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Vélib’, Paris’s bicycle rental system, inspired a new urban ethos for the era of climate change. Residents here can rent a sturdy bicycle from hundreds of public stations and pedal to their destinations, an inexpensive, healthy and low-carbon alternative to hopping in a car or bus. But this latest French utopia has met a prosaic reality: Many of the specially designed bikes, which cost $3,500 each, are showing up on black markets in Eastern Europe and northern Africa. Many others are being spirited away for urban joy rides, then ditched by roadsides, their wheels bent and tires stripped. With 80...

A short workweek and the prospect of early retirement. Job-protection laws that make it almost impossible to get fired. Seven weeks of holidays and vacation time a year. Oh, and paid lunches. A harried American worker might ask: What's not to like? And a dissatisfied French worker might respond: Plenty. A wave of suicides at the country's largest telecommunications firm has unnerved France, long viewed by many outside the country as a cushy haven for employees. Experts say the incidents are the most visible examples of the growing phenomenon of stress-induced illness in the country. Marie Peze opened the first...

MOSCOW – Moscow plans to buy a French amphibious assault ship, the first such purchase from a NATO country, as the Kremlin seeks to reaffirm Russia's global reach, a Russian news agency reported Saturday. The Defense Ministry also plans to license the production of four more ships of the Mistral class in Russia under the guidance of French engineers, Navy Admiral Oleg Burtsev was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying. A Mistral ship is capable of carrying more than a dozen helicopters along with dozens of tanks and other armored vehicles and is fit for missions intended to project Russian...

PARIS (AFP) – Jacques Chirac will be the first former French president to be tried for corruption, officials said Friday, after charges from his years as mayor of Paris returned to taint the twilight of his long career. Chirac stands accused of giving political allies lucrative bogus jobs as city hall "ghost workers" and his trial will be the latest in a series to expose graft and dirty tricks at the highest levels of state. Judicial officials confirmed to AFP that Chirac would face trial on charges of "abuse of trust" and "misuse of public funds". A statement from the...

Paris, France (AHN) - France's largest telecommunications firm is setting aside $1.48 billion to fund a stress-reduction program for staff aimed at ending a spate of suicides among its workers. France Telecom SA revealed the plan Wednesday in the face of lower third quarter profits. Under the planned program, staff aged over 57 or those who feel full time work is adversely affecting their health will be offered part-time jobs. Last year, 28 staff of the firm committed suicide. The suicides were blamed on poor working conditions at the company, which is trying to cut cost to meet profit targets.

France's leading high society magazine has today produced a devastating portrait of Carla Bruni as the country's new Marie Antoinette. Point de Vue presents the 41-year-old First Lady as a daffy multi-millionaire socialite who does very little real work, and who is completely out of touch with ordinary people. The attack by the Paris weekly, which specialises in covering the lives of aristocrats and European royalty, will come as a huge blow to President Nicolas Sarkozy as he tries to play down his monarchichal style.

Iran wanted shipments of low-enriched uranium (LEU) -- for conversion abroad into fuel for a Tehran research reactor -- to take place in stages, not as one block. It also wanted simultaneous imports of higher-enriched fuel from other countries for the same plant. The conditions were likely non-starters for Western powers, which suspect the Islamic Republic covertly seeks nuclear arms capability.

AFP - European Union warships have captured seven suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia after two fast boats attacked a French fishing vessel, the EU's naval force said Wednesday. Soldiers aboard the fishing vessel fired on the pirates after they attacked it some 350 nautical miles east of Mogadishu Tuesday, said a statement. A German warship was despatched to the scene, while a helicopter from a nearby Spanish naval vessel -- the ESPS Canarias -- was launched and located the two skiffs trying to flee the area. "The helicopter fired warning shots to stop both skiffs, after which the...

France is to adopt a series of measures to 'reaffirm pride' in the country and combat Islamic fundamentalism. They include everybody receiving lessons in the nation's Christian history and children singing the national anthem. Using words which infuriated ethnic minority groups and Socialist opponents, immigration minister Eric Besson also said he wanted 'foreigners to speak better French'. He called for all recent arrivals to be monitored by 'Republican godfathers', charged with helping immigrants to integrate better. His proposed measures contrast sharply with the situation in Britain where 'citizenship education' centres on multicultural diversity. M Besson, who was born in the...

A few months ago when French President Nicholas Sarkozy announced that burqas were not welcome in France, I had a feeling that was just a small step in France's battle with Islam. Now more of the saving France from Islam plan has been revealed. France to launch national pride campaign in battle against Islamic fundamentalism By PETER ALLEN 27th October 2009 France is to adopt a series of measures to 'reaffirm pride' in the country and combat Islamic fundamentalism.

