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Russian broadcaster RT France to close after assets frozen

International — Link

The French finance ministry has said the assets of the the French arm of the Russian state broadcaster were frozen in compliance with the most recent EU sanctions, and not on Paris's initiative, while the Kremlin has promised retaliation for the move.

M&S blames Brexit as it closes high-street stores in France

France — Link

British retail chain Marks & Spencer has announced it is to close within months all 11 of its stores on French high streets, while sparing those in railway stations and airports, citing 'supply chain complexities in place following the UK's exit from the European Union'.

France issues decree for closure of oldest nuclear plant

France — Link

The nuclear power plant at Fessenheim in north-east France, close to the border with Germany, which entered service almost 40 years ago and which environmental campaigners claim is dangerous, will close by 2020 when an EPR reactor being built in Flamanville is expected to come online.

EDF agrees deal to close France's oldest nuclear plant

France — Link

Utility giant EDF has agreed a compensation deal for the closure, now planned for 2018, of the almost 40-year-old power station at Fessenheim, close to the border with Germany in eastern France and built in an area vulnerable to earthquakes and above one of Europe's biggest underground water reservoirs.

Marks and Spencer to close seven stores in France

International — Link

The British clothes and food retailer announced it is to close seven of its stores in and around Paris which employ about 500 people, just five years after returning to France where it had already closed down its entire retail network in 2001. 

Alstom resists French government bid to save Belfort plant

France — Link

Alstom CEO said the company will go ahead with closure of manufacturing at its historic train-building plant, affecting 400 staff, despite President Hollande's pledge to do 'everything' to halt the plan.

Luxembourg offers to part-fund closure of French nuclear plant

International — Link

Luxembourg's PM Xavier Bettel told his visiting French counterpart that a problem at the nearby Cattenom plant could "wipe the duchy off the map".

Half of Calais 'Jungle' migrant camp to be razed

International — Link

Some 1,000 migrants are to be displaced from a part of the the makeshift and insalubrious camp which the authorities will raze next week.

French ecology minister indicates U-turn on closure of oldest nuclear plant

France — Link

Fessenheim plant closure was one of President François Hollande's election pledges, but minister argues this depends upon opening new reactors.

New French law allows for arbitrary closure of suspected terrorist websites

France — Link

Rights groups criticised the law which allows the government to directly order ISPs to shut websites suspected of terrorist or paedophile activity.

Last car leaves PSA Aulnay plant

France — Link

Vehicle assembly at struggling carmaker PSA's historic plant of Aulnay-sous-Bois near Paris ends ahead of total closure of the factory next year.

Goodyear to close major plant in Amiens

France — Link

US tyre maker Goodyear is to close a loss-making plant in northern France, which employs 1,173 workers, following a long conflict with unions.

ArcelorMittal confirms French furnace closures

France — Link

Company says it will permanently close two mothballed furnaces, enraging workers who blocked access to the steel plant and management offices.

Hollande tells ArcelorMittal to sell French furnaces it wants to close

International — Link

Steel-making giant ArcelorMittal is summoned by the French government to either restart idled furnaces in north-east France or sell them.

PSA plant closure sounds death knell for north Paris sink estate

France

When French carmaking giant PSA Peugeot-Citroën announced on July 12th it was to close its major assembly plant in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a deprived suburban town just north of Paris, a ripple of fear ran through the nearby sprawling housing estates. Several, like the infamous ‘Cité des 3000’, were originally built as of 1969 to house the plant’s workers and managers and their families. But they soon became ghettos where immigrants were dumped and unemployment and poverty were rife. While recent renovation helped roll back crime, youth unemployment currently runs at around 40%, and locals are now fearful of the future once more. Rachida El Azzouzi travelled to the Cité des 3000 where many inhabitants regarded PSA's now doomed plant as their last lifeline.