…e closure of a Peugeot factory, accused the company of “overwhelming lies” and said the Florange closure breaks a promise made by chief executive Lakshmi Mittal during Mittal Steel’s 26.9 billion-euro takeover of Arcelor in 2006, which was strongly opposed by French ministers. The problem “isn’t the furnaces in Florange, it’s Mittal”, said Arnaud Montebour…
uce the baguette burger again if the initial six-week run is a success. McDonald’s changing global cuisine McDonald’s is trying to appeal to national culinary tastes and have come up with around 20 locally tailored menu items in 14 European countries including: Finland: offers the Rye McFeast, a burger served on a rye bun. Spain: sells the tomato-based soup Gazpacho. Italy: McDonald’s…
…s has happened either. “Last year a Boeing 747 was grounded after undergoing maintenance in China because parts of the plane had been painted with flammable paint.” The crash of an Air France Concorde 11 years ago, killing 113 people, was blamed on a strip of metal on the runway which punctured the plane’s tyres and sent rubber fragments flying into a fuel tank….
…ones at the embassy in the capital Bangui and tore down the French flag. They want France to help quash a rebellion in the north of the country. France, the former colonial power in the CAR, has about 200 soldiers based there, and the government in Bangui has appealed for France to intervene against a rebel movement which has taken several northern towns. The protesters said France had abandoned t…
…ly in January amid fears that the militants were preparing to advance on Bamako. France currently has about 4,000 troops in Mali. Mali’s army and troops from several African countries, including 2,000 from Chad, have also been involved in the fighting. Since the intervention began, major cities including Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu have been recaptured but fighting is still continuing in desert…
. My involvement in the life of my country will now be different.” During the campaign, he had said he would leave politics if he lost the election. Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been in office since 2007, had promised to reduce France’s large budget deficit through spending cuts. He becomes the latest European leader to be voted out of office amid widespread voter anger at austerity measur…
Ernesto Mauri, head of the publisher of France’s Closer magazine, and photographer Valerie Suau are under formal investigation in France over the publication of topless pictures of a sunbathing Kate Middleton. Topless pictures of Kate Middleton, taken during a private holiday in France, were published by Closer magazine in September 2012. Local newspaper La Provence used pictures of the duc…
…ainland France and Corsica are open until 18:00, with voting stations in big cities remaining open for a further two hours. The first official results will be released after the last stations close at 20:00. Nicolas Sarkozy is facing a tough challenge from Socialist Francois Hollande, who has said it is "the left's turn to govern" President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been in office si…
ed Nicolas Sarkozy’s claim “totally false”, pointing out that “Britain is actually more industrialized than France”. Le Monde admitted that “industrial decline is stronger in our country”, adding: “In 2007, industry accounted for 16.7% of GDP against 14.1% for France: a statistic that did not change in 2011.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy claimed that Britain is a country with “no industry” du…
…Francois Hollande, President Nicolas Sarkozy said France had done better than other European countries in coping with the economic climate. “What is the country to not have known recession since 2009 – it is France,” Nicolas Sarkozy said. He rejected Francois Hollande’s proposed stimulus programmes, insisting that France had to cut spending and debts. Nicolas Sarkozy also a…
A Muslim woman from France has been fined for driving while wearing a burka because the garment “reduced her field of vision”. Police who stopped the woman compared wearing a veil over the face behind the wheel to driving with ice on the windscreen, eating a sandwich or smoking a cigarette. The woman was handed a 35 Euros on-the-spot fine under article 412-6 of the highway code, which state…
France has entered its second recession in four years after the economy shrank by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2013, according to official figures. The country’s economy shrank by the same amount in the last quarter of 2012. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. France has record unemployment and low business and consumer confidence. German figures, also released,…
a waiting car. Couple had boarded the same scheduled Saturday night Air France flight for Paris that he was about to take when he was arrested on 14 May. The charges against DSK were dropped on August 23 at the request of prosecutors who had concerns about Nafissatou Diallo’s credibility. Having DNA evidence indicating a sexual encounter did occur between the two in a suite at the Sofitel Ho…
France is prepared for the second round of presidential election that could see a socialist winner for the first time since 1988. In the first round socialist Francois Hollande won 28.6% of the vote, ahead of incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy on 26.2%. Rising unemployment and the euro crisis have dominated the campaign. Nicolas Sarkozy says he averted recession and will preserve a “strong France…
…th – and I will not deviate. It’s the future of France,” he said. The Socialist president said he would resubmit his flagship policy of raising income tax for those earning more than 1 million euros ($1.3 million) a year. It was rejected by the Constitutional Council on Saturday because, unlike other forms of income tax, it was to be applied to individuals rather than households….
