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NEWS ABOUT: France

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'Spectacular' Cyberattack Hit French Government

Chinese Internet addresses cited in attack seeking G20 docs

(Newser) - Hackers have broken into French finance ministry computers in a “spectacular” attack, prompting the government to take 10,000 machines offline, AFP reports. The attackers reportedly sought information "related to the French presidency of the G20 and to international economic affairs," says a security official. The cyberattack... More »

Chirac Finally Standing Trial

Former French prez goes before court tomorrow

(AP) - After years of claiming presidential immunity to avoid legal proceedings, Jacques Chirac is finally facing a court. Tomorrow, the former president becomes France's first former head of state to go on trial since its Nazi-era leader was exiled—that is, if the whole case isn't derailed by a last-minute protest... More »

France Launching Veil Ban

Women who refuse to remove face coverings will be fined

(Newser) - France's veil ban is taking effect next month, making it illegal for women to wear the full-face Islamic veil in any public area, including the street. Offenders can be ordered to the nearest police station to remove the veil or pay a $200 fine. Veil-wearers can also be ordered to... More »

Galliano to Stand Trial for Slurs

Christian Dior insists runway show will go on

(Newser) - Fashion designer John Galliano has lost his job for making anti-Semitic slurs ; he may now lose his freedom as well. French prosecutors have announced that Galliano will stand trial on charges of making racist insults in public, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and... More »

France Seizes Booted Tunisia's Leader's Jet

EU freezes Ben Ali's assets

(Newser) - Life isn't getting any easier for ousted Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. French authorities seized a private jet believed to belong to the Ben Ali family yesterday after three organizations launched a legal case accusing the strongman of corruption, the BBC reports. European Union foreign ministers have agreed... More »

Carla Bruni: I'm Not a Lefty Any More

Sarkozy can now count on wife's vote

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni celebrate 3 years of marriage this week, and she's giving him quite the anniversary present: She'll probably vote for him next year. Bruni—who supported the conservative French president's Socialist rival in 2007 and told interviewers two years ago she was "instinctively left-wing"—... More »

French Train Firm Apologizes for Role in Holocaust

But survivors are underwhelmed

(Newser) - France's state railway company has apologized for its role in deporting Jews to be slaughtered by the Nazis during World War II—but the move seems only to have caused more outrage. "In the name of the SNCF, I bow down before the victims, the survivors, the children of... More »

Bin Laden Threatens Hostages

French captives will die unless troops leave Afghanistan

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden has released a new audiotape imploring France to withdraw its troops from Muslim lands in exchange for the release of French nationals held hostage in Niger. “President Nicolas Sarkozy’s refusal to remove his forces from Afghanistan is nothing but a green light for killing the... More »

French Icons Can Smoke Again—in Posters

Government softens anti-smoking law

(Newser) - French lawmakers have decided that Jean-Paul Sartre, Coco Chanel, and other long-dead icons can have their cigarettes back. Smoldering cigarettes and pipes had been airbrushed out of old photos and vintage movie posters out of fear of breaking a 1991 law that banned the "direct or indirect" promotion of... More »

Far-Right French Boss Quits With Anti-Semitic Dig

Jean-Marie Le Pen passes mantle to daughter, Marine, with parting shot

(Newser) - France's controversial far-right political party leader passed on his ultra-conservative mantle to his daughter yesterday—just minutes before unleashing another anti-Semitic dig. Jean-Marie Le Pen, who has infuriated the French left and center for over four decades, handed the reins of the National Front to 42-year-old Marine Le Pen after... More »

Prison Boss Busted for Sex With 'Honey Trap' Convict

Frenchman fell in love with woman jailed for role in kidnap-murder

(Newser) - The governor of a French prison is likely to wind up behind bars himself for having sex with a female inmate who was used as "bait" in the horrific kidnap-murder of a Jewish man . Florent Goncalves has been suspended as governor of a women's prison west of Paris for... More »

Slumber Like Louis XIV— in a Versailles Hotel Room

Dilapidated mansion to be reborn as 23-room luxury hotel

(Newser) - Wish you could live as grandly as Louis XIV—or at least as grandly as one of his right-hand men? You'll soon be able to. Versailles' Hotel du Grand Controle, built in the 1680s to house the offices and residence of the king's treasurer, will open its doors as a... More »

Black Truffles May Be Going Way of the Dinosaur

French delicacy is rare and getting rarer, now $30 an ounce

(Newser) - Truffles have always been rare and expensive, prized in French cuisine for their earthy yet delicate flavor, whose richness, it is said, cannot be matched by another food. Yet destruction of the forests where the truffles grow (on oak roots), a scarcity of expert hunters, and a general decline in... More »

3 European Countries Grab at Private Pensions

Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland call for citizens' savings

(Newser) - As European governments seek new sources of revenue, private retirement plans are taking a hit. Since most are organized by the state, "European ministers of finance have a facilitated access to the savings accumulated there, and it is only logical that they try to get a hold of this... More »

France Warns 100K Illegal Downloaders

Sarkozy's anti-piracy campaign gets into gear

(Newser) - France's campaign to stop illegal downloads is well under way, with the program nicknamed Big Brother sending out warning emails to 100,000 people so far, reports the Guardian . Repeat offenders—whose details are gleaned through service providers—face fines and banishment from the web for a year. It's a... More »

Fearing War, France Urges Citizens to Flee Ivory Coast

Meanwhile, World Bank freezes loans to the country

(AP) - The World Bank has frozen loans to Ivory Coast as France urged its citizens to leave the West African country amid heightened UN concerns the nation risks returning to civil war. A French government spokesman told reporters yesterday that it was urging citizens to leave the country, a former French... More »

In France: Screw Marriage, Give Me a Civil Union

Partnerships simplify breakups, avoid religious ties

(Newser) - In France, civil unions are soaring in popularity—for heterosexuals. PACS, as they are known in France, were established in 1999 and lauded by gay-rights advocates; little did they expect the huge success of the measure ... among straight people, who made up 95% of the civil unions created last year.... More »

Murdered French King Getting Head Back

Henri IV's head was stolen by revolutionaries in 1793

(Newser) - Beloved French monarch Henri IV is going to be reunited with his head after more than 200 years. The king, assassinated by a Catholic fundamentalist in 1610, had his head removed from his body by revolutionaries ransacking a royal chapel in 1793. A head presumed to be Henri's was passed... More »

Police Seize Sword-Wielding Teen Who Took 20 Tots Hostage

Boy is 'unstable,' French cops report

(Newser) - French police stormed a pre-school today and apprehended a sword-wielding 17-year-old who’d taken several small children and their teacher hostage. The teen, armed with a sword in each hand, had initially taken 20 children hostage, but released 13 of them throughout the morning. A fourteenth “more or less... More »

Continental Guilty in 2000 Concorde Crash: Court

Airline, mechanic fined for manslaughter

(AP) - A French court found Continental Airlines and one of its mechanics guilty of manslaughter today in the crash of a supersonic Concorde jet outside Paris a decade ago that killed 113 people. The court ruled the Houston-based airline must pay a $265,000 fine; the mechanic, John Taylor, must pay... More »

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