Two a penny

.Albert Camus’ daughter says critics of the French President have turned her late father into an “anti-Sarkozy missile”, after Nicolas Sarkozy called for the renowned writer be reburied in Paris.
Mr Sarkozy suggested earlier this month that the remains of the author of The Outsider and The Fall should be brought to the Pantheon, the resting place for French national heroes.
The right-wing leader’s idea provoked a largely hostile reaction from France’s intelligentsia, with many pundits arguing that the left-wing existentialist philosopher’s legacy was being exploited for political gain. .
Daughter Catherine Camus said she was shocked by the degree of hatred for the President that was expressed after he suggested her father’s remains be moved from their current resting place in southern France. For me, he represents my country. “I am a republican citizen and the president of the republic was democratically elected.”
But she added that she was surprised that Mr Sarkozy had decided to take an interest in an author noted for his deeply individualist beliefs and for his defence of the downtrodden.
Albert Camus’ son Jean was angered by the Pantheon plan, and denounced it as a cynical bid by Mr Sarkozy to requisition the legacy of a staunchly left-wing thinker.
“Men of power do not usually like Camus,” said Catherine Camus, who has not yet declared whether or not she is in favour of moving her father’s remains to the Pantheon.
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.Ferrari’s 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen has announced his switch to rallying after agreeing to a one-year deal with Citroen.
The French manufacturer said the 30-year-old Finn would take part in 12 of the 13 championship events in 2010 for its Red Bull-backed junior team.
“I always wanted to compete in rally, especially in the world rally championship at some point in my career,” Raikkonen said.
“For the moment we have a one-year contract and we will see how it goes for the future.
“This is a new but very exciting challenge.”
Raikkonen, winner of 18 grands prix, had already said he planned to take a year out of Formula One after being replaced at Ferrari by Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso.
“I am really looking forward to testing and taking the start of the first rally.
The Finn refused to contemplate joining any Formula One team that would not be competitive for the championship.
Britain’s Button has moved to Raikkonen’s former team McLaren alongside 2008 champion and compatriot Lewis Hamilton. .
Citroen’s French driver Sebastien Loeb has won the last six world rally titles and Raikkonen will have one of the most competitive cars in the C4.
Raikkonen has previous world rally championship experience, having competed in this year’s Finnish round in a Fiat after also entering three non-championship events, but his new challenge is a big step up. France’s rising hope Sebastien Ogier will drive the junior team’s other car.
The team said Raikkonen’s co-driver will be compatriot Kaj Lindstrom, who partnered now-retired Tommi Makinen to four successive world titles in the 1990s.
They will not compete in New Zealand.
They will not compete in New Zealand.
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.French star Thierry Henry considered ending his international career following the furore that surrounded his handball against Ireland in the World Cup play-off in Paris last Wednesday.
Speaking to the L’Equipe newspaper, the Barcelona striker says that he felt abandoned and alone in the days after the match, which saw the French qualify for South Africa on the back of a goal set up by Henry’s sleight of hand.
Asked if he had considered calling time on his international career Henry replied: “Oh yes.
“I was really upset, and not for the first time. On Friday when everything had gone too far.
“After Euro 2008 also but it was not the right moment. After the World Cup in 2006, I considered that but it was too early. There was a new generation who needed me.
“Despite everything that happened last week, the way I felt abandoned, I will never let my country down. It just wasn’t possible.
That led to calls from Ireland and from some sectors in France for the fixture to be replayed, but world governing body FIFA ruled out any such eventuality ahead of the World Cup draw, which takes place in Cape Town on December 4.”
Henry freely admitted at the end of the Ireland clash that he had used his hand in setting up the French equaliser for William Gallas, which was enough to send the Irish crashing out of the tournament in extra-time.
He did regret having celebrated the goal but says that he had been taken up by the emotion of the moment in what had been a tense encounter.
Henry, who himself stated it would be best to replay the match, says he feels great sympathy for the Irish having suffered a similar fate when playing for Arsenal against Liverpool in 2001 FA Cup final.
“I shouldn’t have done that, but quite honestly it was just out of my control,” he said. .”
Asked if he thought the incident would leave a lasting stain on his career, Henry said. After that we did not celebrate, not even in the dressing rooms. I don’t think that all I have achieved in my career up until now will be be spoiled by this. “Quite honestly no.”
