Two a penny

.Activists fighting for victims of French nuclear testing in the Pacific are stunned by conditions imposed in a compensation bill by France’s upper house.
There was praise in July when the National Assembly approved a bill for compensating the victims of tests carried out in French Polynesia and Algeria over more than three decades.
Roland Oldham, president of the Mororua e Tatou Association representing French Pacific nuclear test workers, told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat the actions of the French Senate reflected arrogance in metropolitan France towards its territories.
About 150,000 civilian and military personnel took part and many later developed serious health problems.
“For our Polynesian people it’s going to be hard.
He said the Senate has imposed strict requirements on applicants to prove their case on various grounds.
“A lot of us people don’t keep a document. A lot of our people won’t be part of compensation,” he said. So it’s going to be very difficult for them. We don’t have the same conception of things.
“It’s the same people that have done the nuclear testing in our place, in our island,” Mr Oldham said.”
He said the Senate had further rejected a bid by his organisation to be part of a compensation committee, which will now be made up of only people nominated by the French Ministry of Defence.”
Mr Oldham says the geographic zone from which claims would be considered has been greatly limited.
“They’ve been saying for many years that the tests are clean and today they’re going to decide about compensation on their own.
“And finally, there’s only one person decides if the case is going to be taken into account, [if a victim] is going to have compensation or not – and that’s the Ministry of Defence,” he said.
He says the views of Polynesians have not been taken into account. I mean, to me it’s very restricted.
“And they call that democracy. .”
He says Mororua e Tatou will now think about other strategies, including strong political action and seeking Pacific-wide support, to win their battle

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AFP – French soldiers providing protection on board French fishing ships in the Indian Ocean early Saturday fired on pirates to repel an attack, sources said.

Three small launches…

The soldiers at first fired warning shots, then they fired at the target, he added. (which were) close toly invisible and that we had on the radar at the last moment, chased us, a member of the crew of the Drennac, one of two fishing French vessels approached by the pirates, told by telephone. There were no casualties on the French side.

The incident took place 195 nautical miles (350 kilometres) north of the Seychelles. He said that the pirate skiffs that came under fire returned to a mother ship some 30 metres (90 feet) long.

The report was confirmed by a western source in the same area.

It proves that this measure (having soldiers on board) works, the western source said.

It is the first time that the French soldiers, who have been providing protection since July 1 on board about 10 French fishing ships off the Somalian coast, have opened fire on pirates.

A Spanish vessel, the giant tuna hauler the Alakrana, was captured September 2 on the high seas between Somalia and the Seychelles with 36 crew on board.

Spanish fishing vessels operating in the same region have called for the same protection measures but Madrid has so far refused. It is under surveillance from two frigates that are part of the European anti-piracy initiative Atalanta.

The pirates brought the vessel in towards the coast and it is currently anchored off Harardere, a central Somlia port.

Several warships involved in the Atalanta operation headed into that zone following the attempted attack on the cargo vessel.

The latest attack on the Glenan and the Drennec took place some 20 nautical miles (36 kilometres) from the place where pirates last week attacked a cargo vessel.

Five pirates were captured.

On Wednesday Somali pirates operating at night attacked a French military command ship and petrol tanker La Somme after mistaking it for a cargo vessel.

France – piracy – Seychelles

.The French resort of St Tropez hosts the Antipodes Film Festival this week, featuring about 50 movies from Australia and New Zealand.
The 11th edition of the festival opens today with New Zealand film Dean Spanley, directed by Toa Fraser and with a cast including Peter O’Toole and Sam Neill.
Anthony LaPaglia – the Australian actor who stars in the US television series Without A Trace – serves as head of the jury, which will hand out the Grand Prix des Antipodes award to one of the six full length films in competition.
Set in Edwardian England, the story centres on a father and son reconciling.
A dozen documentaries will also be featured at the festival, which runs to October 18. .
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.Two-time grand slam winner Amelie Mauresmo has announced that she will skip her final two tournaments of the season. . I don’t want to rush or force things,” she said on her website.
“I’m giving myself time to think before making a decision on the rest of my career,” she added.
The 30-year-old Frenchwoman will not compete as planned in tournaments in Linz and Luxembourg, and has not made any decisions yet on next season.
The former world number one, winner of the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, is now ranked 20th in the world.
Mauresmo got off to a good start early in the season, winning the Paris Indoor Open, but struggled to maintain her form.
She was dumped out of the second round of the US Open by Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak.
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The revelations were made in a 2005 autobiography The Bad Life and have surfaced after Mitterrand passionately defended film-maker Roman Polanski, who faces deportation from Switzerland were he was arrested to the United States for having had sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.0pt
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A senior aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday defended Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand who is facing calls for his resignation for having written about paying boys for sex.

Politicians from all parties have criticised Mitterrand for his attack on the United States.

