World Hot News
- 123 2019.02.01
- 1 2019.01.28
- A greener way to Umbria's capital 2008.05.28
- Brussels trade war with US looms over biofuel 2008.05.28
- Hauliers protesting at fuel cost 2008.05.27
- Car firms clash over Bond credentials 2008.05.27
- Suu Kyi's house arrest extended 2008.05.27
- Court rejects HIV asylum seeker 2008.05.27
- Rare Elizabeth I portrait found 2008.05.27
- Women breach all-male Greek site 2008.05.27
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2019. 2. 1. 03:24
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2019. 1. 28. 19:04
A greener way to Umbria's capital
2008. 5. 28. 16:33
The arrival of Perugia's new 'Mini Metro' is providing a car-free way to visit this ancient city, but it still has to win over its critics. Bernhard Warner reports
Train to the future ... Perugia’s Mini Metro rail line climbs for 3km from the valley floor to the historic centre in just 11 minutes
Perugia, the hilltop capital city of Umbria, was built to repel invaders. Today, this would mean motorists, or anybody trying to navigate its precariously narrow roads to reach the splendid 14th-century Palazzo dei Priori that sits at its highest point and the nearby people-watching hot spot of Corso Vannucci.
Like hill towns across Europe, this Etruscan stronghold, surrounded by a massive travertine wall, was simply not designed to accommodate visitors en masse - on foot or in coaches. As for hosting jazz festivals or chocolate festivals, for which Perugia is famous, the strain on the city's foundation shows. Parking spots are precious and the unsightly queue of idling coaches crammed beneath a 2,300-year-old Etruscan arch or beside a medieval aqueduct is hardly a welcoming sight.
But starting this summer, the city may have found a solution with a €95 million light rail project, Perugia's most ambitious and controversial public works initiative since the early 1980s when the city burrowed through the Rocca Paolina, a medieval citadel, to create a new entrance into the historic centre.
Dubbed the "Mini Metro", the rail line, which starts from the valley floor, climbs for 3km, wiggles around ancient constructions and monuments, and drops visitors off in the historic centre where an unobstructed view of Assisi and the rolling countryside gleams in the distance. Total travel time? 11 minutes.
At first look, the sight of pilot-less metallic pods shuttling people up and down the hillside on an elevated track seems, to put it mildly, anachronistic. Call it Tron-meets-Dante in the Umbrian hills.
Debuting earlier this year, the Mini Metro has already created a fuss. Transport specialists from Vienna and Spain's Santiago de Compostela have visited Perugia to inquire about bringing a similar model to their cities. Many locals though have given it a cold welcome, complaining about the continuous hum of the cable pulleys.
Built by Leitner Technologies, an Italian engineering firm better known for its ski gondolas and high-speed lifts, the mini metro is being hailed as an engineering first. It promises to greatly improve access to this ancient fortified city without trampling on the city's past, and in an environmentally friendly fashion. The Mini Metro has the capacity to bring 3,000 visitors into the city per hour and 72,000 in and out every day, going a long way towards eliminating exhaust-belching coaches.Brussels trade war with US looms over biofuel
2008. 5. 28. 16:25
· European commissioners back dumping allegations
· American firms threaten counter-complaint to WTO
Peter Mandelson, the European commissioner, has fired the first salvo in a potential transatlantic trade war by agreeing to challenge the US over its biofuel subsidies, which are chasing British and continental firms out of business.
Confidential documents seen by the Guardian show that Mandelson and the European commission have put their signatures to anti-dumping complaints lodged by the European Biodiesel Board.
Washington will be asked this week to answer allegations that subsidies amounting to 11p a litre on B99 exports from the US, plus "splash-and-dash" operations being conducted through the US, represent unfair competition.
Industry figures who asked not to be named said they were "delighted" that their allegations that US biodiesel was being dumped on the European market were being taken up by Brussels. "This is a huge step forward for us," said a producer. "It opens the way for us to finally put to an end practices that are contrary to the rules of the World Trade Organisation."
The European Biodiesel Board lodged a formal complaint against the US with Mandelson at the end of last month after a disastrous period for British, German and other biodiesel producers.
D1, one of the leading UK firms, announced in April that it would be closing its newly built refineries and laying off all its staff there because it could not compete against cheap US imports. Elliott Mannis, D1's chief executive, said it was an "unbelievable situation" that Europe had sat on its hands so long and let B99 cause turmoil in a market that has opened up to huge new demand.
The British government had mandated that from mid-April 2.5% of all petrol and diesel sold on the forecourt must be made of crop-based fuel in a bid to reduce carbon pollution and slow global warming. A huge row has since broken out with environmentalists who say that many biofuels are not sustainable and are adding to soaring food prices and deforestation.
