http://www.connexionfrance.com 2008 CNX English http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=142 For the second year running no British films are competing for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. However, Hunger by British director Steve McQueen opened the film’s second competition Un C... 2008-05-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=143 Minister for the Interior Michèlle Alliot-Marie has announced has claimed that the amount of drugs seized by police is three times larger than last year. The force impounded 27 tonnes of cannabis bet... 2008-05-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=144 Staff at Air France and the SNCF will strike on May 22 in protest at pension reforms. Five unions, CGT, CFDT, FO, CFTC have already called for ‘a day of action’ on May 22 but left department and comp... 2008-05-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=145 Paris Mayor Betrand Delanoë is the favourite candidate to take over the leadership of the Socialist Party (PS), a new survey says. The survey was carried out by pollsters Ipsos for Le Point magazine ... 2008-05-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=138 AN investigation has been launched into the death of a 22-year-old Tunisian man who died in police custody. The public prosecutor in Grasse has begun an inquiry after a post-mortem found that Abdelak... 2008-05-14 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=139 A BUST of Julius Caesar, believed to be the oldest depiction of the emperor, has been found in the River Rhone near Arles. A spokesman for the Ministry of Culture said the bust was “typical of a seri... 2008-05-14 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=140 JEAN-Marie Le Pen has sold his armoured car on eBay for 20,050 euros. A spokesman for the internet auction site said bidding for the 1992 blue Peugeot 605 model ended after clocking up 25 "serious" o... 2008-05-14 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=141 The government has suffered a setback to plans to allow limited testing of GM crops in France after its own bill was defeated by one vote. A defeat came after one third of the ruling UMP party voted ... 2008-05-14 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=135 Airbus, which employs 12,000 at sites near Toulouse, has warned airlines they face further delays in receiving the A380. More time and resources are needed to increase production, the company said, w... 2008-05-13 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=136 France will press ahead with test of GM crops despite a moratorium on their use imposed at last year’s Grenelle environment summit. The law, which is expected to be adopted today, will set out the co... 2008-05-13 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=137 Public breathalysers could be mandatory in all late-night bars and cafes from this summer, in plans discussed by Nicolas Sarkozy’s cabinet. The move, revealed by Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, f... 2008-05-13 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=132 France's main Trotskyist party is taking legal action after allegations its spokesman, the postman and presidential hopeful Olivier Besancenot (pictured), was spied upon. French magazine L'Express re... 2008-05-06 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=133 Staff at France's prestigious daily newspaper Le Monde have voted for a third 24-hour strike to protest plans for job cuts to save the debt-ridden broadsheet. This will be the third one-day stoppage ... 2008-05-06 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=134 President Nicolas Sarkozy discreetly marked his first year in power (Tuesday May 6) with a trip to the south of France aimed at showing his determination to push on with contested reforms despite tumb... 2008-05-06 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=129 May will see three strike and demonstration days because of Government pensions policies, low pay and layoffs in the civil service. On Thursday May 15, five civil service unions will demonstrate agai... 2008-05-05 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=128 A French terrorist group has claimed responsibility for blowing up a speed camera in Paris. The Fraction Nationaliste Armé Révolutionnaire (FNAR) has been waging a campaign against the automatic rad... 2008-05-05 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=130 Technology giant General Electric has agreed to conduct almost all its business at its Yvelines branch in French. Unions forced the American firm, which is the third largest company in the world, to ... 2008-05-05 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=131 A charity dinner at the Château de Versailles billed for September 17 will cost each diner €22,000. No less than 17 Michelin-starred chefs will prepare the food around the themes of lobster, fish and... 2008-05-05 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=124 President Nicolas Sarkozy’s confidence ratings continued to tumble despite him appearing live on television to be quizzed by journalists. His poll ratings before the television interview were the wor... 2008-05-02 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=125 Paris Saint Germain (PSG) football club will be banned from defending its title in next year's French League Cup after a controversial banner was displayed during April's final, the Professional Footb... 2008-05-02 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=126 IF you are a small business owner who started trading on January 1 or before, you have until the end of May to benefit from a 25% reduction on income tax when you come to make your income tax returns ... 2008-05-02 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=127 A French member of the charity Save the Children was murdered yesterday (Thursday May 1) in eastern Chad. Pascal Marlinge, 49, was shot and killed while working for the UK charity helping refugees in... 2008-05-02 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=120 Unions have called for a ‘day of action’ on May 22 to protest at government plans to lengthen the period people pay into their state pensions. Reforms put forward by Minister for Work Xavier Bertrand... 