Two a penny

.Somali pirates attempted to storm the French navy’s 18,000 tonne Indian Ocean fleet flagship after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the military have said.
The crew of La Somme, a 160-metre command vessel and fuel tanker, easily saw off the brazen night-time assault by lightly armed fighters on two open-topped motorboats and captured five pirates, a spokesman said.
La Somme is the French command vessel in the Indian Ocean, overseeing French air, sea and land forces fighting Somali pirates and hunting terrorists under the banner of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom.
“The pirates, who as a result of the darkness took the French ship for a commercial vessel, were on board two vessels and opened fire with Kalashnikovs,” Admiral Christophe Prazuck said.
The pirates tried to flee when they realised their mistake but were pursued by French forces who, after an hour-long chase, caught one of the skiffs, Admiral Prazuck said.
Officers on the ship have directed commando operations to free French hostages in the hands of Somali pirates.
The world’s naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates in one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes.
On it they found five men but no weapons, water or food as the pirates had apparently thrown all of the boat’s contents overboard, the spokesman said.
This was not the first time that Somali pirates have mistakenly attacked a French naval vessel.
La Somme was operating 460 kilometres off the Somali coast, on its way to resupply fuel to frigates patrolling shipping lanes as part of the European Union’s Operation Atalanta anti-piracy mission.
Somalia has had no proper government since it plunged into lawlessness after President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Several pirates were captured in May when they attempted to board a frigate in the area. .
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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

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Also read: Taliban close in on Kabul
Watch: The enemy is also French, says Taliban commander

DUBAI – The Taliban threatened to launch attacks in Paris unless France withdraws from Afghanistan, in a video aired by Al Arabiya television on Monday.

The video also claimed an ambush that killed 10 French troops in August was carried out by the Taliban. It was not clear when the recording was made. His remarks were dubbed into Arabic by the station.

We have killed 10 French soldiers today as a message to the French so that they rectify their mistakes and withdraw from Afghanistan, and if they don’t they will hear our response in Paris, said Mullah Farouq, identified as the commander of the unit that raided the French troops, on the video. Some insurgents were later shown wearing uniforms of the French soldiers they had killed.

The video included footage of what appeared to be a French armoured unit being stalked by Taliban fighters. .

Sarkozy sent an extra 700 troops to Afghanistan this year, responding to U.

France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Afghanistan to honour those killed and said French troops must stay in Afghanistan to fight terrorism. pleas for its NATO allies to do more to help check the resurgent Taliban.S.

Afghanistan – France – Taliban
. That brought the number of French troops in Afghanistan to about 2,600

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A French high-speed passenger train has rammed into concrete blocks placed on its track, in what appeared to be yet another attack on the national rail network, the government said Monday.

A TGV train hit two concrete blocks placed on the line, Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau told Europe 1 radio. Apparently this was another malicious act.

No-one was injured in the incident, which damaged the nose of the train.

The incident happened late Sunday near Narbonne, southwest France, on a train heading from the Belgian capital Brussels to Perpignan, said the SNCF state-run rail company.

On Saturday, passengers on a total of 160 TGV, Eurostar and Thalys trains suffered delays or cancellations in the north, east and southeast of France after high-speed rail lines were attacked. The TGV was able to carry on with its journey and arrived at its destination one hour late. .

France’s normally efficient rail network is a source of national pride, but in recent months it has been hit with a series of high-profile incidents, some caused by infrastructure problems but several by vandalism. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has ordered a top-level inquiry into those incidents.

attack – France – train

.Governor-General Quentin Bryce has made an emotional visit to a mass grave holding the remains of Australian and British soldiers killed at Fromelles in northern France in 1916.
The remains were found earlier this year and will be reburied at a new war cemetery to be established at Fromelles.
The Governor-General was in tears as she laid flowers at the place the remains were found at Pheasant Wood.
Later, at the Cobbers Memorial marking the rescue of injured mates, Ms Bryce spoke of her admiration and sadness the place evoked.
She had earlier spent a few moments alone in the Fromelles church.
Ms Bryce will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy later today. .
She will be his guest at the international ceremony at Verdun marking the end of the Great War 90 years ago tomorrow.

.Governor-General Quentin Bryce joined hundreds of Australians in the town of Le Hamel in Northern France, at a moving ceremony to rededicate a memorial to honour Australians who fought a decisive World War I battle.
It is the start of battlefield commemorations marking the 90th anniversary of the armistice on November 11, 1918.
The Governor-General spoke with some who were making the trip for the first time to see Le Hamel. .
On the November 11 she will be a guest of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, at the international commemoration being held at Verdun.
Tomorrow Ms Bryce will attend a ceremony at Fromelles where the remains of fallen Australian soldiers have only recently been located.

