French Culture Now

Archives: February 20-29, 2008

France meddling in Chad
Allafrica. Feb. 28, 2008
Amnesty International has received evidence that the French government knew about the whereabouts of three detained senior Chadian opposition figures as early as February 11, 2008, although they publicly denied having any such information. The three disappeared on Feb. 3, 2008. "These men are at grave risk of being tortured. The French government should not cover up the excesses of the Chadian government,” said an AI spokesman. France helped Chad suppress a rebellion with Libyan ammunition and military advisors. French President Sarkozy visits Chad this week.
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French media kowtows to Sarkozy
IHT. Feb. 28, 2008
More proof that France’s politicans control the French media. When President Sarkozy was asked in a recent Le Parisien interview whether he thought it was acceptable that he had lost his temper at a bystander, he refused to excuse himself. But later the apologetic phrase "It would have been better if I had not responded to him," along with other changes, was inserted into the interview text by the President’s staff, according to Béatrice Houchard, deputy political editor of the newspaper. It is not unusual in France for prominent interview subjects to edit the texts of interviews before publication. Strict privacy laws in France, protecting the right of people to their image and their spoken word, are one explanation why journalists go along with this spin control.
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European businessmen think green
Businessweek. Feb. 28, 2008
Europe's captains of industry met in Brussels from Feb. 21-22 for the fifth annual European Business Summit, whose theme was "Greening the Economy: New energy for business"" Tops on the agenda: burnishing eco-credentials despite tension in the business community between maintaining competitiveness in the face of strict green goals.
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Miss France may step down because of nude photos
WebinFrance. Feb. 27, 2008
Valerie Begue, the recently elected Miss France 2008, has become embroiled in a scandal over indecent photos taken three years ago, when she was 19 years old. The photographs published by Entrevue (Interview) magazine, show the bikini- wearing French beauty from Reunion Island, reclining semi-nude and sedctively eating yoghurt. President of the Miss France committee Genevieve de Fontenay said, “She has to step down immediately or we will force her to leave.”
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America ahead of France in race relations
BloombergNews. Feb. 27, 2008
Minorities are hugely underrrepreented in French political life. While Europe's third-largest economy has the region's biggest population of Sub-Saharan and North African immigrants and their descendents, it doesn't have any black or Arab mayors currently in office, French talk show host and journalist Christine Ockrent notes of Obama’s populairty: "The fact that he is of mixed blood brings out the idea of reconciliation. For all sorts of reasons, the U.S. is more advanced than France in terms of race relations. Remember, until eight or nine months ago, we had an all-white government. France is in no way an example.''
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French publishing’s dangerous monopolies
Eurozine. Feb. 27, 2008
André Schiffrin writes: Press and publishing concentration in France is extraordinarily high, at an unprecedented level. The government encourages the monopolies by large companies that have policies that will support them and so they help such companies. Right from the start, the French publishing networks were linked to a censorship that still exists. As conglomerates take over French publishing houses, for the first time in Western Europe, ideas are being evaluated, not in terms of their importance, but in terms of their profitability.
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French airports say low-cost carriers give business a boost
Forbes. Feb. 27, 2008
Airports in France recorded a 4.9 pct gain in passenger traffic last year, thanks to low-cost carriers and international operations, the French airport association UAF reported.Low-cost carriers operating at French airports saw a 20 pct rise in passenger traffic last year to reach 23 mln. There was a 7.7 pct rise in international passenger traffic, according to the UAF.
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Slutty France and Prim America come together
IHT. Feb. 25, 2008
You can view France and the United States in various ways - antagonistic allies, intimate adversaries - but there has always been friction, especially in sexual and moral matters. Historically, Americans were depicted as Puritans or adolescents or naïve or God-fearing moralizers. The French were cynical, incorrigible, suave and hypocritical. Nowadays the two countries have more in common.
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Girl gangs terrorize Paris suburbs
UKTimes. Feb. 26, 2008
A new sort of violence in France's troubled suburbs involves girl gangs. I a recent clash in Chelles, east of Paris, about 100 girls aged between 14 and 17 had knives, screwdrivers, sticks and teargas. “If we hadn't intervened quickly, it would have ended in a bloodbath,” said a policewoman. Authorities say they've seen a 140% increase in violence by teenage girls brought up on multi-ethnic housing estates since 2002.
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Sarko Jr. enters politics
UKTimes. Feb. 25, 2008
President Sarkozy’s 21-year-old Jean launched his campaign for office last week in the canton of Neuilly, the rich Paris suburb where the French leader began his rise to power three decades ago. “The rise of the dauphin”, as some were calling this latest episode of the “Sarko show.” Arnaud Teullé, a loyal Sarkozy supporter and local election candidate, obediently stepped aside to make way for Jean, who is considered an easy winner in his safe seat.
