France – News Stories About France - Page 103

Aug 4, 2007 9:11 AM CDT

Libya Clinches European Arms Deal

Sarkozy yields to probe of ties to Gadhafi, Belgian nurses

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy submitted yesterday to calls for an inquiry over the weapons and nuclear technology deal just finalized with Libya, says the Financial Times. Sarkozy flew to Tripoli to shake on the deal last week, just days after Libya's release of six Bulgarian nurses. Under the agreement, Libya will buy...

New French Prez Heads to Primary Country

Aug 2, 2007 4:13 PM CDT

New French Prez Heads to Primary Country

Finally off the campaign trail, Sarkozy plans vacation in NH

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy will set aside French-US tensions when he visits New Hampshire on vacation this month. The trip to Lake Winnipesaukee appears to be purely leisure, the Boston Globe reports, but it may part of the new PM’s promise to improve trans-Atlantic relations. And the town of Wolfeboro already...

Sarko Backs Down on Public Sector Cuts

Aug 2, 2007 9:28 AM CDT

Sarko Backs Down on Public Sector Cuts

Retreats from promise to trim French civil servant rolls by 50%

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy has backed down from a campaign pledge to reform the sclerotic French civil service, says the Telegraph. The government has scuppered the president's vow to halve the number of civil servants, which Sarkozy had made a central feature of his policy of "rupture."

Basque Leader Busted In Major Crackdown on Separatists

Jul 30, 2007 5:06 AM CDT

Basque Leader Busted In Major Crackdown on Separatists

Opposition party calls move an election ploy

(Newser) - A top Basque separatist leader and 17 others have been arrested in the two months since the organization ended a 15-month ceasefire with Spain. Some analysts credit luck and improved intelligence for the arrests, including last week's bust of ETA's crucial head of logistics. But some critics say the crackdown...

Spanish Cyclist Races to Tour de France Victory

Jul 29, 2007 2:36 PM CDT

Spanish Cyclist Races to Tour de France Victory

Alberto Contador takes home the yellow jersey

(Newser) - Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador donned the final yellow jersey on the Champs Elysées yesterday after winning the 94th tour de France. The 24-year-old underdog—who was not even captain of his team—was bolstered by his climbing skills on this year's particularly mountainous route.

Noriega Inspires Fight between Panama, France

Jul 28, 2007 4:34 PM CDT

Noriega Inspires Fight between Panama, France

Each country wants ex-dictator to serve jail time after US release

(Newser) - Manuel Noriega will be released from a Miami prison in September, but where he'll go after that is up in the air. The US wants to transfer the deposed dictator—convicted of corruption, kidnapping, and murder—to France for more jail time. But some Panamanians want him in a local...

Mais Oui! French Prez Is Friend
to Business

Jul 28, 2007 7:42 AM CDT

Mais Oui! French Prez Is Friend to Business

Sarkozy embraces entrepreneurs, pushes limits on worker's rights

(Newser) - France could see a longer work week and new limits on workers' right to strike if President Nicholas Sarkozy gets his way. He's already reduced wealth taxes on certain investments and practically eliminated the inheritance tax, the Los Angeles Times reports. But supporters insist he will not erode social benefits...

France Opens Probe Against
Former PM

Jul 27, 2007 4:47 PM CDT

France Opens Probe Against Former PM

De Villepin will be grilled over Sarkozy smear campaign

(Newser) - Dominique de Villepin, France's former PM and a longtime rival of president Nicolas Sarkozy, will undergo a formal investigation for his alleged role in improperly smearing Sarkozy. De Villepin denies involvement in the scandal which may also implicate former president Jacques Chirac, but the announcement is seen as a step...

Sarko Cuts
Nuke Deal
With Gaddafi

Jul 26, 2007 12:06 PM CDT

Sarko Cuts Nuke Deal With Gaddafi

French prez seeks to bolster ties with erstwhile pariah

(Newser) - French president Nicolas Sarkozy met with reformed outcast Muammar al-Gaddafi today, just one day after Libya released five Bulgarian nurses and one doctor in an effort to shed the country's rogue image. Sarkozy clinched a number of ventures with the newly open economy, including a deal to build a nuclear...

France Shuts Islamic Camp
for Kids

Jul 25, 2007 8:30 AM CDT

France Shuts Islamic Camp for Kids

Religious regimen was 'excessively rigorous,' officials say

(Newser) - French officials have sent home 96 children after determining that they were subjected to an "excessively rigorous" religious regimen at summer camp in the Vosges mountains, reports AFP. "We had information that children were being physically threatened," said one official. One child called police to say he...

