast between North Carolina and Massachusetts is experiencing the fastest sea-level rise in the world.
EUOBSERVER – SCIENCE
EU imposes stiff controls to block Chinese GM rice
EU member states have slapped rigid new controls on all imports of Chinese rice products in the wake of ever-increasing detection of products 'contaminated' with unauthorised genetically modified rice.
Greek healthcare eroded by austerity measures, crisis
Startling declines in the health of Greek citizens and increases in the rates of drug abuse, HIV infection, and suicide have resulted from the economic crisis and the strict austerity embraced by the country, says a new, three-year medical study. Greek citizens were 15 percent less likely to consult a doctor in 2009 than in 2007, according to the study, published on Monday (10 October) in the Lancet, the world’s leading medical journal.
Ordinary Greeks turning to NGOs as health system hit by austerity
Europeans and Westerners in general are accustomed to being asked to donate money to emergency aid NGOs to tackle medical humanitarian crises in Africa, Asia and other parts of the developing world where governments are too unwilling, poor or incapable to be able to help their own citizens. It is unheard of for aid groups such as Medecins Sans Frontieres or Medicins du Monde to have to take over the role of providing basic medical services from normal state or private providers in a Western country.
Austerity cuts not to blame for Greek drug shortage, EU says
The European Commission has said its austerity measures are not to blame for a decision by pharmaceutical giant Roche to halt delivery of cancer drugs to Greek public hospitals. The company warned Italy, Portugal and Spain might be next. In a fresh example of how the eurozone crisis is having an acute impact on citizens, Swiss firm Roche has halted shipments of cancer drugs and other medicines to a number of public hospitals in Greece after years of unpaid debts.
Brussels to combat vaccine-scepticism after record EU measles outbreaks
A dangerous re-emergence of measles in Europe has shocked EU health minsters into tackling the public's lack of trust in childhood immunisation with the launch of campaigns against vaccine-scepticism. Instead of celebrating the eradication of measles in 2010 as the EU had planned, the reverse has happened and Europe is now witness to a series of epidemics in the disease, largely a result of often middle-class parents' growing fear of the real or imagined side-effects of vaccinisation.
Norway systematically hid EU demands for oil-law reform
The Norwegian government has provoked the ire of the country's northern regions for deliberately concealing from parliament demands from Brussels that it radically alter its petroleum law to allow oil operations to be managed from outside Norway. Frightened of sparking negative press coverage and a difficult policy debate, the current energy minister and his predecessor have for two years hidden requests from the European Union that it adjust the law.
Brussels tackles 'orphan works' problem in digital libraries
The European Commission on Tuesday (24 May) proposed a new law that would permit the digitisation of millions of books, magazine articles, films and audio recordings that currently rest in copyright limbo. Until now, content that is technically still protected by copyright but whose authors cannot be traced in order to ask permission - content known as 'orphan works' - has not been able to be digitised by the likes of Google and represent one of the biggest hurdles for digitisation schemes.
EU drugs regulator accused of being too cozy with Big Pharma
The European Parliament has refused to sign off on the accounts of the EU agency responsible for making sure all medicines in Europe are safe and effective for its citizens to use, accusing the body of being too close to Big Pharma. The European Medicines Agency's reputation was further bludgeoned on Tuesday when the parliament ordered a special investigation of the regulator over its funding sources, which overwhelmingly come from the pharmaceutical industry and its hiring practices.
EU member states have unanimously backed a Europe-wide ban on mephedrone, described by Brussels as a "dangerous, ecstasy-like drug," despite a recent report from the bloc's own drugs agency that said there is limited evidence of any danger. In a near record for the EU's normally slow legislative process, after just 44 days on Friday (3 December), the bloc's 27 justice ministers backed a commission proposal made on 20 October of this year to criminalise the manufacture and marketing of the drug.
Brussels calls for ban on 'meow meow' drug despite 'limited scientific evidence'
The European Commission is seeking an EU-wide ban on meow meow, the popular new ecstasy-like drug, warning that it is a "dangerous psychoactive substance." But the EU report the decision has been based on itself shows that no direct causal link can be made between the drug and deaths. Mephedrone, or as it is known on the street, meph, drone, MCAT or meow meow, is a recently developed synthetic stimulant that produces feelings of euphoria and has been the subject of a strong media focus in the last year. One of a number of new narcotics reportedly coming out of China, the substance has only commonly been available on the Western market since 2007, but has rapidly become popular amongst clubbers and young people.
