Two a penny

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AFP – France Telecom’s chief executive faced calls to stand down Tuesday as a 24th suicide at the firm sparked demands for an inquiry into working conditions blamed for pushing staff over the edge.

A France Telecom worker jumped to his death from a highway overpass on Monday leaving a note blaming pressures at work. The 51-year-old father of two had recently been posted to a call centre in Annecy in the Alps.

Chief executive Didier Lombard responded by announcing a freeze on a policy dubbed Time to Move that sees managers change posts every three years, on top of a promise the previous month to review personnel policies.

Further reading

&raquo Focus on the string of suicides at France Telecom
&raquo State intervenes as suicides mount at France Telecom
Workers for the formerly state-owned telecoms giant staged wildcat strikes Tuesday in Annecy, nearby Grenoble and Lyon and in Bordeaux to demand action over a wave of 24 suicides in the past 18 months.

Rather than stepping up his PR efforts, we believe a responsible business leader should resign.

But opposition lawmakers and unions said he had not gone far enough. That is the only possible outcome to this case right now, said Benoit Hamon, spokesperson for the Socialist Party.

Both Socialist and Communist lawmakers called for an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the suicides.

We need a strong symbolic gesture within the company to get labour relations back on the rails, said Bruno Le Roux, head of the Socialist group in the National Assembly. .

A former state monopoly now competing as a private firm in a deregulated market, France Telecom has undergone several major reorganisations in recent years, leading to widespread complaints of stress.

All managers have to be trained to deal with suffering in the workplace, and to take account of suicide risks, he said.

For the head of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling right-wing party, Xavier Bertrand, Lombard’s resignation is not the issue.

But Sebastien Crozier, whose CFE-CGC union represents executive-level staff, warned that: The company’s image has been damaged.

But Sebastien Crozier, whose CFE-CGC union represents executive-level staff, warned that: The company’s image has been damaged.

According to a local trade unionist, the latest suicide, identified only as Jean-Paul, was singled out as emotionally fragile before being posted to the Annecy call centre where work conditions were described as unbearable.

They are no longer credible, agreed Patrick Ackermann of the Sud-PTT union.

France – suicide – telecommunication
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The victim’s wife told RTL radio he spoke about the restructuring all the time in the run-up to his death

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AFP – A French football fan hurt in fighting with Serbian supporters in Belgrade died in hospital on Tuesday, a hospital spokesperson said.

Brice Taton, 28, a Toulouse supporter, sustained brain damage after Partizan Belgrade fans attacked French supporters in a bar on September 17.

Taton had irreversible brain damage and prior to the death a sudden weakening of all vital functions occurred, Jovanovic said.

The football fan died Tuesday morning, said a spokesperson for the Belgrade hospital, Drago Jovanovic.

He underwent surgery twice and had been in a critical condition.

Taton was one of two Toulouse supporters hurt before their team’s 3-2 Europa League victory over the Belgrade side.

Belgrade police have arrested 10 people on suspicion of involvement in the fight. A second French fan was released from hospital after treatment.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said that the guilty faced the most serious and severe reaction of the Serbian state to that event.

Mayor Dragan Djilas declared a day of mourning in the Serbian capital for Thursday, while the ministry for human rights and minorities called for a protest against violence to be held.

Belgrade football club Partizan expressed condolences for Taton’s death.

I express my condolences to his family, said Tadic, on a two-day visit to Slovenia, the first by a Serb leader since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in 1991. .

Brice Taton is not with us anymore.

Today is a sad day not only for Toulouse FC and French football but also for European football as a whole, Platini said.

Michel Platini, president of European football’s governing body UEFA, dubbed Taton’s death tragic and a terrible crime.

We trust that the Serbian authorities will continue their investigations right to the end and punish the perpetrators of this terrible crime.

The loss of a fan’s life, whose only crime was to travel to an away match to follow his team, is tragic, and we must continue our fight throughout Europe against individuals who use football to carry out acts of random violence.

