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France unlikely to meet CO2 emissions target-report

PARIS, Oct 9 (Reuters) France is unlikely to meet its target of a fourfold reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050, according to a report by a government-appointed commission, business daily La Tribune reported.

The report into French energy perspectives up to 2050, due to be published this week, will say the best that can be expected is a reduction by 2.1 or 2.4 times, La Tribune said in an article from its Tuesday edition issued ahead of publication.

The report comes shortly before a major meeting of representatives from government, industry, environmental associations, agriculture and the public later this month.

''By 2050, given the need for growth, it appears difficult to do better than a factor of two, except by adopting breakthrough technologies which have not been taken into consideration because they appeared relatively improbable,'' the report says.

Under an energy law of July 2005, France committed to a fourfold reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases over the decades to 2050.

The commission recommends import taxes on products which consume large amounts of energy, auctioning carbon dioxide quotas and harmonising the system at European Union level.

Other measures included forcing carmakers to adopt standards limiting carbon dioxide emissions to 120g/km by 2012, increasing petrol tax by three cents a year and by five cents a year for gas-oil and taxing vehicles according to the amount of pollution they produced.

REUTERS ARB KP0858

Vaccine lessens severity of pneumonia, study finds

CHICAGO, Oct 9 (Reuters) The pneumonia vaccine might not prevent pneumonia, but it strengthens the body's ability to ward off the worst of the illness that kills 10,000 Americans each year, researchers said. A study of more than 3,400 mostly elderly patients admitted to six Canadian hospitals with community-acquired pneumonia found those who had previously been vaccinated were 40 per cent less likely to die or end up in the hospital's intensive care unit. ''We speculate that even when the antibody.....

A bad relationship can cause heart attack-study

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) It has been the stuff of great romantic novels and blockbuster films. Doctors have long suspected it. A study of 9,000 British civil servants has at last established it is possible to die of a 'broken heart'. The study, reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found the stress and anxiety of hostile, angry relationships can boost the risk of developing heart disease. Chances of a heart attack or chest pain rose by 34 percent compared to.....

Italian mafia thriving in Europe, prosecutor says

ROME, Oct 9 (Reuters) The Calabrian mafia is thriving in Europe because of a lack of a common policy to fight organised crime, a top Italian anti-mafia magistrate warned. Nicola Gratteri, a prosecutor who has been investigating the mafia killing of six Italians in Germany in August, said the Calabrian organisation known as 'Ndrangheta was like a multinational company with branches ''in every continent''. He said the 'Ndrangheta, which is now a major world player in cocaine trafficking and has an.....
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