Air pollution is costing economies up to €940bn a year and causing 10 times more deaths than traffic accidents, warns the EU, as business interests clamour for lighter regulation and fewer restrictions.

Alien species are invading Europe, and it is costing countries €12bn a year to fight the damage they are causing to humans, animals, the environment, agriculture, and buildings.

Low increases in recycling rates and high volumes of rubbish still being landfilled have seen Ireland ranked worse than most other EU nations for waste management.

Ireland has performed poorly in a report on how we manage our waste.

With more than 90% of the EU’s river basins affected by nitrate and phosphorous pollution, the European Commission has recommended use of technological advances that can slash waste and improve productivity.

A national plan for raised bog areas of special conservation has received EU backing, according to ministers.

ADVICE to farmers in Britain to minimise grassland between now and 2014 has set the CAP reform proposals on a collision course with environmentalists.

IRELAND could be hauled before the European Court of Justice for failing to adequately charge farms and businesses for water usage.

TURF cutters are set to bypass the Government and take their case to the European Commissioner for the Environment in a bid to find a solution to a problem which could cost the state €20,000 a day in fines if it is not resolved.

The European Commission has warned Italy it may face sanctions if it does not clean up the 2,000 tons of rubbish that have piled up on Naples streets in the country's latest collection crisis.

POLLUTION emissions from the pharmaceutical sector have fallen by 40% over the past decade due to greater regulation, a study has found.

The European Commission is asking Ireland to comply with a 2005 ruling by the EU's Court of Justice regarding waste disposal, it emerged today.

OUR unenviable reputation for being a rain-sodden country doesn’t take in the slightest from the challenge of ensuring the supply and quality of water here are up to standard in the future.

THE quality of Ireland’s sea bathing water is the worst since monitoring began 18 years ago, and among the poorest in Europe, according to the EU’s annual bathing water report.

A PUBLIC consultation about the future of forests and forestry policy in the European Union was launched yesterday.

SEVERAL countries must further improve their compliance with the Nitrates Directive, said EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik, when he issued information on nitrate levels in water in the 2004-2007 period submitted by member states.

A EUROPEAN Commission report published yesterday reveals that nitrate levels in waters across the EU are falling.

Ireland has secured the Research and Innovation portfolio in the European Commission.

The EU Commission and a consortium of private businesses and research facilities has today launched a €140m fund for proposals to introduce clean fuel technologies and improved fuel cells onto the market.

I ORGANISED a conference in Brussels recently on how best Ireland can draw down funding and maximise opportunities that are available under the seventh EU Programme for Research and Technological Development.

SCIENTISTS have discovered the gene that turns tobacco smokers into addicts, and makes giving up the weed very difficult.

A TEST that could help doctors detect breast cancer within 15 minutes of taking a blood sample could be just two years away thanks to the work of Irish scientists.

A 16-YEAR-OLD Dublin student has scooped one of the three top prizes in the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in mathematics.

ACADEMICS on both sides of the Atlantic are now openly calling for the resignation of Government chief science advisor Dr Barry McSweeney, who is embroiled in continuing controversy over the origins of a doctorate he received in America.

WITH his €120,000-a-year job on the line, pressure is mounting on the Government’s chief scientific adviser to publicly explain a dubious PhD he received in America.

DESPITE the reluctance of the US to sign up to firm targets on global warming at the G8 summit, the European Union is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to convert to green energy.

AN INTERNATIONAL consortium chose France yesterday as the site for an experimental nuclear fusion reactor - a €10 billion project that developers hope will one day generate endless, cheap energy by reproducing the sun’s power source and wean the world off fossil fuels.

An international consortium chose France today as the site for an experimental nuclear fusion reactor – a project developers hope will one day generate endless, cheap energy by reproducing the sun’s power source and wean the world off fossil fuels.

RECORD low temperatures over the North Pole are thinning the protective ozone layer, which could have repercussions for the health of those living in Scandanavia and Europe the EU warned yesterday.

Record low temperatures over the North Pole are thinning the protective ozone layer, a condition which could affect human health in northern countries and even central European nations, the EU warned today.