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Renault wins Presidential car contract
Guardian. Feb. 25, 2008
Renault has won the fiercely competitive "car wars" race to supply French President Sarkozy’s presidential transport. It is creating a specially lengthened and bullet-proof Vel Satis, with an interior fitted by private jet designers. The car will have a hi-tech communications system to turn it into a moving office. There was speculation why Sarkozy chose Renault, a brand associated with leftwingers.
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Paris public transport refuses ad critical of Sarkozy
EarthTimes. Feb. 25, 2008
The advertising section of the Paris RATP public transport network has banned an advertising poster for a weekly magazine that suggests President Sarkozy is mentally ill, the news web site Rue89 reported. Metrobus rejected two versions of the ad for the weekly Courrier International with the headlines "Madrid's View: Sarkozy Is a Seriously Ill Person” and “Sarkozy - Sick with Ego.” There is speculation that arkozy’’s willingness to sue to protect his image is behind the censirship.
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Sarkozy and the Holocaust kids: “lest we forget”
Guysen International News
Sarkozy’s plan to make each 10-year-old French pupil honor the memory of one of the 11,000 French children killed during the Holocaust was harshly criticized. But initial proposal will be implemented with slight modifications. And so it should be. The crimes perpetrated against children in the ghettos, the camps, and during mass murder sprees are unspeakable, inconceivable, and unexplainable. But they must not be forgotten, says wirter Guy Senbel, quoting Simne Veil and Serge Klarsfeld.
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France’s toxic Rhone
Guardian. Feb. 25, 2008
The French government has banned the consumption of fish from the length of the Rhône after local fish were found to contain high levels of the toxic chemicals PCBs. Fishermen are suicidal and local authorities are suing the government. Envoronmentalists say it is the tip of the iceberg of French industrial pollution, which the government has recklessly ignored for 20 years.
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French Business Sentiment Falls to 13-Month Low; Spending Drops
Bloomberg. Feb. 25, 2008
French business confidence fell in February to the lowest in 13 months and spending on manufactured goods slumped last month as accelerating inflation and slowing growth gripped the European economy. Insee, the Paris-based national statistics office, said today its index of sentiment was 107, the lowest since January 2007 Spending dropped by 1.2 percent, the most since September 2006. Both were worse than economists expected.
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French bugs 'discovered in UK Defence Minister's office'
EveningStandard. Feb. 25, 2008
A leading British MP is to challenge the Government over claims that a Defence Minister was bugged in 2006 by the French when he was responsible for the award of billions of pounds worth of contracts, so the French could eavesdrop on conversations about valuable projects. The claim has the potential to cause a major diplomatic row between Britain and France. Mr Mercer, the former Shadow Homeland Security Minister, said: "It's disgraceful to think that a so-called ally of this country should spy upon us … No wonder that relationships between Britain and France are always so strained."
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French racism excludes ethnic politicians
Voice of America. Feb. 25, 2008
Minority politicians in Europe are still struggling, making up only a small percentage in parliaments across Europe. And only a few hold high ranking positions in government. In France, for example, only one of the almost 600 members of parliament is a racial minority. There are none in the French Senate. Pap Ndiaye, an expert on American politics at EHESS, the Institute of Social Studies in Paris, says France lags behind the U.S. in terms of diversity in politics. "It's changing, but extremely slowly given the conservatism of French political life and French political organizations that pay lip service to diversity but don't do much when it comes to appointing minority candidates to various positions," he said.
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De Gaulle memorial opens in Paris
BBC. Feb. 25, 2008
President Sarkozy has unveiled an audiovisual monument to the wartime French leader and former President, Gen Charles de Gaulle. The memorial at the army museum in Paris - Les Invalides - opens to the public on Saturday. Three doors symbolise turning points in De Gaulle's life, including his 1940 radio address from the BBC in London, the liberation of Paris in August 1944 and the foundation of France's Fifth Republic in 1958. The president of the Charles de Gaulle Foundation, Pierre Mazeaud, said the memorial gave the general his rightful place alongside two other giants of French history - Napoleon and Louis XIV.
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Sarkozy still dropping in polls
Angus Reid Global Monitor. Feb. 25, 2008
People in France are growing disappointed with the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, according to a poll by BVA published in L’Express conducted Feb. 14 to Feb. 16, 2008. 58 per cent of respondents hold a negative opinion of the president’s performance, down 10 points since January.
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Nike to replace Adidas as France sponsors
Reuters. Feb. 25, 2008
U.S. sportswear group Nike will supply kit and sponsorship to France's national team from 2011 to 2018, replacing German rivals Adidas which has sponsored France since the 1970s until 2010. Nike will pay 320 million euros ($474.1 million) over the seven-and-a-half-year contract and supply kit and equipment worth an extra 2.5 million euros a year.
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French in Gulf wargames
TehrenTimes. Feb. 25, 2008
French armed forces will take part in large-scale war games codenamed Gulf Shield in the Persian Gulf next week, underlining France's growing military presence in the region. France will deploy 1,500 personnel, two frigates and eight Mirage fighter jets to the defense exercises, held in conjunction with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Last month President Sarkozy announced a permanent French military base in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital. Iran criticized Mr. Sarkozy's announcement as an unfriendly move.
