Caption: NMBS: Quiet carriages for many intercity trains
Photo credit: Flickr/Alfenaar
Belgium: Turn it off THE NMBS railway operator recently introduced quiet carriages on many intercity trains, following a highly successful pilot scheme launched in early 2023. NMBS said that by summer 2025, 65 per cent of passengers would be able to travel without the disturbance of other passengers’ phone calls, music or video games.
Denmark: More aid DENMARK pledged another 3.3 million krone (€442,516), a 40 per increase on its former commitment to the World Bank’s International Development Association fund for low-income countries. “I am proud to answer the call from our African partners for more funding,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.
No comparison LARS FRUERGAARD JORGENSEN, chief executive of Copenhagen-based Novo Nordisk which produces weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, said he would look into their US prices. Senator Bernie Sanders complained that Ozempic costs $59 (€53) in Germany but Americans paid $969 (€869).
Norway: Price war WHOLESALER Norgesgruppen, which also owns the Kiwi and Meny retail outlets, has banned comparison shoppers from examining prices in its stores, the Nettavisen newspaper revealed. The Rema 1000 discount chain announced that it also plans to ban the checkers although Coop has not yet clarified its position.
Close thing A RUSSIAN antisubmarine ship fired a warning shot at the Ragnhild Kristine, a Norwegian trawler fishing for cod in the Barents Sea within Norway’s permitted fishing zone in early September. The crew later admitted overlooking a bulletin advising that Russian and Chinese ships were on exercises in the same area.
Italy: Freak accident THIRTY-YEAR-OLD Chiara Jaconis and her boyfriend had been staying in Naples and were on their way to the airport to return to Padua when she was struck by a statue. It was apparently thrown from a balcony by two children and police are now investigating their parents on manslaughter and negligence charges.
Honest Robby ROBERTO MANTOVANI, a Bologna taxi driver nicknamed Robby, has published a book detailing and condemning the tax evasion tactics that many of his colleagues do not bother to hide. The book has earned him fame and praise but Robby revealed that other cabbies warned that he was “killing” their profession.
Germany: More time THE Food and Agriculture minister Cem Ozdemir has asked the European Commission to postpone the Deforestation Law until 1 July 2025. Ozdemir said clarity was needed from the EU regarding the ban on products grown or raised on deforested land and companies needed time to prepare for the new regulations.
Hush money WUPPERTAL’S Public Prosecution department began legal proceedings against a former employee of Michael Schumacher’s family and two other men who are accused of blackmail. They allegedly threatened to put compromising material online unless the former Fomula One champion’s family paid them €17 million.
Netherlands: Wolf vote THE Netherlands voted in favour of reducing wolves’ protected status in Europe from “strictly protected” granted in 1979, to “protected.” Anja Hazekamp, a Dutch MEP who belongs to the pro-animal Partij voor de Dieren, called it a “sad decision” that could put the survival of Europe’s wolves at risk once more.
Glass ceiling IN 2023, a typical newly-appointed member to the board of a large, publicly-listed company in the Netherlands was a 61-year-old male, according to Board Monitor Europe, which tracks trends in big companies. Only 42 per cent of the new appointments were women last year, down from 52 percent in 2022.
France: Bottle it PIERRE RABADAN, deputy mayor of Paris and also responsible for Sports, confirmed that city hall is replacing single-use plastic bottles with reusable cups and bottles during races. “In Paris, you won’t be able to organize a race if you use plastic bottles, it’s as simple as that,” assured the former rugby player said.
Arms dump ENVIRONMENTALIST group Odysseus 3.1 discovered that old artillery shells from both World Wars and even the 1870 Franco-Prussian War are polluting a lake in Gerardmer in the Vosges mountains. The lake is popular with swimmers during the summer and its water sometimes enters the domestic supply.
Finland: New use A RECENT study of Helsinki calculated that around 528,000 square metres of office space are currently unused although this could rise to around 1 million if adjoining areas were taken into account. Housing experts calculated that these spaces could be converted into 10,560 apartments, each measuring 50 square metres.
First snow LAPLAND ended September with up to 10 centimetres of snow in north-western areas, the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) announced. In contrast, temperatures in some of Finland’s inland and south-western areas reached 20 degrees, around five degrees higher than is usual for this time of the year.
Ireland: Place to be TIME OUT’S seventh annual list of the “World’s 38 Coolest Neighbourhoods” ranked Inchicore (Dublin) in 25th place, praising its modern energy and “magnificent old man pubs.” Notre Dame du Mont in Marseille (France) headed the Time Out list, with Mers Sultan in Casablanca (Morocco) in second place.
No link ROY BUTLER, 23, died from an inter-cranial bleed in August 2021 five days after receiving the Janssen covid jab, a Cork inquest heard. Specialists from makers Johnson & Johnson told the Coroner’s Court that a subsequent study had found no evidence that linked inter-cranial bleeds and its vaccine.
Portugal: Wrong move THE GNR traffic police stopped a man of 67 in Agueda in late September during a routine control and after testing him, found that he was over the alcohol limit. He attempted to bribe the officers, offering them money to let him go but instead they arrested him on corruption charges and impounded the cash.
Worth a visit THE Bounce’s Wine Lovers’ Index for 2023 named Portugal as the world’s best location for wine tourism with a score of 8.83 out of a possible 10. Next came Moldova, which has a long history of wine making, with Italy and Spain in third and fourth places, followed by Georgia and France in fifth and sixth places.
Sweden: Running down NORTHVOLT, the Swedish company that manufactures batteries for electric vehicles, announced 1,600 redundancies in three of its factories. These included 1,000 employees at the Skelleftea plant in northern Sweden where it has shelved plans to extend Northvolt Ett, the first entirely European gigafactory.
Hacked off SWEDEN’S Foreign Ministry asked to meet Iran’s charge d’affaires after the public prosecution department and the Sapo security service accused Teheran of being behind last summer’s massive cyber-attack. Iran said the accusations were baseless and were poisoning the relationship between the two countries.
