The UN was struggling last night to put together its peacekeeping mission for Lebanon, as France haggled over the mandate and rules of engagement of the force it has offered to lead.
Senior officials were meeting last night in New York to try to finalise the remit of the mission and identify military demands.
0 Read MoreDavid Witt, 57, was a former cyclist who introduced Landis to road racing – and to his wife Amber. He was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head and alone in his car at a parking garage in San Diego on Tuesday.
The death was yesterday ruled as suicide. What led Witt to taking his life is still unknown.
Witt and Landis, 30, were close friends. They roomed together when Landis moved from his Mennonite family home in Pennsylvania to California in 1998. They were also best men at each other’s wedding. Witt, who was in France with his wife to watch Landis win the Tour in July, had been upset by the American’s positive test for testosterone.
0 Read MoreLandis was a key part of Armstrong’s US Postal (now Discovery Channel) team for three years before moving to Phonak.
“I’m proud and happy for Floyd,” said Armstrong, who watched the finish on TV from his hotel near the Champs-Elysées.
“He proved he was the strongest, when everybody wrote him off. I’m very proud that an American has won again.”
Armstrong joined his Discovery Channel team, of which he is a part-owner, at the beginning of last week before the Alpine stages.
Their highest finisher in his absence was Portuguese José Azevedo, 19th in the overall classification, 38 minutes adrift of Landis.
0 Read MoreVersailles is selling separate tickets to the Marie-Antoinette estate for $11.30 in addition to the general entrance fee of $10.
One highlight of the new Versailles ticket is entrance to a small but luxurious theater that the drama-loving queen had built. It has been open to visitors only sporadically.
Another feature is the English Garden, newly restored after the storms that devastated Versailles and much of Europe in December 1999. The Petit Trianon, a mini-chateau that Louis XVI offered Marie-Antoinette as a wedding present, is also part of the tour for the next few months, before the building closes in November for a renovation expected to last about two years.
0 Read MoreJetfighters streaked above the famed Champs-Elysee Avenue on Friday, along with AWACS surveillance and a bevy of helicopters.
On the ground, soldiers in dress garb marched in formation, Leclerc tanks rumbled and horses strutted from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde, under the eye of France’s top civilian and military authorities.
The red trucks of the Paris firefighters also took part, drawing a huge applause from the crowd.
The army “has not lost its link with the nation,” Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said later. “In these difficult times, it is an indispensable element of vigilance.”
Security was tight with Metro stations in the area closed off and police stationed along the avenue and on side streets.
0 Read MoreTo the very end of his career, Zinedine Zidane could dictate the
flow of play with rare skill and elegant control of the ball. In the
World Cup final, Zidane lost control of his temper.
The parting image for the France captain will forever be him rearing back in anger, lowering his bald head and launching his bald crown into the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi’s chest after the two exchanged words while walking down the field in extra time Sunday.
The game was tied 1-1 when Zidane was given a red card in the 110th minute. Without their sharpshooting captain, the French couldn’t unlock Italy’s defense and went on to lose in a shootout, 5-3.
0 Read MoreMUNICH, Germany—One more time, Zinedine Zidane stepped up to the penalty spot, 12 yards from another shot at glory for himself and France.
Dripping with sweat, Zidane converted the kick in the 33rd minute after Ricardo Carvalho was whistled for a foul on Thierry Henry, giving the French a 1-0 victory over Portugal and a berth in the World Cup final.
France, which was supposed to be soccer’s over-the-hill gang, meets Italy at Berlin in a matchup of blue—France’s Les Bleus vs the Italian Azzurri.
The French will be making just their second ever appearance in a World Cup final—the other was their famous 3-0 victory at home over Brazil in 1998. Italy, trying for its fourth title, will be in its sixth final.
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0 Read MoreThe Musee du Quai Branly – the largest museum to open in the city in decades – offers an exploration of ancient civilizations; the recently renovated Musee de l’Orangerie invites visitors on a visual stroll through Monet’s tranquil waterlily ponds; and the improved Petit Palais allows a peek at the lavish lifestyles of Parisians in centuries past.
0 Read MoreFrance unveiled a Web site (www.geoportail.fr) on Friday that allows people to access detailed satellite images of the country and said it offered more detail of its territory than Google Earth (www.earth.google.com).Google Earth, which allows Internet users to zoom in on locations around the world, caused concern when it was launched last year among governments who feared terrorists might use the service to help plot attacks.
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