'Nuclear' train halted

German and French anti-nuclear demonstrators slowed a trainload of radioactive waste on its way from a French reprocessing plant to a disputed dump in northern Germany, chaining themselves to the track on both sides of the border.

The train, carrying 12 containers of waste, halted for two hours near Heilbronn in south-western Germany while police cut free two activists chained together through a metal pipe set under the rails, said Harald Trautmann, a spokesman for German border police.

Protesters also spread anti-nuclear banners across the rails, and 10 people were taken into custody, Trautmann said. Police helicopters searched the area for further protesters before the train resumed its journey.