French airline makes landmark flight to Baghdad

By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press

BAGHDAD – A French airliner landed at Baghdad International Airport Sunday, becoming one of the first passenger planes to fly into the Iraqi capital direct from western Europe since the Gulf War and opening a potential new route to stronger international business ties.

The inaugural flight by France's Aigle Azur, which touched down shortly before 6 a.m. local time, carried French officials and journalists and was largely ceremonial. The airline won't begin regularly scheduled passenger flights for another two to three months, but if successful, the flights would mark an important milestone in Iraq's economic development.

"It will also be a chance, a new chance for the development of business between France and Iraq but more globally, between Europe and Iraq," said France's top trade official, Anne-Marie Idrac, who was on board the flight.

Some carriers, such as Austrian Airlines, fly from western Europe to the Kurdish city of Irbil. Regional airlines such as the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, Bahrain's Gulf Air, the Beirut-based MEA airline and Turkish Airlines fly to the Iraqi capital.

But there are no direct passenger flights between Baghdad and western Europe. Stockholm-based Nordic Airways launched commercial flights to Baghdad from Copenhagen, Denmark, in January 2009 but its operating license was revoked later that month.

The lack of major European carriers flying to Baghdad shows the difficulties the country is having attracting major foreign investments in anything but the surest economic bets. Although some Western companies placed bids in the country's first round of oil licensing last year, it was only for the biggest and safest fields.

When the airline began planning the route about a year ago, they wanted to begin passenger service immediately after the inaugural flight, said the president of Aigle Azur's executive board, Francois Hersen. But there wasn't enough passenger interest, in part due to Iraq's political and security problems.

The country is in its eighth month without a new government after March 7 national elections failed to produce a clear winner. And violence, although much reduced, continues to claim lives.

Hersen said the airline is confident they'll have enough customers when flights start in earnest early next year.

Attempts by Iraq's national carrier, Iraqi Airways, to launch flights to London in April were swiftly quashed when lawyers for neighboring Kuwait tried to confiscate the inaugural plane upon landing in London to settle debts related to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The Aigle Azur flight, which took off late Saturday from Paris, carried a delegation of French business leaders planning to attend the Baghdad International Fair, an annual showcase designed to attract businesses to Iraq.

When regular flights begin early next year, the French airline plans to fly into Baghdad twice a week from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.

A ticket for one of the 124 economy seats will be about 1,500 euros, or $2,100. The 24 business class seats on the Airbus A319 will cost around 2,500 euros, or $3,500, each, Hersen said.

Aigle Azur is a French carrier operating out of Paris's Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports that mainly flies to locations in Africa such as Algeria, Mali, Morocco and Tunisia. They also operate flights to the French cities of Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Mulhouse and Toulouse.

The German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG was slated to begin regular flights between Munich and Baghdad Sept. 30 but canceled them due to a lack of customer interest.

The news was a blow to Iraq's hopes to reconnect Baghdad with international capitals since most Western airlines discontinued flights to the city after the 1991 Gulf War.

Many potential investors still view Iraq with trepidation.

"We are worried about security. We would not be able to come (to Iraq) by ourselves. The cost of security is too important to us," said a businessman on the flight, Lionel Cuenca, from the French company Gindre Duchavany, which specializes in copper products.

For years, many regional and Western carriers shied away from Iraq due to safety concerns. The few airlines that did fly in and out of the airport, formerly named after Saddam Hussein, performed a tight corkscrew when landing, a spiraling maneuver designed to protect them from missile attack.

Russia to buy French warships

Moscow - Russia is to buy four French Mistral helicopter carriers - the first time it has bought war ships from a NATO member, Russian officials announced Wednesday.

After long consultation, the government had given the deal the green light, Mikail Dmitriyev, head of Russia's military-technical cooperation authority, told state news agency Ria Novosti.

The contract was likely to be signed before the end of 2010.

But numerous NATO members have criticized the deal. The Baltic nations fear that Russia is extending its military power in the Baltic Sea area, and Washington is concerned about a technology transfer which could harm the interests of NATO members.

France argues that the sale of the 200-meter-long ships does not include weapons.

The exact conditions of the sale remain unclear. Russia is interested in buying four Mistral class ships, but wants only one of them to be built in France and the rest in Russia. Paris has suggested two be built in France and two in Russia.

A meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev a few weeks ago did not come to any definite agreement.

The Mistral, worth between 400 and 500 million euros, is equipped to carry 16 helicopters and around 1,000 soldiers.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319893,russia-to-buy-french-warships.html.

