Europe's latest craze: electric bikes

My electric bike is no batmobile, but it makes me feel like a superhero.

The motor is so quiet it's easy to forget it's there when I'm pedaling through the streets of Paris - only I move much faster than a regular bike rider and I don't sweat. When I ride uphill, it feels like someone is giving me a push.

The silver Chinese import that I bought for 300 euros ($470) might not look as flashy as Christian Bale's wheels in "The Dark Knight," but it is much cheaper to run and kinder to the environment, too.

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Dalai Lama says world should be firm with China

PARIS (AP) - The Dalai Lama said Wednesday that the world should be firm with China on human rights and freedoms but must also try to bring it into the "mainstream of world democracy."
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Airbus CEO: Insider-trading probe a 'show trial'

DOGMERSFIELD, England — Airbus CEO Thomas Enders dismissed a French insider trading investigation as a "show trial" and said a probe into his sale of shares in parent company EADS have not affected the way he runs the European planemaker.

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Enders the next day: "You are the lady who asked me the question that got me into trouble."

NASA Chief Urges Europe to Build Manned Spacecraft

PARIS (AP) — NASA encouraged Europe on Thursday to develop its own manned spaceship, which would give the world - and particularly the U.S. - another way of reaching the international space station.
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Alcatel-Lucent shareholders vote to make it easier for board to fire top executives

(AP:PARIS) Shareholders of Alcatel-Lucent voted on Friday to make it easier to fire CEO Patricia Russo, whose 18-month term at the head of the merged telecommunications giant has seen its stock plunge by a half amid a string of profit warnings.

In a rowdy annual meeting in Paris full of jeers and whistling, shareholders of the American-French company also voted to link Russo's severance benefits to performance conditions.
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French vintners flirt with heresy - screw tops

CHABLIS, France — Fine French wine with a screw top?

At La Cote Saint Jacques restaurant, a Michelin three-star temple of gastronomy in the Burgundy region, chief sommelier Arnaud Laplanche isn't ashamed to give it a try.

He's part of a quiet revolution sweeping the French wine business, the world's largest and fighting to stay that way.

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Societe Generale cites lack of management in fraud

PARIS (AP) — Investigators at Societe Generale said yesterday they suspect a former futures trader had help as he tried to cover up unauthorized positions that led to billions in losses at the French bank.

In two long-awaited reports, the investigators said the French bank's management failures and culture of risk-taking were partly to blame for failing to uncover the purported fraud, which led to a loss of more than $7 billion.

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