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France, Germany urge US action to avoid sanctions

The duties would grow by 1 percent each month through the end of the year unless the United States complies with World Trade Organization rulings against the measures.

Legislation to eliminate the tax breaks and provide new measures aimed primarily at helping U.S. manufacturers has advanced in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

But it may not be possible for Congress to approve a final bill in the next month.

Powell: France has annoyed me

Calling the French a proud people with “strong views,” U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted France has annoyed him at times — and he has been just as annoying to them.

“They have been with us through thick and thin. They were with us when we fought for our independence 229 years ago. But we have had disagreements with the French,” he told Philadelphia’s WPHT radio on Wednesday.

France Loses Its Head Over Headscarves

Ten thousand people, mostly Muslim women, marched in protest through Paris on Saturday. Similar demonstrations by Muslim women took place in other cities in Europe and the Middle East. Two thousand people turned out in Stockholm, 2,400 in London, 2,500 in Beirut, 300 in Nablus, about 100 in Washington, D.C. A typical chant: “My scarf, my choice.”

The demonstrators were protesting the French proposal to ban all “conspicuous” religious garb of students in its public schools, including the headscarves of Muslim women and girls, yarmulkes and crosses “of manifestly excessive dimension.” The purpose, French President Jacques Chirac says, is the protection of French secularism.

France eases rift with United States

France is ready to open a new chapter in its strained relations with the United States but without changing any of its foreign policy objectives, government officials say.
A series of official comments and news analyses point to a strong desire to end the sniping that has marred the trans-Atlantic relationship for most of last year.