Two a penny

.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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.Emerging teen star Melanie Oudin has sealed the United States’ passage to the semi-finals of the Fed Cup with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win over Julie Coin, as the Americans eased through 4-1.
Also advancing were holders Italy, who waltzed past host Ukraine 4-1 in Kharkiv as the sister act of Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko failed to disturb Francessa Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta before Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci carried off the doubles for good measure.
“This victory is very important for me as I lost the decisive match against Italy in the final.
In the absence of the Williams sisters the American contingent has shown its strength in depth and Oudin, who looked a little out of her depth in last year’s final loss to Italy, was delighted to prove her own worth in bagging the all-important point at Lievin.
“Then I got into my game. I was tense to begin with but Julie was also making things tough for me as she was serving very well,” Oudin said.
Oudin, breaking crucially in the fifth game of the second set to steady herself, made headlines last year with an exciting run to the US Open quarters, having reached round four at Wimbledon, shocking former world number one Jelena Jankovic en route. I’m really happy to have helped my team win this match in France,” said the 18-year-old from Georgia, ranked 53 on the WTA computer as she took her country’s Fed Cup record to 11-1 against the French.
Here, she beat Pauline Parmentier in straight sets in the second singles rubber after 140th-ranked Bethanie Mattek-Sands had started the ball rolling with a 7-6 (9-7), 7-5 win over Alize Cornet.
At Flushing Meadows, she then defeated fourth seed Elena Dementieva and another former number one, Maria Sharapova.
But she was unable to prevent Oudin, taking her tournament record to 3-3, from sealing the decisive point which takes the USA through to the semi-finals as it hones in on an 18th title.
That loss being Cornet’s sixth loss in as many Fed Cup starts, team captain Nicolas Escude withdrew her from the firing line and sent in Coin.
Serbia kept in the clash thanks to the impeccable Jelena Jankovic, who made it two singles rubbers out of two when she beat former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
In the semis, the Americans will play Russia, which edged Serbia 3-2 in a thrilling tie.
Elsewhere, the Czech Republic edged out Germany 3-2 at Brno in a thriller which went down to the final rubber.
However her team-mate Ana Ivanovic’s woeful form continued as she lost to Alisa Kleybanova in straight sets and then she and Jankovic had no answer in the decisive doubles as they were steam-rolled in straight sets.
But the 24-year-old was unable to complete a hat-trick in the doubles as, after seeing off Petra Kvitova early in the day, she and Tatjana Malek went down in straight sets to Lucie Hradecka and Kveta Peschke.
The Czechs, beaten semi-finalists by the USA last year and chasing a sixth title to go third in the historical rankings ahead of Spain, saw Anna-Lena Groenefeld bag two points for the Germans.

.World number one Serena Williams has withdrawn from next week’s Paris Indoor Open, organisers confirmed.
Williams blamed a leg injury which she picked up on her way to victory in the Australian Open.
Former world number one Mauresmo won last year’s event but has since retired from competition.
The American has lifted the Paris trophy twice in five appearances, winning both her titles in 1999 and 2003 against France’s Amelie Mauresmo. .
Russia’s Elena Dementieva is the now the top player in the tournament, which starts on Monday

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French cartoonist Jacques Martin, creator of the popular comic book hero Alix and a collaborator on the Tintin books, has died aged 88.
Martin collaborated with Tintin creator Herge for 19 years on numerous cartoon books featuring the famous boy reporter and his faithful dog Snowy. .
Enjoying success in his own right after his creation Alix sprang from the pages of Tintin to become its own brand, Strasbourg-born Martin plundered Imperial Rome, Egypt and the Napoleonic era for the backdrops to his stories.
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He died on Thursday (local time) in Switzerland

.The world economy may not emerge out of crisis in 2010 due to “bubbles” created by the huge injections of money used to keep the financial system operating, World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy said Friday.
“You have to be realistic, it is not guaranteed,” the WTO director general said on French radio when asked whether the world economy would recover in 2010. .”
Governments around the world have spent trillions of dollars over the past 18 months avoiding the collapse of the financial system and then trying to claw away from recession.
“In flooding the economic and financial system with public money we have also created bubbles which will have to be absorbed.
“These are the more dynamic, better run, less indebted countries,” Mr Lamy said.
The WTO chief highlighted the dynamism of the emerging economic powers – China, Brazil, India and South Africa – in avoiding the worst of the crisis.
“These are the countries which are from a certain point of view better run than the western economies.”

