OSTEOPOROSIS, KIDNEY STONES SHARE GENETIC CAUSE
ZEBANK IS RENAMED EGG
WINE EMPORIUM OPENS IN PARIS
BOUYGUES OBTAINS 3G LICENSE
A team of French researchers led by Professor Gérard Friedlander, from the INSERM national science and medicine institute, said they have uncovered a genetic abnormality which can cause both osteoporosis and kidney stones. The gene in question, dubbed NTP2a, affects the kidneys’ ability to retain phosphate. When NTP2a presents the mutation discovered by Friedlander’s team in some patients, it causes phosphate depletion. This can result in either loss of mineral density in their bones (in the case of osteoporosis), or in the creation of kidney stones when the excessive amounts of phosphate being evacuated by the body associate with the calcium contained in the patient’s urine.
French online bank Zebank has been renamed Egg, after British digital financial services group Egg plc bought it on May 28 for 5.5 million euros. Customers will not be affected, however, and they will still be able to access their accounts and use their Zebank checkbooks and banking cards until they are issued Egg checks and cards. Egg plc has said it will soon issue a new line of banking products.
Lavinia, a 16,000-square-foot store offering 6,000 different wines and spirits, opened in the upscale Madeleine area in Paris on September 18. Lavinia’s offering-with prices ranging from 3 euros to 36,000 euros a bottle-includes not only French wares but 2,000 wines from 43 different countries as well. The store also carries about 500 wine and liquor-related products, mainly books and accessories. The Lavinia chain, now in its third year, has two locations: one in Madrid that opened in 1999, and one in Barcelona in 2001. Their success prompted French founders Thierry Servant and Pascal Chevrot to venture into a new market in their home country.
France’s ART (telecommunications regulation authority) has granted operator Bouygues Telecom a license to establish a third-generation (3G) cell phone network, it announced on September 27. Bouygues is the third operator to obtain a 3G license in France, after Orange France and SFR in 2001. Bouygues also said it would launch multimedia system “i-mode” on November 15-six months ahead of schedule-in partnership with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo.
The future of motoring in Paris
T.
he 2002 Paris motor show, the world’s largest, rolled off to a blistering start. From September 28 to October 13, hundreds of car makers displayed their new models, as well as concept cars that give us a glimpse of things to come. In particular, environmentally friendly vehicles equipped with fuel-cells were ubiquitous (fuel-cells run on hydrogen and produce no emissions except water).
GM revealed its Hy-wire prototype, the first fuel-cell car to use “drive-by-wire” technology (already found on most Airbus planes). Not to be outdone, Peugeot, Europe’s second largest car maker, introduced the H2O, a modified 206 that can produce its own hydrogen onboard. As for Renault, it is working with Nissan to bring fuel-cell cars to the market as soon as possible. In the meantime, the French company announced the commercialization of a Kangoo minivan that adds an electric motor to the traditional gasoline engine, thus maximizing fuel-efficiency.
Perhaps the most revolutionary development on display was an engine, designed by French engineers, that simply runs on... compressed air. A three-minute refill, costing about $1.50, gives the car a range of about 125 miles and a top speed of 65 mph. Should this car be commercially viable, and the engineers insist that it is, it may become the urban motorist’s vehicle of choice.
Finally, for those more concerned with comfort, DaimlerChrysler unveiled its Maybach 57, equipped with 10 airbags, heated seats, a TV with DVD player, a fridge, a dust and pollen filter and a pollution sensor. The price tag on this palace-on-wheels? A mere $310,000.
For more information, please visit www.mondial-automobile.com.
ESA’s meteor research for protecting the Earth
Scientists have recently discovered 2002NT7, an asteroid of two kilometers that is predicted to possibly collide with the planet on February 1, 2019. The odds that this Near Earth Object (NEO) will actually come in contact with the Earth are 1 in 100,000, and its early detection has given researchers ample opportunity to develop a way to deter or destroy it if necessary. The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently working to better understand these massive objects to prevent them from ever colliding Earth. An ESA panel recently selected six proposals from NEO experts, suggesting various methods to prevent NEOs from striking this planet. Plans have suggested hitting the asteroid at a high speed while recording observations before, during and after the collision, or to create a space craft to “attach” itself to the NEO and closely monitor its behavior. One of ESA’s representatives on the selecting panel reported, “the six winning proposals were selected because the mission concepts would help to answer essential questions on the NEO threat such as: how many are there, what is their size and mass, are they compact bodies or loose rock aggregates? This information, as well as other data, is needed before adequate mitigation procedures can be developed.” The proposals are currently being tested by the ESA and the test results are expected in 2003. For more information about the six proposals, please visit www.esa.int.
Draft budget for 2003 emphasizes security, employment
The recently presented draft budget offers “clear, determined choices for French security, for state authority and for French employment,” commented Budget Minister Alain Lambert.
Funding for the police force is to increase by 5.7 percent, allowing the hiring of 1,900 more staff, and by 6.1 percent for the military (39.96 billion euros out of a total of some 235 billion euros). The defense budget allocation will create 1,200 more jobs in the Gendarmerie. The Justice Ministry will also see its budget boosted by a hefty 5 percent, with 1,924 newly created jobs to be added to the French court system.
Taxes, already reduced by 5 percent this year, are slated to be shaved by another 1 percent, in accordance with French President Jacques Chirac’s campaign pledge of a one-third reduction over five years.
Another of Chirac’s pledges during the presidential campaign was to increase resources for public development aid. PDA budgets allocated to the ministry of foreign affairs is to increase by 27 percent, and by 38 percent to the ministry of economy, finances and industry.
In order to underpin consumption and employment in 2003, “we chose not to reduce deficits,” said an advisor to the Prime Minister Raffarin, citing U.S. fiscal policy as an example. The French public deficit is forecast to be about 2.6 percent next year, with economic growth of 2.5 percent (France should post growth of 1.2 percent this year).
As proof of France’s commitment to a structural effort to keep deficit within limits set by the European Union, the French government has scheduled a net reduction of 1,700 jobs from the public sector next year to help balance cuts in taxes and social charges of 4.1 billion euros. Although 5,300 positions are to be created within the ministries of the Interior, Justice, and Defense, 7,000 others will be eliminated through attrition as around 50,000 civil servants retire.