Two a penny

.French police discovered five sticks of dynamite in a Paris department store, forcing the evacuation of hordes of tourists and shoppers at the height of the Christmas shopping season.
Police cordoned off Printemps Haussmann store and the city’s best known shopping boulevard was blocked as police defused the explosives, but the interior ministry said there was no detonator. .
“If you do not send someone to intervene before Wednesday December 17, they will explode,” said the letter, which was taken by police investigating the explosives.
French anti-terrorism police said that one bomb had been placed in the third-floor toilets at the Printemps store and that others had been hidden elsewhere.
Police used sniffer dogs to locate the explosives found on the third floor of the department store.
“Send the message to your president that he must withdraw his troops from our country before the end of February 2009 or else we will take action in your capitalist department stores and this time, without warning,” the letter said.
Speaking at the scene, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said “From what we know so far, this was not a device that was intended to explode.”
An official described the device as old sticks of dynamite fastened together with a piece of cord. We are investigating to find the perpetrators.
“All we can do is to be prudent and moderate,” Mr Sarkozy told a news conference in the European Parliament.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged caution, saying he was awaiting the results of a police inquiry. The only thing we know is there was no detonator .
“Police at this very moment are analysing the explosives…
Shopper Marie-Christine Soulard said she was told that a suspect package had been found in the store and that she had to leave immediately. no claim attached,” he said. It all took place calmly,” she said. “There was no panic.
An Afghan Taliban leader had warned in a video broadcast on an Arab satellite news network in November of attacks to be carried out in Paris unless France withdrew its soldiers.
Last week, an journalist received a warning from an anonymous caller that a bomb would be set off at the Printemps department store at 11:42am (local time), prompting police to order an evacuation.
– AFP/

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A new, 2000-capacity mosque in Cr&eacuteteil, a suburb just south of Paris, opened its doors for the first time earlier this month, just in time for Eid al-Adha. This weekend it hosted an open house for the community.

Two years after the first stones were laid, the huge, new mosque in Cr&eacuteteil opened its doors to the general public this weekend. An official inauguration ceremony is scheduled for the 18th, and both France’s prime minister and minister of the interior are expected to attend. This is nothing new. Today we’re welcoming everyone, whether they’re from Cr&eacuteteil or not, says Moncef Maiz , vice president of the Union of Muslim Associations of Cr&eacuteteil.

The mosque opened in time to host local Muslims for Eid al-Adha, a major feast day. Mosques have always been spaces of openness and exchange between cultures and religions. (Tradition which also requires all visitors to remove their shoes before entering. But at the open house, people of all ages and faiths have come to see the art and architecture, a mix of modernism and tradition.

A local resident, Michel, said he has watched the mosque’s progress over the years, stone by stone.) Once inside, visitors are taken on a tour of frescoes, stained glass, and elaborate editions of the Koran. . I’m a Christian, I attend service at Notre Dame de Cr&eacuteteil, and today I am proud that we have this building for the Muslim community of Cr&eacuteteil, he says.

I think that, especially for the Muslim community, this brings a certain recognition, says Laurent Cathala, mayor of Cr&eacuteteil. The overall bill comes to five million euros, with costs shared by the local muslim faithful and the city government.

Cr&eacuteteil has been welcoming of its new mosque. For the city as a whole, this mosque is important for social cohesion, and to enrich the cultural heritage of the city.

France – Islam – Muslim
. In some European countries physical symbols of Islam, like mosques, still provoque tension and backlash

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Gang man faces extradition

Tight security amid rumours of ‘hit’ out on accused

By GLENN McLEAN – Saturday, 13 December 2008

CAMERON BURNELL/
Rebels gang member Peter Douglas Rauhina leaves the New Plymouth court under heavy security yesterday.