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.Angry Irish football chiefs have called on FIFA to order the World Cup play-off with France to be replayed, after France’s Thierry Henry helped knock out Ireland with a clear handball.
Video replays showed Henry used his hand to stop the ball going out of play in extra-time of Thursday’s (AEDT) play-off in Paris, before passing to William Gallas to head the goal which gave France a 2-1 win on aggregate.
“The blatantly incorrect decision by the referee to award the goal has damaged the integrity of the sport,” the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said in a statement.”
The Irish football body pointed to a precedent – a FIFA decision in 2005 to invalidate the result of a World Cup qualification match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of “a technical error by the referee of the match”.
“We now call on FIFA, as the world governing body for our sport, to organise for this match to be replayed.
A FIFA spokesperson said the body had yet to receive a request from the FAI.
The FAI said it hoped FIFA would “act in a similar fashion so that the standards of fair play and integrity can be protected”. It had only just received the official match reports and were in the process of reading them, he added.
“It is impossible to repeat the game,” the experienced Italian said.
Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni told a press conference minutes before the statement was released by his employers that he did not believe FIFA would grant a replay.”
Trapattoni also called for extra-time to be scrapped at the end of the two-leg World Cup play-offs, with the second match instead going straight to a penalty shootout in the event of a draw in regulation time.
He urged FIFA to explain how Swedish referee Martin Hansson, who failed to spot the incident, had been chosen for such a high-profile match, saying: “For this important game we needed a stronger referee, an important referee. The player himself admitted handling, but said the responsibility for seeing the incident fell to the match official.
Hansson, who works as a firefighter, failed to spot the Henry handball.
Trapattoni refused to blame the player, saying: “It wasn’t up to Henry to say ‘I touched it with my hand’.
Trapattoni refused to blame the player, saying: “It wasn’t up to Henry to say ‘I touched it with my hand’.
– Outrage –
Questions were asked in the Irish parliament after the Henry incident, with Justice Minister Dermot Ahern also suggesting Ireland appeal to FIFA for a replay.
The draw for the finals is due to be made in Cape Town on December 4, leaving little barely two weeks for a replay to be scheduled in a calendar already crowded by club matches.
“It’s the least we owe the thousands of devastated young fans around the country.
“They probably won’t grant it as we are minnows in world football but let’s put them on the spot,” he told RTE state radio.”
The Irish press were unanimous in their condemnation. Otherwise, if that result remains, it reinforces the view that if you cheat, you will win.
A Facebook page entitled “We Irish hate Thierry Henry (the cheat)” also drew hundreds of comments – some of them unprintable – including a call for an Irish boycott of French goods.
“We were robbed” said the Irish Star, “Le Cheat” added the Irish Mirror, while the Irish Sun splashed with the “Hand of the Frog” – a play on Diego Maradona’s 1986 “Hand of God” goal against England.
One financial expert said Ireland’s failure to make next year’s World Cup finals will cost the already recession-bound Irish economy millions of euros.
“I would say croissant sales will slump today,” said one contributor to the social networking site page.
Reacting to the growing row, shaving company Gillette said it had no plans to axe star striker Henry from its advertising.
Reacting to the growing row, shaving company Gillette said it had no plans to axe star striker Henry from its advertising.
“Thierry Henry has publicly acknowledged that it was a handball… This is not going to affect our relationship with Thierry Henry,” said a spokesperson for Gillette, part of US consumer products giant Procter and Gamble.

.The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has ruled out any connection between an incident on a Qantas jet last year, which left over 100 passengers injured, and the crash of an Air France Airbus into the Atlantic Ocean.
The ATSB has released its second interim report into what may have caused the Qantas jet to nosedive twice on its way from Singapore to Perth.
Investigators say they are yet to determine what caused sensors on the plane to fail, but they say interference from cosmic rays is among the issues being investigated.
“We verified .
The ATSB’s Martin Dolan says the cause of the incident has not been found, although the plane was tested in a flight over a radio transmitting station in Western Australia to see if cosmic waves were to blame… that the station was transmitting and there were no anomalous effects, so it was an interesting idea but not relevant to what happened here,” he said.