EU-Iceland mackerel talks flounder
A seafood ban slapped on EU candidate nation Iceland is in the offing as negotiations over mackerel quotas for 2011 flounder. Reykjavik rejected on Friday (29 October) a Norwegian proposal backed by the European Union that the north Atlantic nation be awarded an increase in its mackerel quota to 26,000 tonnes next year, up from its earlier 2,000-tonne limit.
Commission preparing pan-European smoking ban
The European Commission is preparing to introduce legislation in 2011 to ban smoking in public places right across the union. While partial or total smoking bans have been introduced in many European countries ending patrons' ability to smoke in bars, cafes and other public venues, it is still relatively easy in some states to find a bolt-hole where smokers are welcome, whether due to exceptions to such laws or owners flouting the bans.
EU, US biofuels rules aggravating third world land grab, World Bank says
The World Bank has said that EU and US biofuels policies have resulted in a rush for land in African and other developing regions of the world, pushing out areas that have been used for food. In a 164-page report that actually endorses the practice of the sale of vast tracts of agricultural land to foreign buyers, the global lender nevertheless frets over the fall-out of northern legislation that makes investors view every farm, jungle and meadow in the third world the same way they view an oil field.
EU agency to reveal secret data on drug side-effects
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has reversed its long-held stance on releasing studies on drug side effects after pressure from the European Ombudsman. The London-based agency, which evaluates drugs in the EU, on Wednesday (11 August) said that it would issue data on anti-acne medication Roaccutane produced by pharma giant Roche in the coming weeks.
Iceland and Brussels in fishing row as EU talks begin
Just as Iceland is beginning its European Union membership negotiations, Brussels has warned it could block access for Icelandic and Faroe Islands fishermen to EU waters if they do not back down on plans to boost their mackerel catch. Seas warmer than usual this year have seen a migration of mackerel out of EU waters to cooler more northerly territories fished by Icelanders and Denmark's Faeroese, who have both upped their mackerel catch allowances in response, angering Brussels.
World climate talks 'going backwards,' EU says
A global climate deal is further away than ever, with discord among nations reaching a new low at talks in Bonn over the last week and with the EU warning that discussions are not so much advancing as going into reverse. "These negotiations have if anything gone backwards," said Connie Hedegaard, the European Union's climate action commissioner, on Friday (6 August) following preparatory UN talks in the German city ahead of a summit in Cancun, Mexico at the end of the year.
EU to press member states on oil-drilling ban
EU energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger is to push member states to heed his call for a temporary ban on deep-water oil drilling, he said on Wednesday (14 July). "I repeat my call for a moratorium on new plants," said energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger, after he summoned oil industry chiefs to Brussels for a meeting to discuss what new safety measures are needed in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "The driling industry needs to do more. It is no longer enough for them to talk about the new practices and safety plans."
Commission gambit could end GMO impasse
In a potentially risky gamble to break an EU impasse over the cultivation of Genetically Modified Organisms which has lasted more than a decade, the European Commission will on Tuesday (13 July) propose a plan that both helps anti-GMO member states to ban them and lets those countries that favour the technology to move full-speed ahead with commercial planting. Until March this year when the new commission gave the green light to a GM potato variety produced by German chemical and agribusiness giant Basf, sparking vociferous controversy across the bloc, no new GM crops had been approved in the EU since some Monsanto maize in 1998.
EU carbon tax kicked into the long grass
European commissioners are in a holding pattern over whether to introduce a tax on carbon across the EU, a proposal that if backed by the EU executive could prove to be one of the most controversial and bitterly fought over pieces of legislation Brussels has mooted in years. Under initial proposals by taxation commissioner Algirdas Semeta, from 2013, sources of greenhouse gases that are not currently covered by the EU's flagship environmental endeavour, the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) - sectors such as agriculture, as well as transport and households - would see a flat, minimum fee of between €4 and €30 per tonne.
Commercial whaling could return after 24-year ban
Small-scale commercial whaling could return after a 24-year global moratorium as part of a compromise plan with whaling nations, as the International Whaling Commission meets this week in Agadir, Morroco. Backed by Denmark and Sweden but opposed by most of the EU, the plan offers the whaling nations of Japan, Norway and Iceland the chance to come in from the cold and legitimise their hunt in return for steady reductions in the number of whales they kill.
Millions of Europeans are fearful of science and still believe in lucky numbers
In Europe, the birthplace of the Enlightenment, millions of citizens remain under the sway of superstition, with widespread beliefs in phenomena such as lucky numbers and worry that society depends too much on science and not enough on faith, anew EU survey has shown. According to a study on public attitudes to science and technology published on Monday (21 June) of over 30,000 people from EU member states and Croatia, Iceland, Norway, Turkey and Switzerland, two out of five Europeans are superstitious, with a full 40 percent of respondents saying they believe in lucky numbers.
