Since we posted Saturday on the topic of bees (Would hives collapse if the males worked more?), everywhere we look another story about the creatures and their catastrophe seems to appear.

I had assumed the problem was particular to the American honeybee. Sadly, this is not the case. Apiarists across the pond are confronted (and confounded) by a similar scourge, as related by Times (of London) columnist Ben Macintryre in Wake up! The bees are on their knees.

On a sunnier note, Parisians are doing their best to reduce carbon emissions by replacing Peugeot power with pedal power. The Times (again) reports on the Vélib’:

“Taxi drivers and other critics said that it would never work, but three weeks after Paris was sprinkled with 10,000 self-service bicycles, the scheme is proving a triumph and a new pedalling army appears to be taming the city’s famously fierce traffic.

Bertrand Delanoë, the city’s mayor, and his green-minded administration are jubilant at the gusto with which Parisians and visitors have taken to the heavy grey cycles that have been available at 750 ranks since July 15. “

You can read more about it here and here and here.