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U.S. Expects Guantanamo Releases to France Soon

The United States expects to soon begin releasing some detainees from its Guantanamo prison into the hands of French authorities, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday.

Seven French nationals are among around 600 people held at the camp in Cuba because Washington suspects they are members of al Qaeda and Afghanistan’s former ruling Taliban militia.

The U.S., which has held the detainees caught abroad in its “war on terrorism” at the Guantanamo U.S. naval base in Cuba, has already handed over some prisoners to countries such as Britain and Denmark.

Vandals damage Jewish graves in eastern France

Vandals painted swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti on headstones at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, an act that drew the swift condemnation of the government on Friday.

French President Jacques Chirac promised a tough crackdown on anti-Jewish violence after the vandalism on the cemetery in Herrlisheim.

“Anti-Semitism is contrary to all the values, principles and ideas of the Republic,” Chirac said.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s office said he immediately wrote a letter to a local Jewish group to express outrage, and Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin called off appointments and immediately headed to the village in the Alsace region.

Chirac: EU enlargement opportunity for France, but Turkey not ready

Two days before the EU embraces 10 new members, French President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that enlargement will turn Europe into an economic powerhouse, but he warned that Turkey has not yet met the conditions to join.

Speaking at a rare news conference at the Elysee presidential palace, Chirac sought to reassure the French public about the EU’s expansion after opinion polls showed people are concerned about its effects on employment and social welfare — as well as on French national identity.

“I want to say to French men and women that this Europe, which is our common heritage and birthright, is now more than ever an opportunity for us and our future,” the president said in a brief speech before taking questions.

France markets its interventionist free market

As the ink was drying Monday on a $65.5 billion merger deal promoted by the French government between Sanofi-Synthélabo and Aventis, the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, took to the podium at his residence, where he had just met with a group of international businessmen.

Launching into a discussion of French competitiveness, Raffarin explained that France had become an exciting destination for foreign investment.

France, he said, was only misunderstood – so much so that the government was planning to begin an advertising campaign at the end of May to attract more foreign investors to the home of Bordeaux wine and high-speed trains. “France has changed,” was the central message of a nine-page PowerPoint presentation on the advertising strategy.

Movie review: 'Bon Voyage'

Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s “Bon Voyage” is the sort of movie we don’t see often enough anymore.

A French romantic comedy-mystery-adventure set during the hectic days after Germany’s crushing pre-WWII battlefield victory, it’s brilliantly written and gorgeously mounted. It’s a genre piece full of great actors and fabulous scenery, a rousing, full-blooded entertainment that uses serious themes and events mostly for pure pleasure.