EU takes landmark stance against illegal timber
Europe has gone from years of preaching against the evils of illegally harvested timber to coming just a few steps away from banning the trade in the world's biggest market for the product in a landmark move by EU institutions. In a deal struck on Wednesday (16 June) between the European Parliament, the EU member states and the European Commission after almost a decade of campaigning on the issue by environmentalists, the sale of illegal timber will be banned in the EU from 2012.
MEPs reject 'traffic light' food labels after €1bn lobby effort
MEPs on Wednesday (16 june) approved legislation revamping the way food and drinks are labelled, aiming to make how healthy or unhealthy a product is easily understandable by consumers who are often bewildered by the multiplicity of facts slapped on to the back of a can of Coke or a box of Cornflakes. However, behind the scenes, one of the most expensive lobbying campaigns ever mounted in the European Union - at a cost of a whopping €1 billion according to transparency activists - has won the day, convincing euro-deputies to back the processed food industry's favoured option for new labelling instead of the system supported by medical associations and cancer, diabetes and anti-obesity advocates.
Brussels proposes rule to protect against electric-car shock
Aiming to speed up the entry to market of European electric cars, the European Commission has proposed that the EU adopt a set of safety standards for the vehicles across the bloc. The rules focus on protection of passengers from electric shocks, notably from parts of the vehicle which have a high-voltage function.
More bathing bans at Italian beaches than anywhere in Europe
The quality of bathing waters at European beaches, both inland and at the seaside, have improved steadily over recent years. As of last year, a full 96 percent of coastal beaches met EU minimum standards and 90 percent of beaches next to rivers and lakes, according to the latest annual "bathing water report" from the European Commission.
Biofuels cannot come from ripped-up rainforest, says Brussels
A long-awaited European Commission communication outlining guidelines on what constitutes genuinely sustainable biofuels has already run into strong criticism. Environmentalists and development groups say the rules overlook the key aspect of the controversial energy source that turns what was once thought of as a green alternative into a net producer of greenhouse gas emissions.
UN climate talks re-start amid widespread pessimism, mistrust
Six months after the UN climate summit in Copenhagen ended in a shambles of mistrust and vitriol, with an accord widely agreed to be lacking in ambition negotiated in backrooms by a handful of nations, the conversation restarts on Monday in Bonn under an atmosphere that has hardly improved since the winter. Going into the 12-day meeting, the half-way point between last year's summit and its follow-up in Cancun, Mexico, the outgoing chair of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Dutchman Yvo de Boer was frank about the likelihood of a major breakthrough not just in Boon, but in the central American city at the end of the year.
Brussels ‘opens debate' on jump to 30% CO2 cuts
The European Commission has come out in favour of a unilateral jump to a 30 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions but is reluctant to say so too loudly. On Wednesday, the EU executive endorsed an analysis that showed that as a result of the economic crisis and its accompanying decline in industrial output, the costs of moving from its current commitment of a 20 percent cut in emissions to 30 percent were not as significant as once thought.
Brussels rolls out 5-year internet masterplan
Half of Europeans subscribing to ultra-high-speed broadband by 2020, bringing an end to the phenomenon of 'digital virgins' and the creation of a European cyber-attack rapid response system - these are just some of the ambitious goals contained in the EU's five-year plan for the online world, unveiled on Wednesday (19 May). Anxious that the US, Japan and South Korea - still in parts classified as a developing country - are stealing a march on the old continent, where almost a third of people have still never accessed the worldwide web, the European Commission says it is time for a digital revolution.
Greenhouse gas emissions down sharply as result of crisis
Greenhouse gas emissions from European Union businesses are down sharply, falling almost 12 percent last year, according to data released on Tuesday (18 May) by the European Commission. Based on information provided by EU member state registries, verified emissions of the gases from all installations participating in Europe's flagship climate strategy, the Emissions Trading Scheme, in 2009 totalled 1.873 billion tonnes of CO2.
EU urges higher water prices as supplies dry up
Brussels has warned that Europe is facing water scarcity and droughts, and not just in the drier Mediterranean countries, with even the Czech Republic and Belgium at risk. However, the commission's main solution - higher prices for water - is already creating the new phenomenon of 'water poverty', researchers warn. Describing the problem as "a major concern for many areas in Europe," a European Commission report published on Tuesday (18 May) said that even the greater rains in the south last year did not halt the dwindling of water stocks.
