Timeline France 2000-2011
Return to home
2000 Jan 1, In
southwestern France Robert Lund reported that his wife, Evelyn (52),
was missing from their home. He told investigators he believed she
had an accident after drinking heavily and setting off to visit
friends. Her body was found inside her car in Lake Bancalie in 2002.
Lund was sentenced to 12 years in jail in 2007 for the involuntary
homicide of his wife. Lund insisted he was innocent as his third
trial in the case opened in 2011. On Dec 16, 2011, Lund was
sentenced to 12 years in prison.
(AP, 12/12/11)(AFP, 12/16/11)
2000 Jan 13, In France a 50
member surgical team performed the world's first double-hand and
forearm transplant at Edouard-Herriot Hospital in a 17-hour
operation led by Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard.
(SFC, 1/15/00, p.A3)
2000 Feb 1, In France the new
35-hour work week took legal effect. Workers that included truckers
struck across the country for a number of demands that included
higher pay. The truckers were exempted from the reduced work week.
(SFC, 2/2/00, p.B2)
2000 Feb 5, Claude Autant-Lara,
film director, died at age 98. His over 30 films included "Le Diable
au Corps" (Devil in the Flesh), "Le Rouge et le Noir" (The Red and
the Black), based on the novel by Stendhal, and "La Traversee de
Paris" (Four Bags Full).
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A23)
2000 Feb 11, Roger Vadim, film
director, died in Paris at age 72. His 5 wives included Brigitte
Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda, Catherine
Schneider and Marie-Christine Barrault.
(SFC, 2/12/00, p.A21)(AP, 2/11/01)
2000 Apr 19, In the Brittany
region of France a bomb exploded in a McDonald’s restaurant in Dinan
and one worker was killed.
(SFC, 4/20/00, p.A18)
2000 Apr, The book “Journal de
1994, Campagne de France,” by Renaud Camus, was withdrawn from
bookstores due to anti-Semitic remarks. It returned to stores in
July with 10 of the inflammatory pages blank.
(WSJ, 8/7/00, p.A13)
2000 May 19, In France an
11-day strike by armored truck guards left the country short of
cash.
(SFC, 5/20/00, p.A9)
2000 May 20, Jean-Pierre
Rampal, classical flutist, died in Paris at age 78.
(SFEC, 5/21/00, p.B11)
2000 May 23, In France the
15-day strike by armored truck security guards ended after they
agreed to a risk premium of $138 per month.
(SFC, 5/24/00, p.C4)
2000 Jun 6, Frederic Dard,
novelist, died at age 78. His 300 novels included 140 in the “San
Antonio” detective series.
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.D5)
2000 Jun 15, Jules Roy,
Algeria-born Air Force pilot and author, died at age 92. His books
included “Les Chevaux du Soleil” (Horses in the Sun), “La Vallee
Heureuse” (Contented Valley) and “La Bataille dans les Rizieres”
(The Battle in the Rice Paddies).
(SFC, 6/16/00, p.A34)
2000 Jun 30, Germaine Montero,
singer, actress and poet, died at age 90.
(SFC, 7/1/00, p.C2)
2000 Jul 10, DASA (minus MTU)
merged with Aerospatiale-Matra of France and Construcciones
Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) of Spain to form the European
Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). DASA was founded as
Deutsche Aerospace AG on May 19, 1989 by the merger of
Daimler-Benz's aerospace interests (MTU, Dornier and two divisions
of AEG). In July 1989 the two AEG divisions were themselves merged
within Deutsche Aerospace to form Telefunken Systemtechnik (TST). In
December 1989 Daimler-Benz acquired Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
(MBB) and merged it into DASA.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DASA)
2000 Jul 25, In France a NY
bound Concorde jet crashed in Gonesse after takeoff and all 109
people aboard were killed along with 4 people on the ground.
Passengers included 96 Germans, 2 Danes and an Austrian. Debris from
a blown tire was later believed to have caused an engine fire. A 5th
body was found in the rubble of the Hotelissimo. It was the
first-ever crash of the supersonic jet. A final probe in 2002
attributed runway junk as the cause of the crash. A French accident
inquiry concluded in December 2004 that the disaster was partly
caused by the strip of metal that fell on the runway from the
Continental plane that took off just before the supersonic jet. In
2010 Continental was ordered to pay a fine of 200,000 euros for the
crash and to pay Concorde's operator Air France a million euros in
damages.
(SFC, 7/26/00, p.A1)(SFC, 7/27/00, p.A12)(SFC,
7/29/00, p.A12)(AP, 7/25/01)(SFC, 1/17/02, p.A8)(AFP, 12/6/10)
2000 Aug 29, Interior Minister
Jean-Pierre Chevenement resigned over a proposed peace plan for
Corsica. The plan offered limited rights to pass laws beginning in
2004 for the 250,000 inhabitants.
(SFC, 8/30/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 31, The government
announced a package of tax reductions worth $16.5 billion over 3
years.
(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D2)
2000 Sep 4, Farmers along with
and truckers and taxi drivers protested high fuel costs with
demonstrations at 80 facilities.
