News

France launches news network to rival CNN, BBC

President Jacques Chirac, addressing his cabinet, said that France “must be at the forefront of the global battle of images, that’s why I am resolved that our country should have an international news channel,” according to government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.

The French International News Network (CFII), known colloquially as CNN a la francaise will be run by a joint company owned by the leading private French television broadcaster TF1 and the public broadcaster France Televisions, Communications Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres told a media conference.

First face transplant performed in France

Doctors in France said they had performed the world’s first partial face transplant, forging into a risky medical frontier with their operation on a woman disfigured by a dog bite.

The 38-year-old woman, who wants to remain anonymous, had a nose, lips and a chin grafted onto her face from a brain-dead donor whose family gave consent. The operation, performed Sunday, included a surgeon already famous for transplant breakthroughs, Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard.

“The patient’s general condition is excellent and the transplant looks normal,” said a statement issued Wednesday from the hospital in the northern city of Amiens where the operation took place. Dubernard would not discuss the surgery, but confirmed that it involved the nose, lips and chin.

France blamed Brit spies for Rainbow Warrior bombing

The Times newspaper in London has reported that
documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher was infuriated by the campaign of
“misinformation and smears” suggesting that MI6 bombed the Greenpeace
flagship in Auckland and framed French secret agents, or that MI6 knew
in advance of the mission.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, then a Foreign
Office minister, told UK diplomats in Paris to demand an end to media
reports, but they continued to appear.

Germany's Merkel calls for stronger ties with US, smaller EU states

BERLIN (AFX) – New German Chancellor Angela
Merkel has called for closer ties with smaller EU states and the United States, in an interview to be published Monday on her foreign policy goals.

‘Relations with the smaller member states of
the European Union will be intensified,’ Merkel, who took office
Tuesday, told news weekly Focus.

‘And there will be a more intense transatlantic relationship. But that is not intended as a message against anyone.’

Cold spell brings chaos to Europe

Ski slopes in Belgium and Germany opened early after as much as 30cm of snow fell overnight in some countries, while in Paris, the Eiffel Tower closed to the public for four hours after a morning snowfall made it too slippery to climb.

The winter storm hit hard in The Netherlands, where high winds and sudden freezing temperatures caused havoc on the national rail and road networks. Hundreds of stranded Dutch commuters spent Friday night in temporary Red Cross shelters at train stations, theatres and more than a dozen other locations.

France does have a drink problem, survey reveals

France regards itself as a nation which knows how to take its drink, unlike, say, the Scandinavians or the British. But a hard-hitting report presented to the government suggested the entire country is in a state of alcoholic denial.

One in 10 French people has a drink problem, the report says. Every day, five people die of alcohol-linked accidents or diseases in France.

The semi-official study undermines an argument used by the Blair government for extending Britain’s pub opening hours. Spreading drinking over a longer period, as France does, does not necessarily reduce alcohol-related social ills.

Opinion: What's Wrong with Europe?

Mayor Claude Dilain sits on the edge of his chair in his community’s wedding banquet hall. His hands are folded on the table in front of him, and his face is a tortured reflection of the doubts and fears inside him.

For the past 10 years, Claude Dilain, 57, has been the mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb in northeastern Paris with 28,100 inhabitants, mostly immigrants. Dilain calls it “a powder keg.” He slightly resembles the French author Michel Houellebecq, but today he is paler than even the author normally is. The strain of the last few nights is no doubt part of it. But so too is a growing suspicion — that the modern welfare state may be fully incapable of addressing some of his community’s most pressing problems.

French Government Tourist Office: Everything is being done to ensure that tourists coming to discover our country have a safe an

Tuesday, November 8, 2005

Everything is being done to ensure that tourists coming to discover our country have a safe and enjoyable stay.
The French Government Tourist Office would like to point out that no tourist areas were affected by the incidents and that tourists can visit France without concern.

French Government measures to re-establish order and calm in affected suburbs.

Several immediate measures have been announced on November 7, 2005 by the Prime Minister of France in response to recent events:

Riots: What travelers to France should do

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Chirac calls emergency meeting of top ministers

Late last night rioters shot and injured 10 police officers, two seriously, when security forces confronted 200 stone-throwers. One officer was treated in hospital for shotgun wounds to the throat, and another for leg wounds. The gunmen were among crowds attacking police in Grigny, south of Paris.

 Rioting was once again widespread. Youths seized a bus in Saint-Etienne, in southern France, ordered passengers off, and torched the vehicle; its driver and one passenger were hurt, officials said. In Rouen, in the north, rioters pushed a burning car against a police building; nobody was hurt, police said. Cars were also burned in Nantes, Rennes and Orleans.