Religious Pilgrims Perish in Bus Crash

Jul 22, 2007 12:38 PM CDT

Religious Pilgrims Perish in Bus Crash

26 Poles die, 24 injured after apparent brake failure in French Alps

(Newser) - Twenty-six people died and 24 were injured today when a bus carrying religious pilgrims plunged off a bridge in the French Alps. Forty-nine Polish nationals and two drivers were on a tour of European Roman Catholic shrines when their coach slammed through a wall onto a riverbank and burst into...

A Megaflood Made England an Island

Jul 19, 2007 8:23 AM CDT

A Megaflood Made England an Island

Sonar shows Channel carved violently; bridge to continent cut

(Newser) - England became an island as a result of a massive flood that tore through a land bridges to France 400,000 years ago, a study of high-resolution sonar images of the bottom of the English Channel shows. The torrent of water and boulders carved the cliffs of Dover, and left...

Sarkozy and Merkel Face Off

Jul 16, 2007 6:02 PM CDT

Sarkozy and Merkel Face Off

Two ambitious heads of state struggle for European dominance

(Newser) - French president Nicolas Sarkozy is stepping up to challenge German chancellor Angela Merkel for the leadership of Europe, Der Spiegel reports, and the result will be first-rate political spectacle. The two alpha heads of state, who met today in Toulouse, have very different styles: Merkel is restrained and accute; Sarkozy...

Paris Gears Up For Pedal Power

Jul 16, 2007 5:10 AM CDT

Paris Gears Up For Pedal Power

City hopes shared bikes will make a dent in ze car traffic

(Newser) - Paris began offering free bikes at stations throughout the city yesterday in a new initiative to ease car traffic. Cyclists can use any of 20,000 heavy-duty bikes parked at 750 locations around the capital by swiping a transportation card that costs $1.36 for the day and up tp...

Pan-European Bastille Day 2007

Jul 14, 2007 8:36 PM CDT

Pan-European Bastille Day 2007

(Newser) - France celebrated Bastille Day for the 127th time today, with a particularly eclectic celebration, as troops from all 27 EU nations marched in the parade down the Champs-Elysees. It is also the first Bastille Day held since Nicolas Sarkozy became president and, as a tough-on-crime rightist, refused to to...

Danone Swallows Up Numico

Jul 9, 2007 5:41 PM CDT

Danone Swallows Up Numico

Paris-based company spits up $16.8B for big-boy serving of baby food market

(Newser) - French food corp Groupe Danone put in a $16.8B cash offer to buy baby food magnate Royal Numico—at just under $75 a share, a 38% premium over last week's closing price. The acquisition will make Danone an industry leader in the baby food market and should be finalized...

Sarkozy Dumps Bastille Day Pardons

Jul 8, 2007 2:17 PM CDT

Sarkozy Dumps Bastille Day Pardons

Revolutionary tradition ends with new law-and-order prez

(Newser) - They won't be celebrating Bastille Day in French prisons this year: Nicolas Sarkozy, the country's new law-and-order president, has declined to grant the traditional mass pardons, as his two predecessors did every year. The pardons—3,500 last year alone—have been used as a means of easing overcrowded French...

Charges Loom for Former French PM

Jul 6, 2007 4:29 AM CDT

Charges Loom for Former French PM

De Villepin linked to dirty campaign against rival Sarkozy

(Newser) - Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is expected to face criminal conspiracy charges following the discovery of new evidence linking him to a dirty tricks campaign against President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Times of London reports. Police yesterday searched his Paris home after investigators found computer data suggesting he directed...

French Government Develops BlackBerry Allergy

Jun 20, 2007 11:37 AM CDT

French Government Develops BlackBerry Allergy

Security concerns prompt ban for top-level officials

(Newser) - BlackBerrys may feel like tools of high-tech spycraft, but they're not—or so the manufacturer is attempting to convince the French government. Worried that American intelligence could intercept transmissions from the addictive devices, the government has renewed an apparently futile 18-month-old ban on high-level officials' use, according to the Times ...

Sarkozy's Party Loses Ground to Socialists

Jun 18, 2007 6:34 AM CDT

Sarkozy's Party Loses Ground to Socialists

Parliamentary elections show left is alive, but Sarkozy's majority still solid

(Newser) - The French left refused to roll over and play dead in parliamentary elections yesterday, giving Nicolas Sarkozy a smaller majority than expected. Sarkozy's Conservative Party won a strong enough mandate to push through its ambitious tax cuts and easing of labor restrictions, the New York Times reports, but loses some...