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WORLD / America
Microsoft must share code with rivals
(Agencies)
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WORLD / Europe
Ukraine, West firms sign deal to solve Chernobyl ills
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-17 23:16
KIEV - Ukraine signed deals with Western firms on Monday to build a new
arch-shaped shelter to encase the wrecked fourth reactor at the Chernobyl
power plant, site of the world's worst nuclear accident, and to store
spent nuclear fuel.
With President Viktor Yushchenko looking on, the head of the
now-decommissioned station signed a deal with the French-led Novarka
consortium to erect the new shelter. The project is due to be completed
over four to five years and cost $1.39 billion.
A second deal was signed with US-based Holtec International to build a
facility to house spent fuel from the station's other three reactors. A
total of US$396 has so far been allocated for that project.
"We are talking about a unique project for this planet. The danger linked
to the site of the accident is not confined to Ukraine's borders,"
Yushchenko told ceremony participants.
Various projects have been proposed since the mid-1990s to replace the
"sarcophagus" hastily erected by workers and troops over the reactor in
the weeks and months following the April 26, 1986, fire and explosion at
the plant.
But agreement on financing, overseen by the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, was only announced last month. Donors,
mostly foreign governments, have so far contributed 739 million euros.
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Updated: 2007-09-17 20:35
"I don't want to talk about what will come next," said Microsoft lawyer
Brad Smith in answer to questions about the possibility of an appeal. "We
need to read the ruling before we make any decision."
European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes urged Microsoft to
act on the 2004 antitrust ruling.
"The court has upheld a landmark Commission decision to give consumers
more choice in software markets," Kroes said in a statement. "Microsoft
must now comply fully with its legal obligations to desist from engaging
in anticompetitive conduct. The Commission will do its utmost to ensure
that Microsoft complies swiftly."
Kroes called the decision "bittersweet," saying software customers still
have no more choice than they did three years ago.
"The court has confirmed the Commission's view that consumers are
suffering at the hands of Microsoft," she said.
She refused to say if EU regulators would follow up antitrust worries
they flagged last year with Microsoft's new Vista operating system,
saying only that "if it is not in line with our policy, then we will act."
The ruling showed that handing over key interoperability code that helped
rivals make compatible products was required in the software market, she
said.
The European Committee for Interoperable Systems called the ruling a good
result.
"It's a very good day, for it signals that there will be fair competition
for the sector," said Maurits Dolmans, a lawyer for the group.
In its 248-page ruling, the court upheld both the Commission's argument
and its order for Microsoft to hand over information on server protocols
to rivals. Microsoft had claimed these were protected by patents and the
Commission was forcing it to give away valuable intellectual property at
little or no cost.
The court confirmed "that the necessary degree of interoperability
required by the Commission is well founded and that there is no
inconsistency between that degree of interoperability and the remedy
imposed by the Commission.
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