.Jacques Audiard’s powerful prison drama Un Prophete (A Prophet) swept the board at the Cesar Awards at the weekend – France’s annual version of the Oscars.
In all, A Prophet – a dark tale of a young, illiterate petty criminal who gradually climbs a brutal prison hierarchy – took nine awards at the ceremony, including best film.
Audiard picked up the best director prize, while the film’s star Tahar Rahim took the awards for best actor and best newcomer.
Audiard paid tribute to the numerous former prisoners who appeared as extras in the film and helped create its grimly realistic atmosphere.
Niels Arestrup won the prize for best supporting actor for his portrayal of the old-style Corsican gang boss who offers patronage to the humble and submissive young greenhorn who ends up turning the tables on him. They forced us to do something exceptional,” he said. .
The best actress award went to Isabelle Adjani – one of France’s biggest stars.
The Cesar Awards is often mocked as a local industry love-in which rewards arthouse films nobody watches. She collected her fifth Cesar playing against her glamorous image to portray a dowdy teacher facing breakdown in La Journee De La Jupe (Skirt Day).
It was named as best foreign language film at the BAFTAs last week and is in the running in the same category at the Academy Awards on March 7.
A Prophet – a major box office success in France – is an exception and the film has also attracted widespread critical success outside its home market.
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.At least 50 people have been killed in violent storms that have caused chaos in Europe.
Most were killed in France, but Spain, Germany and Portugal have all recorded fatalities.
Packing winds just under 150 kilometres an hour, the intense low caused havoc in many countries.
In the French Vendee region, houses were inundated and people had to be rescued by helicopter from their roofs.
Flooding was most serious in France and Spain and a 10-year-old boy was one of a number of people killed by falling trees.
Up to a million people were without power.
At least a dozen people in France remain unaccounted for and there have been at least 60 injuries.
The UK is on flood alert and authorities in Denmark are on standby as the storm continues to track north.
.The leader of armed Basque separatists ETA was caught on Sunday in northern France, the Spanish Interior Ministry said, in what was the latest blow to a group weakened by hundreds of arrests.
Ibon Gogeascoechea, on the run since 1997, was caught along with two other senior ETA rebels in a joint Spanish-French raid close to the small town of Cahan in Normandy, the ministry said. .
Much of the improvement has been due to better coordination between authorities in Spain and France, which ETA has long used as a hideout.
Security forces believe ETA, which wants independence for the Basque Country and has killed more than 850 people, has been severely weakened by hundreds of arrests in recent years.
But Batasuna has lost influence over the rebels since the collapse of peace talks with the Spanish government following a bomb attack on Madrid airport in 2006 which killed two people.
A leading member of the group’s political wing Batasuna last week called on ETA to continue its struggle by peaceful means.
The 54-year-old Gogeascoechea and his accomplices were caught in a car with false licence plates after arousing suspicion by renting a rural house using fake identities, the Interior Ministry said.
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ETA’s last fatal attack was the killing of two police officers on the island of Majorca in July
.Hurricane-force winds, surging seas and driving rain have lashed western Europe, leaving at least 13 people dead and more than a million households without power.
Dubbed “Xynthia”, the Atlantic storm crashed against the western coasts of France and Spain, bringing with it a band of foul weather stretching from Portugal to the Netherlands.
Britain, already suffering localised flooding from a previous weather system, braced for more weather misery.
“We have confirmed five deaths in the area of La-Faute-sue-Mer and l’Aiguillon-sur-Mer,” Herve Rose, a government spokesperson in the low-lying Vendee region, where flood waters in some coastal towns reached 1.
Gusts of up to 150 kilometres per hour and eight metre waves battered the northern and western coasts of France, flooding inland and sending residents scurrying onto rooftops.
Separately, an 88-year-old woman was found drowned in her home on the island of Oleron in Charentes-Maritime further south, police said.5 metres, said.
Two more bodies, that of a 10-year-old boy and of a pensioner, were found in Charentes-Maritime, a regional official said.
In Spain, regional authorities said that two men aged 51 and 41 died when the car they were travelling in was hit by a falling tree.
French authorities had said on Saturday that a man was killed by a falling tree in the Pyrenees mountains.
Portugal said on Saturday that a 10-year-old boy was killed by a falling branch in the north-west of the country. An 82-year-old woman was killed on Saturday when a wall collapsed in the Galicia region.
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Air France announced that 70 flights out of 700 were cancelled from its hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle, as chaos gripped transport networks across western Europe at the end of French school’s half-term break.
In France, fallen powerlines caused blackouts for around a million homes across a 500 kilometre swathe of the country from the Brittany peninsula to the highlands of the Massif Central.
A major road crossing between France and Spain was closed to heavy goods vehicles, causing a 1,200-vehicle tail back of seven-tonne trucks on the French side of the Pyrenees.
