Air 

Making aeroplanes a little cleaner

Clean Sky', a public-private partnership between the EU and industry, aims to speed up the next generation of more environmentally friendly aircraft.

US, EU begin fresh ‘open skies' talks

Second phase of liberalisation talks focuses on mergers and aligning rules governing the US and EU aviation markets.

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Climate change 

Climate change enters the jet age

Environmental regulators are closing in on aviation emissions.

Do manufacturers lack drive for greener cars?

A UK expert on greener vehicles has no sympathy for foot-dragging carmakers.

Comment 

Not all oil-price shocks were born equal

Oil prices have been steadily rising from the beginning of this decade, from $27 per barrel in January 2000 to $74 in January 2006, and as subsequent volatility has shown, they have not yet stopped.

Europe's ‘parallel' civil service?

A thorough evaluation of existing decentralised agencies and inter-institutional dialogue will help answer the question of how to organise European administration.

An angel and the devil in hell on earth

Timur's first memory was the sound of Russian bombs smashing Grozny. At age one his father, a Chechen resistance fighter, was killed in a rocket attack. At age three his mother died. At age five, when the second Chechen war started, he and his grandparents lived in a cellar for months to hide from the bombardment. At age seven he was sent back to Grozny to live with an uncle, where he and a long-lost half-sister were savagely abused and forced to beg on the streets. At age 11 Timur ran away to live in a rubbish dump, strangling pigeons for food. Eventually he was taken in by Hadijat, a local woman who with her husband runs an unofficial home for Chechnya's lost children. Locals know her simply as “the angel of Grozny”.

Business 

Spain facing court over Endesa case

European Commission threatening to take Madrid to the European Court of Justice.

Commission calls a halt to noisy tyres

Tyre firms say targets are 'technically unfeasible"; proposal will also cover braking systems.

Patent plan could sink if international treaty floats

Change in mood towards an international accord