FRANCAIS AVEC MONSIEUR CALDWELL

from the NY Times By ELAINE SCIOLINO Published: December 23, 2006 FRANÇOIS JOUSSE paced along the south roof of Notre-Dame, chain-smoking French cigarillos as he waited for darkness to fall. Suddenly, the southern facade of the cathedral lit up, its pillars, gargoyles and flying buttresses adorned in white. “Ah, this gives me such great pleasure!” he said, warming his hands in one of the spotlight canisters. “I truly am blessed with the most splendid job.” Indeed, Mr. Jousse, a 64-year-old engineer, is the troubleshooter for the City of Light. As chief engineer for doctrine, expertise and technical control, he is responsible for lighting 300 of the monuments, official buildings, bridges and boulevards of the French capital. Working with a staff of 30 decorative lighting specialists at a City Hall annex, Mr. Jousse helps create new lighting projects, lectures experts, negotiates with powerful players like the Roman Catholic Church and resolves technical problems at sites throughout the

from Yahoo news by Marlowe Hood Thu Mar 22, 11:53 AM ET PARIS (AFP) - France became the first country to open its files on UFOs Thursday when the national space agency unveiled a website documenting more than 1,600 sightings spanning five decades. The online archives, which will be updated as new cases are reported, catalogues in minute detail cases ranging from the easily dismissed to a handful that continue to perplex even hard-nosed scientists. "It is a world first," said Jacques Patenet, the aeronautical engineer who heads the office for the study of "non-identified aerospatial phenomena." Known as OVNIs in French, UFOs have always generated intense interest along with countless conspiracy theories about secretive government cover-ups of findings deemed too sensitive or alarming for public consumption. "Cases such as the lady who reported seeing an object that looked like a flying roll of toilet paper" are clearly not worth investigating, said Patenet.

from the NY Times By ELAINE SCIOLINO Published: March 22, 2007 PARIS, March 21 — Setting aside his personal feelings for the sake of his party, Jacques Chirac on Wednesday endorsed his longtime younger rival, Nicolas Sarkozy , as the person best suited to succeed him as president of France . The long-awaited endorsement came without fanfare, passion or enthusiasm. The two men did not appear together at Élysée Palace or on a campaign podium. Instead, Mr. Chirac announced his decision in a short televised statement from the palace after meeting with Mr. Sarkozy. Mr. Chirac portrayed it in terms of loyalty to the governing party, which he founded in 2002 — the Union for a Popular Movement, known by its French acronym, UMP — not as a personal embrace of the candidate. “Five years ago, I called for the creation of the UMP to allow France to pursue a rigorous policy of modernization in the long term,” he said. “In all its diversity, this political movement chose to support the candidacy of

from news.france.com Twelve candidates have qualified to run in the French presidential election. Candidates needed the endorsement of at least 500 elected officials to take part. The first round takes place on 22 April, with a run-off two weeks later. The frontrunners are currently Nicolas Sarkozy of the ruling centre-right UMP, Socialist candidate Segolene Royal and centrist politician Francois Bayrou. Anti-globalisation activist Jose Bove is also in the race, as is far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. More than 20 politicians had been campaigning before Friday's deadline for registration. The other successful candidates are: Marie-George Buffet (head of Communist Party) Arlette Laguiller (Trotskyist, who first ran in 1974) Olivier Besancenot (head of Communist Revolutionary League, got 4.25% in 2002)

from the NY Times By ELAINE SCIOLINO Published: March 15, 2007 PARIS, March 14 — Jean-Marie Le Pen , leader of the far-right National Front, registered Wednesday as a candidate for president, adding new uncertainty to the campaign. Mr. Le Pen, a candidate in four previous presidential contests, deposited the signatures of 535 elected officials supporting his candidacy with the Constitutional Council. He stunned France in 2002 when he edged out Prime Minister Lionel Jospin , the Socialist, in the first round. Mr. Le Pen, 78, was trounced by the incumbent, Jacques Chirac , in the runoff. Mr. Le Pen’s candidacy is likely to draw some support in the first round next month from the conservative candidate, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy , who leads in the polls, and from François Bayrou, of the slightly more centrist party, the Union for French Democracy. But neither the polls nor political analysts suggest that Mr. Le Pen will make it to the second round this time. Many of Mr. Le Pen’s

from the NY Times By ELAINE SCIOLINO Published: March 13, 2007 PARIS, Mar. 12 — Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Monday formally endorsed his political rival, the center-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy , for president. “Today I am with Nicolas Sarkozy to defend the ideals of our political family and so that the choice for the French people is as clear as possible,” Mr. de Villepin told Europe 1 radio a day after President Jacques Chirac announced that he would not seek a third term. He added, “We have been together in government; we will be together in this battle.” The endorsement is important because Mr. de Villepin, who once had been considered a potential presidential contender, put party unity ahead of the personal and political differences he has had over the years with Mr. Sarkozy, who is the interior minister and the head of the governing party, the Union for a Popular Movement. In the past, for example, Mr. de Villepin has criticized Mr. Sarkozy’s proposal to institute

