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French resistance heroine wins Australian government support

SYDNEY: Australian-born Nancy Wake, the wartime French resistance fighter who became her country’s most decorated war heroine, is to receive government assistance in recognition of her contribution, Prime Minister John Howard said.

The 91-year-old former secret agent known in wartime France as “the White Mouse” because of her ability to elude capture, resettled in Australia after World War II, but returned to Britain in 2001 to spend the rest of her days among surviving friends there.

China, France vow to work for solution of global issues

     On promotion of sustainable development, the two countries pledge to make concerted efforts to fulfill the millennium development targets set by the United Nations in September 2000, and strive to eliminate poverty, hunger, diseases, environment degradation, illiteracy and discrimination against women.

    On environment protection, China and France reaffirm their support for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, recalling that both have ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

    In a bid to draw more international attention to environmental issues, the two countries support the strengthening of the role of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and broad discussions on the reform of the UNEP.

US confirms u-turn on Iraq reconstruction contract

French companies will be able to act as sub-contractors for the first wave of Iraqi reconstruction contracts and will be able to compete freely for future rounds, a spokesman for the French trade ministry said last night.

This represents an about-face for the US administration, who initially said that no companies from countries that had not participated in its military operations in Iraq would be liable to bid for contracts.

This policy caused fury in France and Germany, who both opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq.

France strikes a nationalistic note on Sanofi-Aventis

The talk at the World Economic Forum was of globalization and an enlarged European economic union. But nationalism may turn out to be the most important factor in determining the outcome of the largest corporate deal discussed in the halls of the forum.

Aventis, the large French pharmaceutical company, prepared last week to defend itself against reported plans by a smaller French drug company, Sanofi-Synthélabo, to make a bid for it. But even before Sanofi made any public offer, the French finance minister seemed to endorse the offer.

Canadians invade France and start buying real estate

Following in the footsteps of their British cousins, Canadians are buying up vacation property in France in droves.

They are mostly aging and affluent and don’t mind flying thousands of miles to bask under the French sun.

Taking advantage of e-mail and Internet armchair shopping, they are buying up old farmhouses in Provence, town houses in Languedoc-Roussillon, and even small castles in Midi-Pyrenees, as easily as they might buy property in the picturesque British Columbian interior or Gulf Islands.

Predictably, they say they are drawn to the charm of the French countryside by the local foods and wines, beautiful centuries-old buildings and enlightened French attitudes or the joie de vivre.