Industrial machinery maker Siemens saw net profit fall sharply after paying an arbitration award for leaving its nuclear joint venture with Areva SA.

THE operator of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant moved closer to ending its radiation crisis yesterday with the start of a system to cool damaged reactors that could also help avoid dumping highly contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean.

Radiation exceeding government safety limits has seeped into groundwater under a tsunami-crippled Japanese nuclear plant, according to the operator, but has not affected drinking supplies.

Japan is turning to other countries for help as it struggles to stabilise its tsunami-stricken nuclear plant and stop radiation leaks.

France is bringing home its citizens from Japan on government planes and is sending 100 tons of boric acid to help stem radiation leaks from a damaged nuclear plant.

Japan’s nuclear crisis reverberated in atomic power-friendly countries today, with China delaying approval of new nuclear plants and French MPs questioning energy executives about the safety of their reactors.

AL-QAIDA leader Osama bin Laden warned France yesterday that its planned ban on the veil in public places and its involvement in the war in Afghanistan justified violence against its nationals.

Seven people have been kidnapped in Niger, a spokeswoman for France’s state-owned nuclear reactor builder Areva said today.

Paris: Areva, the world’s biggest builder of nuclear reactors, will build a new fuel-processing plant in Japan to more than double domestic capacity to meet anticipated demand growth.

A uranium leak has been discovered at a nuclear power station in France, the second in a month.

German utility giant E.ON has struck a deal with French state-run nuclear company Areva and electronics firm Siemens to build new nuclear plants in the UK, it announced today.

EU targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions will add costs to the European economy in the short-term but these will be outweighed by the greater cost of doing nothing, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said today.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana today reacted cautiously to a proposal from a senior Iranian nuclear official that France enrich Iran’s uranium on Iranian soil to satisfy international demands for foreign supervision of the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

A top Iranian official proposed today that France create a consortium to enrich Iran’s uranium, to satisfy international demands for outside monitoring of Tehran’s nuclear programme.

IRAN has made a last-ditch proposal to break the deadlock over its nuclear programme as world powers warned it still risked being taken to the UN Security Council within a week for possible sanctions.

The French government today said was to sell a 17.7% stake in Air France-KLM, the world’s largest airline, in a move that would help the state reduce its debt and scale back its influence on the Franco-Dutch carrier.

IT used to be the sea breezes on distant tree boughs that gave the first clues of impending drama at the America’s Cup, but now the early excitement comes from the competitors’ efforts to peek under their rivals’ skirts.