Two a penny

.The Church of Scientology has been convicted of organised fraud in France and fined almost $1 million.
A Paris court fined the church $980,000 but stopped short of taking up the prosecutor’s suggestion that the group’s activities be banned.
Four leading French Scientologists were also given suspended sentences.
The Church of Scientology is not recognised as a church in France, it is classified as a cult, and for the past 14 years the French government has kept it under strict surveillance.
The case centred on the claims of former Scientologists who say they were cajoled into spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on personality tests, vitamin cures, sauna sessions and counselling.
Four leaders of the church were found guilty and given suspended sentences of between 10 months and two years.
When a Paris court was asked to investigate claims of fraud among prominent French Scientologists, prosecutors took the opportunity to demand a ban on the group’s activities in France.
The group as a whole was fined but a loop hole in the law prevented the judge from shutting their operations down.
“This is the first time in France that Scientology has been condemned for organised fraud and we are extremely satisfied with this decision,” he said.
Lawyer Olivier Morice, who represented one of the victims in the trial, says it is an historic decision.
Catherine Picard is the president of the national union of associations in defence of families and individual victims of cults.
The investigating judge criticised what he called Scientologists’ obsession with financial gain.
On its website, scientology justifies the cost of its sessions by saying they could be compared to courses in a school or university.
“Once again, I think justice has delivered a blow to this organisation of crooks,” she said.
So-called auditing sessions are said to help members literally seek immortality, which they say is priceless.
So-called auditing sessions are said to help members literally seek immortality, which they say is priceless.
“We will win in appeal or we will win in the European Human Rights Court for sure.
“There has been a lot of political pressure and for sure we will go to appeal because we don’t agree at all with that,” he said. .”
The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard.

.
Oscar-winning Canadian film maker Paul Haggis quit the Church of Scientology overnight citing what he called the organisations tolerance of gay bashing

.
AFP – French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand was in the spotlight Saturday for standing as character reference for two rapists after a row over his admission of paying boys for sex.

Mitterrand, an urbane television personality and a nephew of former Socialist president Francois Mitterrand adopted a pugnacious tone and threatened legal action over what he said was a new orchestrated campaign of insensitive calumny.

The latest scandal emerged just after Mitterrand managed to retain his job following a fresh furore over his 2005 autobiographical novel La Mauvaise Vie (The Bad Life) in which the hero describes paying Asian boys for sex.

The minister will launch legal action against those who are complicit in the latest ignominy he has suffered, a statement read out at a news conference in the southwestern town of Bordeaux quoted Mitterrand as saying.

I absolutely condemn sexual tourism (and) I condemn paedophilia in which I have never in any way participated, and all the people who accuse me of that type of thing should be ashamed, the 62 year old told TF1 television.

Mitterrand had angrily denied having ever engaged in paedophile acts or condoning sex tourism.

The minister on Saturday said he was godfather to one of the youths, whose mother is a former make-up artist, and underlined that his letter attesting to their good moral character was a gesture of compassion and generosity to a modest family in great distress.

The latest controversy emerged after a French newspaper said Mitterrand had testified to the good character of two youths in the French overseas territory of La Reunion charged with the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl.

Is it not a shame that this letter has found its way in all the Internet networks? he said, calling it an ignominy, a shame, and manipulation.

He underlined that he had met one of the youths three times in (my) life.

The three youths were charged with rape and sentenced to between eight and 15 years in prison.

Le Quotidien de la Reunion newspaper on Friday published a letter that Mitterrand, who was then director of the Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome, had written to the court.

The controversy over Mitterrand’s book erupted this week after his staunch defence of fugitive film-maker Roman Polanski, arrested in Switzerland on a US warrant on child sex charges.

Said Larifou, one of the lawyers for the boys’ families, told he was filing a suit against the leaking of the letter, saying it should never have appeared in the public domain.

.
REUTERS – French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 23 year-old son is in line to head the development agency for La Defense business district in Paris, the agency’s outgoing boss said on Thursday, sparking opposition charges of nepotism.

Normal
0
21

false
false
false

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

/* Style Definitions */
table.0pt”Times New Roman”}

Jean Sarkozy, a law student married to the heiress of a retail empire, is currently a local councillor in the wealthy suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine where his father had been mayor.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Tableau Normal”
mso-style-parent:”"
font-size:10.

Jean Sarkozy is a candidate, he will be named director, representative of the board, and he can therefore become president, Devedjian, a government minister and a close associate of President Sarkozy told radio Europe 1.

He is now also be posed to take over as president of EPAD, the public agency in charge of developing La Defense, from Patrick Devedjian, who is leaving his post as he has reached the 65-year age ceiling for the job.

La Defense, a skyscraper-filled zone of banks and corporate headquarters just outside central Paris, is one of the main business areas of the French capital and the government hopes to develop it into a rival for the City of London financial district.

In souls nobly born valour does not depend upon age, Devedjian added, quoting the 17th century play, El Cid. .

Socialist parliamentarian Michele Delaunay decried the young Sarkozy’s candidature as a form of nepotism and provocation and pointed out that he had not even finished his degree.