(SFC, 9/5/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 7, Taxi drivers began
“Operation Escargot,” driving into cities at a snails pace, to
protest gasoline prices.
(SFC, 9/8/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 9, Union leaders
called for an end to the 6-day fuel protests.
(SFEC, 9/10/00, p.A18)
2000 Sep 22, France allowed a
chartered aircraft with humanitarian personnel to fly to
Baghdad.
(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 24, Voters approved a
reduction in the presidents term of office to 5 years from 7.
(SFC, 9/25/00, p.A12)
2000 Oct, Rev. Rene Bissey was
convicted for raping and abusing 11 minors in the mid 1990s. He was
sentenced to 18 years in prison. In 2001 Bishop Pierre Pican was
convicted for keeping quiet about Rev. Bissey and received a 3-month
suspended sentence.
(SFC, 9/5/01, p.A8)
2000 Nov 22, Theodore Monod,
environmentalist, died at age 98. He was an expert on the Sahara
Desert and authored many books including: “Meharees,” “The
Hippopotamus and the Philosopher,” “Bathyfolages,” “Le Desert,” and
“memoirs of a Naturalist Traveler.”
(SFC, 11/23/00, p.D9)
2000 Dec 1, Michel Roussin,
former right-hand man of Pres. Jacques Chirac when he was mayor of
Paris, was arrested for a kickback scheme in school construction
projects.
(SFC, 12/5/00, p.A15)
2000 Dec 7, Some 4,000
protestors clashed with police at the opening of the EU summit in
Nice.
(SFC, 12/8/00, p.A20)
2000 Dec, Emile Louis, a
retired bus driver and convicted sex offender, was arrested for
kidnapping several mentally impaired women who disappeared from
Auxierre in the late 1970s.
(SFC, 12/20/00, p.A18)
2000 Pernod Ricard SA acquired
the Mexican tequila producer Viuda de Romero.
(WSJ, 9/7/05, p.B2)
2001 Jan 5, In 2007 it was
reported that a French intelligence document dated to this day
warned that al-Qaida was at work on a hijacking plot. The
information was passed on to the CIA. Documents on Osama bin Laden's
terror network were drawn up by the French spy service, the DGSE,
between July 2000 and October 2001.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2001 Jan 20, Dr. Charles
Merieux, virologist and founder of the Merieux Laboratory, died at
age 94. He helped produce the Salk vaccine cultivated in minced
monkey kidney tissue. He also produced a vaccine against a
meningitis strain that killed 4,000 people in Brazil in 1974.
(SFC, 1/27/01, p.A24)
2001 Jan 30, Thousands of
teachers, hospital workers and police marched across France to
demand pay increases. Some 17,000 marched in Paris.
(SFC, 1/31/01, p.A12)
2001 Jan 30, Actor Jean-Pierre
Aumont died at age 90. His 1976 autobiography was titled “Sun and
Shadow.”
(SFC, 1/31/01, p.C2)
2001 Feb 2, Alfred Sirven,
former 2nd in command of Elf Aquitaine, was arrested in Manila
following 4 years on the lam. He was involved in a
multimillion-dollar corruption case against Roland Dumas, a former
French foreign minister.
(SFC, 2/3/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb 17, The
Cambodian-registered East Sea freighter with 912 ethnic Kurds ran
aground off the French Riviera. The crew of the ship fled following
the intentional grounding. Criminal gangs in Turkey and Iraq were
reported to be behind the smuggling.
(SSFC, 2/18/01, p.D1)(SFC, 2/19/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb 17, Charles Trenet,
singer and songwriter known as Le Fou Chantant (The Singing Fool),
died at age 87. His songs included “La Mer” (1946), which Bobby
Darin made famous in 1960 as “Beyond the Sea.”
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A18)
2001 Mar 2, Alois Brunner,
former deputy of Adolf Eichmann, was sentenced to life imprisonment
for war crimes against humanity. He was believed to be still alive
in Syria, where he fled in 1954.
(SFC, 3/3/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 4, Jean Bazaine,
artist, died at age 96. He was know for his painting, mosaics and
stained-glass work.
(SFC, 3/6/01, p.B2)
2001 Mar 5, France banned
exports of animals at risk for hoof-and-mouth disease.
(SFC, 3/6/01, p.A11)
2001 Mar 13, US regulators
moved to ban all live animals and uncooked animal products from the
EU following the discovery of hoof-and-mouth disease in France.
(SFC, 3/14/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 18, Mayoral elections
were held in Paris. Bertrand Delanoe, candidate of the Socialist,
Communists and 2-other left-wing parties, won over Philippe Seguin.
Socialists also won in Lyon. This ended a century of nearly unbroken
rule by the right.
(SFC, 3/8/01, p.A12)(SFC, 3/19/01, p.A8)(AP,
3/18/02)
2001 Apr 13, Up to 15,000
people were evacuated from the region of Vimy due to fears of
explosions from a World War I bomb storage site.