Belgrade – Europa League – football – Hooliganism – Serbia

.Top US directors Woody Allen, David Lynch and Martin Scorsese have signed a petition protesting the detention of Roman Polanski in Switzerland.
The petition – coordinated by French film industry association the SACD, which represents performance and visual artists – so far has been signed by some 110 industry figures.
Among them are Michael Mann, Wim Wenders and Pedro Almodovar, as well as Darren Aronofsky, Terry Gilliam and the Dardenne brothers.
Polanski, who made Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown and The Pianist, was detained Saturday (local time) as he arrived to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.
“We demand the immediate release of Roman Polanski,” it says.
“It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by police to apprehend him.
“Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision,” the petition adds, saying the arrest came as “astonishing news” to the SACD.”
Other names on the petition include directors Julian Schnabel, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Wong Kar Wai, Walter Salles, Ettore Scola, Jonathan Demme and actresses Tilda Swinton, Monica Bellucci and Asia Argento. .
Polanski pleaded guilty three decades ago to having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
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He has never returned, even missing the best director Oscar for The Pianist in 2003

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&raquo Special Report on France&#039s trial of the decade
&raquo Who&#039s who in the trial
&raquo How a finance trial turned into a major political scandal
&raquo A glossary of terms in the Clearstream saga
&raquo From Ben Barka to Elf, justice turns a blind eye to political elites
A key defendant in the Clearstream affair trial, Imad Lahoud, will take the stand in the Paris criminal court this Tuesday after he was granted a one-day leave to attend the Jewish religious holiday of Yom Kippur. .

In last week hearing, the two defendants traded accusations about the list falsification.

Although the list appears to have transited on Lahoud computer, it remains unclear whether he forged it on his own initiative or at the request of Gergorin. Lahoud said he was only acting on behalf of his former employer, while Jean-Louis Gergorin claimed he was misled by the computer expert.

Dubbed France trial of the decade, the Clearstream affair has been cast as a showdown between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Dominique de Villepin, a former prime minister, who stands accused of plotting to discredit Sarkozy in the build-up to the 2007 presidential election.

After examining the origins of the list, the criminal court is set to hear the libellous accusation case.

On Monday, de Villepin fired the latest volley in an increasingly acrimonious dispute by filing a lawsuit against the French president for allegedly violating his right to the presumption of innocence.

Clearstream trial – Nicolas Sarkozy

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AFP – French banking giant BNP Paribas announced on Tuesday that it will raise 4.3 billion euros (6.

The bank, which is repaying the support several months earlier than expected, said that it no longer needed the state aid because the landscape for banking and profits had improved, and revealed that the state will earn a significant return on its money.3 billion dollars) of new capital to repay state rescue funding from October.2 billion euros.

For the first half of the year, the bank had reported a net profit of 3.1 billion euros at the height of the banking crisis early this year.

BNP Paribas said that it intended to free itself from October from preference shares provided by the state to inject 5.

This works out at a gross return for the state of about five percent over seven months.

In repaying the help, the bank would also pay the French state a fee of 226 million euros calculated on seven months use of the money, the bank said.1 billion euros of preference shares underwritten on March 31 by the French state and will reward it with 226 million euros calculated over seven months, it said in a statement.

BNP Paribas will repay from October the 5.

The charge for the use of the money was calculated to rise with time to encourage quick repayment, the bank explained.

At the time of the support, the bank had agreed with the state and with European Union competition authorities that the funds would be repayed as soon as possible. This would amount to 750 million euros.

The aid would be repayed with money raised from the capital increase together with the creation of shareholders’ funds established mainly through the payment of dividend in the form of shares.

BNP Paribas said that given the way the environment had changed and a strong performance by the group, the state aid was no longer needed.

In addition, there would be an increase in the capital allocated to employees, amounting to 260 million euros, the bank said.4 billion euros under the so-called Tier One calculation of the highest quality capital. .0 percent, the bank said.

The ratio of this capital to the weighted risk carried by the bank would then be more than 9.1 billion euros preference shares without voting rights.

