Two a penny

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At a time of doom and gloom in the economy, employees at the German-run Continental tyre factory in France have won a significant victory.

After months of negotiations, 1,120 staff at the Continental plant at Clairoix in northern France are in line for a 50,000 euro per person layoff deal. Employees at the plant had staged a series of protests including storming a company office and a government building. .

Talks continue on early retirement arrangements for some employees.

Employees will get the 50,000 euro payoff on top of the redundancy compensation set by the law, after an initial offer from the management of 17,000 euros per employee.

auto industry - strike
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In the meantime, staff won’t go to work for the eight remaining months before the factory closes

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AFP - A lone robber armed with a handgun on Saturday got away with jewellery worth around 6.6 million euros (9.3 million dollars) in a hold-up at the exclusive Chopard store in central Paris, police said.

He ordered staff to give him jewels from the window display.

The man, in his 50s, dressed in a suit and wearing a Borsalino-style hat passed himself off as a customer to get in through the security door before drawing his weapon, police spokesman Olivier Lebon told reporters.

A man on his own, well dressed, who could have been a potential client, came into the jewellers, his faced unmasked, at one o’clock, said another source working on the case.

They did as they were told and the man got away on foot, the whole robbery having taken two minutes, said police.

He pulled out a handgun and got staff to give him 12 jewels, said the source. He did not take the whole contents of the shop window. It happened very quickly, said the source.

The theft happened at around 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) at the premises, which are close to the Ritz Hotel.

Staff in close toby stores in the Place Vendome told reporters they had noticed nothing out of the ordinary at the time.

The robbery took place over the Pentecost weekend, when the city centre was packed with shoppers and tourists.

Later Saturday, only a few leather handbags could be seen in the shop’s window. The Place Vendome hosts some of the world’s most prestigious jewellery shops. The Place Vendome hosts some of the world’s most prestigious jewellery shops. . It also manufactures the distinctive Palme d’Or trophy for the Cannes film festival.

On May 13 two Serbian alleged members of the gang of jewel thieves were arrested in Paris on suspicion of carrying out armed smash-and-grab raids on stores in Monaco, Switzerland and Germany.

Suspicion fell on the international gang known as the Pink Panthers.

Dusko Martinovic was also fined 150,000 euros (210,000 dollars) for the robbery in which he and accomplices stole two million euros worth of goods from a jewellers in the chic French Riviera resort.

On Thursday, a Montenegrin former soldier, believed to be a member of the Pink Panther gang was sentenced to 15 years in jail for a Saint-Tropez heist.

French police have described the group’s crimes as lightning fast hold-ups: daring, but carefully planned down to smallest detail.

The network of Balkan robbers is blamed for the theft of goods worth 110 million euros (140 million dollars) in the past decade.

crime - France - Paris

.French police say a lone gunman has robbed a chic Paris jewellery store in broad daylight, walking out of the Chopard shop on Place Vendome with up to 6.6 million euros ($11.6 million) of goods.
“According to the first set of information we received, it was a man in his fifties, dressed in a chic costume and wearing a Borsalino (fedora) hat,” said Olivier Lebon, a police union representative.
Dressed in a suit and wearing a fedora, the man entered the prestigious boutique, pulled out a gun and forced staff to hand over some 15 pieces of jewellery, police said.”
Mr Lebon said the robbery took two minutes.
“He came in like any other customer, pointed his gun at employees and asked for about fifteen pieces.
Based in Switzerland, Chopard is known for adorning movie stars strutting on red carpets at high-profile events such as the Cannes film festival or Hollywood’s Academy Awards.
The heist, which took place in the early afternoon, came after a gang of armed men stole gems worth $150 million from jewellers Harry Winston in Paris in December, a robbery described by the media as one of the biggest in recent history.
Police have noted a marked increase in robberies in recent years.

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AFP - Jewellery worth some six million euros (8.4 million dollars) was stolen in a hold-up Saturday at the elite Chopard store in Paris’s Place Vendome, police said.

The theft happened at around 3 pm (1300 GMT) at the premises close to the Ritz Hotel, an official at the Paris police headquarters said, giving no details. .

Chopard makes watches and jewels for the stars and has branches in most of the world’s capitals.

crime - France - Paris
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Suspicion fell on the international gang known as the Pink Panthers

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AFP - French charity Zoe’s Ark faces trial as an organisation for fraud related to the adoption under false pretences of 103 Chadian children in 2007, a court source said Friday.

The group’s head Eric Breteau was brought before judges Thursday to have the charges which also include assisting in the illegal immigration of foreign children with a view to adoption read out to him.

Breteau and his partner, Emilie Lelouch, have already been charged personally on similar counts following complaints from five former volunteers who claimed to have been duped by the association.

Chad’s government accused the organisation of kidnapping, while its members argued they were helping orphans from the war-ravaged Darfur region in neighbouring Sudan.

The five were sent to Chad in September 2007 and told they were on a mission to help Darfur orphans, but returned to France shortly before six members of the organisation were arrested on October 25 that year.