The bureau says international aviation authorities have worked out a protocol to override the problem, which is now part of general procedure. .

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The bureau says although the Qantas plane and an Air France jet were similar aircraft, the sequence of events leading up to each failure was different, and the sensors involved were different models from different manufacturers

.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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.Rafael Nadal has silenced a partisan crowd by knocking out local favourite and Paris Masters title holder Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 7-5 with an impressive performance to reach the semi-finals.
World number two Nadal, who has won the French Open on the other side of town four times but never this event at the Bercy hall, will meet Novak Djokovic for a place in Sunday’s final.
Gael Monfils, seeded 15th, later made sure there would be a French presence in the last four by recovering from a set down to oust 12th seed Marin Cilic of Croatia with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
The Serbian world number three earlier ruined Robin Soderling’s hopes of making the World Tour Finals in London by beating the Swede 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Czech Stepanek, the 13th seed, qualified the easy way when US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who was hampered by an abdominal strain and was trailing 4-0, retired.
The gifted but erratic Monfils worried his fans at first with clumsy errors, but then stepped up a gear and thrilled a raucous 14,000 crowd with astonishing winners to set up a semi-final against Radek Stepanek.
Spaniard Nadal, who still has an outside chance of finishing the year as number one, had the crowd against him and faced a strong challenge from the powerful Tsonga, who loves fast indoor courts.
Argentine Del Potro, the world number five who had survived seven match points before Chilean Fernando Gonzalez retired in their third-round match, clearly struggled to move around the court before quitting.
“I played a lot better today,” said Nadal, who struggled in his previous two matches, saving five match points in the first. But he showed more composure when it mattered. This is positive and gives me a lot of confidence.
“I was really focused all the time and played well at important moments.
The energetic Spaniard underlined his determination by winning his last game to love and finishing with a service winner, putting Tsonga out of the race for the Nov.”
Nadal made very few unforced errors and seized his chances, managing breaks with perfect timing in the 11th game of each set.
World number 10 Soderling’s defeat by Djokovic means the French Open runner-up, like Tsonga, will not go to London and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco grabs the last ticket to the finals. 22-29 season finale featuring the world’s top eight players.
“It looked tense because physically I didn’t really feel 100 per cent there,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic, who beat world number one Roger Federer in the Basel final last week, looked tired at times, notably in the second set, which Soderling took in just 28 minutes.”
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.French commandos have stormed aboard a Somali pirate ‘mothership’ and arrested 12 gunmen, the military announced, adding that the gangs are increasingly operating in the deep waters of the Indian Ocean. .
A helicopter from the warship fired a warning shot across the vessel’s bows as its crew began to throw incriminating material over the side.
On board they found grappling hooks, GPS navigation devices and assault rifles, French military spokesman Admiral Christophe Prazuck said.
French troops boarded the ship and arrested the pirates without violence.
“The European team in place has significantly reduced the number of boats taken hostage.
“Last year or at the start of this one the centre of gravity was in the Gulf of Aden,” Admiral Prazuck said, referring to the straits between Arabia and the Horn of Africa that have become notorious for pirate attacks. Though they still threaten the Gulf of Aden, the pirates have switched their activity further offshore into the Indian Ocean.
Several naval task forces now carry out anti-piracy patrols, including flotillas commanded by the European Union, NATO and the United States.”
Admiral Prazuck said pirates were now striking in areas up to 800 nautical miles from their bases on the coast of Somalia, a lawless and largely ungoverned African state plagued by faction-fighting.
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Floreal is fighting under EU colours as part of Operation Atalante

.Battling Rafael Nadal has moved into the Paris Masters quarter-finals with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Tommy Robredo, underlining his threat to unseat Roger Federer as world number one by the end of the season.
With Federer a shock loser to Frenchman Julien Benneteau, a win for Nadal in the final would leave him just 305 points adrift of his arch rival with the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals to come in London later this month.
Nadal ended Federer’s long reign as world number one after winning the Beijing Olympics last year, but Federer bounced back to regain the top spot in July after winning both the French Open and Wimbledon titles.
Robredo even served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set, but once again Nadal produced his best with his back to the wall to pull through by winning the final three games of the match.
Nadal needed to save five match points to get past Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro in a second round marathon of over three hours, and he wobbled again against Robredo, another countryman and a player he had beaten in straight sets in all five of their previous encounters.
