Two a penny

.
AFP – German auto parts maker Continental on Monday announced a breakdown in talks with the Dubai-based MAG group on the possible takeover by MAG of a tyre making plant in France. .

MAG vice president Fawaz Sabri said his group would continue to examine the matter.

The two parties had led intensive discussions but finally agreed that it was not possible to reach common ground for further talks. The German group offered MAG additional time when the MAG response was deemed incomplete on September 30.

Continental had given MAG until September 30 to reach agreement on a letter of intent regarding the factory, located in Clairoix, northern France.

Dubai – France – Germany

.
France Telecom announced the replacement of the group deputy head Louis-Pierre Wenes, whom labour unions claim is the man behind stress-inducing management policies blamed for a tense working climate. The French telecom company has come under fire for the alarming suicide rate among staff members, with 24 employees having taken their lives in the last 18 months alone.

French socialist and communist opposition leaders have been calling for the resignation of both Lombard and Wenes, but the group chief executive enjoys the backing of the French government.

Wenes has been replaced by Stephen Richard, a former cabinet director for French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who joined France Telecom on September 1 and was being groomed to replace the group CEO, Didier Lombard, in 2011. According to the website of French weekly Le Point , the finance minister mentioned Richard as a possible replacement for Wenes at that meeting. Lagarde reasserted her full and unwavering support for the troubled CEO after the two met last Thursday. Wenes is symbolic: he was responsible for &lsquoterror management&rsquo tactics.

A concession to unions

News of Wenes&rsquo departure was greeted with satisfaction by employees and union members.

CFDT union member Pierre Dubois told them that Wenes&rsquo ousting was the logical consequence of his perceived insensitiveness to employee suicides. He had to leave, CFE-CGC union member Pierre Morville told AFP. . A second sticking point was his refusal to negotiate on the policy of forced transfers, whereby France Telecom managers are required to change postings every three years.

There was never any kind of dialogue with Wenes, Dubois told them.

According to Ivan Le Roy, author of a book on management by stress at France Telecom mobile phone unit Orange, Richard is well perceived by most unions, or at least much better than Wenes, who was despised as a &lsquocost killer&rsquo from day 1. On September 24, Wenes had told French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur that he would consider himself the victim of a monstrous manipulation if he were to take on the responsibility of employee suicides. He never accepted to meet us, not until we published an open letter calling for his resignation on September 25.

Iin a joint press release, leftwing unions Sud and Solidaires said: The nomination of St&eacutephane Richard, a close collaborator of President Nicolas Sarkozy, has raised concern among employees about the future of France Telecom.

Deontological concerns

Although most unions are hopeful that negotiations will start afresh with Richard, some warn against hasty optimism. Dubois was also cautious: Richard remains a big question mark &ndash we don&rsquot know much about him. We hope he will rapidly shed light on his future role.

Deontological concerns surfaced immediately after Richard nomination. We hope the management style will change, and that he will bring a fresh look to the heart of the issue: restructuring France Telecom. However, it is not altogether clear how Richard is expected to do so, given that the state is one of the company main shareholders. As a former member of government, he has been authorised to join France Telecom on condition that he abstain from any contact with the cabinet of the finance until June 30, 2012 .

France – France Telecom – telecommunication

.The little white dog belonging to former French president Jacques Chirac underwent treatment for depression after leaving the Elysee palace and bit his master three times before being sent off to a farm.
Mr Chirac’s wife, Bernadette, has told Le Parisien newspaper that Sumo, a maltese bichon, apparently could not cope with life in a spacious Paris apartment.
Sumo was sent to a farm owned by a family friend outside Paris and since has never showed any aggression.
The dog bit Mr Chirac’s leg twice and despite undergoing treatment with anti-depressants, Sumo made a third attempt a few months ago, this time attacking the 76-year-old ex-president in the chest.