Zoe’s Ark’s managing director Eric Breteau, his assistant Emilie Lelouch, doctor Philippe van Winkelberg, logistics operators Alain Peligat and Dominique Aubry and nurse Nadia Merimi were all originally sentenced to eight years of hard labour in Chad. .

Under a deal with Chad, they were repatriated to France and had their sentences adjusted to jail time there, before finally being pardoned in March 2008 by President Idriss Deby Itno.3 million euros (nine million dollars) in damages and interest due to the victims’ families remains tangled up in legal argument.

However, the Chadian award of 6.

The six suspects complain they have been lynched by the media and the authorities.

Under the charges laid against by the French authorities, Breteau, Lelouch, van Winkelberg and Peligat could face 10 years in jail and a 750,000 euros fine each.

In a book published in 2008, Breteau said that both the French foreign ministry and the French president’s office had known about his mission beforehand and backed it. Their French lawyers argue that the French case is purely political.

Chad - France - justice - Zoe&#039s Ark

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AFP - French charity Zoe’s Ark faces trial as an organisation for fraud related to the adoption under false pretences of 103 Chadian children in 2007, a court source said Friday.

The group’s head Eric Breteau was brought before judges Thursday to have the charges which also include assisting in the illegal immigration of foreign children with a view to adoption read out to him.

Breteau and his partner, Emilie Lelouch, have already been charged personally on similar counts following complaints from five former volunteers who claimed to have been duped by the association.

Chad’s government accused the organisation of kidnapping, while its members argued they were helping orphans from the war-ravaged Darfur region in neighbouring Sudan.

The five were sent to Chad in September 2007 and told they were on a mission to help Darfur orphans, but returned to France shortly before six members of the organisation were arrested on October 25 that year.

Zoe’s Ark’s managing director Eric Breteau, his assistant Emilie Lelouch, doctor Philippe van Winkelberg, logistics operators Alain Peligat and Dominique Aubry and nurse Nadia Merimi were all originally sentenced to eight years of hard labour in Chad. .

Under a deal with Chad, they were repatriated to France and had their sentences adjusted to jail time there, before finally being pardoned in March 2008 by President Idriss Deby Itno.3 million euros (nine million dollars) in damages and interest due to the victims’ families remains tangled up in legal argument.

However, the Chadian award of 6.

The six suspects complain they have been lynched by the media and the authorities.

Under the charges laid against by the French authorities, Breteau, Lelouch, van Winkelberg and Peligat could face 10 years in jail and a 750,000 euros fine each.

In a book published in 2008, Breteau said that both the French foreign ministry and the French president’s office had known about his mission beforehand and backed it. Their French lawyers argue that the French case is purely political.

Chad - France - justice - Zoe&#039s Ark

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The ceremony granting jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti honorary citizenship in the French town of Ivry, a suburb of Paris, proceeded almost without incident on Thursday.

His wife Fadwa represented him at a town hall ceremony where she was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd.

We were very distressed by the Gaza war, and our decision to give Marwan Barghouti honorary citizenship stems from our desire to do something concrete afterwards, said town councilor Herv&eacute Rivi&egravere, whose Green Party suggested giving Barghouti the honour, in an interview with them. She was accompanied by the French representative of the Palestinian delegation, Hind Khoury, and the French lawyer and writer Gisele Halimi. Both Valenton and Stains, two towns led by Communist mayors, preceded Ivry in bestowing the honour, underscoring the traditional solidarity between the French Communist Party and the Palestinian people.

Ivry is not the first French town to grant Barghouti citizenship.

Barghouti can catalyze the Palestinians towards peace, says Halimi, who is Barghouti’s lawyer.

For many of those present, Barghouti, who is currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail, represents one of the only credible negotiators capable of relaunching the peace process in the Middle East.C. She revealed that she fooled Israeli

Marwan Barghouti&#039s wife, Fadwa, (right) and French lawyer Gisele Halimi (left). If the Israeli authorities wanted to make peace, which I don&rsquot think they do, they&rsquod take him out of prison to negotiate with them, she says. Caulcuttauthorities twice to see Barghouti in prison. However, an incident that followed promptly brought the distant Israeli-Palestinian conflict back home.

Local politics, international affairs

After several speeches in praise of the former Fatah leader of the West Bank, Ivry town councilors staged a vote that was — given the town’s overwhelming leftist majority — merely a formality before granting Barghouti citizenship.

In the letter, the association said Barghouti was a murderer and warned it would no longer take part in activities in partnership with the town council, including Holocaust commemorations. . Neither the synagogue nor the association was available for comment. The association also created an online petition against Barghouti nomination on their blog . Asked about the incident, Palestinian representative Khoury insisted their struggle was not religious but political, adding that it must be understood as such.

The letter was followed by a rather uneasy silence and several hushed exclamations.

The contradiction is that we get along very well on a local level, but as soon as we discuss the responsibility of Israel in the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, there a blockage, says Jeannin, who accompanies the mayor on his visits to the Jewish community.

Working with the Jewish community

In an interview with them, the mayor cabinet director, Laurent Jeannin, admitted that relations with the Jewish community in Ivry had been tense since March, when it was first suggested that Barghouti should be honoured. We sent an invitation, but we&rsquore still waiting for an answer, Rivi&egravere says.