Early EU climate funds falling short of promises
The early commitments from the EU and its member states for funds to help the developing world deal with climate change are so far falling short of promises. According to a Council report on so-called fast-track financing due to be considered by EU finance ministers on Tuesday, while the EU is "on track" to meet its pledge of €2.4 billion in "climate finance" for 2010, based on the information provided by EU member states and the European Commission, the sum for confirmed pledges so far amounts to €2.24 billion.
Anti-fraud investigators swoop on EU emissions traders
Traders involved in Europe's flagship climate change programme, the Emissions Trading System - some of whom work at Germany's biggest banks and energy firms - were the focus of a series of raids and arrests by British and German prosecutors in part of a massive pan-European crackdown on CO2-credit VAT fraud. A total of 25 people were arrested amid a blitz by authorities on hundreds of company offices in the two countries, including Deutsche Bank and energy firm RWE, in a case involving the theft of an estimated €180 miillion from government coffers.
Brussels outlines plan for electric cars
The European Commission on Wednesday (28 April) outlined a plan to get electric cars off the drawing board and onto the streets of Europe. Central to the EU's plan for shifting away from the internal combustion engine is developing a series of European standards that everyone will adhere to.
EU drugs agency working with patient groups bankrolled by big pharma
European patients' groups, set up to represent the interests of the subjects of medical procedures in their dealings with healthcare systems, insurance firms and drug companies are in many cases bankrolled by pharmaceutical firms, according to a new report. Complicating the situation, many such groups working with and on the board of the European Medicines Agency - the very EU agency charged with evaluation of medicines in the bloc.
UK big pharma loses EU court battle over cheaper drugs
UK pharmaceutical firms have been defeated in their attempt to put an end to British government incentives to doctors to supply patients with cheaper but equivalent medicines. The European Court of Justice rejected a complaint by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) that such National Health Service (NHS) schemes were not an illegal inducement under EU law.
Commission approves Polish CO2 plan after lengthy legal tussle
The European Commission on Monday gave the green light to Poland's plan for handing out CO2 emissions permits to its power and industrial sectors following a long-drawn-out battle between Brussels and Warsaw. The EU executive "took a decision on the new national allocation plan (NAP) submitted by Poland for distributing carbon dioxide emission allowances for the 2008-2012 trading period of the EU Emissions Trading System," it said in a statement. "It did not raise any objections."
Data left on old computers a boon for scam artists, warns EU data supervisor
Old computers and mobile phones that people have thrown away to be re-used or recycled are often not thought of again by their owners, but in fact they still may have very sensitive personal data on them that can often be worth a lot more to criminals than the recyclable materials contained in the device. On Thursday, the European Data Protection Supervisor, Peter Hustinx, warned that the European Commission's current proposal to recast an old directive on e-waste - the WEEE directive, for ‘waste electrical and electronic equipment' - was focussing only on the environmental considerations of junking old equipment, and had entirely forgotten about the threat to data left on laptops and PCs by their original owners.
EU leaders look outside UN to push forward climate talks
European Union leaders have for the first time officially endorsed moving beyond the United Nations in order to push forward the international climate negotiations process. At the EU's spring summit, the bloc's premiers and presidents embraced the G20 as a possible forum more amenable to climate discussions than the UN process, long bogged down by mistrust between rich and poor countries, while at the same time not completely abandoning the UN as some in the US have called for.
EU climate chief pessimistic after US visit
EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard has ended meetings with her various US counterparts dejected by uncertainty as to whether Washington will be able to pass badly-needed climate legislation in time for a summit Mexico. "It's very, very nervous times. People don't know, will it fly or will it not fly," she told reporters in the American capital on on Thursday (18 March), a day after she had met with climate special envoy Todd Stern, climate and energy 'tsar' Carol Browner, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson and a clutch of senators and congressmen.
Mexico tells EU to unblock climate funding
Mexico, the host of the next UN climate summit, has called on the EU to release the climate funds for developing countries which it promised at last year's climate conference in Copenhagen. "The developing world needs to see clear signals to have something in their hands at Cancun," Mexico's environment secretary, Juan Rafael Elvira, told reporters ahead of a meeting with his European counterparts in Brussels on Monday. "The developing countries want to see this money unblocked. Especially the island nations are waiting for this funding."
Opposition to EU soil directive 'not logical,' commission says
The new European environment commissioner has called strong opposition from key member states to EU-level legislation protecting soils "not logical." "The argument barely stands up. It seems to me not so clearly logical," commissioner Janez Potocnik told reporters following a discussion by EU environment ministers on the state of play with one of Europe's most badly delayed pieces of legislation.
'We failed' on species extinction, admits EU
European Union environment ministers officially gave up on a decade-old target to stop the depletion of the continent's animal and plant species on Monday. "We have missed our 2010 biodiversity target, obviously," European environment commissioner Janez Potocnik told reporters in Brussels following his first attendance at an EU environment council. "We must not repeat that mistake."
