French electricity giant TotalEnergies has defended itself after police teargassed climate activists outside its annual assembly in Paris on Friday. The government has urged the firm to speed up the switch to renewable energy.

French magistrates have filed preliminary charges against five maritime rescue personnel over the deaths of 27 people who drowned while trying to cross the English Channel in a flimsy dinghy in November 2021.

France confirmed its aim to launch a vaccination programme against bird flu in the autumn after results from a series of tests on the vaccination of ducks showed “satisfactory effectiveness”, the farm ministry said.

Paris police on Friday fired tear gas to disperse climate protesters trying to block an annual general meeting of French oil giant TotalEnergies.

French magistrates on Thursday filed preliminary charges against five French maritime rescue personnel in a probe of the deadly sinking of a flimsy migrant craft in the English Channel in 2021 that killed 27 people. 

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Wednesday that France faces an “uncivilising process”, a government source said, following the violent deaths of a nurse and three policemen and repeated attacks on elected officials.

The French government plans to move homeless people out of Paris ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in the capital, sparking criticism from some mayors of regional towns and villages which are expected to house them. 

French farmers’ associations say they’re angered by what they see as the latest attack on their livelihood: a recommendation by France’s national audit office to reduce cattle herds as part of efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions.