Bad Times And Good Internauts
- July 25th, 2007
- Posted by EUEditor
South-eastern parts of Europe are being menaced by fires out of control, as the United Kingdom battles flood – and some new figures show the march into cyberspace keeps on going strong.
TURBULENT TIMES
Drought and heatwaves in continental Europe – in contrast with the major floods in Britain – have created an emergency in many parts.
Hungarian authorities say that during this month, an estimated 500 people have suffered an early death through effects of the severe heat, especially through heatstroke or heart failure.
Five countries in the South-east – Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and former Yugoslav Macedonia –have appealed to the European Commission to coordinate international assistance in dealing with fires getting out of control.
Its Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) has been organising help from neighbouring states and has also been monitoring conditions in the UK, against the chance of more heavy rain and flooding.
WHO’S AN INTERNAUT?
In France users of the Internet have been known for some time as “internauts”, and these days, as in all advanced countries, they include a good majority of the whole population.
New figures on Internet use show that 56.5% of the French population over eleven years old, 29.7-million people, have qualified for the title by logging on at least once during the last month.
That figure is up by 11% in one year, and 94% of those users said they had access to broadband at home – either ADSL or cable.