France – News Stories About France - Page 104

Sarko in Snit Walks Out on
'60 Minutes' Interview

Oct 29, 2007 5:54 AM CDT

Sarko in Snit Walks Out on '60 Minutes' Interview

Lashes out at 'stupid' questions on divorce

(Newser) - In a "60 Minutes" interview aired last night, surly French President Nicolas Sarkozy called his press secretary an "imbecile," dismissed the interview as "stupid," and abruptly ended the conversation when asked about his estranged wife, Cécilia, Reuters reports. "If I had something to...

Sofitel to Go (Even More) Upscale

Oct 28, 2007 10:21 PM CDT

Sofitel to Go (Even More) Upscale

Owner Accor will take top properties into luxury market

(Newser) - Add Sofitel to Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and Hermès—France's most luxurious brands. At least that is what its owner, Accor, wants to do. Accor plans to take the best of its 182 Sofitels up market, dumping 35 of the less felicitious Sofitels into a new brand called...

Sarko: France to Go Green

Oct 25, 2007 7:10 PM CDT

Sarko: France to Go Green

French leader is optimistic about a cleaner future

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy called for a greener France today, including higher taxes on polluters, a 50% reduction of pesticide use, and the eradication of genetically modified crops. The French president spoke at the close of a national environment summit that counted Al Gore in attendance. But the conference failed to generate...

France Will Offer Free Museums

Oct 24, 2007 7:22 PM CDT

France Will Offer Free Museums

Culture ministry scraps entry fees in pilot program

(Newser) - Wandering leisurely through one French museum after another—priceless, right? Exactly, as of January 1, when the French culture ministry opens 14 of the country's museums to visitors free of charge. The pilot program, a campaign plank for Nicolas Sarkozy, is being greeted skeptically as columnists debate whether the policy...

France Passes Controversial DNA Immigration Bill

Oct 24, 2007 6:14 AM CDT

France Passes Controversial DNA Immigration Bill

DNA testing has citizens up in arms

(Newser) - France's hotly contested immigration bill that includes provisions for DNA testing passed the legislature yesterday. The bill tightens restrictions on would-be immigrants applying for entry to reunite with family members already in the country, and could include DNA testing to prove they're related to people living in France.

Housing Ills Ripple Across Pond

Oct 22, 2007 2:00 PM CDT

Housing Ills Ripple Across Pond

(Newser) - The American housing crisis is echoing in Europe, where home prices are dropping after a decade of rapid growth. The damage is limited, however, by intercontinental differences. High interest rates and shaken confidence are catching up to prices in France, Ireland, and particularly Spain, where new home construction had spurred...

Cecilia Who? Sarko Plays Field

Oct 22, 2007 1:05 PM CDT

Cecilia Who? Sarko Plays Field

Newly separated French prez unlikely to stay lonely

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy's new bachelor status has the French abuzz about how swingin' their prez will be. The freshly divorced head of state has been spotted lunching with an ex-Bond girl, flirting with a well-known playwright, and carrying a letter reading “I haven’t seen you for an eternity and...

Cecilia Chats About the End of Her Marriage

Oct 19, 2007 5:36 PM CDT

Cecilia Chats About the End of Her Marriage

French first lady admits affair, says she wanted out of public eye

(Newser) - Cecilia Sarkozy told L'Est Republicain today that although she had "tried everything" to avoid divorce, her relationship with the French president wouldn't work. "France elected a man, not a couple," she said. Mme. Sarkozy confessed for the first time publicly that she fell in love with another...

French Support for Strike Wanes on Day 2

Oct 19, 2007 12:15 PM CDT

French Support for Strike Wanes on Day 2

Gov't won't budge; unions vow to return to normal tomorrow

(Newser) - French union leaders hailed yesterday's transit strike as a major success, with 75% participation, AFP reports, and many smaller unions were still holding out today. But the government won't budge on proposed pension reform, and public support waned as commuters faced a second day of the job action and tomorrow's...

Sarkozy, Wife Confirm Split

Oct 18, 2007 7:41 AM CDT

Sarkozy, Wife Confirm Split

First couple confirms split as transit strike grinds France to halt

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy's office confirmed that he and his indomitable wife Cecilia are separating even as transit strikers railing against his economic reforms have idled France—handing the bombastic French president a bad day, indeed. The 1-2 punch ends months of speculation about the collapse of the 11-year marriage, and provides...

