How satisfying it must be to sit back and watch members of government apparently trip over their tongues. It’s all the better when you’re trying to stay out of the limelight a little in an effort to revamp your image and improve your popularity ratings.
That might be the cynic’s interpretation of what has been happening […]
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, didn’t mince words in issuing an official statement denouncing the vandalism of 148 Moslem graves in the country’s largest First World War military cemetery this weekend.
Racist and sexist abuse was painted on the graves, a pig’s head was left hanging from one of the headstones and there were also slogans […]
Calm has returned to the streets of Paris after a Monday afternoon, which saw the Olympic flame chaotically make its truncated way through the French capital.
What should have been a good natured celebration ahead of the sporting event of the year to be held in Beijing in August, turned into a heavily policed pantomime as […]
Apparently sport is not the right arena in which to express concern for human rights according to the French national Olympic committee (CNOSF). Its president, Henri Sérandour, has banned this country’s athletes from wearing a badge with the slogan “Pour un monde meilleur” (For a better world) during this summer’s games in Beijing.
Sérandour, told L’Equipe […]
A threat against French business interests in China is gathering steam after the launch of a campaign to boycott the supermarket chain, Carrefour.
In a message circulating on mobile ‘phones and the Internet, the company has been accused of providing financial backing to the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama.
Carrefour has denied the rumours […]
The French supermarket giant, Carrefour, once again found itself at the centre of anti-West protests as demonstrations took place in towns and cities across China at the weekend.
But the chain wasn’t the only specifically French target. There were also rallies outside the country’s embassy in Beijing and the French Lycée.
There are signs however that the […]
It wasn’t so much the journey to hell and back as a 10-hour one-way train ride to nowhere.
And it was to be the longest of nights for the 650 travellers who boarded the Paris-bound Eurostar train in London on Friday evening.
What was sheer misery for the passengers soon became a catastrophe for the train […]
28 Apr
Posted by bwiemers as Current Events
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is to send not one, but two emissaries to Beijing this week in an attempt to heal the growing diplomatic squabble between China and France.
After the recent apparently non-orchestrated spontaneous anti-Western, and in particular anti-French demonstrations in China, Sarkozy seems to have decided that it’s time to bring a little […]
Air France-KLM has thrown in the towel in its attempt to take over Italy’s strap-cashed national carrier Alitalia.
And yet again it’s for the last time – apparently.
On Monday the Franco-Dutch group released a short statement saying that as far as it was concerned the bid in its current form, was longer legally valid.
It was a […]
28 Apr
Posted by bwiemers as Current Events
The Dalai Lama has been made an honorary citizen of Paris.
On Monday the city’s council passed a resolution made be the mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, to bestow the symbolic title on the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet.
The timing couldn’t have been more pertinent or sensitive. It came just hours after the arrival in China of […]