France this year returned to its position as the world s top
wine producer with an estimated output of 45.7 million hectolitres, the
International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).
Italy had been the biggest producer since 2007.
French President Nicolas
Sarkozy helped Roman Polanski get
4.5 million Swiss Francs bail after the filmmaker spent two months in a
Swiss prison on a child sex case, according to the director's sister-in-law
Mathilde Seigner. “The President has been very effective," Times Online
quoted her as telling Le Parisien newspaper. Polanski’s movements will be
monitored with an electronic tagging to ensure he stays in his Swiss chalet in
Gstaad.
Top French chefs this week
pledged to ban bluefin tuna and other threatened fish species from their menus.
Chef Olivier Roellinger, deputy president of hotel network Relais et Chateaux,
has won an agreement from 60 percent of its members -- 475 European, Japanese
and US chefs -- to stop dishing up bluefin tuna, which are severely endangered
by overfishing.
Xinhua. Nov. 26, 2009
In one week, the French population infected with A/H1N1 flu has increased
712,000 on the mainland, totaling 2,726,000 cases, French Regional Groups of
Flu Observation (Grog) said. The number of deaths related to swine flu has
reached 57.
The number of unemployed
persons in France rose 2% month-on-month in October, to reach 2,627,300, the
employment ministry said. Year-on-year, the number increased 25%. The Economy
minister pointed out that economic recovery recession was fragile, and jobs
were still being lost.
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s
decision to cut value-added tax on restaurant meals earlier this year was
supposed to reduce prices substantially, raise staff wages and create 40,000
jobs.
None of those has yet materialised.
Restaurant prices fell by only 1.46 per cent in the four months following the
introduction of the cut. The government stands to lose €2.4bn ($3.6bn, £2.2bn)
in revenue in a full fiscal year from lowering VAT from 19.6 per cent to 5.5
per cent in 185,000 restaurants, bars and cafés.
Some rural train services in
France could be replaced by buses after an official report found large parts of
the network were too expensive and polluting. The French national audit office,
the Cour des Comptes, said trains in some rural areas were running near-empty -
causing unnecessary pollution as many are not electric but diesel. The average
capacity level across the network is just 26%.
Thanks to French captain
Thierry Henry's 'hand of frog' goal in World Cup qualifier against Ireland, his
team has hit a jackpot. Henry negotiated a deal where players earned bonuses of
up to 406,600 UK pounds for reaching next year's World Cup. Henry will pocket
382,075 pounds from the deal. Boss Raymond Domenech scooped 813,207 pounds from
his own deal.
French soccer player Thierry
Henry's now infamous "Hand of Gaul" win over Ireland in a World Cup
runoff, revaled that there are still masses of people who refuse to see glory
in victory obtained by underhand means. Instead of boisterous celebrations, the
way in which France denied Ireland a place in the World Cup has triggered deep
shame in a country that has often been scorned for its mendacity and slippery
dealing, while touting its humanitarian “values” and vocally giving moral
lessons to everyone else.
France outlaws
“psychological violence”
AFP. Nov. 24, 2009
France will pass a law banning "psychological violence within the
couple" and study the idea of tagging violent partners to prevent them
stalking their victims. The action announced by French Prime Minister Francois
Fillon marks the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of
ViolenceAgainst Women.
Steven Spielberg's 3-D Tintin film is in the can, but it will take two years for the computer animation to be completed, producer Peter Jackson has said.
Seventeen executives at Airbus parent company EADS (European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV) went on trial this week for allegedly making millions in profits in 2005-2006 by selling shares and exercising stock options basedon insider knowledge of a delayed A380 superjumbo project. The accused include many French execs including EADS co-CEO Noel Forgeard; former deputy chief executive Jean-Paul Gut, and chief Airbus salesman John Leahy.
WallStreetJournal. Nov. 24, 2009
François-Henri Pinault, chief executive of French luxury giant PPR SA, revealed his plans to sell off the company's retail divisions like Fnac and Conforama (worth an estimated $6 billion) and refocus on its global brands, like Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Puma.
President Sarkozy wants to dig 130 kilometers (80 miles) of tunnels for an entire new Paris subway system.
The lineswould focus on the capital's outskirts, with trains making a figure-8-shaped route between suburban business hotspots, research centers and the airports. The $31.4 billion project, a subject of intense debate, goes before the lower house of parliament this week.
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