PRESS EUROPEAN

Denmark

Spud-slide

A 57-YEAR-OLD lorry driver was arrested in Denmark after potatoes he was transporting littered the bridge linking the Funen and Zealand islands where Odense and Copenhagen are located. He was charged with causing reckless endangerment to life after cars were affected by the slippery surface.

The Netherlands

Busy drones

ROTTERDAM port announced on June 1 the formal opening of the Netherlands’ first vertiport for non-piloted aerial vehicles, following the landing of a multirotor drone there. The devices will eventually be used for inspections and monitoring transport operations, the Port of Rotterdam authority reported.

Belgium

Here we are

SEALS, which had practically disappeared from Belgium before the end of the last century are gradually returning to its beaches and coasts. Numbers are difficult to calculate, although the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences estimates that there are now around 100 grey seals and 200 harbour seals.

Germany

Berry bad

A GERMAN consumer campaign called for supermarkets to boycott strawberries grown near Spain's vulnerable Doñana wetlands. Drought and unauthorised irrigation have dried out the wildlife haven in the southwest of the country and the needs of growers were making the problem worse, the association said.

France

Charge it

FRANCE is opening its first electric car battery factory near Douay. The length of six football pitches, the plant is part of a ‘reindustrialisation’ initiative which the administration and business leaders hope will turn the Hauts-de-France region into ‘Battery Valley’, electric vehicles’ response to Silicon Valley.

Norway

Oil change

DESPITE leading using renewable energy domestically, Norway remains committed to its oil and gas operations for exports. The government has now asked energy companies to increase explorations in remote areas, including the Barents Sea, despite pressure from climate activists to curb oil and gas activities.

Finland

Fencing match

FINLAND is completing the first section of a €380 million fence along part of the 1,300kilometre border it shares with Russia. Constructing the first three kilometres of the four-metre tall fence topped with barbed wire began in April near Imatra, which is just 200 kilometres from St Petersburg.

Ireland

Sea change

FISHING has been a way of life for generations along the Irish coast but changes in the industry, including a post-Brexit cut in quotas allied to government plans to scrap boats could see it disappear. This could mean the ‘final death knell’ to their livelihood, fishing professionals warned.

ITALY Green mystery

ENVIRONMENTAL officials in Venice confirmed that the chemical fluorescein was responsible for the bright patch of green water around the Rialto Bridge. Fluorescein, a nontoxic chemical, is chiefly used in underwater construction to identify leaks and in eyedrops to pinpoint lesions and foreign bodies.

Portugal

Not bothered

CHINA is allegedly prepared to ‘exert influence’ on some of Portugal’s largest businesses to pressure the country into reverting a decision that effectively bans Huawei from the burgeoning 5G networks. Portuguese operators were untroubled, they said, as there are already 7,000 5G antennas installed throughout the land.

Ukraine

No hiding place

WAR-TORN Ukraine has a problem with insufficient or inaccessible air-raid shelters, residents said. Too many of them throughout the country, and not only in Kyiv, were closed or hidden to passers-by, despite countless official warnings and complaints from the local population as well as powerless local officials.

Sweden

Moving on

HVALDIMIR, a Beluga whale first spotted in the Arctic four years ago wearing a camera harness and presumably Russian-trained, left the Norwegian fjord where he was last seen and has appeared in Sweden. He is now travelling very quickly “possibly seeking a companion or a mate,” marine biologists said.