The Scot, who won a season-best sixth title in Valencia last weekend, was taken to 1:45am (local time) the night before in defeating James Blake 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4).
Joining Federer on the sidelines though was fourth seed Andy Murray, who found two matches in one day too much to handle as he lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
“I said last night it was going to be difficult to come back and feel 100 per cent.
“But you still come out and you try to give it your best shot. It’s obviously limited recovery after a long match,” he said.”
Nikolay Davydenko meanwhile became the seventh player to qualify for the eight-man London Tour Finals, despite losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to Sweden’s Robin Soderling in another third round match. [I] wasn’t good enough.
But then Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, who was holding on to the eighth and final slot, lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Marin Cilic of Croatia.
Placed seventh in the standings coming into Paris, the loss briefly left the Russian at the mercy of the four other players in with a chance of playing in London from November 22-29.
His defeat meant that Davydenko was assured of finishing the week no lower than eighth, which stamped his ticket for London.
His defeat meant that Davydenko was assured of finishing the week no lower than eighth, which stamped his ticket for London.
The match was evenly poised, with Gonzalez having taken the first set 7-6 (8-6), before Del Potro hit back with an identical scoreline in the second set.
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez dropped out of the race when he pulled out injured in his third-round match against Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro.
Next up for him, with a place in the semi-finals at stake, will be third seed Novak Djokovic, who cruised past French qualifier Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-2 in 75 minutes.
Soderling, who reached the French Open final the last time he was in Paris in June, will still have to at least reach the final at Bercy to have any chance of making it through to London.
He is also eager to win his first Masters Series title of the year, having lost in four finals.
The 2008 Australian Open champion from Serbia, last year’s Tour Finals winner, is seeking to lift back-to-back titles following his win in Basel last week, where he beat Federer in the final.
“He is a big server and is having the best year of his career.
“Robin has a chance to qualify for the Masters Cup so he will give his best in the quarter-finals,” Djokovic said.”
Benneteau, who said his win over the world number one Federer was the best moment of his career, failed to carry his form through, losing 6-4, 6-3 to compatriot Gael Monfils. .
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.Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco have moved closer to spots at the World Tour Finals in London with contrasting second-round wins at the Paris Masters.
World number seven Davydenko, who would make sure of entering the November 22-29 season finale with a semi-final appearance, brushed aside German Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1.
The Spaniard’s win meant Czech Radek Stepanek and Croatia’s Marin Cilic dropped out of the race, leaving just five players fighting for the two remaining tickets to the London event featuring the world’s top eight players, with Davydenko and Verdasco first in line.
Verdasco, the world number eight, who will a book a trip to London if he wins the title but could qualify earlier depending on how other contenders fare, needed over two hours to move past Italian Andreas Seppi 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
World number nine Tsonga, who retired from his first-round match against Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny in Valencia last week because of a wrist injury, looked as fit as ever, outclassing Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-1, 7-5 in a second-round match.
The other three are Swede Robin Soderling, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the defending champion in Paris.
“I love it here.
“I felt really good from the start,” Tsonga said.”
Eighth seed Tonga, who had a first-round bye like all seeded players, will next face compatriot Gilles Simon, who ousted Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in dramatic fashion in the day’s last match. I feel light, I feel there are no constraints and I’m just happy to go to the stadium every morning.
After receiving treatment, he appeared unable to move properly but still managed to force a tiebreak which he took 7-4 when Ljubicic hit a return long on the second match point.
Simon, seeded 11th, was leading 3-2 in the decisive set when he hurt his right knee.
“Every year it’s the same, whether I’m in (the World Tour Finals) or not depends on how I play in Paris, and I’m always in,” Davydenko said.
Davydenko, 28, who won in Paris in 2006 and is seeded sixth this year, will now meet Soderling or Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic.
“Making the World Tour finals is a big motivation,” the Spaniard said.
Seventh seed Verdasco, 25, next faces Cilic or Poland’s Lukasz Kubot. .
“I know if I win all my matches, I’ll qualify, whatever the others do, so that’s my goal.
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World number one Roger Federer and number two Rafael Nadal will get started on Wednesday, against Frenchman Julien Benneteau and Spaniard Nicolas Almagro respectively