National / International News

The coming end of EU work restrictions for people from Romania and Bulgaria is having little impact on their plans to move, BBC surveys suggest.

The UK government is preparing to sell its one-third stake in Urenco, the world's second-largest provider of nuclear fuel.

Italy's renowned textile industry is changing dramatically. Thousands of mainland Chinese are swarming over to an Italian town near Florence called Prato. They have been able to buy premises cheaply from Italian businesses that are going bust.

Approximately 4,000 Chinese-run clothing factories in Prato are turning out one million garments a day. The demand for cheaply made, mass produced clothing or "fast fashion" forces workers in the crowded factories to keep pace.

Chinese entrepreneur Xu Lin, who's long established in Prato, says that without the Chinese, the situation would be far worse.

"The Chinese are buying Italian wool from companies here. The Chinese are also creating employment for Italians as fast fashion is growing," says Xu.

It may puncture local pride that the Chinese are producing fashion garments faster than the Italians ever could. But driving down prices is only one part of the equation. To the discerning eye, Chinese clothes with the enviable "Made in Italy" label are easily identified as cheap knock-offs of top, catwalk designs.

Lu Chen, a Chinese model who's been living in Milan for five years, says when it comes to fashion design, the Chinese currently lack creativity.

"Lots of Chinese come over to Italy to study design at one of the big fashion schools. But the Chinese are strong only when it comes to copying. I don't feel that they have the same ability as Italians to move fashion forward," says Chen.

Marco Landi is president of the Tuscany branch of trade body CNA, which represents small and medium-sized firms. He and a number of other Italians say the growing number of Chinese millionaires on the mainland could benefit from Italian know-how.

"Chinese buyers need to take on board that the way and quality of life here in Tuscany is the best that there is," he says. "This is reflected in the quality, creativity, inventiveness and detail of our fashion."

The Chinese newcomers have opened up the market in mainland China in a way Italians never could. They've also brought the aspirational "Made in Italy" label to millions who might otherwise be quite happy with their locally-made clothes.

 

Dutch police arrest an ex-British School pupil following a mass shooting threat that led to the closure of schools in the city of Leiden.

A councillor is charged with causing an explosion after a series of blasts saw residents evacuated from their homes in the north Wales town of Denbigh.

Reforms to energy tariffs could leave consumers struggling to find the best deal, says Which?, but the regulator argues the changes have been misrepresented.

Chrissy Amphlett, lead singer of the Divinyls' who had a 1990s hit with I Touch Myself, dies aged 53 in New York surrounded by close friends and family.

Also: A rare recording of Flannery O'Connor speaking on "The Grotesque in Southern Literature," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg writes a poem; and the best books coming out this week.

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Proposals to help struggling pub tenants are unveiled by the government, including a new code of practice and a "powerful" adjudicator.

An attempt to allow US-style political advertising on British TV fails after European judges rule the UK's blanket ban does not breach free speech.

Bangor City Football Club lodges a complaint after a player was allegedly racially abused during a match.

A gun victim trying to get away from his attackers traumatised a young family by banging on the door of their London home to get in.

Boston and the rest of Massachusetts will observe a moment of silence Monday afternoon to remember those killed and wounded in the bombings one week ago. Meanwhile, the investigation continues. Surviving suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remains in serious condition at a Boston area hospital.

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Ground staff at Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, walked off the job Monday on a one-day strike that prompted the company to cancel most of the day's scheduled flights.

The BBC's Steve Evans joins Marketplace's Stacey Vanek Smith to discuss the disruption and why Lufthansa's workers are striking.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Twenty years after Stephen Lawrence's murder, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe says the Met has not given up the hunt for the rest of his attackers.

Jamie Kitman, New York editor of Automobile Magazine, is driving a $240,000 McLaren sports car across the country in the hopes of meeting as many interesting people as he can. Last week, Kitman spoke with Marketplace after he stopped off at Local Motors, a car company in Arizona that crowd-sources auto design.

Today, Marketplace Tech host David Brancaccio checks in with Kitman from Montgomery, Alabama to discuss the market for classic sports cars.

 

 

Researchers at the University of Texas are working on a way to produce mass quantities of nanocellulose -- a non-toxic construction and engineering material that's strong, saves trees, and could help reduce greenhouse gases. 

Generating nanocellulose involves altering the genes of bacteria that produce vinegar or kombucha tea. Sunlight goes in and what comes out is a goop-like material that can be made into houses, cargo ships, you name it -- if they can perfect the process.

"People don't realize the strength of cellulose," says researcher R. Malcolm Brown, Junior, professor of plant cell biology at UT Austin.

Brown says nanocellulose could be applied to a variety of area, from medicine to electronics.

"I've even proposed that we make our rocket casings [out of it] when we send our astronauts to Mars," says Brown. "Cellulose can be digested, and if you break it down, the component is called sugar -- the astronauts would go to Mars, and they could live off of their rocket casings."

Though Brown adds edible rockets would make it difficult to travel back to Earth.

To hear more about nanocellulose, click on the audio player above.

 

Police in India say they have arrested a second man in connection with the kidnapping and rape of a five-year-old girl in the capital, Delhi, last week.

Vicar of Dibley star Dawn French marries her partner Mark Bignell at a hotel in Cornwall.

A UK Treasury warning that an SNP plan for a currency union after independence could threaten Scottish banknotes is dismissed by Nationalists.