Two a penny

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AFP – France’s ambassador to Tehran is due Saturday to hold a second meeting with a French woman lecturer jailed there on charges of spying, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told lawmakers.

French envoy Bernard Poletti visited Clotilde Reiss last week in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, her first meeting with him since she was detained at Tehran airport on July 1 on her way to Beirut.

Kouchner said during a parliamentary question session the second visit would take place if all goes as planned, and that based on telephone contacts the 23-year-old seemed to be in good physical and mental health.

A recent masters graduate, Reiss had been a lecturer at the technical university in Iran’s historic city of Isfahan for the past five months.

We found her to be resilient, lively and hoping above all for her release, he said, adding that Reiss had been able to speak Farsi to fellow inmates.

We are doing everything in judicial terms to answer the five charges weighing against her, including the unbelievable accusation of espionage, the minister said.

Kouchner said Paris was doing all it could to secure her release, warning that we cannot accept that this innocent young woman be imprisoned. .

Kouchner also told lawmakers that Paris would recognise Ahmadinejad’s re-election, while saying it would continue to build ties with the opposition movement ranged against him.

Iranian officials accuse her of taking part in protests in Isfahan and of sending an e-mail to a friend in Tehran that contained information on the rallies, according to French officials.

Bernard Kouchner – espionage – France – Iran – prison
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He said that as Ahmadinejad had been proclaimed president it would be useless and counterproductive for France alone to reject this

.Dane Nicki Sorensen has powered to a solo victory in the 12th stage of the Tour de France, beating France’s Laurent Lefevre and Italian Franco Pellizotti.
The Saxo Bank rider went it alone to finish the 211.5-kilometre trek from Tonnerre to Vittel.
Sorensen featured in a seven-man breakaway at the 64-km mark that quickly built a gap of over four minutes – and he proved the strongest of the group.
Italy’s Rinaldo Nocentini retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
Lance Armstrong suffered a puncture after 150km but the seven-times champion was quickly brought back into the bunch by four team-mates after he had had his rear wheel changed.
Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans also tried their luck early in the stage but they were swiftly reined in by the bunch.
The stage went the fugitives’ way as the sprinters’ teams proved unwilling to work in the finale to set up a mass sprint.
The duo did not look back as the gap with the peloton went past the six-minute mark, and Sorensen went solo 5.
Sorensen and Sylvain Calzati attacked the breakaway group with 22 km left with only Nocentini’s AG2R team setting the pace in the main pack.
Friday’s 13th stage will take the peloton over 209 km to Colmar with the tricky ascent to the Col du Platzerwasel on the menu.5 km from the line.
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AFP – French youths burned 317 cars and wounded 13 police officers overnight during the now traditional bout of street violence on the eve of the Bastille Day national holiday, police said Tuesday.

As French troops and their guests of honour from the Indian army made last minute preparations for the July 14 parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris, the suburbs of major cities were contemplating another clean-up operation.7 percent on 2008 — and 240 arrests, almost double the total for the same period last year. .

The injured officers, 12 members of the police and one gendarme, were mainly suffering from hearing difficulties after being targeted by youths throwing fireworks and small-scale home-made explosives.

These numbers were expected to increase as fresh reports came in.

Today, disaffected youths from bleak suburban housing projects around major cities use it to express their frustration with high unemployment rates and what they see as France’s failure to integrate ethnic minorities.

France marks Bastille Day as the anniversary of July 14, 1789, when a revolutionary mob stormed the Parisian prison and set in motion the events that would lead to the overthrow of the monarchy.

France

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Fourteen members of the Barbarians, a self-styled Paris gang, will be retried for their role in the brutal murder of a Jewish man, according to French officials, following complaints that their sentences were too light.

The announcement followed a statement by French Justice Minister Mich&egravele Alliot-Marie earlier Monday that the sentences handed down to some gang members were too lenient.

Alliot-Marie was responding to Friday sentencing of members of the self-styled Barbarians gang who kidnapped, tortured and killed Ilan Halimi, a Jewish mobile phone salesman, in 2006.

On Friday, a French court sentenced gang leader Youssouf Fofana to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 22 years. The details of the attack were particularly horrifying and sparked a public debate on hate crimes in France.

The court handed lower sentences to 26 accomplices, including nine years for the young woman who lured Halimi into the gang’s trap. Fofana, who admitted killing Halimi at the end of the 24-day ordeal, mimicked applause as the sentence was announced Friday. Prosecutors had asked that she be given a 12-year sentence.