Paris no paradise for foreign students

Sabine Vogel

Paris - "I really ought to get rid of that," said Malak Maatoug, pointing at the mildew on the wall. A 22-year-old Berliner who studies cultural sciences, he went to Paris under the auspices of Erasmus, a European Union student exchange program, and lives in an eighth-floor garret measuring 12 square meters.

The black spots on the wall above his bed are not the only problem with his dwelling. The window is poorly insulated and the electrical heater in the corner does not work.

"My room was so cold on some mornings that I didn't dare get out of bed," he remarked.

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast," said US novelist Ernest Hemingway, who lived in the French capital in the 1920s. Many foreign students who go to Paris for a semester abroad take leave of such romantic notions during their hunt for a flat, however.

Maatoug's room is a typical Paris student accommodation, namely one that was formerly meant for domestics who, beginning in the mid- 19th century, served in the households of the Parisian bourgeoisie.

"Many students move into a 'chambre de bonne' (maid's room) because they want to live in the city center. For most of them flats are too expensive," noted Alfonso Mostacero, who assists incoming foreign students at Paris-Sorbonne University.

Shared flats among students are less common in Paris than elsewhere and many Parisian students continue to live with their parents.

Monthly rents in Paris average about 22 euros (30 US dollars) per square meter and are higher for small flats. A 10- to 12-square-meter room with neither a kitchen nor a bathroom costs about 400 euros (538 dollars) a month, on average. Landlords are disinclined to renovate the rooms they rent out since demand for them is high.

Domestics in Paris used to eat in the kitchen of their employer, so their rooms seldom had kitchens, not to speak of bathrooms. The toilet is often located, as it was during that bygone era, in the hall and is shared by everyone living on the floor.

Malak's toilet lacks even a lamp, so he lights a candle during his visits. Other toilets have no flushing system, so a bucket of water is used instead.

Finding a place to live can be very difficult for foreign students. Lukas Haupt, a 25-year-old student of economics in Bremen, went to Paris on an internship. A proficient speaker of French, he brought with him all of the documents that Parisian landlords often demand, including a surety from his father, his father's salary statement and proof that his father owns real estate.

"A few times landlords told me right away that they didn't want foreigners because its hard to sue them if they don't pay the rent," Haupt said. He finally landed a rental agreement after looking at 12 rooms over five weeks. The price: 675 euros (908 dollars) a month for 15 square meters.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316687,paris-no-paradise-for-foreign-students.html.

Record number of French disapprove of government's economic policy

Paris - If French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to know why he and his ruling UMP party suffered a heavy defeat in recent regional elections, he would do well to read the results of a poll made public Wednesday by France Info radio.

According to the survey, a record 70 per cent of respondents said they disapproved of the government's economic policies, up 7 per cent over one month ago.

Only 27 per cent of those asked in the poll said they had a good opinion of the government's economic policies, down 5 per cent from February.

According to the BVA institute, which carried out the poll, that is "close to the lowest ever level of approval recorded by this indicator."

The poll was taken on March 26 and 27, less than a week after the ruling conservatives suffered one of their worst-ever electoral defeats, drawing only 35 per cent of the votes cast in the second round of regional elections.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316561,record-number-of-french-disapprove-of-governments-economic-policy.html.

Sarkozy's party loses big in French elections

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling center-right bloc has suffered a comprehensive defeat in regional elections that comes as the last major national test before the country's 2012 presidential vote.

As polling stations closed on Sunday, initial estimates gave the Socialist Party and its Green allies some 54 percent of the vote at a national level, while Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) won only 36 percent.

According to exit polls, the far-right National Front won just under nine percent of the vote nationwide.

The vote, which saw record low turn-out, will give the left control over at least 20 of the 22 regions on the mainland, leaving only Alsace for Sarkozy's UMP.

The local vote was held to select regional councils, which run local transport and maintain local infrastructure such as school buildings and hospitals.

While French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, a member of the UMP, acknowledged that the poll was "a disappointment," he said that national policy cannot be determined by regional elections.

In the last round of regional elections held in 2004, the UMP won just Alsace and Corsica but the Socialists' comprehensive win did not prevent Sarkozy from being elected president in 2007.

The French president has come under criticism from his own camp over his policies with analysts saying that the feeble economy and growing unemployment rate is taking its toll on the government.

Meanwhile, President Sarkozy said the poll had only "regional ramifications" and was not a protest against his government.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121371§ionid=351020603.