.Veteran Frenchman Fabrice Santoro has announced he will compete in the Australian Open later this month, making him the first player in four decades to participate in 70 grand slam tournaments.
The 37-year-old – still ranked 68th in the world – had announced his retirement last November following the indoor tournament in Paris.
But he insisted his latest decision did not signal a return to the ATP circuit.
“This is just a very personal thing.
“This decision does not affect my announcement to retire as a professional player,” he said in a statement.”
Santoro, who has been training at Roland-Garros for the past few days, said his intention was not to put away his racquets for good once he retired from the circuit. There is nothing else to it, and it certainly is not a comeback.
“Tennis is my life, my passion,” he said. .
“My decision to retire did not mean I was going to throw my racquets into a cupboard.”
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.Muslim women who wear the full Islamic veil in France will face a possible 750 euro ($1,170) fine, according to a draft bill unveiled by the leader of the parliamentary majority.
Jean-Francois Cope, who heads the governing UMP party in the National Assembly, told Le Figaro newspaper’s weekly magazine that men who force their wives to wear the burqa or niqab could face an even heavier fine.
“The law will address an issue of security,” Mr Cope said in an interview with the magazine.”
The draft legislation will be presented in the next two weeks and should come up for debate in parliament after the March regional elections, he said.
“The proposed measure would prohibit the covering of the face in public places and on the streets, with the exception of special cultural events or carnivals.
“We can measure the modernity of a society by the way it treats and respects women,” he said.
The majority leader, who is also openly campaigning to succeed President Nicolas Sarkozy as the right-wing candidate for the presidency in 2017, said the burqa must be banned to defend women’s rights. .
Many politicians from the left and right have cautioned that a draconian law banning the head-to-toe veil would be difficult to enforce and probably face a challenge in the European rights court.
The burqa debate has heated up ahead of the release at the end of the month of a much-awaited report by a parliamentary panel that has conducted six months of hearings on the issue.
Critics argue that a specific law enacted to ban the full veil would be tantamount to using a sledgehammer to swat a fly.
Mr Sarkozy himself has said that the burqa is not welcome in France but has not stated publicly whether legislation should be enacted.
In the interview, Mr Cope argued that a law would act as a deterrent by sending a “clear message” that France will not allow women to fully cover themselves. Only 1,900 women wear the full veil in France, according to the interior ministry.
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.New Zealand coach Graham Henry celebrated “a special day” after the All Blacks outclassed France 39-12 in Marseille to end their European tour undefeated.
“It was a special day, really, a special day because all the players who played today played their role superbly,” he said.
“It was good to see two teams playing attacking football because there has been some pretty boring stuff over the last year or so in rugby, and it was just a great game with two teams wanting to attack and I think it’s pretty special. .”
The New Zealand coach, whose team beat Wales, Italy and England in its previous outings, also said it was a remarkable effort “to go through the last two tours of Europe undefeated without having our line crossed.”
France coach Marc Lievremont admitted the All Blacks were the best team on the day.
“I’m just delighted for the guys because they put their record straight and they can feel good about their season and enjoy the summer.
“Sometimes, one has to accept defeat with dignity.
“This game quickly turned into a contest between a team that were euphoric and another team that was swamped. When the All Blacks play like that, attacking the line with complete confidence, they are unstoppable,” he said.”
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.A rarely seen French secret report on Adolf Hitler is among thousands of documents on 1920s Germany that are about to emerge from obscurity as part of a major overhaul of the French National Archives.
The yellowed, hand-written note from 1924 features a photograph of Hitler in a suit and tie, sporting his trademark side-parting and moustache.
“He is not an idiot but rather a very cunning demagogue,” says the note on Hitler by an anonymous agent. It is part of a treasure trove that had been gathering dust in a Paris mansion for decades.
Part of a huge archive from the period when French troops occupied part of Germany after World War I, the Hitler report was stored separately from the rest of the papers in a metal cabinet where France keeps its most important documents.
The agent presents Hitler as “the German Mussolini” and notes that he runs paramilitary groups “of the fascist type”, but does not raise any particular alarm about the man who would go on to lead Nazi Germany and launch World War II.