French magazine Le Point reported on its website on Wednesday that Jean Sarkozy was likely to secure the board’s support on Thursday, paving the way for election to the board on December 4.

Jean Sarkozy – Nicolas Sarkozy – Paris

.Irish champion Sea The Stars won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp overnight to complete a unique treble of the English 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and the Arc.
Ridden by Mick Kinane and trained by John Oxx – owned by Hong Kong club owner Christopher Tsui – he beat home Youmzain, ridden by Kieren Fallon while seven-time Arc winning trainer Andre Fabre’s Cavalryman, under Frankie Dettori, was third.
Youmzain created his own piece of history in becoming the first horse to finish second in three successive Arcs.
Seamus Levey’s Set Sail headed for home with a 15 length advantage entering the final straight but the wind was taken out of his sails as the more fancied runners swamped him.
Sea The Stars, who had been applauded into the ring prior to the race which is a rare occurrence in French racing, had come here as the 4/6 favourite but early on he had several problems settling down as the Aidan O’Brien-trained pacemakers Set Sail and Grand Ducal set a searing gallop.
Kinane found the gap he needed and once it was seized Sea The Stars seamlessly sauntered to the lead and although the gallant Youmzain and Calvaryman along with Breeders Cup Turf champion Conduit reduced the gap in the final furlong, there was to be no stopping the Irish horse from his moment of destiny.
Unbeaten French filly Stacelita hit the front but all eyes were trained on 50-year-old Kinane and Sea The Stars, and the old stager and his superstar horse did not fail.

.
AFP – Japan clothes giant Uniqlo, which opens a flagship store in the heart of Paris on Thursday, is aiming for up to 10 more in the world’s fashion capital as it takes on competitors such as Gap, H &amp M and Zara.

Tadashi Yanai, the billionaire president of Fast Retailing, which owns Uniqlo, told he aimed to open five to 10 big shops in Paris, where he had originally planned to launch as far back as 2007 or 2008 but it takes a long time to get authorisation. .

The cheap chic brand popular with designer-conscious Japanese youth currently has a store in an office district on the fringes of the capital, and Yanai set no date for the opening of new stores. The next high-profile launch is Moscow in spring 2010.

Similar stores have already opened in New York and London.

No cost seemed to be spared in the run-up to the Paris launch, with ads on city buses and the underground and even Paris bakers selling the traditional baguette in paper bags announcing the Tokyo to Paris launch. There are currently 875 Uniqlo stores worldwide, 761 of them in Japan.

H &amp M and Zara just sell fashion.

Referring to its European competitors H &amp M from Sweden and and Zara from Spain, whose lines sell like hot cakes and whose stores too are close to the new 2,000-square-metre (-yard) shop, Yanai said I think there is a lot of room for Uniqlo to muscle into the market.

Our philosophy, he said, is that a shirt, jacket or sweater are just spare parts which an individual combines to express their personality. We are different, we are offering high quality clothing, added Yanai, who according to Forbes magazine is Japan’s richest man.

He added: It is up to us to offer products that are sufficiently attractive to seduce customers, citing high-tech items such as clothes made of a fine fabric that gives off heat or a feather-light coat weighing 270 grams (about 10 ounces). That is why we seek to sell very basic but very high quality clothes.

For the Paris launch, customers are being offered cashmeres at less than 40 euros and men’s jeans under 10 euros.

Uniqlo, known for high-quality basics such as affordable cashmeres with quintessentially Japanese craftsmanship, manufactures its clothes mostly in Asia, in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

consumers – fashion – France – Paris
.

We are the only company in the world able to offer products of this quality at low cost, Yanai said

.
AFP – France’s public deficit will grow to a record 8.2 percent of GDP this year and 8.75 percent next year.5 in 2010, according to the government’s budget on Wednesday, based on expected growth of 0.

Under the eurozone stability pact, member states are supposed to keep their deficits under three percent, but most are far above this as public spending explodes and tax revenue falls during the crisis.

France is edging out of a recession caused by last year’s global financial collapse, but the government vowed to continue stimulus spending, and warned that deficit levels will not begin to fall until 2011.

Among the fiscal measures announced in the budget were a green carbon tax on households and businesses, and cuts in local business taxes.

France’s public debt will soar to 84 percent of national output in 2010, up from 68 percent at the end of 2008 and well above the theoretical 60 percent limit set when France and its partners launched the single currency.

.World surfing championship leader Joel Parkinson has been upset by a wildcard in round three of The Quiksilver Pro France.
Local entrant Patrick Beven grabbed a 6.87 to 13.87-point ride in the closing seconds to oust Parkinson 14.
Fellow Queenslander Mick Fanning, the current world number two, won his heat against Julian Wilson to threaten Parkinson’s points lead.07.
“I don’t really smell blood yet,” the American said, “I think I’m still in the forest trying to find him (Parkinson).
Reigning nine-time world champion and current number six Kelly Slater also moved into the fourth round of what is event seven in the ten-round WCT.
The best performer on a day of small waves was American Dane Reynolds with a score of 18.”
Other Australians progressing were Bede Durbidge, Ben Dunn, Dean Morrison, Taj Burrow and Kieren Perrow. .27 points to eliminate Hawaiian Roy Powers (11.
Reynolds will face Durbidge in the opening heat of round four when competition recommences, probably on Sunday.
– AAP

.

