Roel’s Weblog

Reuters.co.uk:
European nations struggling with sluggish economies need only look across the water to Ireland and Great Britain for the blueprint to future prosperity, Coca-Cola Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Neville Isdell said on Friday.
Isdell, an Irish citizen, is among a group of high-profile business leaders who have urged European Union members and others to become [...]

FOK!:
De PvdA werkt aan een wetsvoorstel waarin wordt geregeld dat abonnementen voor bijvoorbeeld tijdschriften, internet of de mobiele telefoon makkelijker kunnen worden opgezegd. Het is de partij een doorn in het oog dat vaak maar ??n keer per jaar een contract be?indigd kan worden, en dat wie te laat is vervolgens weer twaalf maanden kan [...]

BBC.co.uk:
A ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and all public places has been approved by MSPs at Holyrood. The Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill will come into force on 26 March 2006.
Health Minister Andy Kerr said the ban would help smokers give up and protect other people from passive smoking. The ban was [...]

De Telegraaf:
De Ierse veiligheidsdienst schat het aantal actieve leden van het Ierse Republikeinse Leger (IRA) op mogelijk 1500. Dat zei de Ierse premier Bertie Ahern dinsdag. De IRA is de belangrijkste katholieke paramilitaire groep in Noord-Ierland.
Ahern zei in het parlement dat in heel Ierland groepen van de verboden IRA bijeenkomen om te discussi?ren over de [...]

NRC Handelsblad (ANP):
Een 35-jarige Noord-Ier is donderdag formeel in staat van beschuldiging gesteld voor de moord op 29 mensen bij de aanslag in Omagh in 1998. In de rechtbank in Craigavon werd hij ook beschuldigd voor het bezit van explosieven en het veroorzaken van een ontploffing, meldde de BBC.
De man is de eerste verdachte die [...]

BBC.co.uk:
A number of people are feared dead after a school bus crashed in the Irish Republic. It is understood the bus, with about 40 children on board, overturned at Casey’s Cross at Kentstown near Navan in County Meath.
Several ambulances are at the scene and an unconfirmed number of people are still on the bus. An [...]

On This Day (January 30th, 1972):
British troops have opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators in the Bogside district of Londonderry, killing 13 civilians.
Seventeen more people, including one woman, were injured by gunfire. Another woman was knocked down by a speeding car.
The army said two soldiers had been hurt and up to 60 people arrested. [...]

Winterse beelden vanuit Schotland
BBC.co.uk:
Heavy overnight snow which caused travel chaos and blocked many roads in parts of central Scotland has largely cleared.
Police said Fife and central Scotland were worst affected by the snow, with up to 10in (25cms) falling in places.
Most of the roads which were closed have since reopened, although police are urging drivers [...]

ic Wales:
A FUTURISTIC vision of a rail tunnel under the Irish Sea, linking West Wales and Ireland, has been unveiled by a group of engineers.
The Irish Academy of Engineers envisages a 50-mile link under the sea, with a journey time from Dublin to Pembrokeshire of one hour 10 minutes. High-speed trains travelling at up to [...]

Telegraph:
Snow covered many parts of Britain on Christmas Day. Scotland, Northern Ireland, north west England and north Wales, woke up to several centimetres of snow making driving hazardous.
Bookmakers faced a big pay out as forecasters had predicted a white Christmas earlier in the week. Further snowfalls and icy conditions are predicted. It is the first [...]