AFP
20241 articles published since 08 Mar 2022
20241 articles published since 08 Mar 2022
French energy multinational TotalEnergies and German energy group RWE have won a contract to built a large offshore wind energy project with a potential to supply the equivalent of one million households with electricity, the French government said Wednesday. By 2030 already, French wind energy is to produce the electricity needs equivalent of two million French households, the ministry said.
An influential consumer rights association on Wednesday urged a court to ban the sale of Perrier bottled water in France, saying the brand's claim that its product is "natural" was misleading. The Swiss conglomerate had been already been under pressure over Perrier and its other brands as EU regulations strictly limit what treatments are allowed for any product marketed as natural mineral water.
Amazon plans to shut all its grocery stores in Britain, after the shops without checkout registers failed to compete with online delivery demand. It is set to completely shut 14 Amazon Fresh stores, and convert the remaining five into Whole Foods Market shops, the organic grocery chain it bought in 2017.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday rejected claims his government was undermining the climate change fight, but insisted that industry also needed to be protected to revive the crisis-wracked economy. In a fiery debate in parliament marked by loud heckling from the opposition benches, the chancellor noted his critics claimed he was "undermining climate protection".
The Channel Tunnel's operator and train service Eurostar have expressed confidence that the European Union's much delayed new border-check system will run smoothly when launched next month. AFP journalists noted that some glitches remained ahead of the UK launch, with some Eurostar and Channel Tunnel scanners not operating smoothly. bur-bcp/ajb/lth
Embattled Australian telco giant Optus was hit with a $66 million fine on Wednesday over "appalling" sales conduct as the firm grapples with fallout from a network outage linked to several deaths. The outage prevented calls to emergency services, with four deaths now linked to the outage.
In a labyrinth of tunnels running beneath 4,000-metre peaks, Tajik miners are scrabbling to secure antimony, one of the metals at the centre of a worldwide race for rare minerals. The miners drill sample holes 50 metres (165 feet) long to check for minerals and can dig a 54-metre tunnel for extraction in half a day, said underground site manager Kholmakhmad Khakimzoda.
Once a symbol of cultural prestige, Iran's handmade rugs are no longer selling as fast as they once did, as sanctions weigh on an already troubled economy and buyers' tastes change. Nabizadeh moreover says that even the tourists who come "might not be interested in our work as consumer tastes have changed" and "the price tags are quite high".
Equities wavered Wednesday following a down day on Wall Street, where worries about high valuations were compounded by mixed messaging from the Federal Reserve on its plans for interest rates. Investors have enjoyed a months-long rally that has pushed some markets to record highs but the run-up took a pause Tuesday amid talk that the gains may have gone too far.
AFP
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