France, Spain to redouble anti-ETA fight after cop slaying - Summary

Paris/Madrid - The killing of a French policeman late Tuesday by the Basque militant group ETA will intensify the cooperation between France and Spain in the fight against the group, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Wednesday. "The murder of the police officer will lead the security forces in France and Spain to broaden their cooperation even more in the fight against ETA terrorism," Perez Rubalcaba said.

A man arrested shortly after the killing of the French police officer near Paris has admitted being a member of ETA, French media reported.

Citing judicial sources, the online edition of the weekly Le Point said that at least five other people, including one woman, were being sought in the murder, the first-ever killing of a French law enforcement official by the separatist group.

The dead policeman was identified as a 52-year-old father of four and a 30-year veteran of the police force.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero paid tribute to the victim by saying Wednesday in Madrid, "France has paid a high price for its support of the fight against ETA terrorism in Spain."

According to the sources, the incident began when a police patrol noticed four people filling four cars with petrol on a dirt road some 50 kilometers south of the capital.

The police officers accosted and disarmed the four when two more cars arrived on the scene, igniting a shootout. The police officer died shortly after being hit by a bullet from a. 357 Magnum handgun.

Police said the dead officer was wearing a bullet-proof vest, but the bullet struck him in the armpit, which the vest does not cover.

Shortly after the incident, French police arrested a suspect in the shooting. He was identified as 27-year-old Joseba Fernandez Aspurz, alias El Guindi, who is wanted in Spain on several charges of arson.

The six cars were reportedly stolen earlier Tuesday from a used- car lot.

French police and ETA have had numerous run-ins over the years, since members of the group often hide out and store their munitions on French territory.

In June 2009, two ETA members shot and wounded a gendarme as he approached them in their car. In November 2001, another gendarme was gravely wounded by ETA gunfire when he attempted to subject the driver of a minivan to a blood-alcohol test.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314564,france-spain-to-redouble-anti-eta-fight-after-cop-slaying--summary.html.

France seals deal for 14 Soyuz carrier rockets

France has ordered 14 Soyuz carrier rockets from Russia costing some $1 billion.

Speaking at the Russian-French business forum in Paris on Tuesday, French satellite launch firm Arianespace's CEO, Jean-Yves Le Gall, confirmed rumors of that France would be purchasing Soyuz booster rockets from Russia.

"We have ordered 14 Soyuzes from the Russian Federation; the contract's cost is about $1 billion. These are ambitious plans," Le Gall said.

The Russian-French cooperation deal calls for the construction of state-of-the-art booster rockets and a launch system for Soyuz rockets at the Kourou space center in French Guiana.

Meanwhile, according to officials from Russia and France's space agencies, the equipment is 90 percent ready with the Russian side — Roskosmos — saying that it is ready to perform the first launch of the Russian rockets from the northeast of South America during the second half of 2010.

NASA officials have described the Soyuz-TC as the best booster in the world.

Earlier on Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Russia and France had begun "exclusive talks" on the purchase of four French Mistral-class amphibious-assault ships, two of which could be built in Russia.

The deal for the assault ships is believed to be the largest arms sale from a NATO member to Russia so far.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120479§ionid=351020603.

Russia negotiating with France to buy four warships - Summary

Paris - Russia has begun exclusive negotiations with France to purchase four Mistral helicopter-carrying warships, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, said Monday in Paris. The controversial deal has provoked nervousness and consternation in the former Soviet republics, such as Gerogia and the Baltic nations, as well as in the United States.

But both Sarkozy and Medvedev said the deal was important for improving ties between Paris and Moscow.

"The Mistral has raised conflicting reactions. But it is a symbol of trust between our two countries," Medvedev said.

"We cannot say that we need you and then not have any trust," Sarkozy said. "That would not be consistent."

However, Sarkozy noted that France would sell the Mistral warships to Russia without any military equipment.

The announcement of the negotiations came at the beginning of a two-day state visit by Medvedev, his first official trip to France since he took office in May 2008.

The two men held a news conference after meeting at the Elysee Palace, and after the signature of three bilateral contracts before the assembled journalists.

One of the contracts allows French utility GDF Suez to take part in the North Stream gas line project and the other will create a joint company by train manufacturers Alstom of France and Russia's TMH.

The third agreement will allow Russian citizens to travel to France without a visa and will create what Sarkozy called "a free- travel zone" between Russia and France.

The two leaders said they had discussed a broad range of issues and that they were agreed on many of them, including how to deal with Iran's nuclear program.

