Environment Minister Segolene Royal

France on Thursday inaugurated the world's first "solar highway", a road paved with solar panels providing enough energy to power the street lights of the small Normandy town of Tourouvre.

French Environment Minister Segolene Royal said today she would take over the presidency of UN climate talks, seeking to implement a global deal reached last year to shift away from fossil fuels, after former foreign minister Laurent Fabius quit.

Environment Minister Segolene Royal said today initial French tests had shown emissions cheating in Volkswagen group vehicles, but cars from other brands were in the clear.

Adding to a raft of investigations worldwide, Paris prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into possible fraud over the pollution-cheating software installed in diesel engines by German auto giant Volkswagen, a judicial source said today.

France on Thursday inaugurated the world's first "solar highway", a road paved with solar panels providing enough energy to power the street lights of the small Normandy town of Tourouvre.

French Environment Minister Segolene Royal said today she would take over the presidency of UN climate talks, seeking to implement a global deal reached last year to shift away from fossil fuels, after former foreign minister Laurent Fabius quit.

Environment Minister Segolene Royal said today initial French tests had shown emissions cheating in Volkswagen group vehicles, but cars from other brands were in the clear.

Adding to a raft of investigations worldwide, Paris prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into possible fraud over the pollution-cheating software installed in diesel engines by German auto giant Volkswagen, a judicial source said today.