Two a penny

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Reuters – Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, on a visit to Paris on Thursday, reiterated her government’s rejection of a French-proposed ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to allow in humanitarian aid, her office said.

There is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce, the Foreign Ministry quoted Livni as saying in a statement. …

Gaza Strip – Israel – Nicolas Sarkozy – Tzipi Livni
. and has even been stepping this up by the day

.French President Nicolas Sarkozy will fly to the Middle East “as of Monday” in a bid to “find a roadmap towards peace” between warring Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers, he said in a televised New Year message.
“France will continue to be active in Africa, in Asia and of course in the Middle East where I will go as of Monday, because it is France’s duty to look everywhere for the roadmap towards peace, as it is its duty to act on behalf of human rights,” Mr Sarkozy said. .
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Read Analysts puzzle over letter claiming Paris explosives letter scare

Standing outside the Printemps Haussmann department store where explosives were discovered Tuesday morning, Sandrine Focquet confessed to being a tad slow to respond to the warning in the landmark Parisian department store.

At first, I thought it was a joke, said Focquet, an 18-year-old business student currently on a two-week internship at the Printemps baggage section. But when I came out and saw all the police, I knew it wasn&rsquot a joke.

Covering 48,000 square metres, the elaborately decorated store is a favourite for Christmas shoppers from across the world and services an average of 100,000 customers daily, about a quarter of whom are tourists.

On a bitterly cold afternoon, Focquet joined the crowd of shoppers and sales staff gathered on Boulevard Haussman, in the heart of Paris shopping district, during the lunch hour as security teams combed through the three buildings that house the cavernous department store. Like Sandrine, most of them just wanted to get indoors and get back to work.

Stomping their feet, rubbing their hands and dashing in and out of the stores that line the French capital main shopping drag to keep warm, several sales staff said the evacuation was calm and the security services appeared to respond professionally.

Hours later, the store was reopened after security services provided the necessary authorisation to reopen the buildings in conditions of optimum security, according to Pierre Pelarey, the director of the Printemps Haussmann department store. According to the French Interior Ministry, the explosives did not have detonators that would have permitted them to explode.

Dynamite in a third-floor toilet

The dynamite sticks were found in a third floor toilet in a building housing the men department.

Text of letter signed by &lsquoThe Afghan Revolutionary Front&rsquo

The letter was signed by The Afghan Revolutionary Front, a previously unknown organization, and called for the French withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan before February 2009.

The discovery of the explosives came shortly after the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) received a letter saying that several bombs had been placed in the men store at Printemps Haussman, one of them on the third floor in the toilets behind the cistern.

The letter by the previously unknown group was sent to the news agency

France has more than 2,600 troops currently stationed in Afghanistan. .

Tuesday incident came just two days after France hosted a meeting aimed at finding ways to bring Afghanistan out of its seemingly endless state of war, and to urge the country neighbouring states, in particular Pakistan and Iran, to play a more positive role.

Tuesday incident came just two days after France hosted a meeting aimed at finding ways to bring Afghanistan out of its seemingly endless state of war, and to urge the country neighbouring states, in particular Pakistan and Iran, to play a more positive role.

French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said security reinforcements would be deployed in Paris and other major French cities.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting at his office, French Prime Minister Fran&ccedilois Fillon said the threat of terrorism on France is strong, but he added that France would not yield to it.

Earlier Tuesday, the French interior minister warned that the claim of responsibility should be treated with caution. Alliot-Marie also said there would be a meeting of senior security and transportation officials as well as senior Printemps Haussmann executives on Wednesday. We have to be suspicious of indications in the letter that might lead investigators up the wrong alley. Speaking to reporters outside the store, Alliot-Marie said the end of the year holiday season is particularly symbolic. The decision to send our troops to Afghanistan was not just our decision, it was a decision made under NATO and UN auspices, said Laurent Minaud, a 44-year-old sales director at a close toby store.

Minutes after her departure, several Parisian shoppers gathered outside the store dismissed the Afghanistan link.