EU on track to meet renewable energy target
The European Union is to surpass its target of 20 percent consumption of energy from renewable sources by 2020, according to national forecasts submitted to the European Commission. The EU executive found that overall, the bloc will achieve a 20.3 percent share of renewables in its energy mix.
Commission lays out post-Copenhagen climate strategy
The European Union's climate chief on Tuesday (9 March) told the European Parliament she wants the bloc to forge ahead with cuts in carbon emissions of 30 percent - despite competing powers having yet to make similar pledges - in an attempt to win back EU leadership on the issue, believed to have been lost at the UN climate summit in her native Copenhagen last December. The EU is already committed to a 30 percent emissions cut but only in the event that other world powers, particularly the United States and China, make comparable reductions. China has yet to do so and US efforts at climate legislation have stalled.
Homeopathy industry pushes for EU-wide public healthcare support
With the European Commission soon to launch a review of EU pharmaceutical laws, the homeopathy industry feels the time is ripe to launch fresh lobbying push in Brussels to have the EU force all member states to provide access to the product from public health systems and loosen up the approval process for their remedies. Representatives of the industry, practitioners and patients that use homeopathic products are to hold an EU Homeopathy Day in the European Parliament on 23 March as the kick-off for a new effort to win EU-level alternative-medicine-friendly legislation.
EU commission approves cultivation of first GM crop in 12 years
The European Commission on Tuesday (2 March) approved the first genetically modified crop for cultivation in Europe in 12 years, provoking the ire of environmental groups and some member states and cheers from the biotech industry. The EU executive gave the green light to the growing of the Amflora potato, produced by Germany's BASF, the largest chemical company in the world, alongside the entry onto the European market of three GM maize products.
EU climate chief: 'No climate deal likely before 2012'
Global divisions on climate are so acute that a binding UN deal is unlikely for almost another two years, Europe's new climate commissioner believes.
EU privacy watchdog hammers secret anti-piracy talks
The European Union's data privacy watchdog has hammered the European Commission for engaging in secret international negotiations over the enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Tuberculosis' deadly return to Europe
… Vladimir appears as an unwrapped mummy, a skeleton of a man whose paper skin pulls taught over his Siberian bones. Top off, in stocking feet and navy Adidas track bottoms, he lies on his side as a nurse sponges the wounds left from the surgery he's had to remove some ribs to let his one lung - the other also removed by the doctors - breathe more easily. He has an ancient sickness, tuberculosis, but his is a wretched new mutation of the disease that now seems impervious to almost all of mankind's very much ageing weapons against it…
Palm oil plantations are now 'forests,' says EU
The European Commission and some EU member states hope to redefine palm oil plantations as "forests," according to a leaked document from the EU executive.
EU surmounts carbon capture impasse
European Union member states have come to agreement on the division of spoils in the bloc's plan to launch a controversial technology to bury carbon underground or under the sea bed.
Cyber-scam artists disrupt emissions trading across EU
Emissions trading registries in a number of EU countries were shut down on Tuesday (2 February) as a result of a phishing scam tricking traders into giving away their emissions allowances.
Battling the 'Multilateral Zombie' - EU climate strategy after Copenhagen
… The rough hip-check Europe received in the Danish capital in December, sidelining the bloc during the eleventh-hour huddle between major powers that produced the Copenhagen Accord, has produced a wave of despondency and cynicism amongst Brussels politicians, green lobbyists, and analysts - and carbon traders across the continent to boot. They're all having a crack at how poorly the EU played its hand during climate negotiations…
Commission wants new EU agency for rubbish
The huge rise in illegal waste shipments in recent years, Europe's thousands of illegal landfills, particularly in Italy and France, and the poor quality of waste management infrastructure in many member states means that a dedicated European Union agency devoted to waste is required, the commission has concluded.
Few countries submit climate pledges by deadline
A total of 55 countries have submitted their pledges to curb greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to the UN climate convention, the global body said on Monday (1 February).
European diplomats on Wednesday (27 January) decided to retain the EU offer of a 30 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions on 1990 levels by 2020 if other powers make comparable reductions in the hope that by holding to its previously committed level of ambition, it will regain its international climate change leadership.
Oslo and Brussels end mackerel spat
Norway and the European Union have reached agreement on fish quotas after a lengthy and at times choppy negotiation process.
UN fudges Copenhagen Accord deadline
As the European Union tussles over which carbon reduction figures to inscribe in the annexes of the controversial Copenhagen Accord produced in the dying hours of December's climate summit, the UN's climate change chief has warned that few countries, including the major emitters, have so far signed up with their own emission reduction plans.