A major road crossing between France and Spain was closed to heavy goods vehicles, causing a 1,200-vehicle tail back of seven-tonne trucks on the French side of the Pyrenees.
The storm developed in the Atlantic off the Portuguese island of Madeira, still reeling from the flash floods sparked by heavy rains that wrecked the centre of the capital Funchal and killed 42 people a week ago.
A hurricane is defined as a storm with winds consistently above 118 kilometres per hour.
The storm swept north-east into north-western Spain late on Saturday afternoon, where wind gusts reached 147 kph and some 27,000 households were without electricity, regional authorities said.
Powerful winds and heavy rain hit Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago late on Friday, with gusts of up to 128 kilometres per hour reported. .
Rail services were cancelled in Galicia as well as in the northern regions of Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country and parts of Castilla y Leon, where the storm left some 63,000 households without power.
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“This is a very deep, very intense and very fast-moving storm,” Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said, warning people to avoid using their cars and taking mountain or sea walks
.France has left itself with a ‘home run’ to a Six Nations Grand Slam after the tournament leader held its nerve to beat Wales 26-20 at the Millennium Stadium.
Victory appeared all but assured at half-time with France 20-0 in front following two interception tries.
But Wales, just as it did in its dramatic come-from-behind 31-24 win over Scotland last time out, rallied and cut France’s lead to 20-13 heading into the final quarter under the Millennium’s closed retractable roof.
Replacement fly half Frederic Michalak scored a penalty nine minutes from time that, importantly, put France two scores in front.
However, against a team of France’s all-round quality Wales left itself with just too much of a mountain to climb on this occasion.
There was still time for wing Shane Williams, on his 33rd birthday, to become the first Wales player to score 50 tries after a typical jinking run.
And with just two minutes left, scrum half Morgan Parra kicked his third penalty after Wales was caught offside in front of its posts.
Fly half Stephen Jones converted and Wales, who had been 14-24 behind against Scotland with minutes remaining, had hopes of another great escape. .
But France, unlike Scotland, booted the ensuing kick-off ‘dead’ through Michalak, belying his reputation for recklessness, and with that South African referee Jonathan Kaplan blew for full-time.”
France, which has now won three games in a row for the first time under coach Marc Lievremont, can look forward to wrapping up the Championship with matches in Paris against Italy and England on March 13 and 20 respectively.
“We’ve just got to stop pushing the self-destruct button.
“It was like watching the ghost of the Wales-Scotland match appear before us.
“We lost all coherence, you could feel that at half-time even,” Lievremont said.
“I’m very happy to win three in a row, but my emotions are divided between happiness and relief.
“I’m very happy to win three in a row, but my emotions are divided between happiness and relief.
France: 26 (Palisson, Trinh-Duc tries; Parra 2 conversions, 3 penalties, Michalak penalty)
Wales: 20 (Halfpenny, S Williams tries; S Jones 2 conversions, 2 penalties)
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.Pressure has mounted on Israel as Australia joined a growing list of countries angered by the use of their passports in the Dubai killing by suspected Mossad agents of a top Hamas militant. .
“We are very angry at the fraudulent use of information that was stolen from valid Irish passports to make forged passports,” Mr Martin said during a visit to the Gaza Strip, which has been controlled by the Islamist Hamas movement since June 2007. France said the killers had used three forged French passports to travel to Dubai. Whoever did this forged the passports.
“These people were not Irish citizens.”
Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said there was no evidence to link his country to the killing of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, who was found dead at a luxury Dubai hotel on January 20. We’re angry about that because it violates the integrity of our passport system and also places at risk the security of our citizens.
In many cases, the documents appeared either to have been faked or obtained illegally.
But Israel’s envoys have been called in over the affair by four European countries – Britain, France, Germany and Ireland – because of the use of such passports seemingly issued by these countries.
The 15 new suspects being sought are six British, three French, three Irish and three Australian passport holders, on top of 11 already named suspects, Dubai investigators said in a statement.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who summoned Israeli ambassador Yuval Rotem for an explanation on Thursday, said initial investigations showed the Australian passports were probably “duplicated or altered”.
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.Al Qaeda’s North African wing has released French hostage Pierre Camatte after Mali freed four Islamist prisoners in response to an Al Qaeda threat to kill him.
“We confirm the liberation of Pierre Camatte,” Malian presidency spokesperson Seydou Cissouma told state radio.
Mali freed four Islamist prisoners last week after Al Qaeda threatened to kill Mr Camatte unless they were released.
He said Mr Camatte, kidnapped in Mali in November, was in the hands of Malian authorities.
Algerian media said two of the freed men were Algerian.
Their release prompted Algeria to recall its ambassador to Mali earlier on Tuesday in protest.
He said he had thanked Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure for his handling of the crisis and pledged French support in the struggle against terrorism. .
The group has waged a campaign of suicide bombings and ambushes in Algeria, but in the past few years has shifted a large part of its activities south to the Sahara desert.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has also claimed responsibility for the abduction of three Spaniards and an Italian couple.
