.Veteran French rocker Johnny Hallyday has been released from a Los Angeles hospital where he underwent a back operation earlier this month, his publicists said.
“The doctors judged that Johnny Hallyday’s current state of health has improved and justifies a return home to his family while he continues to receive the medical treatment he needs,” they said.
He will spend Christmas at his home in Los Angeles with his wife Laeticia and two daughters.
He has begun legal action to determine whether the surgeon who performed the operation in Paris was at fault and earlier this week submitted a letter to French judges declaring that he had “come close to death”.
Hallyday, 66, who had been due to resume a concert tour in January, was admitted to the Cedars-Sinai hospital on December 7 suffering complications after an earlier operation in Paris.
His health problems have forced the cancellation of the remainder of his concert tour, prompting widespread speculation about the likely financial impact for insurers and promoters.
Hallyday, one of France’s most popular entertainers in a career spanning almost 50 years, is particularly famous for his energetic live performances.
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.Four Eurostar trains with hundreds of people on board have broken down in the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France.
The trains were on their way from Paris to London when they suffered serious technical failures and rescue locomotives are being sent down the tunnel to get the passengers out.
A Eurostar spokesman says the breakdowns happened when the trains entered the tunnel where temperatures were higher compared to the sub-zero conditions in northern France.
A total of around 1,200 to 1,300 passengers from two of the trains in one tunnel are being evacuated on an empty vehicle shuttle being sent to collect them from the other tunnel, the spokesman said.
“Currently the tunnels are closed,” the spokesman said, calling the situation “unprecedented”.
“At the moment we’re not giving timescales.
The third train, in the other tunnel, is scheduled to be pushed out later. We hope to get this done as quickly as possible,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said the passengers are safe and well as the heating and electricity systems in the carriages are functioning.
A fourth passenger train had earlier broken down and was pulled to its London terminus. They have been stranded for several hours and its not yet clear when they’ll reach London.
But for the hundreds on board each train it could be a long night.
“Subsequent to that, as the snow stopped falling, we were preparing to run shuttles through with passengers from the UK, and we had a succession of Eurostar breakdowns in the tunnel.
“The weather in France was absolutely appalling and we were cooperating with the French authorities to limit the amount of traffic getting through to the French motorways,” the spokesman said. .
“There are currently three Eurostars broken down blocking both tunnels.
“That’s an awful lot of people to move safely from one train into a service tunnel and then from that service tunnel through on to a shuttle.
“We’re talking about 600 to 700 people on each train.”
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“Nobody’s been transferred, we’re working it through as safely and as smoothly as we can
.A protester who presented himself as an Iraqi journalist in exile has hurled a shoe at the colleague who a year ago found fame by throwing his own footwear at then-US president George W Bush.
Television reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi was in Paris to promote his campaign for the “victims of the US occupation in Iraq” when a fellow Iraqi critic turned the tables on him, shouting: “Here’s another shoe for you.
The shoe was thrown hard at Mr Zaidi’s head, but he managed to dodge it and it bounced harmlessly off a curtain erected behind the speakers by the event’s hosts, the Foreign Press Welcome Centre in Paris.”
The thickset man with an Iraqi accent made a brief speech in Arabic during the question-and-answer session, defending US policy and accusing Mr Zaidi of “working for dictatorship in Iraq”, before throwing his shoe.
“When I used this method, it was against the occupation.
Mr Zaidi’s brother grappled with and slapped the man, whom witnesses later described as an asylum-seeker they know only as Khayat, before venue staff and bystanders separated them and the aggressor was hustled away.
“I always knew the occupier and his lackeys would stop at nothing to get to me. I did not use it against a compatriot,” Mr Zaidi said.
Mr Zaidi, a journalist for Iraq’s Al-Baghdadia television, threw his shoes at Mr Bush during the US leader’s final visit to Iraq, protesting the six-year-old occupation with a cry of: “This is the farewell kiss, you dog.”
Following the commotion, the news conference continued with Mr Zaidi taking questions about his famous assault on Mr Bush on December 14 last year, which was shown around the world and made him a hero in the Arab world.
Asked about the huge sums and even offers of marriage made by admirers during his jail term, Mr Zaidi said he had asked his family to refuse all gifts “until I find a way that they can be passed on to the people of Iraq”. .
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.Any slim hopes Ireland still harboured of competing at the 2010 World Cup were finally snuffed out overnight with FIFA saying there was no way they would take part as a 33rd team.
In a desperate last ditch bid to salvage a place in this week’s draw, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) approached FIFA several days ago and asked to be admitted as a 33rd team with another side, possibly Costa Rica, being added as a 34th.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed this week that it would be put to an extraordinary meeting of world’s football’s governing body in Cape Town on Wednesday.