Angry response to the sentences

The sentences drew an angry response from Jewish groups as well as members of the victim family.

Fofana principal accomplices were handed sentences of 15 and 18 years.

We know what torture he endured over three weeks and it is obvious that the sentences were too short, she said.

Their sentences were light compared to Ilan&#039s sufferingYa&eumll Halimi, sister of victimIn an exclusive interview with them Monday, Halimi&rsquo sister, Yael, said she was reassured by Alliot-Marie quick intervention. . We hope that a new trial will be convened and that the whole business will be judged much more severely.

Honey trap

Mobile phone salesman Halimi disappeared in 2006 after going on a date with a girl he had met at his workplace.

Honey trap

Mobile phone salesman Halimi disappeared in 2006 after going on a date with a girl he had met at his workplace.

Halimi endured 24 days of brutal torture while the gang tried to extort a ransom of 450,000 euros from his family.

She led him to an empty apartment where he was set upon by Fofana and his accomplices.

Halimi died on his way to hospital.

When it became evident the family could not pay, Fofana doused Halimi in alcohol, stabbed him, set him alight and dumped his naked body by a railway track.

anti-Semitism – France – justice

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AFP – Workers at a bankrupt French car parts supplier are threatening to blow up their factory unless carmakers Renault and PSA-Peugeot pay them compensation, a union official said Sunday.

The 366 employees of New Fabris in central-eastern Chatellerault, are occupying the plant to demand that the auto giants — who accounted for 90 percent of their business — pay 30,000 euros (42,000 dollars) to each worker. Everything has been planned for it to blow up, unless there is an accord by July 31, Guy Eyermann, CGT union official and secretary of the company works council, told AFP. .

We are not going to let PSA and Renault wait until August or September to recover the spare parts and machines still in the factory, he warned.

The Chatellerault factory is thought to house car parts worth some two million euros, as well as a new Renault machine estimated at a further two million, the union leader said.

Eyermann said two coachloads of workers had visited Peugeot headquarters last week, and a similar delegation would head Thursday to visit Renault bosses and the French employment ministry to try to negotiate a settlement.

If we get nothing, they get nothing at all.

The New Fabris workers, whose employer was declared bankrupt on June 16, claim that Renault and PSA paid some 30,000 euros to 200 workers laid off from another supplier, the aluminium specialist Rencast.

They hope to force the state to put pressure on the carmakers, which both received public funds to help them through the global downturn.

Founded in 1947 by two brothers, Eugene and Quentin Fabris, New Fabris started out making sewing machine parts, before branching out into the auto sector, employing up to 800 workers in the 1990s.

auto industry – bankruptcy – Economic crisis – France – Renault

.Workers at collapsed French car parts maker New Fabris have threatened to blow up their factory if they do not receive payouts from auto groups Renault and Peugeot to compensate for their lost jobs by July 31.
New Fabris was declared in liquidation in April, so the workers stand to get no redundancy money, although they are entitled to draw state unemployment benefit.
“The bottles of gas have already been placed at various parts of the factory and are connected with each other,” CGT trades union official Guy Eyermann told France Info radio.
They want Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen to pay 30,000 euros ($53,500) for each of the 336 staff at the factory, or some 10 million euros in total, in return for its remaining stocks of equipment and machinery.
A delegation of the workers has a meeting on Thursday (local time) with Renault, which had no immediate comment.
“If Renault and PSA refuse to give us that money it could blow up before the end of the month,” he added. .
Police also declined to comment on the threat by the workers, who are occupying the New Fabris factory at Chatellerault, near Poitiers, in central France.
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.Lance Armstrong has not ruled out extending his comeback to have a crack at the 2010 Tour de France. .
Asked on French television whether this would be his last participation at the Tour de France, Armstrong said: “Probably not.
Ahead of a second week of racing which could well decide this year’s yellow jersey, the American, who initially retired after his record seventh victory in 2005, said he may return to the race next year.”
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AFP – A group of 23 teenagers from the Paris region have fallen ill with the H1N1 flu virus at a school camp in the Alps and have been isolated in special rooms at the centre, a local official said on Saturday.

At the moment they are being treated there, said the official with the local prefecture, adding that doctors were sent to the camp on Saturday. About 10 other children at the camp, also from the Paris area, have no symptoms, he said.

Also on Friday, the British health authorities announced the first death from H1N1, also known as swine flu, of an otherwise healthy patient.

On Friday, the French authorities said there were 434 confirmed cases of H1N1 in France, 383 of them in the capital, and that 309 of the cases had originated abroad.