from the NY Times By ELAINE SCIOLINO Published: March 12, 2007 PARIS, March 11 — After more than four decades as a politician and a dozen years as president, Jacques Chirac announced his retirement from politics on Sunday, but he did not endorse Nicolas Sarkozy , the presidential candidate and leader of the party Mr. Chirac founded. In a brief and deeply personal address to the nation carried on television and radio, Mr. Chirac said he would not seek a third term in next month’s election. “At the end of the mandate you have conferred on me, the moment will have come for me to serve you in another way,” Mr. Chirac said. “I will not ask for your votes for a new mandate.” Mr. Chirac’s message was one of farewell, not of politics. He looked better than he had for some time. He said of France , “I love it passionately.” He told the French people, “Not for one instant have you ceased to inhabit my heart and my mind.” He listed what he considered to be the achievements of his tenure, sayi

from the NY Times By ELAINE SCIOLINO Published: March 8, 2007 PARIS, March 7 — In the final weeks of the French presidential campaign, dominated by a nurturing Socialist and a crime-busting conservative, a third candidate has upended the race with a very American theme: put partisanship aside and end the false promises of the big parties. The candidate, François Bayrou, a 55-year-old politician, farmer and former classics teacher, is campaigning as the “neither/nor” option. Remarkably, the strategy seems to be working, in part because of rising disillusionment over the two main candidates. The percentage of undecided voters is higher than before any presidential election in 25 years. Between 17 and 20 percent of voters say they will choose Mr. Bayrou in the first electoral round on April 22, according to France ’s major polling organizations. Suddenly, he is a contender. Mr. Bayrou is no maverick, but is portraying himself as a tried and true centrist and as a fresh face. the full stor

from Yahoo news PARIS (AFP) - Jonathan Littell, the bilingual American author whose novel on the Holocaust "The Kindly Ones" was last year's literary hit in France, has been granted French citizenship, according to a notice posted in the official gazette. The 39 year-old writer benefited from a clause in France's nationality code which allows the foreign minister to offer citizenship to French-speaking foreigners who "contribute by their outstanding work to spreading French influence." Written in French, Littell's book -- the fictional memoires of a German SS officer on the eastern front -- has sold some 500,000 copies and won the 2006 Goncourt prize, France's top book award. Before its success, Littell twice had his request for French citizenship turned down. Littell, the son of the US thriller writer Robert Littell, spent much of his childhood in France

from France.com French sociologist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard has died aged 77 at his home in Paris following a long illness. Baudrillard, a leading post-modernist thinker, is perhaps best known for his concept of hyper-reality. He argued that spectacle is crucial in creating our view of events - things do not happen if they are not seen. He gained notoriety for his 1991 book The Gulf War Did Not Take Place and again a decade later for describing the 9/11 attacks as a "dark fantasy". Baudrillard focused his work on how our consciousness interacts with reality and fantasy, creating from them a copy world he called hyper-reality. He said that mass media led to hyper-reality becoming a dominant force in today's world - an argument taken to a provocative extreme in his statement that the 1991 Gulf War primarily took place on a symbolic level. Since little was changed politically in Iraq after the conflict, all the sound and fury signified little, he argued.

from the NY Times PARIS, March 6 — What’s the price of a good name? How about a cool $520 million? That is the amount that Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, agreed Tuesday to pay to attach the Louvre ’s name to a museum that it hopes to open in 2012. And there is more: in exchange for art loans, special exhibitions and management advice, Abu Dhabi will pay France an additional $747 million. Controversy over the Louvre Abu Dhabi has been swirling in France for the last three months, with critics charging that the French government is “selling” its museums. But only now have the full details of the nearly $1.3 billion package been disclosed. For Abu Dhabi, the deal is an important step in its plan to build a $27 billion tourist and cultural development on Saadiyat Island, opposite the city. The project’s cultural components include a Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a maritime museum and a performing arts center as well as the Louvre Abu Dhabi. For France the agreement signals a n

from the NY Times By ALAN RIDING Published: March 1, 2007 PARIS, Feb. 28 — Two important paintings by Picasso estimated by the police to be worth a total of about $66 million have been stolen from the Left Bank home of his granddaughter Diana Widmaier-Picasso, the authorities announced Wednesday. Paris police officials said the two oils, “Maya With Doll” from 1938 and “Portrait of Jacqueline” from 1961, were taken from Ms. Widmaier-Picasso’s house on the Rue de Grenelle in the city’s chic Seventh Arrondissement sometime overnight between Monday and Tuesday. The police said that two drawings, one by Picasso, were also stolen, but this could not be confirmed by the Picasso family lawyer, Céline Astolfe. In a telephone interview Ms. Astolfe said that Ms. Widmaier-Picasso and her mother, Maya, the daughter of Picasso’s longtime mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter, were asleep in the house when the theft occurred. “They heard a noise, went downstairs and saw nothing,” Ms. Astolfe said. “They wen

from the NY Times - By CHRISTINE MUHLKE Published: February 25, 2007 Now that the euro has taken the joie out of buying clothes in Paris, why not rent? At the appointment-only boutique Quidam de Revel, vintage couture and ready-to-wear are available for a one- (or two-) night stand. Owned by an antiques dealer and an art historian, the Marais shop is a favorite with costume designers who hire pristine couture and prêt-à-porter pieces, from 1940s Balmain opera coats to ’60s Courrèges dresses as well as a growing collection from ’80s designers like Claude Montana. Call ahead so that they can set aside a rack for you, and then enjoy your finds for about 180 euros (about $235) and up, depending on the outfit, for a weekend (cheaper than buying a vintage Grès dress and a mink stole for your elopement). Accessorize with mint-condition shoes from Roger Vivier and Charles Jourdan and trunks filled with jewelry from the likes of Pierre Cardin and Lalanne. With the sous you save, you can buy a p