French political debate sometimes takes on a pathetic form. The far-right National Front party has called for him to step down.

Asked whether Mitterrand should resign, he said: When there is a controversy as pathetic as this, with so much delay, I don&rsquot think there should be such drastic consequences. It excessive and quite undignified, Sarkozy adviser Henri Guaino said on France 2 television.

The experiences in the book are presented as a mixture of straight autobiography and more dreamlike reflection.

Guaino said there were no facts to back up the accusations and Mitterrand had not been subject to any legal complaints.

I got into the habit of paying for boys, Mitterrand wrote, adding that his attraction to young male prostitutes continued even though he knew the sordid details of this traffic.

I got into the habit of paying for boys, Mitterrand wrote, adding that his attraction to young male prostitutes continued even though he knew the sordid details of this traffic…

Mitterrand is the nephew of former Socialist President Francois Mitterrand and was drafted into Sarkozy centre-right cabinet in June. the abundance of very attractive and immediately available young boys put me in a state of desire. Sarkozy was delighted to have brought him on board, but now faces unease within his own UMP party over his choice of minister.

Although he was not a Socialist, his surname still reverberates in France and carries a lot of clout. .

France considers itself to be at the forefront of the fight against sex tourism but Guaino said Mitterrand would not compromise this position.

Although still openly siding with Polanski, Mitterrand has toned down his language, saying his emotions overtook him the day he heard that Switzerland had arrested the film director.

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Mitterrand was respected for his competence in the role of culture minister.

Frédéric Mitterrand – French politics

.Poland’s Robert Kubica will replace Spain’s double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso at Renault next season, the team said in a statement.
No details were given about the length of the contract, although Renault said it was from 2010 onwards.
The Pole won last year’s Canadian Grand Prix and had been approached by several teams, including Toyota and Williams, once BMW announced they were quitting the sport at the end of the season.
Kubica has driven for the BMW-Sauber team since 2006 while Alonso, one of the 24-year-old’s best friends in the paddock, is moving to Ferrari next year.
“I feel I have a special connection with this team because in 2005 I won the World Series by Renault.
“I am very happy I will be joining Renault in the 2010 season,” Kubica said.
“I share with Renault a strong winning mentality and feel comfortable with their friendly and open attitude.
“This gave me the chance to test with the team in Barcelona, which led to my debut in Formula One.”
Former champions Renault are licking their wounds after a scandal-hit year, with the team handed a suspended permanent ban from the sport for their role in a race-fixing controversy.
“I’m highly motivated and optimistic that together we can be at the front of the grid next year and, hopefully, fighting for the world title.
Kubica, an extremely quick and aggressive driver, has a no-nonsense style that will fit in well with the team’s restructuring.
Flamboyant former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned for life and engineering head Pat Symonds barred for five years.
Although he had an impressive first test with Renault, he was snapped up by BMW-Sauber from under their noses as a test driver.
The tall Pole has also come up the hard way, with no family wealth to support him and from a country with no previous involvement in Formula One.
“Ever since Robert made his grand prix debut in 2006, he has been on our radar as one of the most naturally talented drivers of his generation,” said Renault’s acting team principal Bob Bell.
He then replaced Canada’s 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve as a race driver halfway through 2006.
“Renault has high ambitions and hopes for the future of the team and we feel that Robert can play a big role in fulfilling them.
“He has delivered on that promise so it’s great to have secured him in one of our cars next season. .”
Renault did not mention the second driver, currently French rookie Romain Grosjean

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All Blacks great Jonah Lomu is adding his weight to rugby’s push for inclusion in the Olympics, being enlisted to help with the final push at a crucial meeting in Denmark this week.

Golf and rugby sevens are eyeing the pot of gold at the end of the Olympic rainbow, hoping the International Olympic Committee will admit them to the Games.

Lomu has been enlisted by the IRB to help push their cause.

They have won the nominations to be included on the 2016 Olympics programme in Rio de Janeiro but must be ratified by the 106 IOC delegates meeting in Copenhagen with a decision due on Saturday (NZ time).

Lomu made his name in sevens, winning Commonwealth Games and World Cup title. He will be presenting to the full IOC assembly at a podium on stage with three cameras around the auditorium and three massive screens set up at the back of the stage.

He is due to make another comeback to rugby in the lower ranks of the French club scene as he bravely fights back from a kidney transplant. His success in the abbreviated game launched an All Blacks career that made him arguably the sport’s biggest name with standout try-scoring efforts at the 1995 and 1999 World Cups. .

He will join IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset and Cheryl Soon, captain of Australia’s world champion women’s sevens team, as part of the rugby party that will urge the IOC assembly to rubber stamp their admittance to sport’s biggest stage.

The IOC session, meeting in the Danish capital, will put each of them to a separate vote, with a simple majority enough to see them included in the 2016 Games.