France – health – INFLUENZA A (H1N1)
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.Italian Rinaldo Nocentini has taken the Tour de France yellow jersey as Spaniard Alberto Contador dramatically replaced Astana team-mate Lance Armstrong in second place overall.
On the first of three consecutive days in the Pyrenees mountains, Frenchman Brice Feillu upset the form book to claim an impressive victory after 224 kilometres of racing from Barcelona.
However, it was Contador’s attack of a small group containing all the main favourites inside the final two kilometres of the 10.
The Spaniard’s effort moved him up from third to second place overall at only six seconds behind Nocentini, and well within sight of the race lead.1km climb to Arcalis which provided the most drama.
But he played down suggestions that Contador’s attack was designed to rubber stamp his status as the team’s official leader.
Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel said their principal strategy had been to allow an early breakaway to go all the way to the finish.
“No one had specific instructions to attack,” said Bruyneel, who added that he would have been happier if Nocentini had more of an advantage on Contador. We’d hoped for a bit more.
“Six seconds is not a lot. I thought a rider like (Carlos) Sastre, (Cadel) Evans or (Andy) Schleck might attack.
“Our second strategy was just to set the tempo and wait for the attacks. In the end it was good for us because it allowed us to keep the team more or less together.
“But I think the wind was a factor.”
Feillu, racing at the Tour for the first time and the brother of Agritubel team-mate Romain, attacked a small group of frontrunners 5.”
Feillu, racing at the Tour for the first time and the brother of Agritubel team-mate Romain, attacked a small group of frontrunners 5.
A second peloton including all the yellow jersey contenders at that point trailed the frontrunners by around five minutes.1km climb to the race’s first summit finish.
Evans’ brief acceleration was easily countered by Armstrong and after an attempt by the Australian’s team-mate Jurgen Van den Broeck, Contador flew away from the group and went on to finish the race on his own.
After a first attack from two-time Tour de France runner-up Evans, Armstrong and Contador’s Astana team took things in hand.
That honour, however, went to Nocentini, who rides for the French AG2R team.
It was initially announced that the Spaniard, the 2007 champion, had done enough to take over the yellow jersey after he came over the finish 3:26 behind Feillu and ahead of Armstrong’s group.
Overnight leader Fabian Cancellara of the Saxo Bank team dropped down the overall standings after struggling to keep pace with the chasing peloton.
“I knew I had a chance of taking the yellow jersey today,” said Nocentini, racing at his first Tour after years of asking his AG2R manager.
Because it contained no real yellow jersey favourites – Nocentini started the day 3:13 behind Cancellara – they were allowed to race ahead.
Feillu showed his ambition by jumping into an early breakaway that worked together to build a lead of over 13 minutes on the peloton.
“I can’t believe it! It’s my first Tour and now I’ve won a stage.
“I can’t believe it! It’s my first Tour and now I’ve won a stage. .
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.Michael Rogers suffered a heavy crash during the rain-hit sixth stage of the Tour de France overnight, dealing a blow to his hopes of a top 10 finish in Paris.
Rogers, riding for the Columbia team, appeared to take down Cervelo sprinter Heinrich Haussler and American David Zabriskie of Garmin as the peloton negotiated a roundabout.
The Australian, who finished ninth overall in 2006 but had to abandon after a serious crash on the eighth stage in 2007, was later taken to hospital for X-rays complaining of a sore elbow. .
Together with Cadel Evans, the Australian time trial champion had been Australia’s main hope for a high-ranking overall place in this year’s Tour.
Defending yellow jersey champion Carlos Sastre of Spain was the first rider to hit the tarmac, the Cervelo rider coming down after just 10 minutes after the start in Girona.
Stage Six, a treacherous run from Gerona to Barcelona, was won by Norwegian Thor Hushovd and ended his frustrating wait for victory on this year’s Tour.
He was eventually brought back into the race, apparently unhurt, by his team-mates, who finished the day celebrating their first Tour de France victory after Norwegian Thor Hushovd won a sprint to the finish line.
Boonen, who was only given an 11th hour reprieve to start the race from the Court of Arbitration for Sport – having not been invited by organisers following a second positive test for cocaine – is set to start on Friday.
Later in the race Belgian’s Tom Boonen, of Quick Step, got up limping and in apparent pain after he crashed with another rider as they chased down David Millar’s breakaway in the closing kilometres.
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In all 21 injured riders appeared on the official medical report after the stage, most with scrapes and bumps which should allow them to start Friday’s 224km monster stage in the Pyrenees mountains