A member of a notorious Australian bikie gang wanted across the Tasman for his alleged part in an ambush on a rival gang has been arrested in New Plymouth.
Rebels bikie gang member, New Zealander Peter Douglas Rauhina, 37, faces extradition to Australia to answer charges arising from a confrontation with members of the Bandidos gang.
Senior Constable Mike Sandle would not confirm police were aware of the threat other than to say they were "taking all circumstances into account".
Security was extremely tight in and around the New Plymouth District Court yesterday amid rumours that the Bandidos had put a "hit" out on Rauhina.
Rauhina was arrested last month in New Plymouth following an alleged domestic incident in which his partner needed stitches to an eyeball after she had been punched.
About 12 uniformed and plain clothes police were in court for Rauhina's brief appearance, while security guards used a metal detector to check everyone entering.
Several people at the hospital became intimidated by his demands for treatment.
Taranaki police were unaware he was living in New Plymouth before he was arrested.
He has subsequently been charged with injuring with intent and disorderly behaviour. .
Rauhina was one of six Rebels arrested in January following an 11-month Queensland police operation targeting motorcycle gangs.
At least one shot was also fired.
A number of Bandidos members were knocked from their bikes and allegedly assaulted with baseball bats and lengths of timber.
Police intelligence indicated the alleged attack was revenge for an earlier altercation between the rival gangs.
Police intelligence indicated the alleged attack was revenge for an earlier altercation between the rival gangs.
Crown prosecutor James Gurnick and defence counsel Rob Harrison met with Judge Keith de Rigger for close to half an hour in chambers before Rauhina entered the court handcuffed to a prison guard, as family and friends filled the front row of the public gallery.
The understands a condition of Rauhina's bail to leave Australia was an undertaking he must return to answer the charges.
His chances of bail look remote, however, as Australian authorities appear keen to have him extradited as soon as possible.
He entered no plea and was remanded in custody until next week when he is expected to seek bail.
The understands his New Zealand charges could be wiped to allow that extradition to happen more swiftly.
Brisbane police could not comment about the case yesterday because the officer in charge was absent.

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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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REUTERS – French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday he understood the anger over the arrest of a journalist, distancing himself from two ministers who had defended the justice system over the affair.

Vittorio de Filippis was arrested at dawn on Friday on the orders of a French judge investigating allegations of defamation involving comments posted by a reader on the website of the journalist’s newspaper, Liberation.

He said a policeman who arrested him in front of his children had called him worse than scum.

Filippis was a senior editor at the paper in 2006 when the offending comment was posted and is therefore held responsible under French law for the libel charges.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and Justice Minister Rachida Dati both defended the arrest on Monday and said legal authorities had followed normal procedures. He was handcuffed and strip-searched twice before being questioned by a judge then released.

With passions rising, Sarkozy tried to ease tensions. .

The president understands the emotions caused by the execution of a judicial warrant in a case of defamation, his office said in a statement. He said he wanted to change the law and decriminalise defamation, thereby removing the threat of arrest and imprisonment.

The defamation case against Liberation newspaper was lodged by a French businessman who has already lost two other libel actions against it.

He said he had already asked experts to review libel laws, adding that the legislation might change next year. Justice Minister Dati said he had not responded to three separate summons to talk to the judge.

Liberation editors said they had been willing to meet judge Muriel Josie to discuss the allegations and that there had been no need to haul in Filippis.

France – Nicolas Sarkozy

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Minister sinks varsity fee bid

Thursday, 27 November 2008

Education Minister Anne Tolley has rejected an attempt by universities to seize control of student fees, and is asking them to tighten their belts.
According to a proposal released yesterday, the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee wants the Government to raise its funding of $1. .149 billion by $230 million a year.
"We have five law schools. "It's nonsense for the Government to be controlling fees."
Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Pat Walsh said they believed they would set student fees responsibly, so fears that "we're going to be gouging outrageous fees out of students would not be warranted". Those students should be paying a hell of a lot more than people who are going to do a history degree, as a result of the difference in lifetime earnings.
"We don't want the fees to go up at all.
The National Government had inherited a policy which prevented fees rising by more than five per cent a year, a policy Ms Tolley said she would not change.
But the Government would look at ways to trim red tape to find more money for universities before the next Budget. They're going to have to cut their costs really," she said. Any funds we can release . "We believe the bureaucracy is too great…"
Mr Fletcher said because universities were putting off maintenance on their buildings, they risked losing students and teaching staff to "across the ditch". we'll certainly put back into frontline services as soon as we can. I mean it's Dickensian.
"You go into the Auckland medical school building and have a look."
Derek McCormack, Auckland University of Technology's vice-chancellor, said the present situation was untenable "when the Government says it cannot fund any more and it won't allow students to pay higher fees. It is an absolute disgrace."
Ms Tolley said the vice-chancellors' committee's report was a starting point for talks early next year. You can't shut both doors and expect universities to maintain their standards…. to look at ways of paring back some of the compliance costs which put economic pressure on those institutions."

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A French appeal court overturned Monday a ruling that annulled the marriage of a Muslim couple after the husband discovered his bride was not a virgin, the husband’s lawyer said.

Public outrage at April’s annulment ruling forced the government to order the case be reviewed, against the wishes of both spouses. .

