Customers of Microsoft's Windows 7 in the EU will have to install their own Web browsers after the US software giant said regulatory wrangling has prompted it to strip Internet Explorer from its new operating system. "We're committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world, but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product," Microsoft deputy general counsel Dave Heiner said in a written release. "Given the pending legal proceeding, we've decided that instead of including Internet Explorer in Windows 7 in Europe, we will offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer manufacturers and users." The US software giant says it still plans to roll out its next-generation operating system worldwide on October 22.
"We're committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world, but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product," Microsoft deputy general counsel Dave Heiner said in a written release.
"Given the pending legal proceeding, we've decided that instead of including Internet Explorer in Windows 7 in Europe, we will offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer manufacturers and users."
The US software giant says it still plans to roll out its next-generation operating system worldwide on October 22.
European buyers of Windows 7 will have to download and install a web browser for themselves.Bowing to European competition rules, Microsoft Windows 7 will ship without Internet Explorer. The company said it would make it easy for PC makers and users to get at and install the web browsing program. In response Brussels expressed scepticism over the move and whether it went far enough to ally accusations of it abusing its market position.
European buyers of Windows 7 will have to download and install a web browser for themselves.
Bowing to European competition rules, Microsoft Windows 7 will ship without Internet Explorer.
The company said it would make it easy for PC makers and users to get at and install the web browsing program.
In response Brussels expressed scepticism over the move and whether it went far enough to ally accusations of it abusing its market position.
EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS - A "Euro-metropole" - a new form of transnational civil administration is being established at the border of France and Belgium in a pilot project of what the EU aims to gradually develop into: a series of authorities with stronger regional, cross-border focuses. "We are a bit of a pioneer in the EU," Stefaan de Clerck, vice-president of the body and Belgium's justice minister told EUobserver, "the first to to practice this new European structure for public authorities," Mr de Clerck said, who was mayor of his native town, Kortrijk, up until December, when he was appointed minister of justice. Belgian justice minister Stefaan de Clerck is a promoter of regional cross-border co-operation The Euro-metropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai established in January 2008 covers an area of over 3,500 square metres and two million inhabitants between the French city of Lille and the Belgian towns of Kortrijk in Flanders and Tournai in Wallonia. Unlike other voluntary forms of regional co-operation, the Euro-metropole is established as a legal entity, allowing it to hire its own civil servants, the Belgian minister explained.
EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS - A "Euro-metropole" - a new form of transnational civil administration is being established at the border of France and Belgium in a pilot project of what the EU aims to gradually develop into: a series of authorities with stronger regional, cross-border focuses.
"We are a bit of a pioneer in the EU," Stefaan de Clerck, vice-president of the body and Belgium's justice minister told EUobserver, "the first to to practice this new European structure for public authorities," Mr de Clerck said, who was mayor of his native town, Kortrijk, up until December, when he was appointed minister of justice.
Belgian justice minister Stefaan de Clerck is a promoter of regional cross-border co-operation
The Euro-metropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai established in January 2008 covers an area of over 3,500 square metres and two million inhabitants between the French city of Lille and the Belgian towns of Kortrijk in Flanders and Tournai in Wallonia.
Unlike other voluntary forms of regional co-operation, the Euro-metropole is established as a legal entity, allowing it to hire its own civil servants, the Belgian minister explained.
Greece will impose a tobacco ban in public places on July 1 in its third attempt in a decade to stamp out the habit in Europe's biggest-smoking nation, the health ministry said on Thursday.Under the terms of a law voted a year ago, thousands of restaurants and bars over 70 square metres will have to build sealed-off smoking areas.Establishments under that size must choose whether to accept smokers or go entirely tobacco-free, and those lighting up illegally will face fines up to 500 euros (£425)."Our society is more ready than ever to embrace this," said Dimitris Avramopoulos, the health minister.
Under the terms of a law voted a year ago, thousands of restaurants and bars over 70 square metres will have to build sealed-off smoking areas.
Establishments under that size must choose whether to accept smokers or go entirely tobacco-free, and those lighting up illegally will face fines up to 500 euros (£425).
"Our society is more ready than ever to embrace this," said Dimitris Avramopoulos, the health minister.
It is either the biggest smuggling operation in history -- or a fraud of equally impressive proportions. Italian customs officials stopped two men at the Swiss border carrying bonds worth $134 billion (95.8 billion euros). Italian customs officers on the Swiss border often stop smugglers -- but not of this scale. Two Japanese citizens have been detained by Italian police in Chiasso on the Swiss-Italian border after being found with $134 billion of US bonds hidden in the base of their suitcase, according to a press statement by the Italian Guardia di Finanza. Guardia di Finanza: Bonanza find. The two men, reported to be more than 50 years old, were traveling by train from Italy to Switzerland on June 3. Financial police at a control on the border found the documents tucked inside a closed section at the bottom of their suitcase, separate from their personal items. According to their statement, the men's luggage included 249 government bonds worth $500 million and 10 so-called Kennedy bonds, each worth a billion dollars. But details of the case remain unclear: The Japanese embassy in Rome confirmed the arrest of the two men but the news agency Bloomberg reported on Friday that it was not yet established whether they were Japanese citizens.