The Green Party admitted that they had not met with the Jewish community before suggesting Barghouti should be given citizenship.

France - Israel - justice - Palestinian Territories

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The ceremony granting jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti honorary citizenship in the French town of Ivry, a suburb of Paris, proceeded almost without incident on Thursday.

His wife Fadwa represented him at a town hall ceremony where she was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd.

We were very distressed by the Gaza war, and our decision to give Marwan Barghouti honorary citizenship stems from our desire to do something concrete afterwards, said town councilor Herv&eacute Rivi&egravere, whose Green Party suggested giving Barghouti the honour, in an interview with them. She was accompanied by the French representative of the Palestinian delegation, Hind Khoury, and the French lawyer and writer Gisele Halimi. Both Valenton and Stains, two towns led by Communist mayors, preceded Ivry in bestowing the honour, underscoring the traditional solidarity between the French Communist Party and the Palestinian people.

Ivry is not the first French town to grant Barghouti citizenship.

Barghouti can catalyze the Palestinians towards peace, says Halimi, who is Barghouti’s lawyer.

For many of those present, Barghouti, who is currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail, represents one of the only credible negotiators capable of relaunching the peace process in the Middle East.C. She revealed that she fooled Israeli

Marwan Barghouti&#039s wife, Fadwa, (right) and French lawyer Gisele Halimi (left). If the Israeli authorities wanted to make peace, which I don&rsquot think they do, they&rsquod take him out of prison to negotiate with them, she says. Caulcuttauthorities twice to see Barghouti in prison. However, an incident that followed promptly brought the distant Israeli-Palestinian conflict back home.

Local politics, international affairs

After several speeches in praise of the former Fatah leader of the West Bank, Ivry town councilors staged a vote that was — given the town’s overwhelming leftist majority — merely a formality before granting Barghouti citizenship.

In the letter, the association said Barghouti was a murderer and warned it would no longer take part in activities in partnership with the town council, including Holocaust commemorations. . Neither the synagogue nor the association was available for comment. The association also created an online petition against Barghouti nomination on their blog . Asked about the incident, Palestinian representative Khoury insisted their struggle was not religious but political, adding that it must be understood as such.

The letter was followed by a rather uneasy silence and several hushed exclamations.

The contradiction is that we get along very well on a local level, but as soon as we discuss the responsibility of Israel in the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, there a blockage, says Jeannin, who accompanies the mayor on his visits to the Jewish community.

Working with the Jewish community

In an interview with them, the mayor cabinet director, Laurent Jeannin, admitted that relations with the Jewish community in Ivry had been tense since March, when it was first suggested that Barghouti should be honoured. We sent an invitation, but we&rsquore still waiting for an answer, Rivi&egravere says.

The Green Party admitted that they had not met with the Jewish community before suggesting Barghouti should be given citizenship.

France - Israel - justice - Palestinian Territories

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REUTERS - French authorities on Thursday authorised the release of a far-left activist who has been detained for more than six months on suspicion of sabotaging high-speed train lines, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

Julien Coupat, 34, was arrested by anti-terrorist police in November 2008 and his lengthy detention without charges being filed had become highly controversial.

His arrest was part of a wider swoop on members of what Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie described as an anarcho-autonomous movement that had been under surveillance by domestic intelligence services for months beforehand.

Under the terms of his release, he will have to stay in the Paris region and surrender his passport and identity papers.

Coupat, the last of the 10 suspects arrested in November to remain in custody, has always said he was innocent but he is still under investigation for organised, terrorism-related destruction of property.

In a written interview with the Le Monde newspaper this week Coupat described his detention as a petty revenge which is quite understandable given the means that were deployed and the extent of the failure. .

extreme-left - France - justice - trains

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AFP - President Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans Thursday to let school staff search pupils for weapons and for special teams to be set up to intervene in schools where discipline was breaking down.

He unveiled the plans in a major speech on law and order reform aimed at fighting drugs and weapons trafficking and tackling crime in areas such as the suburban ghettos that ring Paris.

There is no question of tolerating the presence of weapons in schools, Sarkozy said in the speech at the Elysee palace in which he said school staff will soon be allowed to search students’ bags for arms.

France has been rocked in recent months by several incidents in which gangs of youths entered schools to attack pupils or teachers.

I say this with solemnity: let us never forget the deaths in Winnenden in Germany, he said, referring to an incident in which a 17-year-old shot dead 15 people at his old school.

He also said retired police officers or other volunteers could be asked to carry out missions aimed at securing schools and their surroundinag areas.

I want the head of each regional education authority to have at his disposal a mobile team of specially trained officials who can come and help out on the pedagogical front heads of schools who are facing discipline difficulties, Sarkozy said. . I want a complete mobilisation of security forces for this necessity, he said.

The priority today is the recovery of the difficult areas.

education - France - Nicolas Sarkozy - schools - weapons
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We must concentrate on the 25 areas, 21 of them in the Paris region and four in the provinces, which are ravaged by delinquency, by drug and weapons trafficking, he said