A Paris court convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than euro600,000 ($900,000) on Tuesday, but stopped short of banning the group's activities. The group's French branch said it would appeal the verdict. The court convicted the Church of Scientology's French office, its library and six of its leaders of organized fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used "commercial harassment" against recruits.

If world powers are not successful in efforts to contain the Iranian nuclear threat, an Israeli strike on Iran could become a reality, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said during a visit to Beirut, the Daily Telegraph reported Monday. The French foreign minister suggested that time was indeed short for a solution to the Iranian threat. "There is the time that Israel will offer us before reacting, because Israel will react as soon as they know clearly that there is a threat." "Israel will not tolerate an Iranian bomb. We know that, all of us," said Kouchner, adding that for...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran wants major amendments within the framework of a U.N. nuclear fuel deal which it broadly accepts, state media said, a move that could unravel the plan and expose Tehran to the threat of harsher sanctions. The European Union's foreign policy chief said on Tuesday there was no need to rework the U.N. draft and he and France's foreign minister suggested Tehran would rekindle demands for tougher international sanctions if it tried to undo the plan. Among the central planks of the plan opposed by Iran -- but requested by the West to cut the risk of...

"After his death, at least 50 youths took to the streets and started to break windows at the entrance of Gabelle, an outskirt of the city. The youths also burned garbage, tires, a motorcycle and five vehicles in a shipyard, said the police. When the Police and the fire-fighters arrived on the scène, protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails against them. Then, the police retaliate by firing tear gas but it was unable to enter into Gabelle." Think about that last sentence for a minute. "France/Civil unrest: clashes erupted in Fréjus after a young man killed himself," from ESISC, October...

President Nicolas Sarkozy's son Jean has shot from a little-known "brat" to would-be national politician in just two years, a meteoric rise unlikely to be derailed by his climbdown in a nepotism row. The college student was forced Thursday to abandon a bid for the job managing France's top business district, the La Defense skyscraper park west of Paris, after it sparked a national outcry. In a steady, well-coached performance on prime-time television the president's 23-year-old son told millions of French viewers he would bow out of the race, but that his "passion" for politics was undented. "What is certain,...

Researchers at the University of Reading (UK) and the University of Southampton (UK) recently made available the roster of men who served during the Hundred Years' War.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is reportedly growing increasingly frustrated with the Obama administration. A Reuters analysis piece says Sarkozy is shifting his focus from the U.S. to other international allies. Didier Billion of the Institute of International & Strategic Relations says: “Sarkozy has clearly been thrown off course in his relations with America.” Another foreign affairs expert, Bruno Tertrais from the Foundation for Strategic Research, adds: "There is an annoyance about what the French see as naivety in the Obama administration."One major sticking point has been President Obama’s softer stance on Iran, while President Sarkozy prefers a more hawkish approach....

A PSA Peugeot Citroen employee killed himself on Friday at his workplace, the carmaker said, adding to a spate of suicides at some of France's top companies. A Peugeot spokesman said on Saturday that the worker was a married man aged around 40 who had a job at a Peugeot site just outside Paris. The company has begun an inquiry into the event. France Telecom has come under scrutiny over 25 suicides at the company since the start of 2008, while an employee of car maker Renault committed suicide earlier this month.

Barack Obama campaigned on restoring America’s standing with its allies, accusing the outgoing Bush administration of insulting and alienating our closest friends with his alleged unilateralism. How has Obama done as President? He has repeatedly insulted the British, insisting that there is no “special relationship” and demonstrating it by denying Gordon Brown the usual joint press conference on his visit to the US. Reuters reports that another close ally has taken the measure of Obama and started looking elsewhere for cooperation: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, initially dubbed Sarko the American for his pro-U.S. stance, is finding it much tougher to...

AFP - Two suspected ETA militants arrested in France earlier this week have been charged with conspiracy to collaborate with a terrorist organisation, a legal official said Saturday. Police apprehended 30-year-old Aitor Elizaran in a car park at the wheel of a stolen car in the Brittany seaside town of Carnac on October 19, along with a woman suspect, 32-year-old Oihana Sanvicente. Both were carrying loaded weapons at the time and have also been charged with firearms offences, possession of false documents, and car theft, the official said. The pair had been renting a studio at the holiday resort where...

