- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
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- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
France pushes forward with plan to speed up renewables
French MPs on Tuesday moved ahead with a law to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, as the country's nuclear plants suffer a maintenance crisis and Russia's invasion of Ukraine drives up energy costs.
Having secured rare support from the left, President Emmanuel Macron's minority administration is now a step closer to lowering hurdles to building new solar and wind plants -- including massive offshore wind farms.
Macron has set a target of building 50 offshore plants by 2050, up from one today, to generate 40 gigawatts of electricity.
And he wants to multiply solar capacity by 10, to top 100 gigawatts.
Taking part in the bill's first reading with paper slips after a technical error affected the electronic voting system, 286 MPs backed the draft law with 238 against.
Agnes Pannier-Runacher, minister for energy transition in Macron's government, told AFP she welcomed the "responsible positions" taken by the Socialists and a small independent party who supported the move.
Just 19.3 percent of France's energy consumption is sourced from renewables, short of the 23-percent objective Macron's government set in 2020 and only slightly ahead of coal- and gas-intensive neighbour Germany.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the same time as the nuclear power crisis has upped the pressure to boost alternative sources of energy.
Scheduled maintenance and corrosion problems have left 14 of France's 56 reactors still offline.
Tuesday's draft law will now be subject to compromise talks between MPs and senators -- with the upper chamber fiercely defensive of mayors' rights to have a say in local projects.
In an initial compromise with the Senate, the government has promised to allow mayors to define "acceleration zones" where renewables can be built more easily.
But the left fears that too many concessions could let local officials veto projects.
"No one will be able to jam up the system," a source close to Pannier-Runacher told AFP ahead of the vote.
The draft law includes provisions allowing projects to be forced through based on "pressing needs of major public interest".
With no majority in parliament, the government wooed the Greens and Socialists in advance of Tuesday's vote to move the bill closer to becoming law.
They secured an abstention from the ecologists and reluctant backing from the centre-left to get over the line.
"Sometimes you have to cooperate in the name of the public interest and the environmental crisis," Socialist MP Dominique Potier said, hailing "major advances" from his party's amendments.
Meanwhile Greens chief Marine Tondelier said "this isn't a definitive abstention" but "we're expecting better" from the final bill.
Their partners in the broad left-wing NUPES coalition against Macron, the Communists and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, opposed the new law for its market focus.
On parliament's right, the conservative Republicans and far-right National Rally (RN) both oppose easing the construction of renewables.
Wind turbines "destroy our landscapes" and "set your eyes and your brain spinning", RN lawmaker Pierre Meurin said ahead of the vote.
M.A.Vaz--PC