FRANCAIS AVEC MONSIEUR CALDWELL

from France 24 International News The former wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to tie the knot for the third time in New York on Sunday. Her new husband-to-be is the wealthy French publicist Richard Attias. (Story: P.-L. Viollat, C. Moore) for the entire story which includes a video, go to http://www.france24.com/en/france

Friday 21 March 2008 By AFP The French economy is likely to suffer a modest slowdown in the first half of the year in the face of a global financial crisis and inflation of around 3.0 percent, the nationmal statistics agency said Friday. The agency, known as INSEE, forecast momentum of 0.4 percent in the first quarter and 0.3 percent in the second. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on Thursday predicted growth of 0.4 percent in the first and second quarters of 2008. INSEE said that to achieve an overall expansion of 2.0 percent this year, the government target, the French economy would have to grow 0.8 percent in the third and fourth quarters. But analysts caution that such a pace might prove unrealistic given the constraints on the world economy and a global credit crunch brought on by a sharp downturn in the US housing market. for ...

Saturday 22 March 2008 By Caroline Delabroy/ FRANCE 24 The famed revolution of May '68 began with university students but spread far beyond, changing the fundamentals of French society and culture. With the 40th anniversary of the revolts nigh, some ask whether their legacy continues.(Report: J.Jackson) Today, there remain persistent symbols of the demonstrations that took France by storm in May '68. One of these is Daniel Cohn-Bendit, currently president of the European Green Party. In January 1968, he called upon the then Minister for Youth and Sports to inaugurate the swimming pool at the University of Nanterre, in the slums of the Parisian suburbs. The minister objected to the prospect of a pool open to both sexes. “If you’re having sexual needs, go take a cold shower,” said the minister. This anecdote reveals the social climate that motivated thousands of students to take to the streets. The commonly accepted date...

March 20 is International Francophony Day, a celebration of the French language. There are some 200 million French speakers throughout the world today. (Report: C.Westerheide) to see the video go to http://www.france24.com/en/20080321-en-nw-pkg-adapt-francophoni400wmv-en-nw-pkg-adapt-francophoni400wmv-&navi=FRANCE

Wednesday 19 March 2008 By Reuters Chantal Sébire, a 52 year old Frenchwoman suffering from an incurable tumour, was found dead Wednesday. She had failed on Monday in her bid to set a legal precedent in France for patients seeking euthanasia. She had failed on Monday in her bid to set a legal precedent in France for patients seeking medical help to end their own lives. A court in the eastern city of Dijon ruled that Chantal Sebire, 52, could not have a doctor help her die because it would breach both the code of medical ethics and the law, under which assisted suicide is a crime. "Ms Sebire's request, which is understandable in human terms, cannot succeed in law," the court said in its ruling. "While Ms. Sebire's physical deterioration deserves compassion, under French law the judge must reject the request." Although active euthanasia is illegal in France, a 200...

PARIS (AFP) - France's new first lady Carla Bruni on Wednesday accused a journalist of dishonesty for reporting that President Nicolas Sarkozy had sent his ex-wife a text message asking her to come back to him. In a statement to Le Monde, Bruni also said that Sarkozy had decided to drop a lawsuit against the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur which ran the report, after the journalist apologised to her. Sarkozy last month lodged the complaint against the weekly for reporting he had sent a text message to ex-wife Cecilia eight days before his marriage to Bruni that said: "If you come back, I'll call it all off." Sarkozy last month lodged the complaint against the weekly for reporting he had sent a text message to ex-wife Cecilia eight days before his marriage to Bruni that said: "If you come back, I'll call it all off." "What is dishonest and worrisome in this whole episode is that at no point was this 'information' checked, corroborated or confirm...

Tuesday 18 March 2008 French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a minor cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday with six new junior cabinet ministers, including Anne-Marie Idrac. LE PETIT BORNAND, France, March 18 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a minor cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday but vowed to pursue reform plans after his centre-right UMP party suffered big losses in local elections at the weekend. "What is sure is that I will need to take a certain number of initiatives to continue the changes that are needed for our country," he said at the sidelines of a commemoration for France's World War Two resistance movement. "I was elected to conduct these policies and that's what I am going to do," he said. The comments, shortly before the appointment of six new junior ministers including new secretaries of state for foreign trade and employment, repeated the government ...

The Associated Press Published: March 17, 2008 PARIS : More than 350 police swept through a housing project south of Paris early Monday, arresting 19 people, including 12 minors, in an operation targeting suspects who attacked police earlier in the month, authorities said. Riot police raided the Grande-Borne project in Grigny at about 6 a.m. Monday, a police official said without elaborating. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had called the March 2 attack an "ambush" on officers responding to a call about vandalism. About 30 people, some armed, were waiting for the officers. Three police were hit in face with buckshot while another was hospitalized after being hit in the leg with buckshot and nails, officials said. The interior minister noted her "determination to never leave unpunished aggressions against police officers, particularly when...