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.Europe’s major airports are in the grip of strikes, with at least one more staff walkout now threatening services.
French air traffic controllers are threatening to strike for four days from today.
From today, strikes by air traffic controllers in France are set to affect services all over the country.
In the UK, British Airlines cabin crew have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action, and Germany’s Lufthansa is now negotiating with pilots over a strike which affected tens of thousands of passengers.
Five unions are taking part. Civil aviation authorities will ask airlines to cancel some flights at Paris’ two main airports, Orly and Charles de Gaulle.
The union’s Len McCluskey says work conditions are also a major concern for unionised British Airways cabin crews, who have voted overwhelmingly to go on strike. They are worried about how Europe’s single sky policy will affect their jobs.
In the face of big losses, British Airways this year cut cabin crew numbers on long haul flights and brought in a two year pay freeze.
“A clear indication of the deep sense of grievance that our members feel,” he said.
“These are people who fly together, these are people who put each other’s health and safety in each other’s hands, and to try to pit one against the other which the company has done and I have to say some pilots, not all, but a number of pilots have behaved in a way that I think when they look back on this in time to come when we have resolved this dispute, they’ll be rather ashamed,” he said.
Mr McCluskey says the airline is threatening to take away staff travel perks if they strike, and bringing in strike breakers to pit workers against each other.
“We are not talking about the death knell for the airline, but we are talking about a situation in which the airline will be severely damaged and long term damaged, and it would lose out to its competitors,” he said.
However, analyst Howard Wheeldon, of BGC Partners, says British Airways has nothing left to give, and the striking crew will price themselves out of a job. The company has just agreed to head back into talks with pilots, after a strike of less than 24 hours.
Mr Wheeldon says German airline Lufthansa is in a similar position. They don’t trust us anymore.
Lufthansa spokesperson Klaus Walter says the airline has already been damaged
“We have passengers that are now cancelling their flights even if they have tickets for a later date and they could fly.
The pilots’ union was planning a four day walkout, which Lufthansa says would have cost it 100 million euros. .
“I just came back from Afghanistan and want to go to my family in the United States.
The shorter strike was enough to disrupt the trips of 10,000 passengers.
Lufthansa’s 4,000 pilot strike has only been suspended for two weeks, putting extra pressure on talks. It is difficult,” said one affected traveller in Dusseldorf.
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.Uunseeded Michael Llodra has cruised to his fourth career title, beating fellow Frenchman and doubles partner Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4 in the Marseille Open final.
Both men then combined to land the doubles title with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Austrian Julian Knowle and Swede Robert Lindstedt.
Llodra, 29, who lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in last year’s final, never looked in danger on serve against Benneteau, firing 14 aces including one on his first match point.
“After I lost in the final here last year I’m glad I managed to get over it,” Llodra said.
The world number 79 had only two break points in the match and converted both to win in an hour and 10 minutes. .
“I had set myself one aim this year and that was to win a tournament in France at last.
Eighth-seeded Benneteau battled for almost three hours to beat Tsonga in the semi-finals but refused to blame his loss on fatigue. I lost as a result of Michael Llodra,” he said.
“My previous matches have been tough and long but that is not the reason why I lost. I’ve had no break points.
“I can only say ‘hats off to him’ as he served extremely well.
Llodra had luck on his side when he broke serve in the first set thanks to a volley that hit the net before falling behind.
“It’s tough to end a tournament this way but I couldn’t do anything,” added the world number 39, who has yet to win an ATP title.
He looked in total control throughout and a superb backhand passing shot earned him another break in the second set.
He looked in total control throughout and a superb backhand passing shot earned him another break in the second set.
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.Frenchman Julien Benneteau will seek to win the first tournament of his career after beating second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals of the Open 13 tournament in Marseille.
Eighth-seeded Benneteau beat his compatriot Tsonga 7-6 (13-11), 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) in a fiercely contested match over two hours and 57 minutes.
Benneteau, who defeated world number one Roger Federer at the Paris Masters in November, will contest the fourth final of his career at the age of 28.
He will now face compatriot Michael Llodra, who prevailed 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) over German Mischa Zverev.
Tsonga levelled things up by winning the second set, battling back from 5-3 down to cancel out Benneteau’s advantage, but the world number 39 refused to be cowed and sewed up victory in a tense deciding tie-break.
Defending champion Tsonga broke first in the opening set but Benneteau fought back to take it to a tie-break that he eventually won after a titanic tussle.
“He makes fewer errors with his forehand.
“Julien has really improved,” said Tsonga, the world number nine.”
Benneteau enthused: “It was a great match, an intense battle. .
“But I’m proud to have held on until the end. I was afraid because I was leading 5-3 in the second set and I couldn’t see it out.
“I have to build on what I did here, where’ve I’ve gone after matches against players ranked higher than me. I’m not going to put crazy pressure on myself to win my first tournament though.”
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