Sarkozy said Medvedev had expressed the wish that any sanctions imposed on Tehran would take into account humanitarian consequences.

Another potentially difficult issue the two presidents discussed was a future security architecture for Europe that would include Russia.

Medvedev said European security was "of vital importance," and pointed to the 2008 resolution of the Georgian conflict - in which Sarkozy had played an important role as head of the EU - as a potential model for the future.

"This situation was resolved ... not via NATO structures but through the European Union," he said.

Sarkozy said that France remained loyal to NATO, but added: "We must examine what a new security architecture between Europe and Russia will look like."

The French president said that it was high time that relations between Russia and the West changed.

"We wish to put the Cold War behind us. The time has come to turn the page and look to a new era," Sarkozy said.

Medvedev expressed his condolences to France for the violent storm that struck France at the weekend, killing at least 51 people and causing hundreds of millions of euros in damage.

On Tuesday, Sarkozy and Medvedev will visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then inaugurate an exhibition of sacred Russian art at the Louvre Museum.

The exhibition is part of a year-long cultural program called A Year of Russian Culture in France, which will comprise dozens of other exhibitions of Russian art.

Medvedev was accompanied to Paris by some 100 entrepreneurs and heads of industry, who will attend a forum hosted by the French employers' union MEDEF.

Late Tuesday, Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, are to host a state dinner for Medvedev and his wife at the Elysee Palace.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311982,russia-negotiating-with-france-to-buy-four-warships--summary.html.

France, Syria sign 11 agreements to boost relations - Summary

Damascus - France and Syria signed 11 cooperation agreements Saturday during the visit of French Prime Minister Francois Fillon to Damascus. The deals were signed after Fillon met with his Syrian counterpart Mohammad Naji al-Otri to discuss ways of boosting economic relations between the two countries.

"The visit of the French Prime Minister to Syria comes to mark a new stage of cooperation between Syria and France," al-Otri said after their meeting.

The agreements aim at bolstering ties in agriculture, civil aviation, culture and administrative cooperation. The bilateral trade is estimated to be around 800 million euros.

Al-Otri also called on French companies to expand their investments and engage in tourism projects in Syria, as well as the development projects in energy, oil, gas, transportation and public services.

Fillon, who is the first French Prime Minister to visit Syria in more than three decades, said that his country is keen on achieving fruitful cooperation with Damascus.

The French prime minister was accompanied by French Economic Minister Christine Lagarde and Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand for the 24-hour visit, along with a delegation of top businessmen.

On Friday, Fillon met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to discuss the political developments in the region and the stalled peace process.

During the talks, al-Assad highlighted "the need for European countries to assume an active role to force Israel to commit to the requirements of peace."

The meeting was attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem as well as the delegation accompanying Fillon.

Syrian-French relations have witnessed growing development since al-Assad visited Paris in July 2008 and French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Syria a couple of months later.

Fillon will head to Jordan late on Saturday, where he is due to hold talks on Sunday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310334,france-syria-sign-11-agreements-to-boost-relations--summary.html.

France says Palestinian state will soon be recognized

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said a Palestinian state could soon be recognized even before its borders are drawn up.

"The issue before us at the moment is the building of a reality: France is training Palestinian police, businesses are being created in the West Bank... It follows that one can envision the proclamation soon of a Palestinian state, and its immediate recognition by the international community, even before negotiating its borders," Kouchner told the French newspaper the Journal du Dimanche on Saturday.

The French official further pointed out that if the political process is not able to end the Israeli occupation by mid-2011, the development of Palestinian infrastructure and institutions will do that.

Kouchner made the remarks ahead of a visit to Paris by acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas next week.

Earlier, acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said that he could see an independent Palestinian state in 2011.

"If by mid-2011, the political process has not ended the (Israeli) occupation, I would bet that the developed state of Palestinian infrastructure and institutions will be such that the pressure will force Israel to give up its occupation," Fayyad said in an interview published in the French media on Friday.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119047§ionid=351020202.

France follows up on banning Islamic veil

Sat, 30 Jan 2010

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has requested the country's top court to help the government draft a legislation banning the full Islamic veil.

The move by the French government comes three days after a French parliamentary report called for a ban on the full veil.

The report claimed that "Muslim women who fully cover their heads and faces pose an unacceptable challenge to French values."

If it becomes law, it would make it illegal for those women in France who wear the full Islamic veil to visit public buildings or carry out any administrative task.