The French state became the biggest single shareholder in the bank on buying for 5.

banking – BNP Paribas – financial crisis – French economy
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banking – BNP Paribas – financial crisis – French economy

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There will be no talks on climate change or nuclear Iran on the French president menu in Avignon on Tuesday.

In the old papal city, Nicolas Sarkozy will unveil a series of measures aimed at 16 to 25 year-olds, a segment of the population that has been particularly affected by the economic crisis.

The left-leaning National Union of Students (UNEF) says the situation is alarming: over the last year, unemployment among young people [ed: already almost three times that of the 25 - 49 year-old age group] has increased by 28%. These include steps to help with housing, training and employment.

At a recent press conference in 2001, the UNEF also denounced a continued increase in student expenses since 2001. For France’s largest student union, the young have been largely forgotten in the government anti-crisis measures.

Take them by the hand

Nicolas Sarkozy is widely expected to build on a Green Paper drawn up by Martin Hirsch, France secretary for youth. . The booklet, published in July, includes 57 proposals resulting from four months of intense committee discussions. The booklet, published in July, includes 57 proposals resulting from four months of intense committee discussions.

But he faces a tough task, as UNEF warned in a statement: Students are not stupid: the time for rhetoric and communication is over. In the second rounf of the 2007 presidential election, his Socialist rival S&eacutegol&egravene Royal had scooped 63% of votes among the under 25 year-olds.

Aurore Berg&eacute, a spokesperson for the UMP’s youth movement, remains optimistic: Maybe decisions in favour of students have been diluted, giving an impression that Nicolas Sarkozy was not interested in the young, she acknowledged. If the government does not have another perspective to offer the young apart from lack of qualifications, job insecurity and unemployment, it lays the foundations for a long-term rupture with the country’s youth. We are today the biggest youth movement in France, proving that the president image in France is changing. But the preconceived notion that young people are more inclined to the left, because we tend to see more of the minority unions on television, is being undermined.

Economic crisis – France – Nicolas Sarkozy – reforms – UMP – unemployment – Youth

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A Piper Cherokee aircraft has crashed into a swamp on Great Barrier Island injuring two people, the airline has confirmed.

Great Barrier Airlines deputy operation manager Mike Maguire told that at 1.10pm today the plane “failed to sustain a climb after take-off due to unknown causes and descended into a swamp…”

It was half a mile from the end of Runway 28 on the Hauraki Gulf island..

The aircraft had two pilots and four passengers aboard.

One rescuer, who did not want to be identified, said that the aircraft may have been caught by a strong gust of wind moments after it became airborne.

Two people have been flown off the island on the Westpac rescue helicopter for pre-cautionary measures with non life threatening complaints, Mr Maguire said.

”It caught one wing.

The gust flipped it sideways, he said…it screwed around and went down,” he said.it screwed around and went down,” he said…”

Most of the occupants walked out of the swamp although they were all in shock.the plane just suddenly flipped on its side with a wind gust.

On July 5 a different aircraft, a three-engine Britten-Norman Trilander with 11 passengers and a pilot lost its right engine propeller came apart.

After getting the pilot and passengers off the aircraft, the rescuers went back for their luggage and retrieved it all but for a couple of small bags they could not reach.

The side of the aircraft was partially opened up but the plane made a safe return to landing.

The whole engine blade struck the fuselage.

Mr McGuire said the airline staff’s thoughts were with the people involved. .

– with

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– with

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An employee at France Telecom jumped off a bridge on Monday morning, bringing the number of suicides at the French group since February 2008 to 24, the company management confirmed. .

The action plan included delaying any relocation plans until October 31 and an internal inquiry into the suicides which have shocked France.

Further reading

&raquo Focus on the string of suicides at France Telecom
&raquo State intervenes as suicides mount at France Telecom
This latest death comes just over a fortnight after a suicide on September 11, after which the company, which employs around 100,000 people in France, bowed to governmental pressure, and agreed to adopt more humane methods of management.