.French politicians want to stamp a “health warning” on photographs of models that are altered in order to make them more appealing – part of a campaign against eating disorders.
French parliamentarian Valerie Boyer, a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party, and some 50 other politicians have proposed the law to fight what they see as a warped image of women’s bodies in the media.
Under the proposed law, all enhanced photos would be accompanied by a line saying: “Photograph retouched to modify the physical appearance of a person.
“These images can make people believe in a reality that often does not exist,” Ms Boyer said in a statement, adding that the law should apply to press photographs, political campaigns, art photography and images on packaging as well as advertisements.
Luxury brands and fashion magazines have also been accused of digitally making models look thinner, enhancing their breasts, whitening teeth, lengthening legs and erasing wrinkles.”
Digitally enhanced photographs have been at the centre of a string of scandals in France – most recently Paris Match was caught out after having altered a photo of Mr Sarkozy to remove chubby love handles.
Breaking the law would be punished with a fine of 37,500 euros ($63,700), or up to 50 per cent of the cost of the advertisement.
Ms Boyer says being confronted with unrealistic standards of female beauty could lead to various kinds of psychological problems, in particular eating disorders.

.
AFP – An Algerian jailed for life for links to a wave of bomb attacks on the Paris metro that killed eight people in 1995 appeared in a French court on Wednesday to appeal his conviction. .

The most spectacular attack was on the Saint-Michel station in the heart of the capital that left eight people dead and 150 injured.

He is fighting a 2007 ruling that concluded he acted for the militant Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in funding three attacks on metro stations in which 200 people were also injured.

If he had something to say he would have said it in the first trial, Mireille Glorion, whose 24-year-old daughter Sandrine died in the Saint-Michel attack, said before the hearing began. The others, on the Musee d’Orsay and Maison-Blanche metro stations, left dozens injured.

Ramda was extradited from Britain in December 2005 after a 10-year legal battle.

He’s a manipulator and we could well have done without a second trial that is going to plunge us all back into this drama, she said.

Ramda, who will turn 40 on September 29, denies any connection with the bombings, for which two other men — Boualem Bensaid and Ait Ali Belkacem — are serving life sentences. He had already been sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by a separate French court on other charges related to the bombings.

In the latest appeal trial, his defence lawyers are expected to again argue that Algerian secret services manipulated events and set French investigators on false trails for domestic political reasons.

He was convicted in 2007 of channelling funds from London to the two perpetrators of the bomb plot, based on evidence that included a bank payment slip bearing his fingerprints.

Ramda’s lawyers have also said they will ask for testimony from Jean-Louis Debre, who was France’s defence minister at the time of the metro bombings.

Algeria in the 1990s was in the throes of a brutal conflict, sparked by scrapped elections in 1992, that pitted Islamists against government forces and killed tens of thousands.

In 1993 Ramda was sentenced to death in absentia in Algiers after being convicted of a bomb attack on the city’s airport which killed nine people the year before.

Investigators believe that in the early 1990s Ramda was a leading GIA operative in Europe, in regular touch with the group’s leader in Algeria Jamel Zeitouni who wished to punish France for its support of the Algiers government.

His supporters argued against his extradition to France on the grounds that he might be unlawfully sent back to Algeria to face the death penalty, which the French authorities denied.

He fled to Britain where he was kept under surveillance and was arrested in November 1995, but he evaded extradition for many years through a series of legal appeals.

His appeal trial is expected to last a month.

The delays were a source of friction between Britain and France, which accused the government in London of taking a soft line on Islamist terrorism.

France – justice – Paris

.Former Tour de France green jersey winner Baden Cooke is aiming to give fresh impetus to his once blossoming career after signing a one-year deal with Team Saxo Bank.
Cooke, 30, raced alongside fellow Australian Brad McGee at Francaise des Jeux for four years but suffered misfortune when moving to the Unibet team in 2006, which folded after two years.
Saxo Bank, the team of Swiss ace Fabian Cancellara and Luxembourg’s famous Schleck brothers Andy and Frank, have a good record of helping get the best out of the riders whether young or old. I believe the team can make him develop to a new level and I have no doubt that he would be a definite benefit to our troupe for the (one-day) classics.
And team owner Bjarne Riis said: “Baden Cooke is a very exciting rider.”
McGee is now a sporting director with the team following his retirement last year.
“He comes with very warm recommendations from Bradley McGee, and I am convinced that he is going to fit perfectly into the team.
After moving from Unibet to Barloworld for the 2008 season, Cooke signed for Belgian outfit Vacansoleil for 2009.
“Throughout the years I have seen good colleagues become even better and decidedly take a great leap in their careers after a switch to Team Saxo Bank, and I hope I can do the same and enjoy the power and inspiration which is on the team,” he said.
But he belives that joining Saxo Bank, considered one of the most professional teams in the peloton, can bring the best out of him yet. .
“Bradley (McGee) knows me better than anyone within the sport and it is thanks to him I now get the chance to becoming a part of Team Saxo Bank.”
–