France is home to Europe's largest Muslim minority. Meanwhile, Italy has said it may follow in France's footsteps and seek a ban on the "full Islamic veil."

Observers scoff at the attempt by the so-called western democracies that have accused Muslims of being intolerant and repeatedly boast their belief in basic freedoms, which include choice of religion. Yet, they argue, they are proving to be quite intolerant themselves, regarding the dress code of Muslim women as a social threat.

Some western European countries and the US have even taken measures to harass, detain, and even expel Muslim individuals for making speeches critical of their roles in the occupation and war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117428§ionid=351020603.

French leader brings reconstruction plan to Haiti

By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – President Nicolas Sarkozy is bringing a French plan to rebuild Haiti with him on Wednesday's visit to the Caribbean country, a trip officials hope will usher in a new era between France and its former colony.

Some Haitians are welcoming France's new interest in their earthquake-shattered nation as a counterbalance to the United States, which has sent troops there three times in the past 16 years.

But Sarkozy's visit, the first ever by a French president to what was its richest colony, is also reviving bitter memories of the crippling costs of Haiti's 1804 independence.

A third of the population was killed in an uprising against exceptionally brutal slavery, an international embargo was imposed to prevent slave revolts elsewhere and 90 million pieces of gold were demanded by Paris from the world's first black republic.

The debt hobbled Haiti, it seemed for life.

A country plagued by natural and unnatural calamities was desperately poor and mismanaged even before a magnitude-7 earthquake smashed up the capital Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12, killing more than 200,000 people and leaving more than a million homeless.

Haitian politicians this week diplomatically skirted the question of French reparations — a demand put to Paris by ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. That suggests Sarkozy's four-hour visit could herald a new era.

French officials say Sarkozy will announce details of "a French plan for the reconstruction of Haiti" — if Haitian officials agree. It differs little from proposals from Haitian, U.S. and U.N. officials to decentralize power away from the devastated capital and boost agriculture and tourism.

The trip brings Sarkozy to an island where, French officials acknowledge, fascination with things French duels with strong, lingering resentments.

One official close to the French presidency, briefing reporters in Paris on condition of anonymity, hinted that France is not deaf to calls for reparations, calling Sarkozy's visit "an occasion to show that France is mobilizing to give Haitians control of their destiny and pay past debts."

For Millien Romage, a legislator for Aristide's party when reparations were demanded, "This is not a time to be making loud demands. We don't want to fight. But perhaps the French could recognize their debt by helping us to get out of poverty. They can help build roads, houses, schools."

Sarkozy himself has said the catastrophe, following so many others, offers "a chance to get Haiti once and for all out of the curse it seems to have been stuck with for such a long time."

Some Haitians would say they were cursed by their French colonizers.

"The indemnity imposed by France condemned the Haitian people to a cycle of indebtedness, environmental degradation and underdevelopment from which they have yet to recover," said Norman Girvan, a professor at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. "President Sarkozy would do France — yes France — a great service if he were to acknowledge the role of the French Republic in Haiti's present plight."

France has already said it was canceling all of Haiti's 56 million euro (US$77 million) debt to Paris.

In 1825, crippled by the U.S.-led international embargo that was enforced by French warships, Haiti agreed to pay France 150 million francs in compensation for the lost "property" — including slaves — of French plantation owners.

By comparison, France sold the United States its immensely larger Louisiana Territory in 1803 for just 60 million francs. The amount for Haiti was later lowered to 90 million gold francs.

Haiti did not finish paying the debilitating debt — which was swollen by massive interest payments to French and American banks — until 1947.

But Haiti's wealth already was destroyed. It had been the world's richest colony, providing half the globe's sugar and other exports including coffee, cotton, hardwood and indigo that exceeded the value of everything produced in the United States in 1788.

By the early 1780s, half of Haiti's forests were gone, leading to the devastating erosion and extreme poverty that bedevils the country today.

France's other former colonies in the region — Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Martin, St. Barts and Guiana (in South America) — all have voted to remain part of France and send legislators to the French parliament.

The human cost of the colonial exploitation in Haiti was staggering. Slaves lasted little more than 10 years under brutal conditions. Haitian slaves who displeased their masters were boiled to death in vats of molasses, buried alive in piles of biting insects, crushed by heavy stones or simply starved to death. Just before the rebellion, Haiti had some 450,000 slaves, 25,000 whites and several thousand freed blacks and a mixed-race elite.

The uprising was as brutal as what had gone before.