Minaud himself said he was not ruffled by Tuesday incident. So if we want to be part of the international community, we have to be part of a collective decision. I thought it a good opportunity now because there will be less people at the store. I thought it a good opportunity now because there will be less people at the store. But in fact, we now have to go through all the journalists here, he said with a roar of laughter.

France – Paris – terrorism

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REUTERS – A French court handed down Monday a 17-year prison term to Antonio Nino Ferrara for a spectacular 2003 jail break involving automatic weapons and explosives.

Ferrara, 35, a notorious armoured car robber, was sprung from Fresnes prison outside Paris on March 12, 2003 in a military-style raid by his fellow gang members.

One of his former lawyers, Karim Achoui, was sentenced to seven years in prison for complicity. Two people were acquitted. .

France – justice – prison
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Some 70 police were stationed in the courtroom, where relatives shouted insults and threats as the sentences were handed down

.China has said that it is entirely up to France to repair relations between the two countries after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama at the weekend.
“The …
“We urge the French side to take responsibility and concrete measures to correct its erroneous practice, and create favourable conditions . responsibility is not on the Chinese side, it is fully on the French side,” foreign ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao told reporters. ..”
Mr Jianchao would not specify what sort of measures China wanted France to take to mend ties. for the development of China-France relations.
China is strongly opposed to any foreign leaders meeting the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader whom Beijing accuses of seeking independence for his Himalayan homeland.
“This is precisely the issue for the French side to study and discuss,” he said.
Mr Sarkozy on Monday defended his meeting with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, saying it was his duty as French head of state to meet all winners of the award.
The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied the charge, insisting he only wants greater autonomy for the region, which has been under Chinese rule since 1951.
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.French President Nicolas Sarkozy has failed to persuade eastern European leaders to sign up to the EU’s climate change plans during talks in Poland.
After a meeting with the leaders, Mr Sarkozy said there had been progress but that an agreement had not yet been reached.
Several newer EU members say a commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 would have a negative impact on their economies.
“We’re all conscious here of our responsibilities.
But Mr Sarkozy says he is determined to get a deal as it is crucial to global climate negotiations.
“Europe needs to set an example and to do so Europe needs to be credible. All of us will need to make efforts, but Europe I’m sure will be ready,” he said.”
Mr Sarkozy insisted that all countries involved in the talks were keen to reach an agreement.
“We wish to see Europe urging the world to stay on track to meet the objectives set down in March 2007 at the European Council.
“I can say that all states present here do care about environmental protection and wish to see a compromise,” he said. .”
But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that a lot more work is needed to achieve a compromise.
“The states we’re representing are interested in reaching an agreement in this matter, but they also want to feel safer economically after signing such an agreement.
“He’s a very good partner to talk to about our doubts concerning a climate package.”
Poland has previously threatened to veto the deal.”
Poland has previously threatened to veto the deal.
Mr Sarkozy said the Dalai Lama shared his concerns with him and that he will continue to engage with the Tibetan spiritual leader. He went ahead with the meeting, ignoring threats from the Chinese authorities that bilateral relations could suffer as a result.
– BBC

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Chinese state media has described the meeting as “opportunistic, rash and short-sighted”

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REUTERS – Armed robbers stole millions of euros worth of gems in a raid on the luxury Harry Winston jewellers off the Champs Elysees, police said on Friday.

Three men entered the shop on Thursday evening and forced staff to hand over almost all the jewels on display before making their getaway.

French media estimated the value of the haul at anywhere between 47 million euros and 62 million euros ($60 million-$80 million), but police said it was too early to be sure of the exact sum. The estimates change, said a police spokesperson.

The haul is worth several million euros. On that occasion masked robbers forced staff to empty the store’s safes during a morning heist, taking at least $16 million worth of gems.

The attack came almost a year to the following day another raid on the same store.