…o sign the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, the Palestinians hope to take legal action in the court to challenge Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. The bid follows an attempt in 2011 by Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority and chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), to join the UN as a full member state, which failed because of a lack of…
…le, was unpatriotic at a time of cutbacks Next year, the top rate of income tax in France is due to become 75% on earnings above 1 million euros. It is currently 50% in Belgium. Speaking on the France 2 TV channel, Jean-Marc Ayrault said: “I find this quite shabby… All that just to avoid paying tax.” Gerard Depardieu was a “great star” whom “everyone loves as an…
French top legal authority Constitutional Council has rejected a plea from animal rights campaigners to ban bullfighting. The campaigners wanted the fights categorized as cruelty to animals. But the judges said the “traditional” fights, held in areas of southern France, “do not harm people’s protected constitutional rights”. More than 1,000 bulls are killed annually…
…s forced. The French Socialist Party was freed to return to France, where the authorities are investigating another case, claiming that DSK tried to rape a French journalist, Tristane Banon, in 2003. DSK’s lawyers have dismissed French journalist accusations as “fantasy”. Tristan Banon’s lawyer, David Koubbi, who travelled to New York to meet prosecutor Cyrus Vance and Nafissato…
Newly elected French President Francois Hollande celebrated his first-ever National Day (known outside of France as Bastille Day) as head of state on Saturday with usual pomp, military parade and flight show. At 10:00 a.m. local time, Francois Hollande presided the military parade down the Champs Elysees Avenue, which involved some 4,950 soldiers, 368 armored vehicles, 241 horses and 98 jets and…
…tive of the Syrian people. Opposition and human rights activists estimate that more than 36,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule began in March 2011. More than 408,000 Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, and more are fleeing every day, according to the United Nations. Francois Hollande told reporters: “I announce today that Fra…
Every year, the 14th of July marks a very special occasion in French history. This is Bastille Day: the day when, in 1789, the infamous Bastille Prison was stormed by angry mobs agitating against the King’s heavy-handed rule. The 14th of July is thus synonymous with the idea of the modern French republic. Given the party atmosphere that permeates the whole country come Bastille Day, it̵…
The French government is considering introducing a 1% tax on the sale of smartphones and tablets to help fund local film, music and images. The proposal estimates some 86 million euros ($112 million) could be raised per year. The bid is based on France’s so-called “cultural exception” policy, which aims to protect culture from market forces and foreign competition. Broadcasters…
DSK is back to France. DSK freed to return to France. DSK spent more than three hours in a police interview as a “witness” just over a week after charges of sexually assaulting a hotel chambermaid in New York were dropped. Journalist Tristane Banon, 32, filed a complaint this summer alleging that Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her in a Paris apartment in 2003 where…
French authorities have placed the former head of France Telecom Didier Lombard under formal investigation for harassment. The probe relates to the suicides of over 30 employees in 2008 and 2009 when Didier Lombard was in charge. The launching of a formal investigation is the last stage before charges are brought in the French legal system. Didier Lombard wrote in Le Monde that restructuring at t…
Angelina Jolie to play her mother Marcheline Bertrand in biopicAngelina Jolie will play her own mother in a biopic of the late actress Marcheline Bertrand, who died from ovarian cancer in 2007. Angelina Jolie, 37, who last week revealed…
Anna Wintour bans Kris Jenner from Met Gala 2013Anna Wintour may have accepted Kim Kardashian to the Met Gala last week, but she apparently banned Kris Jenner from attending as well. Kim Kardashian’s mother was…
John Lennon guitar sells for $408,000 at Julien's AuctionsA guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles has sold for $408,000 at auction. The custom-made instrument, built in 1966 by the VOX company, was bought…
Kim Kardashian finally puts her swollen feet in flatsAfter she raised eyebrows on Thursday as she crammed her swollen feet into Perspex heels, with painful looking results, Kim Kardashian finally seems to be giving her feet a…
Eva Longoria humiliating wardrobe malfunction at Cannes Film FestivalEva Longoria has suffered an extremely embarrassing wardrobe malfunction as she unfortunately revealed far more than she intended to upon screening of Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy…
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart split after cheating scandalRobert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have split after almost four years together, People magazine is reporting. The couple – who reportedly broke up briefly in December…
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