Haitians asked about their independence today quickly recall the bloody Creole slogan "koupe tet, boule kay" — cut off their heads, torch their houses.

Homeless Haitians who had not heard of Sarkozy's visit said they would welcome help, wherever it comes from.

"I hope he can bring me a tent, and the food, medicine and houses that everybody needs," said 19-year-old Joint Dewendsca, who expects to give birth to her first child under a tent made of bed sheets and wood poles on the grounds of Quisqueya University.

Many remain wary, however, in a country where people still describe a deceitful politician as "speaking French." The vast majority of Haitians speak Creole.

"France still has its eye on Haiti," said Evens Dangervil, 31. "It might want to control us politically and economically."

___

Associated Press Writers Elaine Ganley in Paris and Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report.

Davos begins with Sarkozy call for global reform - Summary

Wed, 27 Jan 2010

Davos, Switzerland - The World Economic Forum began Wednesday evening, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy lashing out against greedy capitalism, pushing for a more moderate version of the market economy and issuing a call for a revamping of the global monetary system. "Today, we need a new Bretton Woods," said Sarkozy, referring to the international financial institutions established in the wake of World War II.

France, the president said, would encourage such reforms when taking the helm of the G8 and G20 forums of rich nations and emerging economies in 2011.

His speech against the excesses of the boom era and the systemic risks taken by financiers, was expected at this year's forum, running under the slogan "Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild."

"This means concretely rethinking our values, redesigning our systems and rebuilding our institutions," WEF founder Klaus Schwab said before introducing his visitor from Paris.

Addressing some 2,500 participants, Sarkozy said there was a need for further regulation of the financial sector, in part to end dangerous speculation, adding that he was in agreement with the recent calls for reform from US President Barack Obama.

But France's head of state warned that the changes should not hurt the competitiveness of one country at the expense of another.

"How can we conceive that in a competitive world, we can insist that European banks have four times more capital to cover the risks of their market activities, without demanding the same of American or Asian banks," Sarkozy told an elite crowd of business and political leaders that erupted from time to time in applause.

A global system of rules was needed for markets and financial institutions, he said, while also supporting an international rules- based system for labor, the environment and health issues.

Jaime Caruana from the Bank of International Settlements - the central bank of central banks - had earlier said that while a global framework was needed for economic and capital flows, each country would likely have to design its own rules.

Nations with trade surpluses should boost consumption and a single currency could not dominate the globe, Sarkozy said in his opening address, calling for a balanced world to prevent future crises.

The annual meet high up in the Swiss Alps, was taking place amid concerns economic recovery in some developed countries was still shaky and unemployment in the richest nations was creeping up, even if gross domestic product results show positive signs.

Debates in preliminary sessions focused on how much regulation of the banking sector was needed and how the developing world should learn from the mistakes of the rich countries, while trying to avoid a deeper economic crisis.

"There is a risk of a double-dip recession. Emerging market economies will do better than advanced economies," said Nouriel Roubini, an economist considered one of the few to have predicted the crisis.

China's emergence as an economic superpower was also being talked about, along with the ramifications for the economies it will surpass, and the United States, expected to remain number one for some years to come.

In general, the growing importance of the emerging economies was firmly on the WEF's agenda.

A recent index released by Standard and Poor's rating agency showed that Brazil, Russia China and India have risen from 1.4 per cent to 15 per cent of world market value over the last decade.

Also on the agenda was a heated debate scheduled Thursday on the eurozones, to be attended by European leaders and Jean Claude Trichet, the head of the European bank in Frankfurt.

In the background, the earthquake devastation in Haiti was featured, with a plan by former US president Bill Clinton for a new economic initiative for the Caribbean country.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306183,davos-begins-with-sarkozy-call-for-global-reform--summary.html.

France calls for restraint on Korean Peninsula

France on Thursday called for restraint on the Korean Peninsula after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted artillery exercises in the west coast of the country.

France called on the DPRK to "refrain from any action that might aggravate the tension in the region and to resume dialogue with the international community," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

The DPRK fired some 30 artillery shells Wednesday morning into waters of the "no-sail" zones it declared a day earlier. South Korean military responded by firing warning shots.

Pyongyang said it would carry on more firing drills in the same waters in the future.

The DPRK declared a shipping ban on Tuesday in the area south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which was fixed unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command after the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Seoul regards the NLL as the de-facto western inter-Korean maritime border, but Pyongyang does not accept it.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6882617.html.

