Woman to Command UN Peacekeeping Force for the first time
For the first time, a woman will command a UN peacekeeping force, after Norway’s Major General Kristin Lund was appointed to lead troops in Cyprus.
Light-Sensitive Buildings to Reduce Air Pollution
Improving air quality is a major challenge facing all European countries, both in order to combat climate change as well as to minimise the direct effects of breathing polluted air on human health.
Coca-Cola to Close Two Russian Juice Plants as Market Shrinks
Coca-Cola is closing two of its four fruit juice plants is Russia in response to falling demand in the country, putting at risk hundreds of jobs in a business which the US company had bought for $276 million only four years ago. The company will close the two plants run by its Nidan unit on the 1st June, transferring some of their capacity to the other juice unit, Multon, before the year-end, spokesman Vladimir Kravtsov said. The plants being close are located in Novosibirsk in Siberia and one in the Moscow region. Some of the unit’s 1000 staff will be offered jobs at Multon, Kravtsov says. “The juice market fell by 5 percent last year and the performance of Nidan was worse than the market,” he said, adding the company had been considering the move for some time and made the closure decision at the end of last year. The beverage giant bought Nidan in 2010, which were the fourth-biggest juice maker in Russia at the time. Multon, which it acquired in 2005, has two plants with a combined production capacity of more than 790 million litres a year. The Russian juice market fell by 6 percent year-on year in volume terms in January-September 2013, according to market researchers in Nielsen. In addition to falling market volumes, both Coca-Cola and its rival PepsiCo are faced with increased competition from local Russian brands. The plant closures coincide with an economic slowdown in Russia. The economy is on the brink of recession, having started to shrink in the…
Boosting E-skills in European Higher Education Requires Political will at National Level
With 25% of adults in the European Union lacking the necessary digital skills to effectively use information and communication technologies, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published in autumn 2013, the European Commission is facing various challenges in order to bridge the competitive gap with the rest of the world, Euractiv reports. On top of the differences with third countries, broad disparities are found between EU member states themselves, the study showed with countries like Spain, Italy or Poland where almost one adult in five has no computer experience. Age disparities were also detected with high school pupils having sometimes better skills than higher education graduates. From the lack of access to digital equipment in schools and higher education institutions to the lack of access to open education resources and effective e-skills, the European Commission has identified a number of priorities for the coming years through its ‘Opening up Education’ strategy. Digital DivideA study by the Commission on ICT in education also showed dramatic results in EU countries: between 50% and 80% of students never use digital textbooks or exercise software while 70% of teachers are asking for training to improve their digital skills. And while more than 90% of pupils are likely to have internet access at school, the number drops to 45% in Croatia and Greece. In an attempt to reduce the digital divide looming over Europe, commissioners Neelie Kroes in charge of the digital agenda and Androulla Vassiliou, responsible for education, launched the joint long-term initiative…
UK has the Second Best Education in Europe
The UK is in second place among European countries for its education services, and sixth overall in the global education league table.
BMW on Track to hit Record Sales in 2014
BMW have reported that they are on track to hit record vehicle sales and pretax profit this year.
Alstom has “one offer on the table” says General Electric CEO
Further to our previous coverage, the CEO of General Electric says that Alstom has only “one offer on the table”, despite French president Francois Hollande’s calls for an improved bid. The French industrial engineering firm is facing a tough takeover battle with reports that Siemens could put in a bid for the unit. President Hollande urged GE to revise its $13.5 billion offer to Alstom’s energy arm and said the current bid “is not good enough”. However, Alstom’s CEO confirmed the group had only received one bid from GE, adding that it was indeed open to a rival offer. “We have today one offer on the table, this is the offer, the binding offer provided by General Electric,” Patrick Kron told CNBC in a television interview. “The board is studying it…Again, if there are new elements in these proposals, should it be an alternative offer, or precisions or improvements of existing ones, the board will consider it.” These comments come after the company scrapped its dividend and reported a 10 percent drop in orders for its full year end (March 31st)/ Net income also dropped 28 percent to 556 million euro’s for the full year, whilst operating profit fell by 3 percent to 1.4 billion euro’s. The French government has continued to push Siemens to put forward a rival offer for Alstom, but the German engineering giant’s CEO Joe Kaeser said that a decision to make a deal with “not be forced on us”. He said he had discussed the opportunities with the German Chancellor Angela…
Tesco to Launch Smartphone by the end of the Year
After the success of its Hudl tablet launched in 2013, the UK's biggest retailer, Tesco, is to release a Smartphone later this year.