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French cancer increases but death rate falls
WebinFrance. Feb. 25, 2008
Reported cancer cases in France have nearly doubled over the 25 last years, but the risk of mortality was cut by 25% for the same period, according to a new French study published by the national Institute of medicine in France (INVS). The rise is explained by both population growth in France, aging of the French population, and greater risk factors such as increased smoking among women. The fall in mortality is being explained partly by increasing public awareness and monitoring of health.
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French TV giant FranceMonde founded
Variety. Feb. 25, 2008
Alain de Pouzilhac, head of news network France 24, has been appointed by French President Sarkozy to oversee the setup of government-run holding company France Monde. The structure will be integral in the government's attempts to consolidate its various stakes in public radio broadcaster RFI, France 24 and international French-language TV network TV5 Monde. The current state budget for the three entities is nearly e400 million ($590 million). TV5 Monde's international partners -- state-run broadcasters in Switzerland, Belgium, Canada and Quebec -- are meeting in Ottawa this weekend to discuss Paris' initiatives. Several members have already expressed grave concerns about the project.
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Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union plan falters
Economist. Feb. 22, 2008
The Mediterranean Union is supposed to be Sarkozy’s Big Idea – to get the countries around the Mediterranean to talk to each other in a new forum, where all members are considered equal. But Sarkozy's plan is prompting exasperation both within his government and among fellow Europeans, especially Germans who feel excluded, and Britihs who suspect France’s designs on Turkey.
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French invent self-healing rubber
Nature. Feb. 21, 2008
Ludwik Leibler and colleagues at the Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution in Paris have produced self-healing rubber, a cross between silly putty and rubber which can stretch, but when split it can be stuck back together again. The invention could have applications in anything from adhesives to bicycle tyres.
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IMF Cuts French Economic Growth Forecast to 1.5%
Bloomberg. Feb. 21, 2008
The International Monetary Fund cut its prediction for French economic growth this year to 1.5 percent, putting its expansion behind the euro area for a third year. French gross domestic product will expand a half point less than forecast in October to its weakest in five years, the Washington based-lender said in its annual report on Europe's third-largest economy.
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SocGen profit despite trader fraud
BBC. Feb. 21, 2008
The French bank Societe Generale made a profit in 2007 despite a trading scandal that cost the bank 4.9bn euros ($7bn). The bank made a net profit of 947m euros for the year, down 82% from 2006. Last month, SocGen announced massive losses which it blamed on rogue deals carried out by Jerome Kerviel - a junior trader at the bank.
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French inflation up on food costs
BBC. Feb. 21, 2008
Rising food and fuel costs pushed up French inflation to 3.2% in January, its highest level in at least 12 years, official figures have shown. The rate was up from December's figure of 2.8%, and was the highest level the EU harmonised inflation measure has hit since it was introduced.
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Protester guilty of calling Sarko policy “racist”
AFP. Feb. 20, 2008
Freedom of speech in France is under fire again. Romain Dunant of Education Without Borders Network (RESF) was fined 800 euros ($1,170), for comparing now-President Sarkozy’s policies as interior minister to Vichy, France's pro-Nazi wartime regime. In an email sent to Sarkozy's ministry in 2006 protesting the government’s promise to deport 25,000 illegal immigrants each year, Dunant wrote “"So this is Vichy coming back” and called the policy "racist.” Prosecutors argued that the activist overstepped the "limits" of freedom of expression. In France, insulting someone, especially a government official, is a crime.
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Sarko empanels TV commission
Forbes. Feb. 20, 2008
Another day, another French commission. President Sarkozy announced that a specially created commission will study proposals for an overhaul of public television in France, including previously announced abolition of advertising and fears of funding cuts. The group of MPs and broadcasting professionals will submit their report by the end of May 2008. Critics have said that Sarko should have empanelled the commission before announcing his proposed radical changes out of the blue.
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Chinese ambassador awarded France's top honor
Xinhua. Feb. 20, 2008
France continues to degrade its “honors” system with politically motivated and dubiously expedient awards. Last week Senator Raffarin gave the wife of China’s Ambassador to France the Commander of Arts and Letters for her support of cultural exchanges, while laughably praising China’s “diversity.” This week, China’s Ambassador to France Zhao Jinjun was named Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor by President Sarkozy, for efforts to boost bilateral ties. A nice pair of bookends for the Ambassadorial couple.
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Sego up, Sarko down in polls
SarkotheAmericanblog. Feb. 20, 2008
According to a poll in Libération, when asked who would be the best leader of the left, 39% of Socialists are for Royal, compared with 20% for Strauss-Kahn and 13% for Delanoe; that's a jump of 9 points for Royal in just over a month. Meanwhile Sarkozy has fallen to a new low, 36% approval according to BVA/L'Express.
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POLITICS AND SOCIETY NEWS AND EVENTS ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 2008-4