A Jewish voice against the "burqa ban"

by Joshua M. Z. Stanton
26 January 2010

New York, New York - Even as a Jew in New York, I know what it is like to be Muslim in France.

While studying abroad in the French city of Strasbourg in 2007, I decided to grow a bushy beard. Little did I know that in France only traditional Jewish and Muslim men don anything but the most finely trimmed mustache or goatee. Since I did not wear a yarmulke or other head covering, people who saw me on the street assumed that I was Muslim.

I felt that police officers and passersby treated me with suspicion, and even on the crowded rush hour bus few chose to sit next to me if they could avoid it. On one occasion someone followed me home and tried to start a fight, only to find I was a bewildered American, not a French Muslim.

Never before, and never since, have I experienced disdain of this sort. On a daily basis, I was made to feel badly because of my appearance–and what was presumed to be my corresponding religious affiliation. So when I read of the impending effort by parliamentary leader Jean-François Copé and his supporters to criminalize the burqa (and other garments that fully cover a woman's body, head and face) in France, I understood it to be far more than a measure to protect women’s rights or preserve the concept of a secular society, on which the modern French state is built.

In my opinion, it is easy to see how the “burqa ban” might be misused as a part of a broader effort to stigmatize a religious population, one that already perceives itself to be on the margins of society.

Admittedly, I am fundamentally opposed to any garment or religious practice–including those found in my own Jewish tradition–that suggests women hold a different or subservient position than men. But the burqa ban in France will not achieve the aim of gender equality. If anything, it will strengthen religious conservatives in France's Muslim population by convincing members of the moderate majority of Muslims that the rest of French society will never accept them.

While there are said to be only 2,000 women who wear burqas in all of France today, the entire Muslim population, estimated to be around five to six million, will take umbrage at another measure that singles out their community.

If we assume that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is genuinely motivated by the belief that burqas are a “sign of subservience, a sign of debasement,” according to the 16 January edition of The Economist, his best response would in fact be to enact measures welcoming Muslim citizens more fully into French society. Such affirmations would undercut efforts by the small minority of religiously conservative Muslims to gather a following among disaffected coreligionists who feel unable to overcome anti-Muslim prejudice.

The need for the French government to treat religious minorities with respect is bolstered by its own history. In 1781, the enlightened German thinker Christian Wilhelm von Dohm made what at the time was a revolutionary suggestion: “Certainly, the Jew will not be prevented by his religion from being a good citizen, if only the government will give him a citizen’s rights.”

But it was the French who first put Dohm’s prophetic vision into action.

In 1806, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte emancipated French Jews by passing laws to improve their economic and social status. He invited them to live anywhere they pleased, as opposed to confinement in crowded city slums and frequent itinerancy in the countryside. He also officially recognized their religion and affirmed its permanent place within the private sphere of French life.

Through these acts of profound tolerance over 200 years ago, France set an example for all of Europe and proved that its open-mindedness was more than rhetorical.

Modern France would do well to follow its own admirable example and truly treat Muslim citizens as equal participants in society. Foregoing the burqa ban would be a sensible first step.

Source: Common Ground.
Link: http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=27164&lan=en&sid=1&sp=0&isNew=1.

France moves a step closer to barring burqa

Following recent European moves to ban Muslim practices, French lawmakers are seeking a ban on the burqa and other face-covering veils worn by some Muslim women.

After six months of fierce public debate, a parliamentary panel is expected to recommend on Tuesday a partial ban on the veil in public places such as schools and hospitals, but not in private buildings or on the street.

The ban could make it impossible for women who wear the burqa to receive any public services, from buying a bus ticket to picking up a child at school.

Some of the 32 members of the cross-party panel want to go even further with a law that might make wearing a full veil subject to a USD 1,000 fine.

Parliament is not required to act on the recommendation, and it may only result in a non-binding government resolution.

The commission's decision indicates that the lawmakers have heeded warnings that a full ban would possibly pose a threat to France's constitutionally-mandated secularism.

The panel's work began after President Nicolas Sarkozy said in June that the Muslim garment was "not welcome" on French territory.

France's recent move follows other European countries' ban on certain Muslim practices.

In November, 2009, Switzerland became the first European country to ban a Muslim practice when a double majority voted "yes" to a referendum seeking a ban on the construction of minarets - a distinct characteristic of Muslim places of worship — mosques.

Following French footsteps, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has also sought a ban on burqas and other face-covering veils in Britain.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117090§ionid=3510212.