Investigators believe the robbers this week were very well informed about their target.

crime – France
. Apparently they knew the names of some of the staff, the spokesperson said

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Police neglected to question dying Christchurch man

– Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Police admit they should have interviewed a dying Christchurch man who had possibly been pushed from the second storey of a state housing complex.
Sydney Boyd, 65, was found on May 23, 2006, under the smashed window of one of the units in a Housing New Zealand complex in Riccarton Road where he lived.
Yesterday, regional Coroner Richard McElrea held an inquest into Boyd's death, which police had classified as suspicious. He died in Christchurch Hospital's intensive care unit on June 30.
The Coroner asked the police officer in charge of the case, Detective Geoffrey Ruddock, why Boyd was not interviewed during his almost month-long stay in hospital.
Police counsel Anna MacGougan told the inquest that several suspects had been interviewed by police a number of times, but no arrests had been made and police could not categorically say Boyd was pushed through the window.
"I probably should have gone to see him in ICU (the intensive care unit), but I didn't.
"I was always of the opinion Sydney Boyd was going to get better," Ruddock said."
Ruddock said it was unlikely anyone would be charged over Boyd's death, which he believed was not an accident. I have had to live with that.
Some residents in the block Boyd was visiting told police that he had argued with a third resident, who cannot be named, as he was walking up the stairs.
It was believed Boyd was on his way to have a "cup of tea" with another resident, who cannot be named because of court suppression orders, when he went through the window, Ruddock said.
Several residents gave evidence at the inquest of hearing Boyd arguing with a man on a stairwell, but none saw Boyd going through the window.
The dispute was allegedly over the resident running a power cord from the communal laundry into his house, which Boyd disagreed with, Ruddock said. Boyd required a tracheostomy as a result of the fall. .
Dr David Bowie, an intensive-care specialist who cared for Boyd, said that during his stay Boyd was variously in a coma, confused, unresponsive or coherent.
Sage said there was no error in the treatment of Boyd by hospital staff.
During one session with a social worker, Boyd was able to indicate he wanted his sister to take care of his financial situation while he was in hospital, Bowie said.
During the first five days of his stay, staff did not believe Boyd would survive, he said.
However, she felt the police had done a great job under difficult circumstances.
Outside the court, Boyd's sister, Carol Boyd, said she was disappointed that the police did not interview her brother in hospital, despite asking them to several times.
"Sometimes I think, the bastards, the bastards, the bastards.
She believed her brother, who was a Christian, had been pushed and the person who deserved scorn was the person who had done this and not owned up. Then I calm down and realise that they had to live with what they have done, and that must be pretty bad," she said. Then I calm down and realise that they had to live with what they have done, and that must be pretty bad," she said.
The Coroner reserved his findings.

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View our special coverage: ‘Desperately seeking top Socialist’

Watch our reports:
‘Socialist Left factions in dire straits in Paris’

‘Grassroots militants pick S&eacutegol&egravene Royal – again’

France’s opposition Socialists vote Thursday for a new leader after a fierce contest laid bare deep divisions and threatened to scuttle their chances of building a challenge to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Former presidential candidate Segolene Royal is putting her political survival on the line as she squares off against rivals Martine Aubry, the architect of France’s 35-hour work week, and leftist Euro-MP Benoit Hamon.

The vote by the party’s 233,000 members — which could head into a runoff on Friday — comes on the heels of a party congress that ended in disarray at the weekend after delegates failed to agree on a consensus candidate.

After three consecutive defeats in presidential elections, the Socialists have been bogged down in internal squabbling and unable to score any points off Sarkozy since he took office last year.

The stakes are high for France’s main opposition party.

They should have united behind the programme that won the first place.

Royal, 55, on Wednesday complained she should have been annointed leader after her manifesto for the party’s renewal came out first in a vote by the rank-and-file this month, beating out those of five other contenders. That’s the rule.

I symbolise change and even a break with the past . But because it was me and a new generation, they refused to abide by it, Royal said in an interview to Le Monde newspaper… That is my strength and this also unsettles some people. .

Royal, the president of the Poitou-Charente regional council, won the party’s nomination for the 2007 vote, but she has since lost support after waging a campaign in which she often brushed aside party dogma.