EU states divided over jump to 30% cut in CO2
European Union member states are divided over the bloc's pledge to raise its CO2 commitment up to a 30 percent cut by 2020 in the wake of the Copenhagen UN climate summit debacle.
Hedegaard: EU must speak with one voice on climate
Europe risks again being sidelined, as in the final hours of the UN climate talks in December, unless the bloc speaks with one voice at future talks, the incoming climate commissioner warned on Friday (15 January).
Canadian and Greenlandic Inuit groups are suing the European Union over its ban on seal products, and are very confident they will win.
Big tobacco distorted EU treaty, scientists say
One of the biggest tobacco manufacturers in the world led a group of chemical, food, oil, pharmaceutical and other firms in a successful long-term lobbying strategy to shape European Union policy making in their favour, a new study says.
France considers tax on search engines
The French government is considering taxing search engines such as Google and Yahoo and internet service providers as a way to support the production of music, films and journalism in the digital age.
Paris wants pan-European carbon tax
France intends to push for a tax on carbon emissions across the European Union, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday (6 December), a week after his country's top court struck down an attempt to introduce just such a tax domestically.
French court strikes down flagship carbon tax as unjust
French President Nicholas Sarkozy's flagship carbon tax has been struck down by the country's top court as unjust and counterproductive to the fight against climate change.
EU wants action on threat from 'chemical cocktails'
Widespread declining sperm counts, increased rates of breast and testicular cancer, earlier onset of puberty and children's behaviour problems are a handful of the health effects attributed to so-called chemical cocktails, a growing concern amongst European Union governments.
EU carbon prices fall following Copenhagen flop
Carbon prices tumbled on Monday (21 December) as the ramifications of the "Copenhagen Accord," cobbled together in the dying hours of last week's UN climate summit, filtered through the markets.
Copenhagen failure 'disappointing', 'shameful'
The Copenhagen summit, billed as a historic meeting about nothing less than saving the planet for human habitation, ended this weekend with a low-key accord that was rejected by poor nations, described as "disappointing" by EU leaders and condemned by NGOs as a "shameful, monumental failure."
Stalemate in Copenhagen as climate talks enter final stretch
Wealthy nations at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen appear to be coalescing around the number 100 billion as their final offer to the developing world including China - although whether a dollar, pound or euro sign comes in front of the figure despite the variance in currency valuations is another story.
Africa lowers climate cash demands to boost Copenhagen deal chances
Africa has dramatically scaled back its demands for funds from rich countries to help deal with climate change in return for certainty that promised funds will actually be delivered and for the right to a say in how the money is managed.
Archbishop Tutu: Rich nations 'condemning Africa to incineration'
On the eve of the arrival of senior ministers and the first few heads of state at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, pessimism was rife that divisions amongst the major parties were so wide that talks may end in collapse.
Climate summit organisation in disarray
It was billed as the most important meeting in history. Naturally, as the whole purpose is to save the planet, or at least keep it inhabitable for human beings. But the UN climate conference in Copenhagen itself has so far been pretty uninhabitable for many of the human beings trying to attend.
Climate talks almost derailed by bad faith between rich and poor
UN climate talks in Copenhagen were briefly suspended on Monday (14 December) as anger bubbled over among developing nations, which accused their richer counterparts of trying to "kill off" the Kyoto Protocol.
UK, France want fifth of third world climate cash for forests
Britain and France want a fifth of the climate cash rich countries plan to give to the developing world to be exclusively devoted to stopping deforestation.
Europe offers €7 billion for third world climate cash
European Union leaders have agreed to offer around €7.2 billion to help developing countries deal with the effects of climate change over the next three years.
EU leaders to work through the night for third world climate funds
EU leaders at a summit in Brussels are to push on through the night to come up with more money to help developing countries deal with the effects of climate change over the next three years.
EU emissions trading an 'open door' for crime, Europol says
The EU's flagship mechanism for combatting climate change, the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), has been revealed as a magnet for tax fraud on a grand scale, costing government coffers around €5 billion euros.
Wind farms and 'clean coal' projects scoop EU funds
The offshore wind and carbon capture sector received a boost on Wednesday (9 December) when the European Commission selected 15 projects at the cutting edge of energy technologies to receive €1.5 billion in EU funding.
Europe's business leaders say 'no way' to 30% carbon cut
Some of the largest corporations in Europe have warned EU leaders against agreeing to an increase of the bloc's commitment to greenhouse gas reductions from 20 percent to 30 percent.