Sarkozy uses Facebook as campaign weapon

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy began an intense media offensive Monday, with polls suggesting his ruling conservative coalition will suffer a bitter defeat in March regional elections. Ahead of a 90-minute appearance on national television on Monday evening, Sarkozy urged the French users of Facebook to tune in to the program, which will include a question-and-answer session with 10 French adults chosen by TF1, which is broadcasting the show.

"Do not hesitate to let me know your doubts and the issues that you think I should touch on," Sarkozy wrote on his Facebook page, which counts more than 203,000 fans.

An "Against Nicolas Sarkozy" Facebook page has a little more than 194,000 fans and a page seeking signatures for a "No Sarkozy Day," to be celebrated on March 27, has attracted more than 365,000 members.

The upcoming regional elections are widely seen as a major test for Sarkozy and his stuttering politics of reform.

In 2004, parties of the left won control of 20 of the 22 regions of mainland France. The results were seen as a major setback for Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac and his prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305610,sarkozy-uses-facebook-as-campaign-weapon.html.

Hezbollah hits back at Kouchner attack

Beirut- The Lebanese Shiite movement, Hezbollah, hit back at French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner Saturday, over his recent comments condemning the group and linking it to Iran. "Israel is our friend, and if there was a threat to Lebanon, it will only come from a military adventure carried out by Hezbollah in the best interest of Iran," Kouchner reportedly told the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri during a visit to Paris on Friday.

"Kouchner's statement carried clear echoes for the Israeli voice and a full denial for France's history and its legacy in resisting aggression and occupation," said a statement by Hezbollah.

"This stance is an attempt to acquit Israel and to cover up its relentless violations of Lebanese sovereignty, the thing which represents a shield for its occupation and an encouragement for it to pursue its aggressions," Hezbollah said.

The statement refers to daily Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, in breach of UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon.

The UN Security Council has listed 388 Israeli airspace violations on behalf of Israel against Lebanon, in its report last June.

Last week, Ehud Barak, Israel's defense minister, warned Hezbollah to "avoid entering in conflict with us."

Israel has said that it will hold the Lebanese responsible for any violations by Hezbollah of United Nations Security Council resolution 1701.

Barak reiterated that should Hezbollah carry out any attacks, Israel would retaliate against not just Hezbollah, but Lebanon and anyone else who helps Hezbollah.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305343,hezbollah-hits-back-at-kouchner-attack.html.

French PM: Good Syria-Lebanon relations benefit entire region

Paris - The normalization of relations between Lebanon and Syria was a boon for the entire region, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Thursday. He made the statement during talks in Paris with his Lebanese counterpart, Saad Hariri.

According to a statement released by Fillon's office, the two men also discussed the Middle East peace process as well as other international issues related to Lebanon's entry into the UN Security Council on January 1.

Hariri and Fillon signed six bilateral agreements in the areas of security, justice, social affairs, the training of managers, the economy and research.

Fillon's office said the trip to Paris was Hariri's first official foreign visit outside the Middle East since the 39-year-old son of the assassinated former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri took office in November of last year.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305061,french-pm-good-syria-lebanon-relations-benefit-entire-region.html.

France criticizes US 'occupation' of Haiti

France is demanding the United Nations investigate and clarify the dominant US role in Haiti, after Washington deployed over 10,000 troops to the quake-hit country.

The demand came after US forces turned back a French aid plane carrying a field hospital from the main airport in the Haitian capital.

The Pentagon says it has deployed soldiers in Haiti to help victims of Tuesday's earthquake. This comes as US paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division took control of the main airport in the capital Port-au-Prince on Friday.

The move has raised ire among aid agencies with extensive experience of operating in disaster zones.

"This is about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti," France's Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet said in an emergency EU meeting concerning Haiti on Monday.

He added that he expects a UN decision on how governments should work together in Haiti, while demanding a clarification of the United States' role in the Caribbean nation.

Joyandet's remarks echo those made by Venezuela and Nicaragua that expressed "deep concern" over the US deployment of troops in Haiti.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton whose country is also blamed for not being quick enough to send aid to the quake-hit nation has denied the occupation charges, stressing on Saturday that the White House had no intention of taking power from Haitian officials.

The US has been accused of interfering in Haitian internal affairs in the past.

The US military played a role in the departure of the former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide before his second term was over in early 2004. Aristide has described his departure as a kidnapping.

Last week's 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti is estimated to have left some 200,000 people dead and more than 1.5 million homeless, with at least 70,000 bodies collected from the rubble so far.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116503§ionid=351020706.