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Police in Paris used tear gas to disperse hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrating against gay marriage on the Champs-Elysees.[snip]The opponents to gay marriage highlighted France's flagging economy, beset by mass layoffs and spiralling unemployment, and attacked Socialist President Francois Hollande's government for ignoring pressing issues while pushing ahead with his election pledge of "Marriage for All."

(Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic seized the riverside capital Bangui in fierce fighting on Sunday, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee and sowing confusion over who ruled the mineral-rich heart of Africa. At least nine South African soldiers were killed trying to prevent the rebels taking Bangui, a Reuters witness said, dealing a blow to Pretoria's attempt to stabilize the chaotic central African nation and assert its influence in the region. ... "The looting is bad. Both the population and Seleka are involved," said one senior U.N. official in Bangui. "We are not sure who is in charge....

PARIS — Paris police used tear gas and batons to fight crowds who pushed their way onto the landmark Champs-Elysees avenue and toward the presidential palace as part of a huge protest against a draft law allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. Hundreds of thousands of people - conservative activists, schoolchildren with their parents, retirees, priests - converged on the capital Sunday in a last-ditch bid to stop the bill, many bused in from the French provinces. The violence took protesters and police by surprise, and suggested that the anti-gay marriage protests have become outlets for anger and...

Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in central Paris for a final mass protest against a bill to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption. Demonstrators gathered along a major street up to the Arc de Triomphe. There were scuffles and police fired tear gas as the protest spilled over onto the Champs Elysees, the avenue which runs past the president's palace. France's Senate is due to debate the bill next month after it was passed by the lower house of parliament. President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party and its allies dominate both houses. Opinion polls suggest a majority of French people...

Tens of thousands opposed to French legislation allowing gay marriage protested Sunday on a route leading to the Champs Elysees after police banned them marching on the famed Paris avenue. The hugely controversial bill to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption has been comfortably adopted by the lower chamber of parliament and will go to the Senate for examination and approval in April. The upper house is unlikely to prevent the groundbreaking reform from becoming law by the summer. The protestors want the government to withdraw the project and put it to a referendum. The demonstrators highlighted France's flagging economy, beset...

The president of the Central African Republic has fled the country's capital and rebels have seized control of the city, a government official said Sunday. President Francois Bozize crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo, said Jules Gautier Ngbapo, a spokesman for the government's territorial administration minister. He declined to disclose Bozize's location Sunday. "Central Africans are waiting for the new president to be named," Ngbapo said in a written statement. Word of Bozize's surprise departure came as violence erupted in the capital, Bangui. Witnesses reported hours of gunfire, and Ngbapo said at least seven civilians were killed as rebels...

"Tens of thousands of people have gathered in central Paris for a final mass protest against a bill to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption."

SORGUES, France — A T-shirt worn by a 3-year-old nursery-schooler named Jihad has led to an unusual and politically charged criminal trial here that tests the limits of free speech — and common sense — in a France increasingly ill at ease with its growing Muslim population. “I am a bomb,” the shirt said on the front. The back read, “Jihad Born Sept. 11.”

Europe Has A Crisis — And It's Much Bigger Than Cyprus Joe WeisenthalMarch 23, 2013REUTERS/Christian Hartmann In a way, Europe should be thrilled by the week that was because financial markets barely batted an eye at the crisis in Cyprus. But Europe has a problem on its hands that's bigger than Cyprus: The economy stinks. This week we got fresh proof that things are bad or getting worse. In France, the Flash PMI report (which is a mid-month look at the combined services and manufacturing sectors of the economy) came in dismal, with the output index falling to a four...

France May Cap Purchases of Rafale Combat Jets -Report 03/22/2013| 01:34pm US/Eastern The French government is considering limiting its purchases of Rafale multi-role combat aircraft, made by Dassault Aviation SA (>> DASSAULT AVIATION), to 225 from the 286 planned over the life of the program, according to a report Friday on financial information website latribune.fr. Such a move would be part of a general effort by the government to scale back public spending in the coming years, the website reported, without citing sources. The report said the government hasn't yet decided on the exact number of aircraft it will purchase....

French police have searched the Paris apartment of IMF chief Christine Lagarde, as they investigate her role in awarding financial compensation to businessman Bernard Tapie in 2008. As finance minister, she referred his long-running dispute with bank Credit Lyonnais to an arbitration panel, which awarded him 400m euros (£340m) damages. Mr Tapie was a supporter of ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy. Critics say she abused her authority but Ms Lagarde denies any wrongdoing. "This search will help uncover the truth, which will contribute to exonerating my client from any criminal wrongdoing," Ms Lagarde's lawyer, Yves Repiquet, told the Reuters news agency. The...

