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Fire and leak shut down French reactor

DIEPPE, France, April 6 (UPI) -- A French nuclear reactor shut down automatically after small fires broke out causing a joint to leak radioactive water in a reactor building, officials said.

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The French Nuclear Safety Authority said it was not clear what caused the fires Thursday evening at the Penly plant on the English Channel near Dieppe, Radio France Internationale reported.

The company that operates the plant said the facility was secure, there were no injuries and there were "no consequences for the environment."

However, Cecile Duflot of France's Green party characterized the incident as "very serious."

"We are always being told: it's not serious, it's not serious, it is never serious," she said. "I think, in the light of the information we have been given, that it is a very serious incident, but it is not a catastrophe."

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The world's most nuclear-dependent country, France operates 58 reactors providing 75 percent of the country's electricity and has been a leading international proponent of atomic energy.

But the country's reliance on nuclear power been questioned since the Fukushima disaster in Japan and the future of the industry has become an issue in campaigns for the presidential election to be held in April and May, RFI reported.


Twitter goes to court against spammers

SAN FRANCISCO, April 6 (UPI) -- Twitter says it has filed lawsuits against several companies it says are the worst offenders in flooding the system with spam tweets.

Twitter filed suits in a San Francisco federal court against the companies behind TweetAttacks, TweetAdder and TweetBuddy, as well as James Lucero of Justinlover.info and Garland Harris of Troption.com, TG Daily reported Friday.

Twitter alleges the companies have been engaging in activities ranging from offering spam broadcasting software to falsely promising to increase followers for user's accounts.

"With this suit, we're going straight to the source. By shutting down tool providers, we will prevent other spammers from having these services at their disposal," Twitter said on the company blog.

"Further, we hope the suit acts as a deterrent to other spammers, demonstrating the strength of our commitment to keep them off Twitter."

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Twitter said it's had to spend a total of over $700,000 on anti-spam measures as a result of the defendants' activities, and is seeking monetary damages.

"We are committed to fighting spam on all fronts, by continuing to grow our anti-spam team and using every tool at our disposal to shut down spammers," Twitter said.


Drought may force Britain to ration water

LONDON, April 6 (UPI) -- With predictions of a dry summer, officials in Britain say the country may face water rationing in the worst drought since 1976.

Fountains in Trafalgar Square and elsewhere in London have been turned off and households face $1,500 fines for using hoses to water lawns, fill ponds or wash cars, The Daily Telegraph reported.

A large part of Eastern England officially has drought conditions and they are expected to spread west into the Midlands and Southwest with Britain's Met Office predicting a dry summer.

March was a dry month and most reservoirs are below normal levels while two-thirds of rivers are "exceptionally" low, officials said.

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said more severe water restrictions might be necessary by the end of this year.

"It is possible we will limp through this summer and we will be all right so long as people are sensible, but if we have a third dry winter we are not going to be in a good position next year and we are looking at more severe restrictions," she said.

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A substantial amount of rain will be needed over a prolonged period to even begin recovering from the drought, water company officials said.

"This situation has taken a couple of years to build up, it will take quite a long time to put right," Richard Aylard at Thames Water said.


Time Warner Cable tells of Android TV app

NEW YORK, April 6 (UPI) -- Time Warner Cable says it plans to deliver live TV to Android-based phones and tablets within weeks, but experts warn not all devices can handle it.

The TWC TV app will run only on devices that support Google's Android 4.0 OS, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, and currently very few devices support that version of the operating system, multichannel.com reported Friday.

Time Warner said it was locked into the limitation.

"It's currently the only version of the Android OS that allows us the security and stability necessary to distribute video over our private network," Time Warner Cable's director of digital communications, Jeff Simmermon, wrote in a blog post. "But it's up to the device manufacturer and sometimes the data carrier when or if ICS will be deployed to a particular device."

Developing the live TV app for Android was "not unlike tweezing one's eyebrows while using a disco ball for a mirror," Simmermon said, explaining developing a live video product for Apple devices is much easier because the OS and hardware are controlled by the same company.

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The TWC TV apps for Apple's iPad first launched in April 2010, followed by versions for iPhone and iPod touch.

The apps can provide more than 100 live channels, depending on a Time Warner Cable subscriber's video package.

Simmermon said the Android apps will be upgraded for live TV "definitely by Memorial Day."

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