France

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Snub? Sarkozy, Cameron Have Handshake Fail

Even body language is under scrutiny at euro summit

(Newser) - Britain's Daily Mail is calling it "Le Snub!": Reading much (maybe too much?) into the body language of Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron, it says the French president dissed the UK prime minister by blowing off Cameron's handshake at today's high-stakes European Union summit. (Britain...

Cops Raid Homes of 6 Ex-SS Soldiers

Germany probing 1944 massacre in occupied France

(Newser) - German police have raided the homes of six former SS soldiers suspected of having taken part in the worst massacre of civilians in Nazi-occupied France. A German war crimes prosecutor says the John Demjanjuk trial inspired him to reopen the investigation into the massacre of 642 men, women, and children...

French Alpine Glaciers Vanishing

Glaciers down by a quarter over 40 years

(Newser) - France's glaciers have lost more than a quarter of their area in the last 40 years, and the rate of retreat appears to be accelerating, researchers warn. The 600 or so glaciers in the French Alps covered some 145 square miles in the early '70s but that was...

Greenpeace Raids French Nuclear Plant

Incident shows building is 'vulnerable': activists

(Newser) - Four Greenpeace activists were arrested in France today after breaking into a nuclear power plant; some scaled one of the reactors and sat atop it. The activists, who aimed to reveal flaws in plant safety, entered the area at 5am. "Simple activists with peaceful intentions and few means managed...

Sarkozy: Change—or Kiss Eurozone Goodbye

At odds with Germany over ECB, deflation, budget enforcement

(Newser) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday called for changing the eurozone treaty to make a tighter, stronger union, and demanded more budget discipline, increased help for foundering economies, and replacing countries' veto rights with qualified majorities, reports Reuters . He also called for the European Central Bank to be more interventionist and...

DSK: Maid Gave Me a Look That Said 'Quickie'

It was 'consensual, but stupid,' Strauss-Kahn says in new biography

(Newser) - Dominique Strauss-Kahn said when he stepped naked from the shower to see the Manhattan hotel maid who later accused him of rape, their eyes met and he read an invitation to "precipitous but consensual" sex, says a new biography out today. But he still considers the encounter "stupid"...

Now France Rating May Be Cut
Now France's Rating
May Be Cut

Now France's Rating May Be Cut

S&P may switch outlook on Triple-A rating to negative

(Newser) - Is there no nation with sound credit? Standard & Poor's is now considering changing the outlook for France's triple-A rating to negative within the next 10 days, signaling a possible downgrade, the French financial newspaper La Tribune reported yesterday. France is the last cushion between crumbling European economies...

Get Ready for &#39;Eurogeddon&#39;
 Get Ready for 'Eurogeddon' 
OPINION

Get Ready for 'Eurogeddon'

Jeremy Wagner warns of riots, 'biggest mass default in history'

(Newser) - With the euro crisis spreading even to mighty Germany last week—when investors ignored a bund auction and sovereign debt yields grew more expensive than the UK's—it is clear now that the euro crisis is not just about the debts of the poorer, peripheral countries like Greece and...

Syria Agrees 'in Principle' to Let Observers In

As violence from dissidents mounts

(Newser) - As anti-government protests intensified and armed rebels started attacking government installations, Bashar al-Assad's regime has agreed "in principle" to allow Arab League observers into Syria, a senior official tells the AP . "Syria has agreed in principle to the Arab League proposal ," he said. "We are...

Energy Giant Guilty of Spying on Greenpeace

Hacking case also snared Floyd Landis

(Newser) - French electricity giant EDF, the world's biggest operator of nuclear power plants, has been found guilty of spying on Greenpeace and fined $2 million. EDF, a frequent target of Greenpeace campaigns, hired a security agency to hack into the group's computers to gain information about its anti-nuclear activities,...

French Built Fake Paris to Fool German Bombers

Replica city wasn't finished by end of WWI

(Newser) - A sham Paris was built near the end of World War I in an attempt to fool German bombers, according to recently unearthed archives. The fake city—built on a bend of the Seine similar to the one in Paris—boasted fake railways, fake factories, and even a fake Champs-Elysé...

France, Germany Discussing Pared Down Euro Zone

Controversial plan means some countries would be out

(Newser) - German and French officials have had “intense consultation” at “all levels” in recent months about the possibility of slimming down the euro zone to its strongest members, and then more closely integrating the fiscal policies of those countries, sources tell Reuters . “You’ll still call it the...

Firebombed Paper's Cover Now Boasts a Kissing Muslim

'Love is stronger than hate,' says 'Charlie Hebdo'

(Newser) - Remember the boundary-busting French satirical newspaper that was firebombed for making the Prophet Mohammed a "guest editor"? Journalists toned down the controversy this time around—not. In fact, right on the cover, a Muslim is planting a big, slobbery kiss on a figure representing the publication, Charlie Hebdo....

Scientology Files Fraud Appeal in France

Church and leaders were convicted in 2009

(Newser) - The Church of Scientology opened an appeal today of a 2009 fraud conviction in France , reports the AP . The original case convicted Scientology's French branch, bookstore, and six leaders of fraud related to pressuring members into paying for expensive but questionable treatments, as well as harassing recruits. The church...

Greece Leader Faces Revolt on Bailout Mess

George Papandreou struggling to hold his own party together

(Newser) - After Greece’s prime minister shocked the world —and his own finance minister—by announcing a public referendum on the EU bailout, the government has entered crisis mode. As leaders hold emergency talks, six members of George Papandreou’s party have called for his resignation, and one has quit,...

Palestine Named Member of UN Cultural Body

Controversial move prompts cheers at UNESCO

(Newser) - Palestine became a full member of UNESCO today, in a highly divisive move that the United States and other opponents say could harm renewed Mideast peace efforts. US lawmakers had threatened to withhold roughly $80 million in annual funding to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization if it...

Carlos the Jackal Goes on Hunger Strike

Protests treatment in notorious maximum security prison

(Newser) - Carlos the Jackal has been on a hunger strike for a week to protest his treatment inside a French prison, and his health is worsening, reports the Daily Mail . A lawyer for the 62-year-old Venezuelan terrorist wrote in a letter that Carlos refuses to eat due to "the deliberate...

Japan Eclipses France as Culinary King
 Japan Eclipses France 
 as Culinary King 
michelin guide

Japan Eclipses France as Culinary King

But skeptics take issue with Michelin Guide assessment

(Newser) - Japan has overtaken France as the fine dining capital of the world—at least according to the latest Michelin Guide, reports ABC News . The newly released 2012 edition of the influential guide has bestowed 29 Japanese eateries with a 3-star rating—the highest possible grade—compared with 25 in France....

Basque Group ETA Calls Cease-Fire After 43 Years

Move could end last armed militancy in Europe

(Newser) - The Basque militant group ETA called an end to a 43-year violent campaign for independence today and said it now wants talks with Spain and France—a groundbreaking move that could pave the way for ending Europe's last armed militancy. ETA had already declared a cease-fire last year, but...

It&#39;s a Girl for Carla Bruni
 It's a Girl for Carla Bruni 

It's a Girl for Carla Bruni

Sarkozy's newborn is first French presidential baby

(Newser) - A child has been born to a serving president for the first time in modern French history. Carla Bruni gave birth to a baby girl at a clinic in Paris last night, the BBC reports. The 43-year-old mom—who told interviewers recently that she was bored with being pregnant and...

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