Oscar E. and Anna Anderson of Willmar died believing that their only son had been buried at sea after being killed in action during the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. Now, surviving family members hope to learn whether the remains of U.S. Navy Motor Machinist Mate 1st Class John E. Anderson were interred in the Saint Laurent Cemetery, Baveux, France, as an unknown American casualty of World War II. The cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach has since been designated as the Normandy American Military Cemetery. His name is listed there as among the “Missing In Action’’ from...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, initially dubbed Sarko the American for his pro-U.S. stance, is finding it much tougher to deal with Washington than he had anticipated and is recalibrating his policies accordingly. Stung by perceived snubs from U.S. President Barack Obama and encouraged by the growing importance of the G20, Sarkozy is increasingly reaching out to non-aligned states in an effort to extend France's international influence. He has forged especially close ties with Brazil, is seeking alliances in central Asia and is intensifying his activities in the Middle East, using multi-billion dollar military and civilian nuclear trade deals as his...

Defense ministry to consider proposal to mothball Mirage fighters Central News Agency 2009-10-22 06:34 PM Taipei, Oct. 22 (CNA) Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu promised Thursday to consider a proposal to mothball the Air Force's Mirage fighter jets in light of their low performance and high maintenance costs. Kao said the Ministry of National Defense (MND) will carefully evaluate issues such as how to maintain the balance of combat capabilities across the Taiwan Strait, before making a decision on the matter. In the meantime, the Air Force will work with the French manufacturer in an effort to fix the...

The Eiffel Tower, which has become a global icon of France, was lit up with colors of Turkish flag under the ongoing “Season of Turkey” activities in France. The tower will be wearing Turkey’s colors (red and white) from 8:00 p.m. to dawn for five days The Paris Municipality, earlier, decided to make a gesture to President Abdullah Gul during his visit to Paris by lighting up the tower with colors of Turkish flag from October 6 to October 11. Turkish President Gul visited France on October 7 to attend opening of the exhibition “Istanbul through the Ages” at Grand...

<p>PARIS (AP) - French farmers struggling with slumping grain prices blanketed the Champs-Elysees with bales of hay and set them ablaze Friday, and blocked highways around the country as they demanded government help.</p> <p>About 150 farmers blocked traffic and unloaded hay and tires onto the most famous shopping street in Paris. The protesters set the hay on fire before firefighters quickly extinguished the flames.</p>

A France Telecom employee committed suicide on Thursday, becoming the 25th staff member to kill himself over the past 20 months, a company official said. The 48-year-old engineer hung himself in his Brittany home, one month after he had taken medical leave following a recommendation from the company doctor. The latest death brought to 25 the number of employees who have taken their lives since February last year at France Telecom, a former state monopoly that has been under major restructuring. Many of the employees have left notes blaming management decisions or stress at work. The 25th death came just...

UPI) -- President Nicolas Sarkozy of France says he wants to see victory in Afghanistan but has no plans to send more French troops to that country. Speaking to the Le Figaro newspaper, the French leader said he believes there should be a build-up of more Afghan troops, CNN reported. As for staying on in Afghanistan, Sarkozy told the newspaper: "I answer yes -- and stay to win. "But France will not send one more soldier," he added. "My belief is that more Afghan soldiers are needed. It is them who will be the most efficient to win this war...

Forget the British… and the Americans for that matter… the French are coming! Without any direct stimulus money behind it, the Federal Railroad Administration recently called for proposals on high-speed rail lines in the United States.Over 80 groups showed interest, but one stood out in particular stood, thanks to an offer of more than 1,000 pages.It came from SCNF, the firm that runs France’s national railroad and made the TGV high-speed railroad that links Paris to the rest of Europe.Its American proposal details four major high-speed rail centers – one linking the major urban centers of California, another for Texas,...

When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified. Their revulsion increased with the news that many of the dead soldiers had been mutilated — and with the publication of photographs showing the militants triumphantly sporting their victims’ flak jackets and weapons. The French had been in charge of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, for only a month, taking over from the Italians; it was one of the biggest single losses of life by Nato forces in Afghanistan. What the grieving...

A French physicist with the European atomic research centre near Geneva was charged with terrorism offences by a Paris judge last night after investigators said that he offered to work with the North African branch of al-Qaeda. Adlène Hicheur, 32, who is of Algerian origin, was arrested last week with his younger brother after intelligence agents intercepted his alleged internet contacts with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The physicist, who works at the giant atomic collider at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), which straddles Swiss and French territory, told the Islamic group that he was interested in committing an...

