Nuclear U-turn “not rational”, says German official
Citing minutes taken at an event hosted by industry association BDI, the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the comments by Rainer Bruederle surprised the 40 or so top managers at the meeting.
"The minister... illustrated that with the upcoming state election, pressure was weighing on politics and decisions would not always be rational," the paper quoted the minutes as saying.
Bruederle defended atomic power at the meeting, which was attended by two power company CEOs, Juergen Grossmann from RWE and Johannes Teyssen of E.ON, saying there was no way to avoid its use, especially for energy-intensive industries.
Merkel's party faces tough elections in states where anti-nuclear sentiment is strong.
Following the nuclear crisis in Japan, the moratorium Merkel declared on March 14 — the same day the BDI meeting took place — led to the closing of seven of the country's 17 nuclear plants for at least three months.
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Parisians vote to ban rental e-scooters from French capital by huge margin
PARIS - Parisians have voted to rid the streets of the French capital of rental electric scooters, with an overwhelming 90% of votes cast supporting a ban, official results show.
Paris was a pioneer when it introduced e-scooters, or trottinettes, in 2018 as the city’s authorities sought to promote non-polluting forms of urban transport.
But as the two-wheeled vehicles grew in popularity, especially among young people, so did the number of accidents: in 2022, three people died and 459 were injured in e-scooter accidents in Paris.
In what was billed as a “public consultation” voters were asked: “For or against self-service scooters?”
Twenty-one polling…