.
“I still believe that I have my best years ahead of me

.

LATEST:
Comeback mum Kim Clijsters has completed a remarkable return to grand slam tennis, winning the US Open women’s title in straight sets over Caroline Wozniacki 7-5 6-3.

Clijsters, playing only her third tournament after taking more than two years off to start a family, clinched a 93-minute victory with a forehand winner and dropped to her knees in celebration, visibly sobbing.”I don’t have words for this,” she said on court during the presentation ceremony.The 26-year-old Belgian climbed up to the family box to hug friends and kiss her husband, Brian, after adding a second grand slam triumph to her 2005 US Open victory.”Clijsters, unranked due to her long absence, was invited to play the Open as a wildcard and had not competed at Flushing Meadows since her first grand slam triumph – missing the 2006 championship because of injury and the last two in retirement. “I’m just glad I got to come back.”I just wanted to start these three tournaments to get back into the rhythm of playing tennis and get used to the surroundings again,” said Clijsters, who collected a $US1.The Belgian said winning was “not really our plan”.29 million) prize.6 million ($NZ2.”It took a while for Clijsters to find the range with her groundstrokes against the ninth-seeded Dane, who was appearing in her first grand slam championship match.”So I have to thank the USTA for giving me the wild card to come back here.Clijsters scored the decisive break of the second set in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead, breaking at love in a game that saw her go into one of her trademark splits as she raced along the baseline for a forehand retrieval.By the end, Clijsters was cracking winners off both wings and registered 36 winners in all to just 10 for the defensive-minded Dane.Clijsters traded six service breaks with Wozniacki before capturing the see-saw set thanks to a string of errors from the Dane that allowed her to break at love in the 12th game.The first set was mistake-ridden for both players in windy conditions at Arthur Ashe Stadium.Wozniacki was up a break at 5-4 and serving for the set before Clijsters closed it out by winning the last three games.The Belgian, who had appeared bothered early by the change of pace in the groundstrokes from Wozniacki, made 20 unforced errors in the opening act to 15 for the Dane.”Unfortunately she beat me today.”She’s such a great girl,” said Wozniacki, who was trying to become the first Dane to win a grand slam singles title.”Later, Clijsters shared the trophy on court with her 18-month-old daughter Jada, who joyfully played with the silver cup. She played a great match and deserved this trophy.

.
French Immigration Minister Eric Besson has announced he would refuse to sign any warrant requesting the use of DNA tests to confirm the biological parentage of candidates asking for residency in France under family reunification statutes. . I am unable to apply the law in the timeframe that respects the spirit and letter of the law itself, said Besson to the French radio station Europe 1 on Sunday.

I will not sign this decree for one simple reason.

Our consulates are not equipped for these genetic tests, said Besson, adding that the risk of theft and forgery of candidate files was real.

He evoked that the DNA test law promised the confidentiality and security of the collected data, and insisted that the resources of French diplomatic system did could not fulfil that requirement. He said he had already informed French Prime Minister Fran&ccedilois Fillon of his decision.

Instead, Besson called for a delay of one or two years for the trial phase of the law.