High profile-gang rapes in India have been in the headlines since December. The phenomenon is growing across Europe too, but tends to be under reported due to the high incidence of Muslim perpetrators which makes it politically incorrect to mention. In December 2011 a Swedish mother-of-two was subjected to a brutal gang-rape by 12 Afghan immigrants in a refugee camp . ... The main perpetrator Rafi Bahaduri, 25, had already committed four other rapes in Sweden. The case is not unique. There is a growing trend of gang-rapes perpetrated against white women by Muslim rapists. In the U.K. there has...

A fifth French soldier was killed in the nine-week-old military campaign against Islamist rebels in Mali, the French government said on Sunday. The corporal from the 1st Marine infantry regiment of Angouleme was killed in action, President Francois Hollande's office said in a statement, without giving details. Dozens of Islamist fighters linked to al-Qaida have been killed as French and African forces have fought to drive them out of the northern region of Mali they have controlled since last April. France launched a ground and air operation in January to break the Islamist rebels' hold on the region, saying militants...

GAO, Mali (Reuters) - One of al Qaeda's most feared commanders in Africa has been killed by French air strikes in north Mali, sources close to Islamist militants and tribal elders said on Friday, but France said it could not confirm this. The local sources said Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, blamed for kidnapping at least 20 Western hostages in the Sahara desert in recent years, was among 40 militants killed four days ago in the foothills of the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains. About 1,200 French troops and 800 Chadian soldiers are hunting down pockets of al Qaeda-linked insurgents in the border...

'A prominent Al-Qaeda leader has been killed by French and Chadian troops in northern Mali, the President of Chad confirmed yesterday. Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, senior commander in Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was killed among 40 other Islamist fighters three days ago in the foothills of the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains. A U.S. official said the reports of Abou Zeid's death appear credible and that Washington would view his death as a serious blow to Al-Qaeda's north Africa wing.'

U.S. Government Investigation Of Gold Price Manipulation Commodities / Gold and Silver 2013March 15, 2013 - 04:16 PM GMT By: Midas Letter Yesterday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the regulator who ostensibly regulates the banks and major financial institutions who participate in the futures and commodities trading business, announced they were going to examine whether prices are being manipulated in the “world’s largest gold market”, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal. For long time observers of the gold price and the fundamental and not-so-fundamental influences on its price movements, the announcement might have elicited a gasp of...

Explanation: Still looking for that comet? Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) naked-eye appearance in the northern hemisphere is described by successful comet spotters as a dim star with faint a tail. If you want to catch it the next few days could be your best bet. Start looking low and almost due west about 45 minutes after sunset. Of course, clear skies and a pair of binoculars should help a lot. Sky photographer Jean-Luc Dauvergne found suitable weather and western horizon for this comet and crescent Moon portrait after a road trip on March 13. Seeing PanSTARRS for the first time,...

As a general rule, it’s not right to take pleasure at the misfortune of others.But I think we’re allowed an exception to that Schadenfreude rule when the “others” are greedy politicians pursuing spiteful policies. We want the political elite to suffer misfortune because of our desire to promote freedom and prosperity for ordinary people.With that in mind, I have a big smile on my face because Francois Hollande’s class-warfare tax policy in France is a bigger failure than even I predicted it would be.I’m particularly happy that the geese with the golden eggs are flying away. And the flock seems...

Political revolt against the euro construct has spread to Germany. A new party led by economists, jurists, and Christian Democrat rebels will kick off this week, calling for the break-up of monetary union before it can do any more damage. "An end to this euro," is the first line on the webpage of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). "The introduction of the euro has proved to be a fatal mistake, that threatens the welfare of us all. The old parties are used up. They stubbornly refuse to admit their mistakes." They propose German withdrawl from EMU and return to the D-Mark,...

The minister for France's overseas territories lamented the death of Hugo Chavez on Saturday, saying the world "needs more dictators" like him after attending the late Venezuelan leader's funeral a day earlier. Victorin Lurel described Chavez as a cross between French General Charles de Gaulle and reforming left-winger Léon Blum, who served three times as French prime minister. “De Gaulle because he profoundly changed his country’s institutions, and Blum because he fought relentlessly against injustice,” he told RTL radio. “I’ll be criticised for saying this, but the world needs more dictators like Hugo Chavez, if it’s a dictator that he...