And when products finally become obsolete, Greenpeace wants companies to provide free, convenient tack-back programs in all countries where their products are sold.

FORBES: How Green Are Your Gadgets?

Both are following the usual French political rule: spend the first round securing your base, then tack frantically back towards the centre in the second.

ECONOMIST: France's presidential election

MPs attempting to cut back abortion were hoping to tack their amendments to a bill on assisted reproduction, a field with plenty of controversies of its own.

ECONOMIST: Abortion laws: Hard cases and slippery slopes | The