.Four foreign aid workers with the French non-government organisation Action Against Hunger (ACF) and their two pilots have been kidnapped in central Somalia, witnesses and officials said.
The kidnappings took place at around midday (local time) in Dhusa Mareb, near the Ethiopian border.
“The plane’s pilots were also taken.
“They were snatched by gunmen as they were trying to leave the airstrip in Dhusa Mareb,” said one local residents who had helped the NGO coordinate their trip.
Mohamed Abdullahi Moalim, a local elder, confirmed the information and said that the local authorities had set up checkpoints in a bid to intercept the kidnappers and their hostages. The aid workers were three women and a man working for ACF but I cannot say how many pilots,” he added.
Armed Somali gangs have carried out scores of kidnappings in recent months, often targeting either foreigners or Somalis working with international organisations to demand ransoms.
“The local security forces are trying to trace them but we’re not sure in which direction they went,” he said. .
Gunmen are still holding a Japanese female doctor and Dutch nurse working for the French-based medical charity Medecins du Monde, who were abducted inside Ethiopia in September.
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Clark, Key hail Obama win

The Wednesday, 05 November 2008

Prime Minister Helen Clark and National Party leader John Key have congratulated Senator Barack Obama on his election as the next President of the United States.
"The New Zealand Government very much looks forward to working with the new Obama administration," Miss Clark said."New Zealand and the United States have a long history of friendship and co-operation. . We look forward to building on what is already a strong relationship with the United States.
"We look forward to working closely with President-elect Obama and his team to address these challenges," Miss Clark said. There are many pressing challenges facing the international community, including the global financial crisis and global warming.
She also paid tribute to losing Republican candidate, Senator John McCain.
Mr Key said Mr Obama's victory was historic.
"I commend Senator McCain on a hard-fought campaign, and wish him well for the future," Helen Clark said.
Asked whether he saw any implications for Saturday's election here, Mr Key said there had clearly been a strong mood for change in the US.
"I look forward, if I am prime minister of New Zealand, to having a strong working relationship with him," Mr Key said.
Mr Key said it was important from New Zealand's perspective to advance a free trade agreement with the US.
"Whether that will pervade for a strong mood for change in New Zealand we will only find out on Saturday night, but here's hoping," Mr Key said.
"We are at a strategic disadvantage because Australia has one and we don't," he said.
"We are at a strategic disadvantage because Australia has one and we don't," he said."

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"If I am prime minister I will be working hard to make sure that our case is firmly heard in Washington and that New Zealand is successful, if at all possible, in getting an FTA with the US

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Torrential rains on Sunday forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes in east-central France and cut two major highways, rescue services said.

More storms were on the way in the same region and were set to extend to the south, said France’s meteorological office, which warned drivers to avoid minor roads and told people living in floodable zones to take precautions.

He told police he had called off his trip as a result of the weather.

A fisherman reported missing after having gone out in his boat Saturday on the Loire river, which was rising rapidly due to the heavy rain, turned out to be safe at home.

On Sunday, the A6 motorway, France’s main north-south axis, was closed for several hours due to flooding between Paris and Lyon. .

Hundreds of people had to be evacuated from their homes in various regions in east-central France due to the flooding or for fear of rivers bursting their banks, officials said

Some areas suffered power cuts due to the rains that belted down overnight Saturday-Sunday, resulting in mudslides in some areas as well as damage to homes, businesses and vehicles.

The A46 between Lyon and Saint-Etienne to the south was also closed down by the flooding and rail officials said trains services in the area would be cancelled at least until Tuesday.

France – Weather

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The International Monetary Fund’s board cleared Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Saturday of harassment, favoritism and abuse of power following an inquiry into his affair with a subordinate.

The executive board noted that the incident was regrettable and reflected a serious error of judgment on the part of the managing director, the IMF’s board of member countries said in a statement.

The investigation into allegations of improper conduct by Strauss-Kahn found that his affair with Piroska Nagy, who worked in the IMF’s Africa department as a senior economist until taking a buyout in August, had been consensual. .

The board sought to deal with the investigation quickly so as not to distract the IMF from its role in dealing with the global financial crisis that has sent markets plunging on fears the world economy is in for a long and deep recession.

The head of the IMF board, Shakour Shaalan, said the board’s decision was unanimous among its 24 members, who oversee the day-to-day operations of the global institution.

Our conclusion was that this will in no way affect the effectiveness of the managing director in the very challenging and difficult period ahead, said Shaalan, who represents Egypt and other Arab countries on the board.

Shaalan told a conference call with reporters that Strauss-Kahn still had the confidence of the board.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn – IMF – investigation
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This was an unfortunate incident where he expressed his regrets and the board has accepted his apologies, Shaalan said, adding, I personally spoke to him after the meeting and informed him this should not happen again