&raquo After the &#039jungle&#039, what next?
&raquo UN refugee agency to set up Calais mission
&raquo Getting to Britain at any cost
&raquo The castaways of illegal immigration
French riot police on Tuesday detained 278 migrants in a dawn raid on a makeshift camp known as the jungle near Calais in northern France, a state official said.

The migrants &ndash nearly half of whom identified themselves as minors &ndash were to be taken to a nearby shelter as part of an operation to close down the camp used by foreigners trying to gain passage to Britain.

Prefect Pierre de Bousquet de Florian told a news conference that the operation took two hours and that police would now tear down shacks and tents set up in the scrubland in the Channel port of Calais.

Journalists were told to leave the site and we saw the migrants being arrested and taken away to five waiting buses, she said.

them correspondent Virginie Herz says the riot police arrested all the refugees and led them away to waiting buses during the operation. The migrants had been protected by a cordon manned by NGO volunteers and the police went in to pull out the refugees one at a time, trying to separate those that are under 18 from the adults, Herz reported, adding that some of the younger ones were shocked and in tears.

Most were arrested in the space of 20 minutes, in fairly violent and traumatic scenes.

Government officials say the jungle &ndash as it is called by the migrants and local residents &ndash had become a haven for people-smuggling gangs and a no-go zone for locals, with appalling sanitary conditions blamed for an outbreak of scabies in the past few months.

Before the onset of the riot police, the atmosphere at the camp was one of peaceful resignation as the migrants grimly awaited their fate, Herz reports.

City officials support the police operation, saying the situation has become unbearable and denouncing a spike in offences against residents. The ‘jungle’ is their only home, she said.

They are sad, they want to stay here.

We need shelter and protection, read one.

Makeshift mosque

Opposite the tent city’s makeshift mosque, surrounded by pink geraniums in well-kept planters, white sheets fluttered between poles with messages in French and Pashtun for the French authorities, Herz reports. We don’t want to go back even if we die here. We don’t want to go back even if we die here.

Most have left for Britain, Belgium, Holland or Norway, the others have scattered into smaller camps in other ports in the Calais region, says Thomas Suel of the NGO Terre d’Errance.

From a peak of 700 mostly Afghan Pashtuns based in the jungle in June, aid groups say two thirds have fled since the government indicated it would close the camp in April.

Lenoir estimates that 1,000 migrants managed to slip into Britain over a fortnight in late August and early September, after months of a border police lockdown. .

France – immigration
.

Aid groups say the crackdown on the &lsquojungle&rsquo will simply push migrants further underground, making them more vulnerable to traffickers and criminal gangs

.
The estimated number of flu cases — including swine flu — in France has reached epidemic proportions, according to preliminary data released Wednesday.

Last week the number of visits to doctors for flu in mainland France was estimated at 52,300, which is to say 83 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, said the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm).

The threshold for declaring an epidemic is 80 cases per 100,000.

Not all the cases have been confirmed as flu, and not all are the new A(H1N1) virus, a global pandemic which the World Health Organisation says has killed 2,837 people around the world since it emerged in April.

We will have to see the same figures for a second week to confirm that the threshold has been passed and confirm the start of an epidemic in France, Dr Thierry Blanchon told AFP.

If confirmed, an official health warning could be issued next week.

Inserm said it was hard to be sure to what extent the extra consultations — there were 45,500 more visits to the doctor last week than in the same period last year — were linked to swine flu panic rather than actual cases.

On Monday a 26-year-old man without any underlying health condition died in a hospital in the southern city of Saint-Etienne, becoming the first person in mainland France to have died solely as a result of the flu.

There have also been school and class closures in the Paris region and in the southern Aude and Lot regions and in Ariege, in the south-west.

Paris authorities for the first time shut down for seven days a primary school in the French capital after three suspected swine flu cases were reported in one class on Wednesday. There have been seven confirmed deaths from swine flu in New Caledonia, six in Polynesia and three in the Indian Ocean island of Reunion.

In all, 19 people have died in France from the H1N1 virus but only three on the mainland.

.The top prize at the 35th Deauville American Film Festival in France has been awarded to The Messenger, a movie directed by Oren Moverman about a soldier back from the Iraq war. .
The film revolves around the difficult relationship between Montgomery and the officer who is in charge of training him.
The festival aims to boost the fortunes of independent American cinema and most of the films shortlisted fell into this category.
This year’s festival in the Channel resort closed on Sunday (local time) with an awards ceremony where the jury, chaired by Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, selected The Messenger from 11 feature length films.
–

.
The Messenger – the first film directed by Moverman, who was previously known as a screenwriter – also won the international critics’ prize at Deauville