This ruling is very worrying, the groom’s lawyer Xavier Labbee said after Monday’s decision by a court in the northern town of Douai, adding: Our individual liberties are seriously threatened.

His wife, who admitted to him she had had pre-marital sex, said she accepted the annulment.

State prosecutors had said they were not against allowing the split if it were possible to replace the discriminatory motive of loss of virginity with a more general one, such as mistaken identity.

Lawyers for both parties had requested at a hearing in September that the annulment be maintained.

The court in the northern city of Lille that granted the initial annulment did not mention the couple’s religion but said the man’s belief in the woman’s virginity was a determining factor in his decision to marry her.

The ruling drew furious protests from rights groups, who slammed it as a victory for religious fundamentalists and a blow to the emancipation of women that set a dangerous legal precedent.

It said he had been misled about an essential quality of his bride-to-be.

Dati finally ordered an appeal in the face of a wall of protest, but she continued to insist the ruling was legally sound, based on a breach of trust between the pair, not the issue of virginity itself.

Some 150 European parliament members wrote to France’s Muslim-born justice minister, Rachida Dati, denouncing it as an unacceptable encroachment of religion in the public sphere.

Marriage – Muslim
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The justice minister also warned the case should not be used to stigmatise France’s five-million-strong Muslim community, Europe’s largest

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‘Socialist Left factions in dire straits in Paris’

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

Paris mayor Betrand Delano&euml has called Socialist party militants to vote for his rival Martine Aubry during Thursday election to choose the party new leader. On Sunday, the race former front runner had announced he was stepping down, but withheld from giving his supporters voting instructions, a sure sign the bitter climate that plagued the weekend negotiations between himself and the former employment minister. He claims that the very identity of the Socialist party is at stake, adding that militants have a huge responsibility to elect the right person.

In a letter addressed to all socialist militants in the aftermath of the party annual congress in Reims, Delano&euml wrote that he had made up his mind to support Aubry candidacy and called to vote massively in her favour. 6, Bertrand Delano&euml proposed motion came in second, behind that led by former presidential candidate S&eacutegol&egravene Royal.

When party members first voted on Nov.

Despite her relative popularity among grassroots militants, Royal is detested by other leading figures in the party and found herself isolated after the initial vote. The motion led by Lille mayor Martine Aubry came in a close third.

Bertrand Delanoë – French politics – Martine Aubry
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Air NZ flight in emergency landing

Manawatu Standard Monday, 17 November 2008

JONATHAN CAMERON/Manawatu Standard
DISRUPTION: An Air New Zealand flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Palmerston North airport after an engine failed 10 minutes into a flight.

An Air New Zealand flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Palmerston North airport after an engine failed 10 minutes into a flight.
The Q300 plane, which had33 passengers onboard, was flying from Napier to Wellington when one of the propeller engines malfunctioned just before midday.
Passenger Mike Rodgers, of Gore, heard a bang when the engine shut down and saw oil seeping from the propeller.
The pilot shut the engine down and flew to Palmerston North with a single engine.
Fire fighters and St John ambulance crews were called to the airport but were not needed.
No passengers were injured but a few were shaken by the experience, he said.
Palmerston North airport operations manager Roy Bodell said the passengers had alternative travel arrangements made by Air New Zealand.

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France narrowly avoided slipping into recession in the third quarter of 2008 with growth of 0.14 percent compared to the second quarter, Economy and Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Friday.

The French statistics institute INSEE, due to release official figures later Friday, earlier estimated that the economy would contract 0.

The figure is astonishing because everyone was expecting a negative figure and preparing for a recession, which is technically two consecutive quarters of negative growth, Lagarde said.3 percent in the second quarter.1 percent in the three months to September after shrinking 0.5 (percent) or Britain on minus 0.

France, unlike Germany on minus 0.14 percent, Lagarde said.5 (percent) has a positive 0.

Household consumption and business investment are the two drivers which in the third quarter pushed France past Germany and Britain, the minister said.

This is good news and shows that France is not technically in recession, she said, adding that government policies are beginning to have an impact.3 percent after a fall of 1.

Household consumption held up better than in the second quarter, she said, while business investment grew 0.

External trade, the other major component of the economy, was neutral.0 percent in the three months to June.0 percent this year but recently cut its 2009 forecast to a range of 0. .5 percent.2-0.9 percent this year and zero in 2009 while the International Monetary Fund expects a recession next year with a contraction of 0.

The European Commission puts French growth at 0.

economy – France – recession
.5 percent