France

The future of nuclear power in France is back in the spotlight after Greenpeace activists broke into a power plant on Monday in a bid to highlight the lack of security. The issue is set to play a key role in next year’s presidential election.

A court fined French state energy firm EDF €1.5 million on Thursday for hiring computer hackers to access the files of the former head of campaigns for Greenpeace France in 2006. EDF runs France's 58 nuclear power plants.

Paris is gearing up for a quiet revolution. All-electric Autolib' cars, based on the success of the city’s Vélib' bike-sharing scheme, will begin to appear on the streets of the capital in December.

A regional government is taking the lead in France to protect part of the Ecuadorian Amazon from oil drilling, but the unique environmental project falls far short of its funding goal.

Breaking a long silence, Green Party presidential hopeful Nicolas Hulot adopted a resolutely anti-nuclear stance on Monday, which risks alienating potential voters in a country where 55% of the electorate sees nuclear power favourably.

Police clashed Sunday with activists in Germany determined to halt a train carrying 123 tonnes of nuclear waste from France. The waste is headed for a storage site at Gorbelen, which the protesters say is unsafe.

A train carrying radioactive nuclear waste neared the French-German border Saturday, after switching its overnight route to avoid French protesters. Demonstrations are planned for the German town of Dannenberg later Saturday where the train is bound.

The sixth edition of the French capital’s international science film festival served up a tribute to biodiversity in its various forms – and a warning about the difficulty of preserving it.

A tanker carrying 6,000 tonnes of solvent was being towed to the French Atlantic coast Friday after it collided with a freighter some 50 nautical miles south-west of the island of Ouessant.

ENVIRONMENT: This week we are flying to the south of Italy where searchers are trying to protect an endangered species of the sea...