Last week Linda McAvan, the Labour MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, called in the European parliament for an investigation of the "outrageous" practices highlighted in the Guardian over "splash and dash".
This is the loophole that allows traders to export biodiesel to the US just to pick up a subsidy by adding a tiny amount of ordinary petroleum diesel and then ship it back. She noted that the practice not only put the European biodiesel industry further at risk but "involves unnecessary shipping across the Atlantic, which increases emissions of greenhouse gases".
In an official reply, Mariann Fischer Boel, the European agriculture commissioner, said: "While the commission cannot comment on the extent of the alleged practice referred to in the question, it shares the concerns about the impact on the European industry of the United States tax subsidy."
The European Biodiesel Board claims that US exports of B99 - biodiesel with up to 1% petroleum added - to the European Union rose from 100,000 tonnes in 2006 to 1m tonnes in 2007, which is equal to about 15% of the entire European market.
The case against the US will not be one-sided. Manning Feraci, of the US National Biodiesel Board, has said: "It is hypocritical for the EBB to cry foul while they benefit from a blatant trade barrier."
He believes that EU biodiesel specifications are discriminatory and also breach WTO rules. He has been threatening to lodge a counter-complaint with the US trade representative, Susan Schwab.
McAvan said she was pleased that the EC was finally taking the issue seriously but added: "My fear is that by the time we get something done, the European industry will be out of business."
Hauliers protesting at fuel cost
2008. 5. 27. 20:38
Hundreds of lorry drivers angry at soaring fuel prices are travelling in convoy to protests in central London and along the M4 in Wales. Hauliers say diesel prices topping 120p a litre, plus a planned 2p fuel tax rise, will drive firms "to the wall". Protesters are demanding an "essential user" duty rebate for HGV drivers. It comes as Chancellor Alistair Darling prepares to meet Labour MPs concerned about plans to increase road tax on older, more polluting vehicles. Forty-two MPs have signed a Commons motion asking the government to reconsider.
Amid horn beeps, convoys of lorries from the M2 in Kent and other sites around the UK are making their way to London.
Motorists have been warned to expect major delays. The eastbound A40 was due to be closed from 1000 to 1600BST between the northern roundabout A3220 junction and Paddington as lorry drivers left their vehicles to head to 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition. In Wales, about 100 drivers began a 60-mile convoy protest from Cross Hands, near Llanelli. They had been due to hand in a petition to the Senedd in Cardiff Bay but instead were heading to a service station west of the city to hand it to Conservative Welsh Assembly members. HAVE YOUR SAY
We have a worldwide reputation for being an expensive country for fuel. No wonder they call us 'treasure island' Adrian, Chester
The convoy was delayed by police issuing public order notices to drivers instructing them to drive at at least 40mph, depending on conditions, and to keep to the inside lane of the motorway. Mike Presneill, of protest group Transaction 2007, said: "Fuel is rocketing. The government has the power to act but appears not to be listening. Hundreds of UK transport firms are being driven to the wall." Haulage company boss Peter Carroll, another of the protest organisers, told BBC News: "The main thing we're hoping to achieve is to get the government to recognise that this isn't a problem, or even a big problem, it's an absolute crisis."
Aerial footage of the protest With each lorry now costing £1,000 per week in fuel and bills up £40,000 a month at his firm since last October, he said hundreds of UK companies would go out of business if nothing was done and they would be replaced by continental hauliers using cheaper fuel from abroad. He said drivers recognised the government could not control global oil prices but said an "essential user" duty rebate of between 20p and 25p per litre for lorries would help firms compete on a "level playing field" with foreign hauliers. Mr Carroll said a similar rebate scheme was already operating in the UK for bus companies. He added: "If they do that, we keep in business, we continue to pay our taxes and play our part in UK business and also the government wins because we take some of the inflationary pressure out of the economy.
"Because all the time that our fuel is going up, we're trying to push those costs onto our customers, who in turn try to push it onto members of the general public." The government is coming under mounting pressure over fuel prices and its plans to increase road tax for vehicles registered since 2001 which emit higher levels of pollutants. Owners of the most polluting cars could face a tax rise of as much as £200 - a move which the Conservatives say will hit poorer drivers hardest. Some Labour MPs have signed a motion calling on the Treasury to think again about the retrospective aspects of the policy that they say is "unfair" to people who have already bought their cars. One Labour MP says the government risks alienating "Mondeo man" - the name given in the past to middle-income voters Labour needed to woo if it wanted to defeat the Conservatives. Environment minister Joan Ruddock has said the government "could not lose sight of the environment agenda", but Business Secretary John Hutton told the BBC the chancellor was "listening to what people are saying about vehicle excise duty". "We are trying to get this balance right between encouraging choices to go green but not hammering people," he said. His comments came ahead of his speech about alternative power sources at the British Atlantic Survey meeting in Cambridge later on Tuesday.