Europe accused of dirty tricks in Copenhagen
Europe, the US and other advanced nations have been accused of pressuring developing countries to pull experienced negotiators and excluding them from access to draft documents in an effort to undermine their position at the bargaining table.
Poland attempts to delay Europe's CO2 reduction target
The Polish EU affairs minister, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, said on Monday that Europe cannot jump up to a 30 percent C02 reduction target at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
'Greatest show on Earth' opens in Copenhagen
Some 15,000 delegates from 192 countries are descending on Copenhagen on Monday (7 December) for what many are describing as the biggest show on Earth, and, for scientists at least, the most important meeting the world has ever known: the UN summit on climate change.
Europe winning the battle against online piracy?
The war against online piracy has been a ferocious but as yet almost entirely unsuccessful struggle. It has left both the entertainment industry and the governments that have tried to buttress them bloodied and until recently at a loss as to what to do.
China pledges 40% cut in CO2 ahead of summit
China has finally come to the table with a CO2 emissions reduction target ahead of the Copenhagen climate summit less than two weeks from now. But its proposal would still mean emissions growth in net terms in the coming years.
EU parliament passes green tyre-labeling law
The European Union is to introduce a tyre-labelling scheme intended to encourage consumers to buy greener tyres for their vehicles.
Reding warns Spain against internet cut-off
EU telecoms chief Viviane Reding has warned that the European Commission would take action against Spain if the government moves to cut the internet access of content pirates.
UN climate chief: 'The world is waiting for the EU'
UN climate chief Yvo de Boer has said that a strong global agreement is still possible at the international climate summit in Copenhagen in 13 days' time, but the EU must "provide clarity" on its negotiating position to make it happen.
Sweden hits out at US ahead of climate summit
As the UN Copenhagen climate change summit next month threatens increasingly to be a flop, the Swedish prime minister has begun laying the blame for failure at Washington's doorstep.
Energy labelling comes to windows and shower heads
European consumers are used to seeing energy consumption labels on their TVs, washing machines and dryers - any product that uses energy directly - but they will soon be able to check out similar labels on other consumer products such as taps, windows and insulation.
Construction sector across Europe given an eco-renovation
The building sector in Europe is now scheduled to get an energy efficiency renovation, with all new buildings after 2020 forced to reduce their carbon footprint to almost zero.
EU states drag their heels on clean energy funding
A tiny fraction of the billions of euros that have been allocated for clean energy projects in central and eastern European countries have made their way to their intended recipients, according to a new report.
Global tuna commission embraces EU proposal
The global organisation tasked with managing tuna in the Atlantic has unanimously embraced an EU proposal to reduce the annual catch of the critically endangered fish by 40 percent. But conservationists said the cut-back is still not enough to allow stocks to recover.
EU on track to meet Kyoto targets using controversial offsets
The European Union members that are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol are on track to meet their greenhouse gas reduction target commitments under the 1997 UN framework.
EU pessimistic about Copenhagen climate change deal
Europe has given up hope that a binding global treaty on climate change can be achieved at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
'Right to internet' battle lost as parliament concedes no legal basis
Early Thursday morning the European Parliament and EU member states finally reached a deal over a long-delayed telecoms package when MEPs softened their opposition to French-style 'three-strikes' laws aimed at illegal internet downloaders, ending for now the Brussels debate on a fundamental 'right' to internet access.
Brussels ups climate pressure at limp US summit
EU leaders upped the pressure on the US at what turned out to be a fairly colourless summit in Washington to show leadership in the battle against climate change.
Brussels worried about UK advertising firm snooping on websurfers
The European Commission is worried that the UK is not taking online privacy rights seriously and has warned London that it will take the government to court if it does not crack down on an controversial advertising company that gathered information about internet users' surfing habits in secret.
UK to copy French 'Hadopi' internet piracy bill
UK business minister Peter Mandelson has announced that the UK intends to adopt legislation almost identical to France's controversial three-strikes anti-internet-piracy legislation.
Latest EU climate deal remains vague on funding
Another European Union summit has come and gone, yielding only the vaguest of hints on how much cash the bloc is willing to stump up to help the developing world tackle the effects of climate change.
Eastern states continue to play tough in climate talks
Old and new EU member states at the European summit in Brussels on Thursday (29 October) battled fiercely over a final position to take to global climate talks in Copenhagen in November, but still almost no progress was made and eastern states warned that they may go to Copenhagen with their own proposals distinct from the rest of the EU.
Brussels calls on member states to speed up switchover to digital TV
European Union member states should hurry up their switchover from analogue to digital television, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
Commission unveils van CO2 emissions standards proposal
The European Commission has proposed a significantly watered-down bill that aims to reduce CO2 emissions from vans.