Bush: Iran Risks 'World War III'

Oct 17, 2007 10:41 PM CDT

Bush: Iran Risks 'World War III'

Outspoken response to a warning from Russia

(Newser) - In a cantankerous press conference today, President Bush warned that Iran risks starting World War III if it develops nuclear weapons. His remarks came as reporters sought his reaction to Vladimir Putin's comments, after meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday, that the West should not only rule out military action against...

Critics of Blunt, Scattered Sarkozy Pile On

Oct 17, 2007 1:08 PM CDT

Critics of Blunt, Scattered Sarkozy Pile On

Crucial strike looms as discontent with the hyperpresident mounts

(Newser) - Railing against Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reform, France is bracing for a punishing transit strike tomorrow as hordes of foreigners descend for the Rugby World Cup finals. It's only the latest setback for the new president and his broad-sweeping modernizing campaign, leading the New York Times to ask if the Sarkozy...

DNA Testing
Immigrants
Stirs Outrage

Oct 11, 2007 7:54 PM CDT

DNA Testing Immigrants Stirs Outrage

French proposal brings back nasty Vichy memories

(Newser) - A proposal to test the DNA of prospective immigrants to France has provoked outrage and raised painful memories of Nazi collaboration. The tests would verify that would-be immigrants have blood relatives in France, but politicians and thinkers from across the political spectrum have rushed to condemn the initiative. “I...

Five Busted in Monet Vandalism

Oct 10, 2007 5:06 AM CDT

Five Busted in Monet Vandalism

One in drunken pack had link to museum

(Newser) - Four men and a woman have been arrested for allegedly punching a hole in a Monet masterpiece at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. One admitted damaging the painting, and another knew how to access the building through a rear entrance because of a work history with the institution, police...

Vandals Punch Hole in Monet

Oct 8, 2007 2:35 AM CDT

Vandals Punch Hole in Monet

Group broke into Paris museum during all-night culture festival

(Newser) - Four or five people broke into a Paris museum on Sunday and punched a hole in a Monet. The group broke open a back door to the Musee d'Orsay and fled when an alarm sounded, but not before tearing a four-inch hole in "Le Pont d'Argenteuil," a scene...

She Views Life From Behind
a New Face

Oct 5, 2007 1:19 PM CDT

She Views Life From Behind a New Face

First such transplant patient shares her new perspective

(Newser) - Isabelle Dinoire, the French woman who in November 2005 received the world's first partial face transplant, has taught herself how to eat and speak again, but what she really wants to learn, the Guardian reports, is how to kiss. In a new book published in France yesterday, Dinoire describes her...

Airbus Execs Accused of Insider Trading

Oct 4, 2007 9:05 AM CDT

Airbus Execs Accused of Insider Trading

Ex-CEO, others sold millions before A380 delay announced

(Newser) - Accusations of "massive" insider trading by Airbus executives and shareholders have exploded into full-out political scandal. French investigators have learned that 21 top executives and two big shareholders in EADS, the Franco-German consortium that owns the airplane company, cashed in stocks shortly before Airbus announced a June, 2006, production...

The New English Commute: via the Channel

Oct 3, 2007 11:53 AM CDT

The New English Commute: via the Channel

UK buyers say oui oui to working in London, living in France

(Newser) - The Independent reports on the rise of a new phenomenon of Britons commuting to work in London—from France. Middle-class buyers, priced out of "character" English homes and stuck in cookie-cutter subdivisions, are increasingly purchasing properties in Normandy and other parts of France's north—where prices are as much...

Sarko's First Budget Offers No Big Shakeups

Sep 27, 2007 9:16 AM CDT

Sarko's First Budget Offers No Big Shakeups

Eschewing austerity, France set to run another huge deficit

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy presented his first budget to the French national assembly yesterday, but tax cuts have largely replaced the overhaul of the public sector he promised during his election campaign. Super-Sarko's plans to shake up the French economy have run aground, the Guardian reports: huge public debt, ballooning social security...

Swiss Fight Fire With ...Er, Rap

Sep 25, 2007 8:25 PM CDT

Swiss Fight Fire With ...Er, Rap

Video promotes new emergency number

(Newser) - Tired of receiving directory assistance calls on their emergency line, Swiss firefighters filmed a rap video that no one could forget. The resulting “118 Project," which clears up the confusion, has become a YouTube sensation. “They chose rap because it is spoken and not sung,” a...