Royal, the president of the Poitou-Charente regional council, won the party’s nomination for the 2007 vote, but she has since lost support after waging a campaign in which she often brushed aside party dogma. The Socialists are not scheduled to nominate their presidential candidate before 2011.

They contend the party should be a forum of ideas to formulate alternative policies to those of the right-wing government.

Delanoe on Monday announced that he was backing Aubry, 58, the daughter of former European Commission president Jacques Delors, touching off a fresh round of mudslinging.

Party members are choosing a successor to Francois Hollande, Royal’s former partner and father of her four children, who sided with Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe during the leadership battle.

Royal, who was at times jeered and booed at the party congress, has promised to open debate on forming an alliance with centrists to defeat Sarkozy in 2012.

Hamon, a 41-year-old rising star in the party, lamented that the Socialists were creating the impression of being angrier at other Socialists than against the right.

The infighting has left most commentators wondering whether the party of late president Francois Mitterrand can overcome its divisions and become a governing force in time for 2012.

But both Aubry and Hamon maintain that the global financial crisis has vindicated their view that a clear leftist approach is needed, in favour of strong state intervention and social programmes.

Bertrand Delanoë – French politics – Martine Aubry – Ségolène Royal
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While Royal could still win the vote, her ability to lead would be badly crippled without the support of party barons who hold sway in the Socialists’ leadership councils

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View our special coverage: ‘Desperately seeking top Socialist’

Watch our reports:
‘Socialist Left factions in dire straits in Paris’

‘Grassroots militants pick S&eacutegol&egravene Royal – again’

France’s opposition Socialists vote Thursday for a new leader after a fierce contest laid bare deep divisions and threatened to scuttle their chances of building a challenge to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Former presidential candidate Segolene Royal is putting her political survival on the line as she squares off against rivals Martine Aubry, the architect of France’s 35-hour work week, and leftist Euro-MP Benoit Hamon.

The stakes are high for France’s main opposition party.

The vote by the party’s 233,000 members — which could head into a runoff on Friday — comes on the heels of a party congress that ended in disarray at the weekend after delegates failed to agree on a consensus candidate.

Royal, 55, on Wednesday complained she should have been annointed leader after her manifesto for the party’s renewal came out first in a vote by the rank-and-file this month, beating out those of five other contenders.

After three consecutive defeats in presidential elections, the Socialists have been bogged down in internal squabbling and unable to score any points off Sarkozy since he took office last year. That’s the rule.

They should have united behind the programme that won the first place. . But because it was me and a new generation, they refused to abide by it, Royal said in an interview to Le Monde newspaper… That is my strength and this also unsettles some people. I have a special connection with the people.

Critics accuse her of wanting to transform the Socialist Party into her own personal electoral machine for the 2012 vote.

Royal, the president of the Poitou-Charente regional council, won the party’s nomination for the 2007 vote, but she has since lost support after waging a campaign in which she often brushed aside party dogma. The Socialists are not scheduled to nominate their presidential candidate before 2011.

They contend the party should be a forum of ideas to formulate alternative policies to those of the right-wing government.

Delanoe on Monday announced that he was backing Aubry, 58, the daughter of former European Commission president Jacques Delors, touching off a fresh round of mudslinging.

Party members are choosing a successor to Francois Hollande, Royal’s former partner and father of her four children, who sided with Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe during the leadership battle.

Royal, who was at times jeered and booed at the party congress, has promised to open debate on forming an alliance with centrists to defeat Sarkozy in 2012.

Hamon, a 41-year-old rising star in the party, lamented that the Socialists were creating the impression of being angrier at other Socialists than against the right.

The infighting has left most commentators wondering whether the party of late president Francois Mitterrand can overcome its divisions and become a governing force in time for 2012.

But both Aubry and Hamon maintain that the global financial crisis has vindicated their view that a clear leftist approach is needed, in favour of strong state intervention and social programmes.

Bertrand Delanoë – French politics – Martine Aubry – Ségolène Royal
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Bertrand Delanoë – French politics – Martine Aubry – Ségolène Royal