feed on feeds - 2014/11/28 - items 0 to 15

mrspoonsi sends this Reuters report: France wants to gradually phase out the use of diesel fuel for private passenger transport and will put in place a system to identify the most polluting vehicles, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday. Next year, the government will launch a car identification system that will rank vehicles by the amount of pollution they emit, Valls said in a speech. This will make it possible for local authorities to limit city access for the dirtiest cars. "In France, we have long favoured the diesel engine. This was a mistake, and we will progressively undo that, intelligently and pragmatically," Valls said. About 80 percent of French motorists drive diesel-powered cars. Valls said taxation would have to orient citizens towards more ecological choices, notably the 2015 state budget measures to reduce the tax advantage of diesel fuel versus gas.

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En 30-årig italienare, pro-palestinsk aktivist, sköts av israelisk militär och skadades allvarligt vid en demonstration utanför Nablus på den ockuperade Västbanken på fredagen. Mannen vårdas på sjukhus i Ramallah och uppges ha träffats i bröstet men hans tillstånd ska vara stabilt.

Egyptens tidigare president Hosni Mubarak ska på lördagen få sin dom för anklagelserna om mord på hundratals demonstranter under oroligheterna som ledde fram till hans fall 2011. Domstolen ska också säga sitt om åtalspunkter mot Mubarak och hans söner Alaa och Gamal om korruption.

När FN:s klimattoppmöte inleds i Lima nästa vecka åker Åsa Romson dit för att verka för ambitiösa mål. Men på hemmaplan har Miljöpartiet haft svårt att få till klimatpolitiken.

Livets ord dementerar nu att några pensionspengar betalas ut till kyrkans grundare Ulf Ekman och hans fru Birgitta, som i våras konverterade till katolicismen.

Runt 200 flyktingar från Syrien som demonstrerar i Aten bad på fredagen om att få tillåtelse att lämna Grekland för att ta sig till andra europeiska länder.

Tusentals demonstranter i Togo gav sig ut på gatorna i huvudstaden Lome på fredagen för att uppnå en lagändring som förhindrar att president Faure Gnassingbe kan få en tredje mandatperiod i valet nästa år.

Lasrick writes: Chris Neuzil is a senior scientist with the National Research Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. He thinks the qualities of shale make it the perfect rock in which to safely and permanently house high-level nuclear waste. Given the recent discovery that water is much more of an issue than originally thought for the tough rock at Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Utah, the unique qualities of shale, along with its ubiquitous presence in the U.S., could make shale rock a better choice for the 70,000 metric tons of commercial spent fuel currently sitting above ground at nuclear power facilities throughout the country. France, Switzerland, and Belgium are all considering repositories in shale, but it hasn't been studied much in the U.S. "Shale is the only rock type likely to house high-level nuclear waste in other countries that has never been seriously considered by the U.S. high-level waste program. The uncertain future of Yucca Mountain places plans for spent nuclear fuel in the United States at a crossroads. It is an opportunity to include shale in a truly comprehensive examination of disposal options."