“We have to be clear that Ireland will not be invited to play at the 2010 World Cup,” he said at a press conference here ahead of the draw on Friday.
But FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke made clear there was no way that Ireland would be playing.
“They asked the question but the FIFA president was very clear in saying it was impossible because if we did so then why not Costa Rica and others?
“We told them that because they were making a special request that we would bring it to the attention of the FIFA executive committee members and it is what we will do tomorrow.
“There was a request made by the FAI when we met them in Zurich a few days ago.
“But you can imagine what it would mean, I would not say it’s a nonsense, but it is impossible.”
Irish players launched furious protests when they were eliminated in a play-off with France, after a controversial handball by French captain Thierry Henry led to the decisive French goal. There is no hope at all that there will be more than 32 teams at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Blatter an embarrassment
The way Blatter revealed the Irish request to be a 33rd team to the world’s media was attacked by Ireland assistant manager Liam Brady, who described the FIFA boss as “an embarrassment”.
The play-off was poised at 1-1 on aggregate in the second leg in Paris when Henry controlled the ball with his hand before teeing up William Gallas for the winner.
“He’s a bit of a loose cannon.
Brady said the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) had expected FIFA to consider the matter in private. He’s an embarrassment to FIFA,” he told Britain’s Sky Sports News. He’s an embarrassment to FIFA,” he told Britain’s Sky Sports News.”
The manner of France’s qualification provoked an international outcry with even Henry, who has been pilloried as a cheat around the globe, joining calls for a replay as “the fairest solution. I think my country deserves more recognition from Blatter.
One direct consequence of Henry’s handball could be that matches at the World Cup finals next year are played with two extra officials positioned on goal-lines, a system being tried out in this season’s Europa League. .
The draw takes place on Saturday at 5 am AEST, with the 90-minute ceremony determining not just who plays who, but where they play in a crime-ridden country entrusted with hosting Africa’s first World Cup.
It is expected to be a key issue at FIFA’s meeting on Wednesday.
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.A second auction of art and furniture once owned by Yves Saint Laurent has raised 8.9 million euros ($14.
The first sale of treasures belonging to Saint Laurent and his companion Pierre Berge raised more than 370 million euros in February in one of the biggest auctions Paris has ever seen.45 million), Christie’s says.
The November 17-20 auction featured almost 1,200 works that used to decorate various properties owned by the couple, including Chateau Gabriel – a 19th century Normandy country house.
Christie’s had estimated the second sale would rake in between 3 and 4 million euros, with all the proceeds going to an AIDS research charity.
Among the objects that saw heavy bidding were a pair of armchairs, made at the start of the 19th century, which eventually sold for 241,000 euros.
Christie’s says 98 per cent of the lots have found a buyer. It was valued at between 300 and 500 euros, but sold for 109,000 euros.
Another unexpected hit was an umbrella holder, which used to stand at the entrance to Saint Laurent and Berge’s Paris apartment.
Berge decided to sell it all after Saint Laurent died last year.
Saint Laurent and Berge built up one of the world’s biggest and most important private art collections over some five decades.
.Sting and Indigenous singer Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu got together in Paris this week to sing Every Breath You Take for French television.
“There’s always something to learn from other musicians,” Sting said in an interview..
“There’s always an exchange . They will surprise you with what they can do or what they can add to your own music..
Gurrumul – the 39-year-old award-winning Aboriginal singer praised for his “voice of an angel” – won a standing ovation at a Paris concert on Wednesday night (local time). Or you can teach them”.
In Britain, The Times said the blind singer’s voice was “as sumptuously soothing as a log fire on a freezing night”.
He is on a maiden European tour taking in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Britain and Ireland.”
Sting was in Paris for the promotion of his new album, If On A Winter’s Night – celebrating the winter season through traditional music and instruments, as well as his own songs.
Former Midnight Oil frontman and Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett has said the Arnhem Land musician – whose lyrics are mostly delivered in his people’s language – “sings so deeply and sweetly about his connection to family and country, the effect is transcendental.
The broadcast will also feature Gurrumul singing Wiyathul from his first self-titled solo album, which has sold more than 100,000 copies in Australia. .
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.Cadel Evans abandoned Silence Lotto to join BMC Racing Team in a bid to strengthen his claim for a maiden Tour de France victory, but the wheels could fall off the twice runner-up’s challenge before the race even starts.
Although the Australian world road race champion joined a group of experienced and talented riders, the American team’s participation in the 2010 Tour de France remains uncertain.
BMC is a Continental team (second division) while elite ProTour outfits are race organiser ASO’s top priorities when they draw their list of invitees for the Tour.
“We have a plan to go to the biggest races, including the Grand Tours,” BMC manager John Lelangue said.