It is either the biggest smuggling operation in history -- or a fraud of equally impressive proportions. Italian customs officials stopped two men at the Swiss border carrying bonds worth $134 billion (95.8 billion euros).
Italian customs officers on the Swiss border often stop smugglers -- but not of this scale. Two Japanese citizens have been detained by Italian police in Chiasso on the Swiss-Italian border after being found with $134 billion of US bonds hidden in the base of their suitcase, according to a press statement by the Italian Guardia di Finanza.
Guardia di Finanza: Bonanza find. The two men, reported to be more than 50 years old, were traveling by train from Italy to Switzerland on June 3. Financial police at a control on the border found the documents tucked inside a closed section at the bottom of their suitcase, separate from their personal items. According to their statement, the men's luggage included 249 government bonds worth $500 million and 10 so-called Kennedy bonds, each worth a billion dollars.
But details of the case remain unclear: The Japanese embassy in Rome confirmed the arrest of the two men but the news agency Bloomberg reported on Friday that it was not yet established whether they were Japanese citizens.
France's Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot says the spread of swine flu across France is too moderate to justify raising the country's alert level, despite the World Health Organisation's decision to declare a global pandemic. AFP - France will not follow the World Health Organisation's lead and raise its swine flu alert from a level five to six, the health minister said Thursday. "With 73 registered cases of type A flu, France can remain at a level 5A," said Roselyne Bachelot, who was taking part in a forum on bioethics in the western city of Rennes.
AFP - France will not follow the World Health Organisation's lead and raise its swine flu alert from a level five to six, the health minister said Thursday. "With 73 registered cases of type A flu, France can remain at a level 5A," said Roselyne Bachelot, who was taking part in a forum on bioethics in the western city of Rennes.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Negotiations on Ireland's guarantees on the EU Lisbon Treaty are going down to the wire with still no text on the table exactly a week before EU leaders are supposed to sign up to them. EU ambassadors were meant to gather Thursday (11 June) to have a special meeting on the matter but agreeing wording that does not make any other member state jittery but keeps Ireland's electorate happy is proving more difficult than first thought. Workers' rights is proving to be a significant sticking point Ireland is looking for special guarantees on ethical issues, tax sovereignty and its neutral status. It wants them signed off by EU leaders at their summit next week and a commitment made to make them binding as quickly as possible.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Negotiations on Ireland's guarantees on the EU Lisbon Treaty are going down to the wire with still no text on the table exactly a week before EU leaders are supposed to sign up to them.
EU ambassadors were meant to gather Thursday (11 June) to have a special meeting on the matter but agreeing wording that does not make any other member state jittery but keeps Ireland's electorate happy is proving more difficult than first thought.
Workers' rights is proving to be a significant sticking point
Ireland is looking for special guarantees on ethical issues, tax sovereignty and its neutral status. It wants them signed off by EU leaders at their summit next week and a commitment made to make them binding as quickly as possible.
Paris intends to move ahead with sections of its `three strikes' law, stripping out its most controversial aspects following a ruling from France's Constitutional Court that the bill contravenes the holiest of French documents, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789. Those aspects of the bill not struck down by the court "will be promulgated in the coming days", Agence France Presse is reporting, citing an unnamed government official. A funeral wreath for the Hadopi legislation The government's aim is to get the new agency envisaged in the bill, the Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Oeuvres et la Protection des Droits sur Internet (HADOPI), or High Authority on Diffusion of Works of Art and the Protection of the Rights on the Internet (`Hadopi'), up and running as soon as possible while it decides its next move. The law allows the Hadopi agency to cut off the internet access of users found to be repeatedly downloading copyright content without the permission of the owner. Internet cut-off would be the 'third strike' after downloaders had first been sent an warning email and then a letter in the post.
Paris intends to move ahead with sections of its `three strikes' law, stripping out its most controversial aspects following a ruling from France's Constitutional Court that the bill contravenes the holiest of French documents, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789.
Those aspects of the bill not struck down by the court "will be promulgated in the coming days", Agence France Presse is reporting, citing an unnamed government official.
A funeral wreath for the Hadopi legislation
The government's aim is to get the new agency envisaged in the bill, the Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Oeuvres et la Protection des Droits sur Internet (HADOPI), or High Authority on Diffusion of Works of Art and the Protection of the Rights on the Internet (`Hadopi'), up and running as soon as possible while it decides its next move.
The law allows the Hadopi agency to cut off the internet access of users found to be repeatedly downloading copyright content without the permission of the owner. Internet cut-off would be the 'third strike' after downloaders had first been sent an warning email and then a letter in the post.
