The Tribune

• A Tesla electric car caught fire during a promotional tour in southwest France, but those aboard escaped unharmed.

Tesla said in a statement that it is “working with the authorities to establish the facts” about Monday’s fire in Bayonne.

The driver was quoted in local newspaper Sud Ouest as saying he answered a Facebook ad offering test drives of the Model S sedan. The driver said he saw smoke, and the three people aboard got out before seeing it catch fire.

Regional administration spokesman Patrice Abbadie said Tuesday that nobody was hurt and no property was damaged.

The U.S. government investigated Tesla in 2013 after two fires in Model S sedans, but closed the investigation after Tesla raised the cars’ suspensions and added a titanium shield to protect their batteries.

• A French mayor has denounced the “anarchical settlement” of “Pokemon Go” characters on the “territory” of his eastern village and has ordered the game’s creator to remove the virtual creatures.

Bressolles Mayor Fabrice Beauvois said Tuesday that he has mailed a decree to California-based Niantic Inc. and The Pokemon Company to make sure they stop setting up Pokemons in the village of about 800 inhabitants northeast of Lyon.

In his decree, the mayor says the search for Pokemons puts pedestrians and drivers at risk because players get inattentive while watching their smartphones and that it may also result in groups of people forming at night.

The game, increasingly popular around the world, sends players into the real world to search for digital monsters known as Pokemons, which appear on their smartphone screens.

• Consumers think smartphone makers are releasing too many new models each year, a survey showed this week.

The survey conducted in six countries, commissioned by the environmental group Greenpeace, showed that more than half of those who responded would prefer to change their phones less frequently.

Handset devices are one of the most frequently replaced electronics products.

The top cellphone companies, Samsung and Apple, launch new flagship phone models at least once every year, showing off the latest display and mobile processor technologies.

Phone makers typically upgrade their cheaper lineups as well.

“Over half of respondents across the countries surveyed agree that manufacturers are releasing too many new models, many designed to only last a few years,” said Chih An Lee, global IT campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia.

“In fact, most users actually want their phones to be more easily dismantled, repaired and recycled.”