Climate activists shut down European business conference
British-style "climate camp" activists shut down the annual conference of the Confederation of European Business in Brussels on Wednesday (28 October) morning, occupying and blockading the European Commission building where industrialists were due to talk about global warming.
Sarkozy unveils massive aid package for French farmers
French President Nicholas Sarkozy has pledged a €1.65 billion aid package for his country's already heavily subsidised farmers who have nevertheless been bludgeoned by falling prices in the sector.
European parliament abandons internet cut-off struggle
As France finally passes its harsh anti-piracy law and Britain readies its own bill to tackle illegal file-sharing, the European Parliament in a major U-turn has dropped its opposition to cutting internet access to scofflaw downloaders.
Internet cut-off for French download pirates to start within months
France's Constitutional Council has finally given the green light to the government's plans to cut off internet access to repeat illegal download offenders, widely viewed by both supporters and opponents as the most draconian legislation yet devised in the battle against copyright piracy.
EU warns of climate stalemate, blames Washington
The EU's top climate negotiator, freshly back in Brussels from late-in-the-game talks in Thailand, has warned of a near stalemate in discussions.
Swine flu drug gaps expose need for EU vaccine-sharing rules
While fears of a swine flu pandemic appear to have been over-blown, difficulties in the procuring and sharing of vaccines in parts of Europe have jolted health ministers into realising that something must be done to ensure no member state is left out should the continent ever be faced with the outbreak of a genuinely fearsome disease.
Merkel joins EU chorus against Google Books
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has added her voice to a small but growing number of people who are increasingly alarmed about internet search giant Google's scheme to digitise millions of books from the globe's leading libraries.
Milk farmers vent fury at militant demo in Brussels
Several thousand dairy farmers from across the continent on Monday drove their tractors to the heart of the European quarter in Brussels, where EU agriculture ministers were meeting informally to discuss a response to the crisis in the milk sector.
EU court slaps down Brussels attempts to lower eastern CO2 emissions
Poland and Estonia have won a court challenge to European Commission attempts to rein in their carbon emissions, a move that could threaten the European Union's flagship mechanism for combatting climate change.
EU criticised for 'inadequate' climate fund
The European Commission has proposed that the EU pay as little as €2 billion a year to fund third world carbon reduction measures and adaptation to unavoidable climate change.
Brussels wants temporary ban on bluefin tuna trade
The European Commission has backed a ban on the trade in bluefin tuna, an important commercial species, especially for sushi, but also one that is massively overfished.
EU digital library scheme plodding along, complains Reding
Europe's construction of a 21st Century digital Library of Alexandria is plodding along in a rather too unhurried fashion, according to Brussels' information society commissioner Viviane Reding, responsible for all things electronic and virtual.
Aviation faces CO2 squeeze while EU states bankroll the sector
Thousands of airlines are set to face problems in flying into the European Union from 2012 unless they join the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the European Commission has said, although a number of member states at the same time continue to bankroll the sector that is the fastest growing source of transport greenhouse gases to the tune of millions of euros.
European wind lobby distances itself from UK turbine factory occupation
British workers occupying a wind turbine factory in an attempt to prevent its closure have become a cause célèbre for environmentalists, Green MEPs and trade unionists, but the wind lobby in both London and Brussels has condemned the actions of the workers and taken the side of the company.
EU data monitors outline Facebook ground rules
Some users of social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Bebo and not just the sites themselves are responsible for ensuring they adhere to European privacy laws, EU data protection enforcers have warned.
EU commits €100m to nuclear and radiological security
The threat of dirty bombs, biowarfare and nuclear terrorism drew the attention of the European Union's executive on Wednesday (24 June), which proposed a policy package aimed at strengthening chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear security in the bloc.
EU holds back on climate funds for poor countries
European leaders have once again delayed any decision on committing money for developing countries to help them mitigate carbon emissions and adapt to an already rapidly changing climate.
Netherlands looking to French-style crack-down on internet piracy
In the wake of France's imposition of its controversial three-strikes legislation aiming to crush internet piracy, the Dutch parliament has called on the government to also deal harshly with offenders.
EU 10-year transport plan lacks green content
The European Commission's new 10-year vision for transport policy contains almost no climate change-related measures, disappointing Brussels' own environment department officials who worry that while Europe has met with successes in reducing emissions from the energy and manufacturing sectors, soaring emissions from transport have wiped out those gains.
Europe's waters safe for swimming
It's the season for getting the trunks out of the cupboard or buying a new bikini and heading to the beach, and Europeans and tourists that visit the continent can take a plunge knowing that most bathing waters in the European Union are safe for a swim.