Seen only by a very privileged few, the Hitler report has now been extracted from the cabinet and will soon be available for historians to study, along with tens of thousands of other papers dating back to the French occupation of Germany. .
– ‘Racist’ –
The papers, which include everything from spy reports on politicians to details of German industrial techniques that the French hoped to appropriate, were not analysed or indexed.
Those documents were transported to Paris in 1930 and have been stored ever since in the bowels of the National Archives, housed in a magnificent early 18th century residence in the heart of the historic Marais district.
All that changed four years ago, when the Archives launched a conservation project to examine every single one of the papers and create a comprehensive index that will be posted online.
As a result, they remained hidden in more than 6,000 boxes, an unmanageable mass of raw material, inaccessible to historians and slowly deteriorating as paper-clips rusted, dust accumulated and ink faded from sheets as fine as cigarette paper.
She said the newly organised archive would be moved to a new state-of-the-art storage facility which is being built in a Paris suburb.
“On both sides of the Rhine, there was a very strong demand from historians to work on the inter-war period, and particularly the roots of the Second World War,” Isabelle Neuschwander, director of the Archives, said.
As well as Hitler, the French agents in Germany scrutinised other men who would go on to become powerful Nazis including Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler. There, the papers will be kept in much safer conditions and will be accessible to any researcher.
– Industrial espionage –
Also under the French spotlight was Konrad Adenauer, the then mayor of Cologne who would become the architect of the West German state after World War II.
The Himmler note goes straight to the point: the first word is “racist”.
“Competent but drawn to subordinate roles,” the note says. But whoever wrote the Adenauer report did not take the full measure of the man.
“That is not what interests me most.
Michele Conchon, an archivist who has been working full-time on the German papers for the past four years, said that while the most eye-catching pieces were the reports on famous Nazis, they were not the most valuable to historians.
She mentioned reports on violent incidents in which ordinary Germans showed their anger at the French occupation, burning French flags or attacking isolated soldiers guarding buildings. This archive is extremely rich in what it can teach us on daily life in Germany between the wars,” she said, surrounded by boxes of dusty files.
“There are reports of factory visits that were probably carried out with the aim of industrial espionage,” she said.
“There are reports of factory visits that were probably carried out with the aim of industrial espionage,” she said.
The secret service reports even offer insights into the lives of ordinary Germans – and into the nervousness of the French, who kept close tabs on German public opinion.
Thus, a report on an obscure schoolteacher, named as Mr Hinze, reveals surprisingly close scrutiny.
“Schoolteacher, 31, neutral, no obvious prejudices, content with our occupation which ensures order, hopes to see us go when peace will be signed,” says the report on Mr Hinze.
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.A 13-year-old French boy set out on Tuesday to mow down his teachers with a shotgun, but abandoned the plan when he arrived at the school and found it surrounded by police, officials say. .
The teenager was in custody on suspicion of attempted murder and admitted his homicidal intentions during an interview, Beauvais prosecutor James Juan said in a statement.
The boy had on Monday left a message on his blog stating that “this is the last day of my life”.
He wanted “to attack his teachers who quarrelled with him even though he had done nothing (wrong),” Mr Juan said. “He went in the direction of the school where, according to his declarations, he intended to kill his teachers.
“He left his home with a loaded hunting rifle and 25 cartridges,” said senior local official Raymond Yeddou.”
But when he saw a major police presence in front of and inside the school, he abandoned his plan and instead headed to a cyber cafe in Beauvais town centre where his parents later found him.
Mr Yeddou stressed that the boy never managed to get into the school and students were not in danger at any point.
Police warned the head of the 2,000-pupil Saint Esprit school to keep his students confined to their classrooms as the drama unfolded.
“His parents were worried when they saw him leave the house very early, around 7:00am.
The alarm was raised at 8:15am local time by the boy’s parents, who had become concerned by his unusual behaviour and searched their house, finding the gun and ammunition gone.
Though generally a good student, the source said, the boy has recently had problems at school and was worried about a parent-teacher meeting due on Tuesday. He did not seem to be his usual self,” a source close to the investigation said.
The Beauvais prosecutor said the boy wanted to stop the meeting at the academically high-achieving school from going ahead.
The Beauvais prosecutor said the boy wanted to stop the meeting at the academically high-achieving school from going ahead.
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