Once entirely state-owned, France Telecom is now semi-privatised, though the state is the group majority shareholder.

Unions in France are demanding an end to site closures, redundancies and forced relocations, but the company chief executive, Didier Lombard, has said that the company’s big restructuring programme – brought on by the economic crisis – will continue.

France – suicide – telecommunication

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The man found guilty of murdering German tourist Birgit Brauer in Taranaki in 2005 has appealed against his conviction.

Michael Scott Wallace is serving a life sentence – from which he cannot be paroled for at least 18 years – but the Court of Appeal at Wellington was told today that his lawyers are challenging scientific results linking him to Ms Brauer’s killing.

One of the lawyers, Greg King, said an overseas expert consulted since Wallace’s trial in 2007 says a fingerprint on Ms Brauer’s diary, which the Crown said was Wallace’s print, was too faint and overlaid another print to say it was Wallace’s.

Mr King said Wallace denies it was his print, which raised another ground of appeal about whether his trial lawyer Susan Hughes, QC, was right to accept that it was his and to try to suggest an innocent explanation for how it might have got on Ms Brauer’s diary.

The print had seven characteristics similar to Wallace’s but four which were dissimilar, so the expert said no conclusion could be drawn.

The three Court of Appeal judges have questioned whether the criticism of Ms Hughes was justified given the difficulties she said she had getting instructions fromWallace as to how he wanted his case run.

She had obtained a second opinion about the print which confirmed it was Wallace’s. Even now it was not certain what her instructions were. The judges said the evidence they had was only that he now denies it was his. .

Her body was found at Lucy’s Gully, south of New Plymouth, in September 2005.

Wallace’s lawyers are also challenging DNA findings from the trial which they say undermines another alleged physical link between Wallace and the killing of Ms Brauer, 28.

The appeal hearing is continuing.

It was alleged Wallace picked her up as she hitch-hiked, beforebattering her with a metal bar and stabbing her.

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New Zealand’s provincial rugby players have been itching to get behind a good cause, and it’s fair to say they’ve found one and it’s growing on them.

Beards are back – well they are on the Air NZ Cup scene anyway as the nation’s footy players go hirsute in the name of a cause they believe is worth a little discomfort for.

In case you’ve been wondering why there are so many bearded rugby players running round in the Air NZ Cup these days, well it’s all about raising awareness for the NZ Blood Service and the NZ Leukaemia and Blood Foundation.

McPhee had decided to go a bit old school and grow a beard for the season, and Stevenson suggested they should get a good cause behind it.

It started with an impromptu discussion between pioneer whiskers-grower Jack McPhee of North Harbour and Sky Television’s popular rugby colour man Scotty ‘Sumo’ Stevenson, and soon developed into a fully grown “Beards for Blood” campaign.

“The support’s been fantastic,” said Stevenson. With Harbour already having an association with the Blood Service, it was decided to get a bit of a national theme going to raise awareness in the area of blood donation and also to provide some support for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation which deals with serious blood-related illnesses. “Just about all the teams in the competition have now got at least a player or two with a full beard on supporting the cause.

“What is impressive is how many boys have said ‘yep, we’re in’.”

The idea is that around the last week of the regular season the beards will get the chop, and hopefully some money, and awareness, will have been raised for the cause.

Northland and Manawatu have adopted the concept team-wide, but Stevenson said selected players from Harbour, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago had also got behind the concept. It shows how community minded they are, and how tuned in they are for something as important as this,” added Stevenson. .

Stevenson said the drive was about raising both awareness and money. That saves lives. That saves lives. Honourable mention also went to Cory Jane’s “pretty boy” effort at Wellington, while Stevenson felt the less said the better about what Northland’s Karl Haitana had come up with.”

Stevenson felt early contenders for most impressive beards in the competition included McPhee’s Ned Kelly-inspired look, some fairly lush growth from Doug Tietjens of Manawatu and a typically solid effort from Canterbury’s Corey Flynn.