2008-04-30 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=121 Police in the Charente have arrested a man armed with 30kg of explosives and a gun as he lay in wait for his wife’s lover. Photo Jonas Roux The swoop, at a main road layby, took place after the riva... 2008-04-30 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=122 EIGHTY London taxis are to transport 161 British Second World War veterans to Caen for several days of commemorative events. The London Taxi Benevolent Association for War Disabled is offering the se... 2008-04-30 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=123 A biography of Madame de Maintenon – the lover of Louis XIV – has been delayed after its author accidentally used a fake diary as a main source. The error came to light after previews of the book ent... 2008-04-30 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=116 This year is turning out to be a bad one for those who like to scrutinise the calendar to find how many days off they can have – 2008 is a leap year (hence an extra working day) and now Ascension Day ... 2008-04-29 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=117 Human rights issues are overshadowing Nicolas Sarkozy’s state visit to Tunisia this week. While he was expected to thrash out commercial deals and plug his Mediterranean Union project, campaigners h... 2008-04-29 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=118 France’s top diplomat Bernard Kouchner is undertaking delicate negotiations with three South American countries in a bid to free Ingrid Betancourt, held hostage by Farc guerrillas in Colombia since 20... 2008-04-29 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=119 More than 5,000 people are expected to visit the Familistère de Guise on Thursday – the Fête du Travail. The bank holiday is associated with workers’ rights, so it is appropriate the Familistère – a... 2008-04-29 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=114 Government agencies are warning that two types of caterpillar which hatch at this time of year can cause serious health problems. The oak and pine processionary caterpillars grow thousands of pointed... 2008-04-28 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=113 Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë spent the weekend in London to campaign for his ally and fellow left-winger Ken Livingstone ahead of this week's knife-edge mayoral elections. Mr Livingstone is beginning... 2008-04-28 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=115 Work Minister Xavier Bertrand (pictured) will today present to union leaders plans to lengthen costisations payments from 40 to 41 years if workers want to get a full pension. All unions are opposed ... 2008-04-28 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=110 TEACHERS’ unions have called a strike on May 15 against what they term ‘a step backwards in teaching’. Five unions (FSU, Unsa-Education, Sgen-CFDT, Ferc-CGT et Sud-Education) representing 70% of teac... 2008-04-25 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=111 The Croix-Rouge, France’s Red Cross says it cannot meet is commitments to providing free meals with rising food prices and growing deprivation. The organisation said it would have to reduce the numbe... 2008-04-25 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=109 Shop-owners are suing a homeowner who attached an ‘anti-youth’ sonic box to his home. They have complained of headaches and hearing difficulties since the ‘Mosquito’, a device which emits a high-pitc... 2008-04-25 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=108 President Nicolas Sarkozy has defended his record as a reformer in a TV interview to mark his first year in power. The president said that while previous governments had brought occasional reforms or... 2008-04-25 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=106 Former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has said he is “very ashamed” that the mayor of Paris had made the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of the French Capital. Paris City Council elected to give ... 2008-04-24 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=107 The number of presidential terms could be limited to two, according to plans approved by the Council of Ministers. The constitutional shake up also includes a move to restrict by law the number of mi... 2008-04-24 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=104 The Socialist Party is to debate a 21-point charter defining a new set of principles at a conference in June. Among the changes to the document – which is set to replace a 1990 text – include scrappi... 2008-04-23 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=101 AIR France is adding a fuel surcharge to all tickets as a result of rising oil prices. As of April 22, all tickets will have an extra fee of €2 per single domestic journey, €4 on medium length flight... 2008-04-23 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=102 Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has backed the creation of a Mediterranean Union – an idea put forward by President Sarkozy. President Sarkozy’s diplomatic councilor Jean-David Levitte said Mubarak ... 2008-04-23 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=103 Sixty winegrowers, traders and supermarket executives are to go on trial for adding hundreds of tonnes of sugar to Beaujolais wines from 2004 to 2006. Adding sugar to wine at the start of the ferment... 2008-04-23 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=100 A database of victims and offenders has been withdrawn by the government after protests from civil liberties groups objecting to intrusive labels such as ‘homosexual’ and ‘trade unionist’. Interior M... 2008-04-23 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=98 France is to double its world food aid spending to €60 million this year, the government has announced. The measure is in response to the problem of soaring food prices world wide. This comes a fe... 2008-04-22 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=99 The Dalai Lama has been made an honorary citizen of Paris, adding to diplomatic tension between France and China. The capital’s city council voted to give the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the symb... 2008-04-22 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=94 Plans to build a second nuclear-powered aircraft carrier may be put on hold because of a lack of funds, defence minister Hervé Morin has said. The Charles de Gaulle (pictured) is the only serving Fre... 2008-04-21 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=95 Nicolas Sarkozy has written an official apology to the Chinese paralympian abused by protestors as she carried the Olympic torch through the streets of Paris last week. The letter was delivered to di... 2008-04-21 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=96 A senior executive at TF1, France's biggest private TV broadcaster, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after a corpse was discovered in his apartment. Patrick Binet, who heads TF1 Interna... 