Tag: French

PERTH - France kept their Hopman Cup hopes mathematically alive with a 2-1 win over Great Britain in the mixed teams tournament on Wednesday. But the fate of the French pairing of Kristina Mladenovic and Nicolas Mahut is not entirely in their own hands. To reach the final they need record a clean sweep over Italy in their final round robin tie on Friday, and hope that the British team of Laura Robson and Andy Murray, who are out of contention, can upset the unbeaten United States by

PARIS - President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday said French troops had no reason to get involved in "the internal affairs of Ivory Coast," where strongman Laurent Gbagbo is refusing to step down as president.
Sarkozy also repeated his support for Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner of November's Ivorian presidential elections.
French Defence Minister Alain Juppe said earlier Tuesday that France's troops in Ivory Coast would not "take the initiative" to

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has revealed that she wants to make a film in French. The actress is hoping to perfect her French in 2011, so she can make a movie in her late mother''s native tongue. Jolie's mum Marcheline Bertrand hailed from France and Jolie now has a dream to make an arthouse film in the country -
once she has mastered the language and accent. "I''m going to practice (French) and try to become fluent in the next few years," Contactmusic quoted her as saying."I

New York - Actress Natalie Portman is engaged to a ballet dancer and choreographer and expecting her first child with him. The 29-year-old actress met the French choreographer, Benjamin Millepied, during the production of her newly released movie, "Black Swan",
which has earned her Oscar buzz. Millepied, born in Bordeaux, France, is a principal dancer and choreographer at the New York City Ballet. In "Black Swan" Portman plays a New York ballerina whose obsession with technical

JERUSALEM - Nine French activists were arrested on Sunday during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at a major Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank, police and protest organisers told AFP.
"Our forces today dispersed protesters who were throwing rocks at us and proceeded to arrest nine people, including some foreigners," Micky Rosenfeld said.
"The protest took place at the Qalandia checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, and the police made arrests after the activists tried to cross the

PARIS: Up to half a dozen children were being held hostage by a 17-year-old youth armed with two swords at a nursery school in the eastern French city of Besancon, the city's mayor said on Monday.
The young man took around 20 children hostage shortly after the kindergarten opened, but later released a dozen or so. "Around 14 children have come out and at the moment there are five or six still inside," Besancon Mayor Jean-Louis Fousseret told France Info radio. The

GENEVA: Retired tennis star Martina Hingis has married French showjumper Thibault Hutin in Paris, Swiss celebrity magazine Schweizer Illustrierte said. According to the magazine's website, the 30-year-old former Grand Slam champion and the 24-year-old rider held their civil wedding on Friday in the presence of close family.
"Our wedding came as a surprise for many, but it has been in planning long in advance," Hingis told the magazine, which said it would publish on Monday

PARIS: Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin was questioned by a judge about a Karachi bombing in 2002 that killed 11 French submarine engineers, sources close to the inquiry said.
Anti-terrorist magistrate Marc Trevidic, who is leading an inquiry into the attack that has sparked allegations of political corruption and revenge-taking in France, questioned Vilelpin for 2 hours.
Villepin was also questioned for 4 hours last Thursday for a separate probe into

PARIS: A French judge questioned former prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday about corruption allegations linked to the deaths of 11 French engineers in a Pakistani bombing in 2002.
Villepin, who was questioned for four hours as a witness by investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke, had said Friday he had "very strong suspicions" that French officials received illegal payments related to arms deals in 1995.
Witnesses have alleged the Pakistan bombing was

PARIS: France's former prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Sunday denied any link between arms deals and the deaths of 11 French engineers in a bombing in Pakistan in 2002.
Witnesses have alleged the bombing was revenge for the cancelling of kickbacks paid to officials in the arms deals, in a complex case linked to alleged illegal political funding and implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Villepin said on Sunday: "To my knowledge there is no link" between the

LAHORE: Pakistan has deported a French diplomat for alleged involvement in suspicious activities, Geo TV reported on Thursday.
The TV channel said the authorities declared Oliver Garner 'persona non grata' and deported him.
A Pakistani official has also been arrested for links to the French diplomat, the TV channel said.

PARIS: Hundreds of thousands of defiant French strikers took to the streets on Thursday in a last-ditch bid to force President Nicolas Sarkozy to scrap a just-passed law raising the retirement age.
At least 270 rallies were planned around France, as workers and students launched the ninth in a series of one-day mass protests and strikes, part of a movement that has threatened to paralyse the economy. Most of the demonstrations of recent weeks have been peaceful, but gangs of

PARIS
French students protested Tuesday at campuses across the country but elsewhere the government welcomed signs that the mass movement to defend the right to retire at 60 was losing steam.
Lawmakers were expected to pass President Nicolas Sarkozy's unpopular pensions reform bill on Wednesday and Finance Minister Christine Lagarde hailed what she said was "a return to reason and dialogue."
And the union leaders who led strikes and street rallies of recent months

PARIS
President Nicolas Sarkozy hopes to put his titanic battle to raise France's retirement age behind him this week by signing the measure into law despite a new wave of strikes, rallies and fuel blockades.
With thousands of families heading off for school half-term holidays, and lawmakers expected to give the pensions bill their formal final approval on Wednesday, Sarkozy hopes the mass protest movement will die away.
But, with opinion polls showing the embattled

PARIS
The French government struggled to restore fuel supplies on Saturday, but unions dug in their heels at strike-hit oil refineries after the Senate approved the pension reform bill at the heart of the dispute.
Despite weeks of protests and strikes that have hit railways and refineries hardest, the flagship reform of President Nicolas Sarkozy's term is expected to be finally adopted by Wednesday. On the first day of a 12-day mid-term school holiday, Transport Minister

PARIS
French riot police rushed picket lines to break a blockade of the main fuel refinery supplying Paris on Friday as unions hardened their stance before a vote on President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reform.
Signalling their determination to keep fighting even after a bill raising the retirement age becomes law, the country's six main unions have called for two more days of action on October 28 and November 6 against the unpopular reform.
"The protests are not

PARIS
French protestors blocked key sites and clashed with police Thursday as unions called for further mass nationwide protests against President Nicolas Sarkozy's bid to raise the retirement age.
With no fuel left in more than a quarter of petrol pumps, police are playing what unions dubbed a game of cat and mouse with protestors at depots and refineries in a bid to prevent the country grinding to a halt.
"By taking the French economy, businesses and daily life