By Katrin Bennhold of the International Herald Tribune Published: March 16, 2008 PARIS : President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to press ahead with reforms but tone down his flashy image in a bid to restore his popularity with low-income voters after his center-right party suffered a setback in local elections Sunday, officials close to his office said. The opposition Socialist Party and its allies won 49.5 percent of the vote in the final round of elections Sunday, compared with the 47.5 obtained by the president's Union for a Popular Movement and parties affiliated with it, according to a voting-day telephone poll by the CSA institute. Most of the 21 ministers who ran in municipal elections looked set to win and the president's camp also appeared on course to keep control of Marseille, France's second-biggest city, and one of the most closely watched races of the election. But the Socialists took several hotly contested urban fiefs from the right, including Toulouse and Strasbo...

The Associated Press Published: March 13, 2008 PARIS : Condemned to death at the guillotine, a sleepless Marie Antoinette scrawled a farewell message to her son and daughter in her prayer book. "My eyes have no more tears to weep for you, my poor children; adieu, adieu!" Was Marie Antoinette really the haughty, scatterbrained spendthrift she is often remembered as? A fascinating new exhibit in Paris uses artifacts and portraits to trace the life of a frivolous girl who became a patroness of the decorative arts and a loving mother. Highlights of "Marie Antoinette," which opens Saturday at the Grand Palais, include the queen's childhood sketches, the refined furniture and porcelain she commissioned and revolutionary pamphlets portraying her as a sex-crazed monster. One of the final exhibits is the prayer book, where she wrote a note begging God's pity and saying goodbye to her c...

French voters cast ballots Sunday in local elections that look set to inflict heavy losses to President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party as the left vies for control of the top four cities Go to http://www.france24.com/en/20080316-municipal-elections-france-sarkozy-socialists-vote for the complete story.

Reuters, The Associated Press Published: March 13, 2008 PARIS : Opening the Paris Book Fair should have been a low-key cultural event during the state visit to France of President Shimon Peres of Israel. Instead, it was charged with Middle East tensions. Several Arab countries are boycotting the prestigious annual fair, where Peres was speaking Thursday, because it honors Israeli writers. The Nobel Peace laureate's appearance at the book fair comes near the end of his five-day state visit to France - a sign of President Nicolas Sarkozy's effort to rebuild frayed ties with Israel. "I am against the boycott of books," Peres said Wednesday. "Books are written to awaken reflection, to try to make sense of ideas." Sarkozy's spokesman called for calm. "It is not books that we should fear," David Martinon said at a news conference Thursday. The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Or...

Friday 14 March 2008 - from France 24 - International News 24/7 EU leaders approved a controversial French proposal for a Mediterranean Union aimed at strengthening cooperation with countries from Morocco to Turkey, the EU's Slovenian presidency said Thursday. "The project received wide support," Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa told reporters after the first day of an EU summit in Brussels. "It is now a question of working on this in different forums. It's now a question of doing what is needed so that this project can see the light of day," he said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy raised the plan during last year's election campaign, but complaints from Germany saw the grand project watered down. Germany had feared that he would try to use it as a counter to Berlin's growing influence in central Europe as the EU expands, by limiting the club to southern European countries. "Tomorrow morning, the decision will be formally taken to trans...

from France 24 - International News French voters went to the polls on March 9 in the first round of local elections. The Socialist Party emerged victorious, while President Sarkozy's UMP Party lost support. The final round of voting takes place on March 16. On March 9 the French voted in the first round of municipal elections, choosing local councillors and mayors in the country's 36,783 municipalities - from the tiniest village to big cities. Since 2001, nationals of the other 26 EU member states can also take part in this election. Exit polls showed the opposition Socialists well-placed to score big gains over Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), in next Sunday's decisive second round of a vote cast as a referendum on his presidency. Nationwide, left-wing parties took some 47.5 percent of the vote, well ahead of the UMP and its allies on 40 percent, according to a CSA survey. Turnout was high, estimated at close to 70 percent. The final round of voting takes...

Wed Mar 5, 3:58 PM BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) The mayor of a village in southwest France has threatened residents with severe punishment if they die, because there is no room left in the overcrowded cemetery to bury them. In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish." It added: "Offenders will be severely punished." The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an administrative court in the nearby town of Pau ruled in January that the acquisition of adjoining private land to extend the cemetery would not be justified. Lalanne, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Wednesday and is standing for election to a seventh term in this month's local elections, said he was sorry that there had not been a positive outcome to the dilemma. "It may be a la...