2008-04-21 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=97 The dockers’ strike at France’s biggest commercial ports on Wednesday will not affect ferry services, a union official confirmed. Workers at the cargo terminals of Le Havre, Nantes, Rouen and Marseil... 2008-04-21 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=92 A judicial inquiry has been opened after a 20-year-old Norwegian student killed herself in Nice, apparently after getting a negative result from a Church of Scientology personality test. Kaja Ballo t... 2008-04-18 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=93 France supports the opening of dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama to defuse tensions over Tibet, Nicolas Sarkozy told a senior Chinese envoy today. Sarkozy discussed the recent violence in T... 2008-04-18 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=91 A move to outlaw websites and magazines that encourage anorexia has caused intense debate among health experts, opposition politicians and fashion gurus including Jean-Paul Gaultier. The bill - adopt... 2008-04-18 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=89 President Nicolas Sarkozy is to give a live prime-time interview on French television on Monday April 21 to discuss his first year in office. Sarkozy will be interviewed by five journalists during th... 2008-04-17 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=90 French workers have more days off a year than any other European country, according to a survey undertaken by Harris Interactive. They take an average of 37 days off a year, followed in Europe by Ita... 2008-04-17 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=84 THE CHILDREN’s doctor in Cambodia who turned down €57,000 raised by the sale of a nude picture of Carla Bruni has been supported by the parents of the youngsters in his charge. Swiss paediatrician B... 2008-04-16 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=78 RIOT police fired tear gas at teenage students during protests against the government's plan to cut teachers’ jobs. Union representatives said between 40,000 and 50,000 demonstrators took part in the... 2008-04-16 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=79 Justice Minister Rachida Dati has set in motion sweeping reforms to youth law to fight runaway juvenile delinquency in France. Mrs Dati said the 1945 youth laws are too lax and too many teenage crimi... 2008-04-16 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=76 THE French National Assembly has adopted a bill that would make it an offence to encourage anorexia or extreme thinness through "death messages" on websites, magazines and in advertisements. Health M... 2008-04-16 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=77 A NINE-year-old boy was allegedly excluded from a French television programme because of his name - Islam. His mother, Farah Alaouchiche, said her son had been told in the offices of Angel Production... 2008-04-16 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=66 FRANCE’S national Olympic team has been banned from wearing a badge saying ‘For a better world’. The president of the Comité national Olympique Henri Sérandour, who last week commended the idea of th... 2008-04-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=68 FORMER socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal has been ordered by a court to pay several months unpaid wages to two ex-aides. Royal, who is campaigning to take over leadership of the Sociali... 2008-04-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=69 ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners protested as Prime Minister François Fillon toured a nuclear power plant in Japan. The plant, in the northern city of Rokkasho, was constructed by Japan Nuclear Fuel (JNFL) ... 2008-04-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=70 A FRENCH MP is demanding to know why the country’s Eurovision entry is almost entirely in English. UMP deputy François-Michel Gonnot has asked the minister of culture Christine Albanel to explain why... 2008-04-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=75 THE French minimum wage – the SMIC (salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance) – is set to go up from next month to match a rise in consumer goods and energy in the last 12 months. The rise wi... 2008-04-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=74 SOCIETE Générale chairman Daniel Bouton told a parliament committee hearing last week that the French bank was "doing just fine" despite a rogue-trading scandal that led to losses of billions of euro... 2008-04-15 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=63 AN airport security guard was hospitalised after drinking hydrocholoric acid contained in a bottle of mineral water he bought from a vending machine. Police are investigating the incident which took... 2008-04-14 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=67 POLICE investigating claims that a business group gave handouts to union officials have raided the headquarters of the country’s top employers’ federation Medef. A statement from Medef – the French ... 2008-04-14 http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=65 A DOCTOR in Cambodia has turned down €57,000 raised by the sale of a nude picture of Carla Bruni "on grounds of taste". Swiss pediatrician Beat Richner, head of the Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital A... 2008-04-14