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Car firms clash over Bond credentials
2008. 5. 27. 20:37
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By Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News |
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  James Bond almost had a love affair with his Bentleys, almost more important than his conquests of women  Richard Charlesworth, Bentley Motors  |
A genteel disagreement about whether James Bond prefers Bentleys to Aston Martin has raised eyebrows in the world of luxurious cars.
The spat comes as the latest James Bond novel, Devil May Care, is published to mark the centenary of Ian Fleming, the author who invented the spy during the early years of the Cold War.
In the new book, written by Sebastian Faulks "writing as Ian Fleming", Commander Bond is buzzing about in a convertible two-seater Bentley, dubbed R-type Continental.
"It's quite nice from a historical perspective, as James Bond drove Bentleys in the books," observes Richard Charlesworth, director of royal and VIP relations at Bentley Motors.
"Fleming himself was a Bentley fan and a Bentley driver," continues Mr Charlesworth, who also oversees Bentley's heritage collection.
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 Who would want to read the book? The film is what made James Bond famous Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin |
"He was brought up at a time when the Bentley brothers were winning a lot of races.
"The way he wrote it, James Bond almost had a love affair with his Bentleys, almost more important than his conquests of women."
Such apparent efforts by Bentley to muscle in on what has long been seen as Aston Martin-territory are met with guffaws by chief executive Ulrich Bez.
"Who would want to read the book?" he cries. "The film is what made James Bond famous."
In the films, Commander Bond "requires the best of British", insists Mr Bez.
"And that's an Aston Martin."
Product placement?
In this year's Bond-film, Quantum of Solace, actor Daniel Craig will be back behind the wheel of an Aston Martin DB9. (A well publicised fact, not least since a delivery-driver recently accidentally drove one of them into a lake.)
In many films, Bond's car was an Aston... |
"We are there, and someone else is trying to be there," Mr Bez shrugs. "What Ian Fleming was doing is a different story."
Retorts Bentley's Mr Charlesworth: "Had we made any effort, he'd have a right to be dismissive, but we've not.
"We're not paying to be in the book," he adds - though he has arranged for a classic Bentley to be loaned to the publishers to support the book launch, which will also feature a £750 Bentley Special Series leather-bound edition.
The same is true for Aston Martin, Mr Bez insists; even though it might come across as pretty costly product placement, Aston is not, apparently, paying to be featured in the films.
"Those involved in a love affair do not pay for each other," he declares cryptically.
Instead, Aston merely lends its cars to the film makers whose stuntmen give them a good thrashing before the wrecks are handed back to the company.
"For me, they are pieces of art," grins Mr Bez, who is proud to display the crashed cars at VIP-events at the company's gleaming factory.
Loyal, but only to Queen and country
Aston Martin has made much of Commander Bond's long-lasting loyalty, though historically the carmaker's love affair with the spy has been unstable.
...but his loyalty has sometimes given way to other marques. |
In Casino Royale, which was made when Aston Martin was still owned by Ford, Mr Bond let down many purists when he appeared behind the wheel of a Mondeo.
In previous films he has driven a string of models, including American cars such as a Lincoln Continental, a Ford Galaxie 500, and a Chevrolet Impala.
And, perhaps more famously, Commander Bond has captained a submarine version of the Lotus Esprit.
In Octopussy he stole an Alfa Romeo, and he has driven a string of BMWs.
In From Russia with Love, he even drives a Bentley, albeit briefly.
Bond in the books
In books, the commander has been even less loyal, in part because Mr Fleming's novels were supplemented with Bond-books by other authors - Kingsley Amis under the pseudonym Robert Markham, John Pearson, John Gardner and Raymond Benson - and now, Sebastian Faulks.
Fleming liked to write about fancy cars |
The greatest departure from Commander Bond's traditional taste in cars came during the 1980s when John Gardner had him driving Saabs.
On other occasions he has driven a Land Rover, a Simca Aronda and a Sunbeam Alpine, explains Corinne Turner, managing director of Ian Fleming Publications.
"Ian picked the cars he liked himself at the time," she explains.
And in the Bond-books he wrote himself, "Bond's personal car was always a Bentley".
"The Aston Martin was one of the [MI6] pool cars."
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Suu Kyi's house arrest extended
2008. 5. 27. 20:36
Burma's ruling junta has renewed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest. Police earlier detained about 20 activists as they marched to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's home in Rangoon, where she has been held since May 2003. The decision came at a tricky time for the generals, who have been criticised for their response to Cyclone Nargis. Ms Suu Kyi's party won a resounding election victory in 1990, but she was denied power by the military. The 62-year-old National League for Democracy (NLD) leader has spent more than 12 of the last 18 years in detention.