However, BMC hopes the signing of Evans to a three-year contract, former world champion Alessandro Ballan and former Lance Armstrong lieutenant George Hincapie will be enough to prompt ASO to invite them. This will be possible since our sporting level has greatly improved in standard.
“That includes the Tour de France.”
Sixteen teams are already contracted to participate in next year’s tour, while 20 usually start with a further two allowed if the maximum number is reached.
Cervelo, former champion Carlos Sastre and green jersey winner Thor Hushovd’s team is almost certain to take part, leaving one guaranteed spot up for grabs with three teams vying for it.
Four teams – Sky, Armstrong’s RadioShack, Garmin and Katusha – will be at the prologue in Rotterdam next July thanks to their ProTour status and because they have already proven they can compete in a three-week event.
Belgian Lelangue was Phonak team manager when Floyd Landis won the Tour in 2006, only for the American to test positive for testosterone and lose his title.
BMC are candidates, along with French outfit Saur Sojasun and Dutch team Vacansoleil and although the American team boast two world champions in their ranks, manager John Lelangue’s patchy history with Tour organisers could play against them.
Evans, however, is unconcerned by the past events and insists he is examining forward rather than back.
Phonak was disbanded before resurfacing in 2007 as BMC, with the same owner, Andy Rihs, and Lelangue back at the helm. .
“Rihs comes back with another team and another project with the same goal after that experience shows his enthusiasm and passion for the sport,” Evans told the Cycling News website.
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ASO is expected to announce the list of teams taking part in March
.The Church of Scientology has been fined 600,000 euros ($972,000) by a French court for preying financially on its followers in the 1990s.
Officials have voiced regret however that a recent change in French law prevented the court from banning the religion outright. .
A lawyer for Scientology’s French operations, Patrick Maisonneuve, says he will appeal, but “the most important thing is that this association can continue to exercise its activities.
“Religious freedom is in danger in this country,” said Eric Roux, the spokesman for Scientology’s French Celebrity Centre.
But last month the French courts were alerted to a little-noticed legal change voted in by Parliament in May – the month the trial opened – which bars judges from dissolving an organisation convicted of fraud.”
Paris prosecutors originally asked the court to order the Celebrity Centre and Scientology’s Paris bookshop be dismantled.
The change has since been dropped, but this was not retrospective, hence Scientology’s protection from an outright ban.
Founded in 1954 by US science-fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology is recognised as a religion in the United States and claims a worldwide membership of 12 million.
Officials in Germany, Greece, Russia and elsewhere have accused the movement of tricking its members out of large sums, and in 1995 it was classified as a cult in France, where it claims 45,000 followers.
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The movement is best known for its Hollywood followers including Tom Cruise and John Travolta
.England has recovered from a 12-4 half-time deficit to defeat France 34-12 in the opening match of rugby league’s Four Nations tournament in Doncaster.
Teenage half-back Richie Myler scored two tries as Tony Smith’s side ran in 30 unanswered second-half points with Kevin Sinfield, Ryan Hall, Tom Briscoe and Lee Smith also crossing.
Sinfield added five goals, but England has plenty of work to do if it is to deny either Australia or world champion New Zealand claiming the title in the four-team event.
But England rallied just in time in front of an 11,529 crowd at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium – the highest for an Anglo-French international since 1952.
Tries from Vincent Duport and Kane Bentley put France 12-4 up by half-time as itsensed a first win over England for more than 27 years. .
France’s woes were compounded when Jean-Phillippe Baile was sent off for a high shot on Myler late in the game.
Smith said he was not concerned about France’s lightning start.
“We were a bit anxious and put a bit of pressure on one another.
“We were just a bit excited, even before the game,” Smith told Sky Sports. We knew if we did that they would struggle.
“We just had to settle down and build some pressure on the French.
“This is a new team, and it takes a little bit of time to get the combinations – and that showed tonight,” he said.”
Smith admitted that next week’s clash with Australia would represent a different proposition altogether.
“We go up about three rungs in class next week.
“We go up about three rungs in class next week.
.Australian rugby league star turned AFL recruit Karmichael Hunt has arrived at the French rugby union club Biarritz Olympique.
The Brisbane Broncos star shocked NRL fans earlier this year when he announced he was switching codes to play Australian Rules for the new Gold Coast club in 2011.
The star-studded Biarritz Olympique side is currently third on the Top 14 competition table after nine rounds.
Hunt has signed a six-month contract to play rugby union before he returns to start his AFL career in May next year.
His six-month contract with BOPB, based in the luxurious sea-side town of Biarritz near the Spanish border, is reportedly worth $300,000. .
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The short-term arrangement was reportedly nearly foiled after Hunt was ineligible to play as an emerging nation player from Cook Islands rather than an “import”