ATTENTION: IMAGES ARE SHOCKING . http://www.fdesouche.com/articles/70467#/ (SHORT SUBJECT :: MY PAL RACHID) Court métrage – 1995 – Mon copain Rachid - Réalisé par Philippe Barassat – Avec Jonathan Reyes, Nordine Mezaache, Mathieu Demy et avec la participation de Frédéric Mitterrand (SHORT SUBJECT :: MY PAL RACHID) This video, with intro and voice over by Frederic Mitterrand has surfaced. Frederic Mitterrand, already in hot water in France for his impassioned defense of child rapist Roman Polanski, and his autobiographical "confessions" of participating in "sex tourism" to poor, impoverished third world countries to patronize brothels for sex with young boys. French Minister...

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy saves sex tourist minister Frédéric Mitterrand The influence of France’s first lady has halted the sacking of a minister – but for how long Matthew Campbell in Paris The reluctance of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, to sack a gay minister with a past as a “sex tourist” in Thailand will certainly please Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, his wife. She had suggested appointing Frédéric Mitterrand, a friend, as culture minister and the government’s support for him, despite his confession to having paid boys for sex, is partly a sign of Sarkozy’s eagerness not to offend his first lady. “She has...

French marines aboard trawlers in the Indian Ocean Saturday fired on pirates to repel a dawn attack, as two vessels used in the attack were subsequently captured by Seychelles coastguards, sources said. "Three small launches... (which were) nearly invisible and that we had on the radar at the last moment, chased us," a member of the crew of the Drennac, one of two fishing vessels approached by the pirates, told AFP by telephone. The French military said the marines had first fired flares then "warning shots in the air and across the bows of the pirates' boats", before finally, when...

When he took the post of culture minister of France last June, Frédéric Mitterrand probably did not think that a four-year-old tell-all book could come back to haunt him. But this week his admission in a 2005 autobiography that he paid for sex with “boys” in Thailand became the subject of a campaign to oust him from the cabinet of President Nicolas Sarkozy. The reason for the sudden interest in Mr. Mitterrand’s prose was his quick and energetic defense last month of the film director Roman Polanski, who is fighting extradition to the United States from Switzerland over a charge...

French minister in 'boy sex' row Frederic Mitterrand has rejected criticism from the far right France's Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand is facing intense pressure over a book he wrote that described paying for "young boys" in Thailand. The book was written four years ago, before he joined the government, but is back in the headlines following his impassioned support for Roman Polanski. Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland on child sex charges. Mr Mitterrand, nephew of late President Francois Mitterrand, is expected to defend himself on TV later on Thursday. Mr Mitterrand has come under attack from right and left....

France’s new culture minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, who has defended the filmmaker Roman Polanski against extradition charges for statutory rape, was attacked on Wednesday for his admission in a 2005 autobiography, “The Bad Life,” that he “got into the habit” of paying “young boys” for sex in Southeast Asia despite “the sordid details of this traffic.” Mr. Mitterrand, who is a nephew of former President François Mitterrand, faced calls for his resignation from the far-right National Front. Later, the Socialist Party spokesman, Benoît Hamon, told Reuters: “As a minister of culture he has drawn attention to himself by defending a filmmaker...

Gay French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand's defense of Roman Polanski has now put his own past under the microscope. French politicians have called the defense an attack on the United States and at least one party has called for Mitterand's resignation. Mitterand, whom Sarkozy appointed as Culture Minister, in June, apparently wrote a book described as "a mixture of straight autobiography and more dreamlike reflection" in which he talks about paying boys for sex. Says Mitterand in the book: "I got into the habit of paying for boys [even though I knew] the sordid details of this traffic...All these rituals...

Admiral Prazuck told French TV station La Chaine Info the pirates seemed to be surprised that the navy ship fought back. "Once they realised they were facing a ship that was responding and was heading towards them, they stopped shooting and attempted to flee," he said.Read More Here I know what you are thinking, "The French have a navy?" and "They fought back instead of surrendering?" Yep, they do, and did, that's what makes this not only a funny story, but an amazing one as well.

Somali pirates in two skiffs fired on a French navy vessel early Wednesday after apparently mistaking it for a commercial boat, the French military said. The French ship gave chase and captured five suspected pirates. No one was wounded by the volleys from the Kalashnikov rifles directed at La Somme, a 3,800-ton refueling ship, said Rear Admiral Christophe Prazuck, a military spokesman. La Somme "was probably taken for a commercial ship by the two small skiffs" some 250 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, said Prazuck.

PARIS — Somali pirates attempted to storm the flagship commanding French military forces in a night attack in the Indian Ocean after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the military said here on Wednesday. French sailors saw off the attack and captured five pirates in the incident while no-one was injured, military spokesman Admiral Christophe Prazuck said. "The pirates, who because of the darkness took the French ship for a commercial vessel, were on board two vessels and opened fire with Kalashnikovs," he said. The pirates had tried to storm the 160-metre (525-foot) 18,000-tonne La Somme, a fuel supply ship...