French politics – genetics – immigration

.French President Nicolas Sarkozy has launched plans for a carbon tax to encourage industry and households to cut energy consumption.
The levy, initially set at 17 euros ($29) per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions, will translate into a rise in the price of fuel for cars, domestic heating and factories.
“The gravest challenge that we face is climate change.. .
In the works for months, the tax has caused a political furore in France, with disagreements within the ruling party on how exactly it would work and objections from opposition critics who say it will hurt the poor at a time of economic hardship. Every one of our compatriots must feel concerned,” Mr Sarkozy said in a televised speech aimed at winning over a sceptical public.
The government has been under suspicion of seeking ways to increase its revenues in a year when fiscal income has plunged as a result of the recession, causing the budget deficit to balloon.
Those households too poor to pay income tax would receive “green cheques” from the state to compensate them for higher energy bills.
Mr Sarkozy rejected that criticism, pledging that the carbon levy would not increase the burden on households because the rise in fuel bills would be offset by cuts in income tax. An opinion poll by Ifop for the magazine Paris Match, published this week, found that 65 per cent of people were hostile to the tax.
Mr Sarkozy faces an uphill battle to convince voters to accept the plan.
The system will differentiate between people who live in urban areas with good public transport and those who live in rural areas and are more dependent on cars.
“The aim of ecological fiscal policy is not to fill state coffers but to incite French people and companies to change their behaviour,” Mr Sarkozy said, adding that households that keep energy consumption low could end up better off financially. The rural households will get more money back from the state, he said. The rural households will get more money back from the state, he said. Mr Sarkozy argued that with 80 per cent of electricity produced in France coming from nuclear plants which have low emissions, it would make no sense to increase the price of power.
A notable exception will be electricity.
Starting at 17 euros per tonne of CO2, the tax will rise over time, Mr Sarkozy said, though he did not say by how much or by when.
“What would be the point of, on the one hand, encouraging French people to acquire electric cars or solar panels and on the other hand to tax them more for those?” he said.
Some Nordic countries introduced similar carbon taxes in the 1990s and have reported that the measures helped cut emissions without crippling growth. It will be introduced in the 2010 budget, he said.
–

. France will be the biggest European economy so far to adopt such a system

.The men’s singles formbook continued to be strictly respected at the US Open with fourth seed Novak Djokovic and seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both cruising into the second round.
There were straight-sets wins too for 10th seed Fernando Verdasco, 11th seed Fernando Gonzalez and for 17th seed Thomas Berdych as, for once, most of the day’s drama was being played out in the women’s tournament.
The 2008 Australian Open champion revealed afterward that he had reached agreement with retired American player Todd Martin to join his coaching team for Flushing Meadows.
Djokovic, the fourth-seeded Serb who lost to Roger Federer in the 2007 final, was too powerful for a fading Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, winning at a canter 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
“He always looks for positives and that is exactly what I need. .
The 24-year-old from Le Mans failed to get past the third round in his two previous appearances at Flushing Meadows, but he won the boy’s title here in 2003 and he is the only player to defeat Roger Federer since May.”
Tsonga was even more expedient, defeating American wildcard Chase Buchanan 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 in a mismatch out on the Grandstand Court.
– Knock out blow –
The Frenchman, runner-up to Djokovic in the 2008 Australian Open, wrapped up the first set in just 23 minutes and it was the second game of the set before Buchanan opened his account by holding serve.
That came in the quarter-finals at the Montreal Masters, where he remarkably won from 1-5 down in the deciding set.
Tsonga will next play Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 with a quarter-final against Rafael Nadal in prospect further down the line if the seeding goes according to plan.
That was but a brief respite for the home player though as Tsonga powered away again losing just two more games as he went through in 78 minutes.
“It will be tough against Nieminen as he is just coming back from injury and will be hungry to do well.
“I didn’t know what to expect of him (Buchanan) and I was wary as I remember when I was younger and had his ranking I was convinced I could beat anyone, anytime,” he said.”
Spain’s Verdasco served up 12 aces and hit 36 winners on the way to a 7-5, 6-4, 7-5 win over Benjamin Becker of Germany, while Berdych of the Czech Republic, seeded 17, saw off Wayne Odesnik of the United States 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
“But I am in good shape and playing well, so why not.
The only slight diversion from the script came from American qualifier Jesse Witten, a former collegiate stand-out, who stunned 29th-seeded Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.
Gonzalez, whose best showing at the US Open was a quarter-final appearance in 2002, defeated Nicolas Massu 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in an all-Chilean clash.
-