Police bundled a number of opposition activists into a truck as they marched on Tuesday from the NLD party headquarters to her lakeside villa in Rangoon. Correspondents had expected her house arrest - which has been renewed annually - to be rolled over for another year. Her supporters have argued that she must now legally be either released or put on trial. Extending her detention will likely provoke further criticism of the junta by an international community already frustrated by the military's handling of the relief effort after Cyclone Nargis.
The regime has been under fire for stalling foreign aid destined for cyclone victims. Ms Suu Kyi's detention has long been the cause of friction between the junta and the international community. Her party used the anniversary to denounce the regime's claim that 93% of voters had endorsed a new military-backed constitution at a recent referendum. It said the vote was a "sham" that was not free or fair, and claimed the authorities "used coercion, intimidated, deceived, misrepresented and used undue influence" to boost the number of "yes" votes. The party also denounced the regime for holding the referendum so soon after Cyclone Nargis, saying the ruling generals only considered "power politics and self-interest", not public welfare. |
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Court rejects HIV asylum seeker
2008. 5. 27. 20:34
An HIV-positive Ugandan woman's claim to stay in the UK has been rejected by the European Court of Human Rights. Her lawyers argued that a lack of medical care in Uganda would lead to her early death, and this would amount to cruel and degrading treatment. The government denies this, saying all NHS HIV drugs are available in Uganda. The court agreed that if the unnamed woman were sent back to Uganda, there would be no violation of the bar on inhuman or degrading treatment. When the woman entered the UK in March 1998 under an assumed name, she was seriously ill and was admitted to hospital. Rejected claim Soon afterwards, solicitors lodged an asylum application on her behalf, claiming she had been raped by government soldiers in Uganda because of her association with the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group in the north of the country. The lawyers argued that her life would be in danger if she were returned to Uganda. By November 1998, she was diagnosed with two illnesses which are known to be indicators of having AIDS, and as being in an extremely advanced state of HIV infection. Her asylum claim was rejected in March 2001, a decision she appealed against. In rejecting her claim, the secretary of state found no evidence that Ugandan authorities were interested in her and that treatment of Aids in Uganda was comparable to any other African country. The secretary of state also found that all the major anti-viral drugs were available in Uganda at highly subsidised prices. In January the government sent a terminally ill Ghanaian woman who had been receiving treatment in the UK back to her country because her visa had expired. |
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Rare Elizabeth I portrait found
2008. 5. 27. 20:32
A rare portrait of Queen Elizabeth I as a young princess has been discovered in a private collection at a stately home in Northamptonshire. The portrait, dating from 1650 to 1680, was found in the Duke of Buccleuch's collection at Boughton House. It shows Elizabeth with siblings Edward VI and Mary I, father Henry VIII and his jester, Will Somers. It is a copy of an original panel painting, which is thought to date back to the early 1550s. The portrait was examined by historians Alison Weir and Tracy Borman after they were told of its existence by the director of Boughton House. It will now be put on display at the stately home, and historians hope to trace the original through publicising the discovery. Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I before her accession to the throne are extremely rare, with only two other proven portraits known - one at Hampton Court and the other at Windsor Castle. Mystery Tracy Borman said that when she was first sent a picture of the portrait she realised it had never been seen before. "The more we found out, the more obvious it was that nobody had come across this," she said. "It's clearly a copy of a lost original and it's that mystery that we started to try to solve. "It's also a very different look to Elizabeth and comparing it to other portraits it helps us to solve the identity of other portraits - for example one always known as the Unknown Lady in the National Portrait Gallery." Charles Lister, house manager at Boughton House, said the picture was to go on public display when the house opens in August. He said: "The portrait is normally in a private area of the house with a number of other Tudor portraits. "When we had a meeting with Tracy it came under discussion and it sort of all went from there. "We knew it was important because it's a picture of Henry VIII and his family but we did not realise it in the context of Elizabeth as princess." The finding is reported in the latest edition of the BBC History Magazine. |
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Women breach all-male Greek site
2008. 5. 27. 20:31
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Four Moldovan women accidentally breached a ban dating back to 1060 when they were dropped off on the Greek monastic peninsula of Mount Athos. They told police they had sailed from Turkey after paying $6,300 to two Ukrainian people smugglers, but were unaware they were breaking Greek law. Women are banned from Mount Athos, home to 20 monasteries and considered Orthodox Christianity's spiritual home. Police held the group, and one officer said "they were forgiven" by the monks. Animal ban The four women, aged between 27 and 32, and a Moldovan man, aged 41, were discovered by the monks at the weekend. "They told police and the monks they were sorry but they couldn't have known this was a no-women area," a police officer told Reuters. "They were forgiven." Under Greek law, breaching the ban can lead to a jail sentence. Women - even many female domestic animals - have not been allowed on the mountain since a decree banning women was issued by Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachos in 1060 | |
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