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	French army chief quits over civilian shooting BBC. July 2, 2008 The French army chief of staff, Gen Bruno Cuche, has resigned two days after a soldier injured 17 people at a military show. The soldier used real bullets instead of blanks at the public demonstration at a barracks in south-western France. Four people, including a child, were seriously injured in the incident. For France, it is an appallingly embarrassing incident just as the country takes over the presidency of the European Union.
	French court fines eBay over online sales BBC. July 2, 2008 A French court has ordered eBay to pay 40m euros ($63m) to luxury goods group LVMH for allowing online auctions of its brands, including fakes as well as authentic product of which LVMH claims it controls the sales points. But an Ebay spokesperson commented: "Today’s ruling is about an attempt by LVMH to protect uncompetitive commercial practices.”
	Sarkozy Still Below 40% Mark in France Angus Reid Global Monitor. July 2, 2008 Public support for Nicolas Sarkozy increased slightly this month in France, according to a poll by Ifop published in Le Journal du Dimanche. 37 per cent of respondents are satisfied with the president’s performance, up two points since May.

	The rise and fall of Jean-Luc Godard UKTelegraph. July 2, 2008 Richard Brody's new book “Everything is Cinema” is a detailed account of the inspirations and impulses behind Godard's multifarious output and, in many ways, it is a winner - as dense and disputatious as anything by its subject. For his first 10 years as a director, Godard turned out masterpiece after masterpiece - À Bout de Souffle, Le Mépris, Bande à Part, Alphaville, Pierrot Le Fou, Weekend. The cinemas couldn't print tickets fast enough. Then, almost overnight, his audience vanished.
	Obituary: Jean Desailly CanadianPress. June 17, 2008 French actor Jean Desailly, 87, who worked in film and theatre, has died in Paris. Desailly appeared in films including "Maigret tend un piege" (Maigret Lays a Trap), "La Mort de Belle" (The End of Belle) and starred in Francois Truffaut's "La Peau Douce" (The Soft Skin). President Sarkozy saluted Desailly, whose career he said "spanned the theatrical life of the 20th century in its most prestigious symbols," including the renowned Comedie Francaise.
	In Praise of César Franck Spectator. June 17 , 2008 Once so sure in the pantheon, esteemed by composers and critical taste, beloved by players and audiences, French composer César Franck appears nowadays to be almost universally reviled. The present consensus is that Franck is merely thick, cloying, glutinous, too sequential, too chromatic, stiff in rhythm and phrasing, mechanised in form and process. Time for a second opinion?

Chef Ducasse moves to Monaco UKTimes. July 2, 2008 France has just lost one of its greatest chefs. Alain Ducasse, the holder of 14 Michelin stars and a worlwide restaurant and hotel empire, has given up his French citizenship and gone into tax exile across the border in Monaco. The departure of Ducasse, 51, whose interests turn over about 160 million euros a year is an embarassment to President Sarkozy in the light of his "come home" appeal to thousands of French tax refugees.

French wine makers resurrect the lowly table wine EarthTimes. June 17, 2008 The long-scorned table wines of France are becoming sexy at last. As the French government attempts to legislate the country's wine industry out of its crisis, a growing number of wine makers, frustrated by outmoded industry regulations, are using the lowly table wine to unleash their creativity and attract new customers. The results have been nothing less than sensational.