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Hartlepool to break up France's toxic flagship Clemenceau Charles Bremner in Paris An asbestos-laden French aircraft carrier that was too toxic for Indian breakers' yards is to be towed to the UK for dismantling, it was announced yesterday. The agreement to send the Clemenceau, once the flagship of the French navy, to Able UK, near Hartlepool, ends an embarrassing five-year saga that saw the toxic vessel wander the high seas in a vain search for a final resting place. The stripped-down hulk, which once displaced 32,700 tons, has been moored off Brest since an odyssey that ended in 2006 when...

PARIS: French President Jacques Chirac has ordered the asbestos-lined warship Clemenceau to return to France on Wednesday, after a top administrative court suspended its transfer to India. Chirac's decision was a victory for environmentalists who had assailed the decision to send the asbestos-carrying Clemenceau to India, where it was to be broken up. "This is a victory for international law, a victory for Indian workers, and a victory for workers all across Asia," Greenpeace France director Pascal Husting said. "I congratulate the president on this decision." The fate of the decommissioned Clemenceau, once a symbol of French naval prowess, has...

Ah, the French. How to think of them? There is an easy default answer: kindly and gratefully. After all, they helped us in the Revolutionary War, gave us Alexis de Tocqueville and the Statue of Liberty, and to this day feel a keen republican spirit in harmony with America's own. Sure, we have had our spats. But when the chips are down, you can count on France to be on our side, more or less, and to supply some great wine if it is needed. ...Before 9/11, 77% of Americans held a favorable opinion of France. By March 2003, only...