Blog Left Sidebar

Cannes Film Festival Opens

Indian actress Aishwarya Rai and US director Alexander Payne officially launched this year’s festival in a theatre packed with celebrities from around the world as well as film greats, with thousands of fans angling to get a glimpse outside.

“It’s an absolute pleasure and honour for me to declare the 58th Cannes film festival open,” said Ms Rai in English, after a spectacular gymnastics display by a member of Canadian troupe Cirque du Soleil.

Ms Rai, a Bollywood star who broke through into international cinema after starring in Bride and Prejudice, sat on the Cannes jury three years ago.

Mr Payne, known for directing the films About Schmidt and Sideways, repeated her declaration in French.

World's Biggest Airliner Soars Into French Skies

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) – The world’s biggest
airliner, the Airbus double-decker A380, soared effortlessly into the sky on
Wednesday on one of the most eagerly awaited maiden flights since the supersonic
Concorde took off in 1969.

The A380, which is designed to carry 555 passengers but has room for more
than 800, lumbered down the runway before gathering speed and taking off from
Airbus headquarters near Toulouse in southern France.

Review: A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France and the Birth of America

In “A Great Improvisation,” Stacy Schiff gives the answer. She provides an impressively researched, fine-grained account of Franklin’s Paris years, and his critically important mission to secure French support and French money for the rebellious colonies. Later, after the tide had turned in America’s favor, he was responsible, along with John Jay and John Adams, for negotiating the treaty with Britain that would turn the American experiment into an established international fact.

This was a tall order for a man, already in his 70s, with only a rudimentary command of French, no legal training, and no financial expertise. Yet Franklin muddled through, despite malicious attacks on two fronts, from his colleagues in Paris and from critics in the Continental Congress.