ARAB STATES LAUNCH SECRET MOVES WITH CHINA, RUSSIA, FRANCE TO STOP USING DOLLAR FOR OIL TRADING... DEVELOPING...

<p>When France chides you for appeasement, you know you're scraping bottom. Just how low we've sunk was demonstrated by the Obama administration's satisfaction when Russia's president said of Iran, after meeting President Obama at the UN, that "sanctions are seldom productive, but they are sometimes inevitable."</p>

McDonald's has confirmed that the restaurant will open next month Photo: Brian Smith Lovers of France's two great symbols of cultural exception – its haute cuisine and fine art – are aghast at plans to open a McDonald's restaurant and McCafé in the Louvre museum next month. America's fast food temple is celebrating its 30th anniversary in France with a coup -the opening of its 1,142nd Gallic outlet a few yards from the entrance to the country's Mecca of high art and the world's most visited museum. The chain faces a groundswell of discontent among museum staff, many already unhappy...

Today's Olympic loss wasn't the first time Europeans didn't just melt in the hands of President Obama. Last week at the United Nations, French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Brown had a major row with President Obama over the timing of the announcement of the additional Iranian nuclear facility. The two Europeans wanted the news announced when Obama was chairing the Security Counsel or tight after. Obama got his way, which was to wait till the leaders reconvened in Pittsburgh. The narcissistic Obama did not want to "spoil the image of success" of his disarmament session, which passed a...

SNIPPET: "Arabic language schools in Nasr City are doing well and many Salafists come to Egypt in to learn the language of the Koran. Many deeply religious students from Europe come to Egypt to learn Arabic. The question is: are these European Salafists coming to study the language of the Koran or to prepare terrorist attacks?" SNIPPET: "In addition to language lessons, they usually follow courses in Islamic law offered by teachers ranging from the renowned Al-Azhar University to clandestine imams without permits. "Religious fanatics want to be taken seriously," says Walid al-Gohari, founder and director of the Al-Fajr institute,...

"President Obama, I support the Americans' outstretched hand. But what did the international community gain from these offers of dialogue? Nothing." French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sept 24 When France chides you for appeasement, you know you're scraping bottom. Just how low we've sunk was demonstrated by the Obama administration's satisfaction when Russia's president said of Iran, after meeting President Obama at the United Nations, that "sanctions are seldom productive, but they are sometimes inevitable." You see? The Obama magic. Engagement works. Russia is on board. Except that, as The Post inconveniently pointed out, President Dmitry Medvedev said the same thing...

It was only a week ago that President Obama stood with President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown as each of the three in very sober terms first detailed the discovery of a secret nuclear site and then called this a "moment of truth" for Iran. A week later the Security Council plus Germany is currently meeting with Iran. Iran has stated that these talks won't include their nuclear program. The U.S. promises to confront Iran on the program anyway. Even the most promising prognostication for these talks believe that they will lead to more talks. The Obama administration itself says...

All one needs to know about the case of Roman Polanski is that Woody Allen is among those who signed the Hollywood petition for releasing Polanski. In 1976, Polanski got a 13-year-old girl drunk, gave her a Quaalude and then raped her. After he pleaded guilty to the crime, Polanksi fled the country. This week, the Obama administration pushed the Swiss government to arrest him in hopes of sending him to the United States to face the music. Of course Allen sees nothing wrong with Polanksi's behavior. Allen's preference for the daughter of his girlfriend - indeed, the step-sister of...

Some argue that the director at the center of the controversial sex/extradition case has suffered enough. But personal ordeals are not the same as justice.How lousy has Roman Polanski's life been? His mother died at Auschwitz; his pregnant wife was murdered by the Manson family; and in 1978, after pleading guilty to unlawful intercourse and serving an evaluation period in the Chino state prison, he says he learned that a judge who had led him to believe that he would serve no more jail time actually was considering a long sentence, followed by deportation. On the eve of his sentencing,...

While a backlash emerged Tuesday among French politicians of all stripes about whether their government and others should have rushed to embrace the cause of the jailed film director Roman Polanski, his American legal team picked up an influential new member: the lawyer Reid Weingarten, a well-known Washington power player and close friend and associate of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. For two days, European political leaders and cultural figures from around the globe had offered public support for Mr. Polanski, 76, who was arrested last weekend at Zurich’s airport on a 31-year-old fugitive warrant from the United States...