The FT reports this morning that France may be about to ease restrictions on certain highly regulated service industries and on business start-ups as part of a package to create jobs in poor suburbs. It is possible that these initiatives might be a test bed for broader economic reform throughout France. French finance minister, [...]

“A digital divide has appeared among Europeans, with age, income and education determining whether the continent’s citizens use the Internet”, at least this is the conclusion of a new study conducted by Eurostat on behalf of the EU commission.The largest divide by educational level was found in Portugal, and the smallest in Lithuania, [...]

Hot on the heels of yesterdays report that road maps using miles instead of kilometres are now in danger, Tim Worstall tells us the story of the Belgian town council which is trying to implement standardised clothing rules. As I suggest in comments this issue is not as trivial as it seems, and Maaseik [...]

A German man has canned the noxious-smelling exhaust fumes of East Germany’s cult Trabant car and is doing a brisk trade selling the scent to those nostalgic for the former Communist state.
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Foul play is apparently not suspected:

The mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, has fired another French broadside at London’s successful 2012 Olympic campaign by accusing the prime minister Tony Blair and the head of the bid Sebastian Coe of breaking International Olympic Committee rules by criticising their rivals.
Well, well, well….

I can’t stop laughing at this goofy story. Maybe it’s just me. God, I hope it really was a misunderstanding.
Via Susan.

The FT has a timely piece of Spain’s drought. You see, it isn’t simply a question of special pleading on my part :). And note the little detail, 700,000 new homes built last year. I suppose at least when the construction sector stops all those builders will be able to finally cool off.
A severe drought [...]

“Ufff”, my partner said as she put to rest a bunch of plastic bags she had just managed to drag from the supermarket, “so many things to buy”. I was pealing the spuds at the kitchen sink at the time, preparing the lunch, but I still managed to lean over, give her a kiss, and [...]

Romansch, a direct descendant of Latin and one of Switzerland’s four official languages, is hitting the news. The reason - Google is now offering search capability in Romansch, a language spoken by just 35,000 people in the mountains of southeastern Switzerland.

I don’t know quite why, but somehow I suddenly feel a lot better reading this:
Scientists trying to develop vaccines against Africa’s deadly Marburg and Ebola viruses are reporting an important milestone, a new type of vaccine that prevents the diseases in monkeys. Successfully immunizing monkeys is an essential step toward the goal of producing vaccines [...]