First-class one-way tickets on the high-speed Thalys train connecting Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam-Cologne are now on sale at 30% off the full fare price for summertime travel from Rail Europe. Tickets must be booked before August 15 and travel must take place between June 14-August 31.
This special offer is for 1st class tickets between any pair of cities on all Thalys international routes. The normal 1st class price of a one-way ticket between Paris and Brussels is $137 US/$188 CAD, compared to the summer promotion fare of $96 US/$132 CAD. Between Paris and Amsterdam the usual 1st class fare of a one-way ticket is $184 US/$253 CAD; with the promotion, the price is $129 US/$177 CAD. These specially priced tickets are non-exchangeable and non-refundable.
Thalys carries 34% more North Americans in first quarter
The number of North Americans buying tickets on Thalys is up 34% for the first quarter of 2004 compared to the same period last year, reports Rail Europe. The sleek red Thalys train has given the airlines so much competition since it began operation in 1996 that almost all flights between Paris and Brussels were discontinued, and the airlines instead book their passengers on the train. Thalys takes just 1 hour 25 minutes to go from downtown Paris to Brussels, much of the journey made at 186 mph. Up to 27 trains travel between Paris and Brussels in each direction daily, making the service convenient as well as fast.
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Japan downed Iran 2-1 and Saudi Arabia beat South Korea 1-0 Wednesday to wrap up their qualifying campaigns for the 2006 soccer World Cup on a high note.
The outcome of the matches only decided the top places in Groups A and B of Asian Qualifying after the four teams had already booked their berths for next year's finals in Germany.
Japan ended qualifying atop Group B with 15 points, two ahead of Iran, while Saudi Arabia claimed Group A with 14 points, ahead of South Korea on 10.
Uzbekistan rallied for a 3-2 win over Kuwait to take third place in Group
Continental rail travel 'cheaper
The RMT union also said the London-Scotland journey was more expensive per mile in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire than in other areas.
However, rail company GNER said the union's analysis was flawed as it used only the most expensive fares.
Off-peak day returns were cheaper than on French or Belgian railways, it said.
The RMT said GNER was expensive because it had to pay the Treasury £1 billion for its 10-year franchise.
"The RMT warned that the only way this money could be raised was by raising fares and cutting services," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said.
Comparing the
In a press release, Axa said that Alfred Bouckaert, member of AXA's executive committee and chief executive of AXA Belgium, has been appointed Group CEO for AXA's Northern Europe region.
Bouckaert confirmed the CEOs of the company's AXA Art unit, and its units in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland in their current positions.
AXA Konzern's supervisory board, chaired by Claas Kleyboldt, has appointed Eugene Teysen as chairman of the management board of AXA Konzern.
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Europeans watch rioting with trepidation
ROME -- Europeans have watched with trepidation as rioting that began in the suburbs of Paris has spread across France, wondering if the ghettoes in their big cities will face similar violence from immigrant populations.
Cars were set ablaze outside Brussels' main train station and in a working class district of Berlin, although officials in Belgium and Germany on Monday sought to play down the risk of the kind of violence that France has experienced since Oct. 27.
There was rioting last month in the central English city of Birmingham, sparked by tensions between members of the Afro-Caribbean
BRUSSELS A European court on Thursday cut an antitrust fine against DaimlerChrysler by 86 percent, annulling a regulatory decision that the carmaker broke European Union rules in Germany and Spain.
DaimlerChrysler was fined in 2001 for breaking EU free-trade laws by instructing Mercedes-Benz dealers in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium not to sell to bargain hunters from other EU countries between 1985 and 1996.
The European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg cut the fine to 9.8 million, or $12 million, saying in a statement that DaimlerChrysler acted "unilaterally" in Germany and therefore did not break EU rules.
The