The two candidate sports could return after more than 80 years, with the Olympic status guaranteeing them a solid future and millions of dollars in improved TV deals, sponsorship and state funding.

The IOC wants to renew its sports programme to attract a younger generation as it revises its broadcasting plans to include new digital media.

“It will give both sports a shot in the arm,” Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship, told on Tuesday.

“So you will see more interest, more television, and then more sponsors because sponsors follow where the people go,” Morgan said.

Both sports are guaranteed expansion with funding from the IOC, increased broadcast rights deals and in some countries, automatic national funding as an Olympic sport if they are voted in.

. HSBC is a major sponsor of both sports

.Three French soldiers died in a lightning storm during an operation targeting Taliban bomb squads in the east of Afghanistan, the French military said.
One was killed by lightning and two others drowned, spokesman for the French armed forces general staff, Admiral Christophe Prazuck, said.
The fourth French soldier died when the armoured vehicle he was travelling in fell into a ravine in Surobi district.
In all seven NATO soldiers, including four French service personnel,died this weekend in Afghanistan, NATO and other authorities say.
In the first incident on Saturday, an American soldier died of wounds sustained when an improvised-explosive device (IED) detonated in southern Afghanistan, the force said. Five other French soldiers were also hurt, some of them seriously, the French military in Kabul said.
And a British soldier died on Sunday after a roadside explosion in the south, London’s Ministry of Defence said. .
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France has now lost 35 soldiers in Afghanistan, where it has 2,900 troops in the NATO-led coalition battling Taliban guerrillas and training Afghanistan’s national security forces

.The leaders of the United States, Britain and France have threatened tough new sanctions against Iran after it was publicly revealed last night that Tehran is building a second nuclear enrichment plant.
The plant’s size and structure according to US intelligence is consistent with enriching fuel to make nuclear weapons.
The three leaders threatened to hold Iran accountable if it failed to disclose all of its nuclear program.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the Iranian Government has been lying to the international community.
Iranian officials confirmed the country was building another enrichment plant, but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied it was hiding anything from nuclear inspectors. .
“Confronted by the serial deception of many years, the international community has no choice but to draw a line in the sand,” he said.
“The level of deception by the Iranian Government will shock and anger the whole international community and it will harden out resolve.
Mr Sarkozy says Iran has just two months to comply with the international demands.”
In a clear show of transatlantic unity, US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Mr Brown appeared jointly to disclose Iran’s secret enrichment plant.
“We cannot let the Iranian leaders gain time while the motors are running.
“Everything must be on the table now,” he said.”
The US has been monitoring the secret nuclear site for years, but Iran found out, forcing Mr Obama to go public with the explosive new intelligence.
“If by December there is not an in depth change by the Iranian leaders, sanctions will have to be taken.
“Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear power that meets the energy needs of its people, but the size and configuration of the facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program,” he said.
“Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear power that meets the energy needs of its people, but the size and configuration of the facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program,” he said.
China, also with a veto on the council, is reported to be still digesting the news.
Russia with a veto on the UN Security Council has financial and military trade ties with Iran and has been reluctant to impose economic sanctions on Iran, but Mr Medvedev agreed that IAEA must now be allowed to inspect the site.
He confirmed the existence of the facility but said it would not be operational for 18 months, and so Iran had not violated any international requirements.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, still in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting said Iran was keeping nothing from inspectors.
Mr Obama says he will pursue dialogue with any leader, including Iran’s, but director of the Heritage Foundation Dr Nile Gardiner says that is now going to be difficult.
Next week the five veto-wielding powers on the Security Council, plus Germany, are scheduled to hold talks with the Iranians, but today’s disclosure of the enrichment plant sounds more like the end of negotiations rather than a beginning.
The Obama administration is pessimistic about next week’s talks with the Iranians, and with a short timeline the UN is likely to be considering a resolution in November.
“There will now be calls I think on Capitol Hill for a far tougher approach be taken towards Iran, including potentially the use of force as a last resort against Iran’s nuclear facilities,” he said.

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AFP – The French navy on Friday scoured the Mediterranean Sea for a missing pilot after a likely mid-air collision between two Rafale fighter jets, a spokesman said.

The two jets were flying back to the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle after an unarmed test flight when they went down on Thursday.

The second pilot was found after he ejected from his supersonic jet. .

The pilot who was rescued recounted what he went through and the most plausible theory is a mid-air collision, navy commander Bertrand Bonneau told AFP. The rescued pilot, who was said to be safe and sound after the incident, was aged 40 and had clocked up 3,000 flight hours.

The 45-year-old missing pilot has clocked 5,000 flight hours.

The wrecked planes were around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the Charles de Gaulle, he said.

airplane crash – France – French military – Mediterranean Sea – Rafale
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A tugboat was on its way to the crash site to recover the planes, the navy commander said