(SFC, 4/14/01, p.A8)
2001 May 18, Loik Le
Floch-Prigent, former head of Elf Aquitane SA (1989-1994), told
newspapers that millions of dollars were paid in secret commissions
to African governments, Spain and Germany, with the approval of 5
presidents.
(SFC, 5/19/01, p.A8)
2001 May 30, Roland Dumas, a
former foreign minister, was sentenced to 6 months in jail for
corruption. Alfred Sirven, 2nd in command at Elf, was sentenced to 4
years in jail along with a fine. Loik Le Floch-Prigent, former Elf
president was sentenced to 3 ½ years in jail; along with a
fine. Christine Deviers-Joncour was sentenced to 3 years in jail
with half suspended.
(SFC, 5/31/01, p.A12)
2001 Jul 6, In France a tree
crashed on music spectators at the Chateau Pourtales near Strasbourg
and 10 people were killed.
(SFC, 7/7/01, p.B1)
2001 Jul 29, Lance Armstrong
won his 3rd straight Tour de France bicycle race.
(SFC, 7/30/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 8, Jacques Kerchache
(b.1942), French explorer and collector of primitive art, died in
Cancun, Mexico.
(Econ, 4/16/11, p.91)(http://tinyurl.com/3pyax8r)
2001 Sep 3, In France COGEMA, a
state-owned uranium mining and fuel recycling firm led by Anne
Lauvergeon, became Areva in a merger with Framatome, a maker of
nuclear reactors.
(www.freebase.com/view/en/areva)(Econ, 5/9/09,
p.70)
2001 Sep 21, In France a
suspected accidental explosion at a TotalFinaELF chemical fertilizer
plant in Toulouse killed 29 people and injured at least 650.
(SFC, 9/22/01, p.A20)(WSJ, 9/24/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 11, The highest
appellate court ruled that Pres. Chirac is immune from criminal
prosecution for corruption charges for his years as mayor of Paris,
but only while still in office.
(SFC, 12/30/01, p.D7)
2001 Oct 21, In Kazakstan a
3-person Russian-French crew blasted off for the Int’l. Space
Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The crew included Claudie
Haignere, who in 1996 became the 1st Frenchwoman in space.
(SFC, 10/22/01, p.B2)
2001 Oct 29, In Tours, France,
a masked gunman, later identified as a state railway employee,
killed 4 people. He was arrested and a grudge was suspected.
(WSJ, 10/30/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 26, Former French
intelligence chief General Paul Aussaressess testified that the
orders he issued to torture and kill prisoners during the Algerian
independence war were justifiable acts of duty.
(AP, 11/26/02)
2001 Nov 26, French and Belgian
police arrested 14 people suspected of organizing the Sep 9
assassination of Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masood. Belgium
released 12 of its suspects the next day.
(WSJ, 11/27/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/28/01, p.A1,12)
2001 Nov 28, French gendarme
Gerard Larroude received 8 bullet wounds in the head and throat in
an attack by ETA separatists in Pau, but survived the attack. In
2008 Ibon Fernandez de Iradi was found guilty of trying to kill
Larroude and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Antonio Agustin
Figal Arranz, a suspected accomplice, was sentenced to 10 years in
prison.
(www.cityfmradio.com/detalle_noticia.php?id_noticia=8928)
2001 Dec 11, In the first
criminal indictment stemming from Sept. 11, a US grand jury in
Virginia charged Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan
descent, with conspiring to murder thousands in the suicide
hijackings. Moussaoui pleaded guilty to conspiracy in 2005 and was
sentenced to life in prison.
(WSJ, 12/12/01, p.A1)(SFC, 12/12/01, p.A1)(AP,
12/11/06)
2001 Dec 18, Gilbert Becaud,
French singer and songwriter known as “Mr. 100,000 Volts,” died at
age 74. He was born as Francois Gilbert Silly in Toulon and his
songs included “What Now My Love” and “Let It Be Me.”
(SFC, 12/22/01, p.A28)
2001 Dec 22, Passengers and
flight attendants subdued Richard Colvin Reid on AA Flight 63 from
Paris to Miami. He appeared to have explosive materials in his
shoes. The flight was diverted to Boston and the FBI confirmed that
his shoes were packed with explosives. French police identified the
man as Tariq Raja (28), a Sri Lankan traveling on a British
passport. The sneakers contained pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN)
and triacetone triperoxide (TATP). On Jan 30, 2003 Reid was
sentenced to life in prison. A 2nd plot involved Saajid Badat, who
backed out of similar plan on a different flight. In 2005 a British
judge sentenced Badat (25) to 13 years in prison.
(SSFC, 12/23/01, p.A1)(SFC, 12/24/01,
p.A1,6)(SFC, 1/31/03, p.A1)(SFC, 4/23/05, p.A4)
2001 Dec 26, In France some 550
Iraqi Kurds, Afghans, Iranians and other refugees from the Sangatte
Red Cross center near the 33-mile Channel Tunnel attempted to reach
asylum in Britain. All were captured by French police.
(SFC, 12/27/01, p.A4)(AP, 12/25/02)
2001 Pernod Ricard SA acquired
the Polish vodka Wyborova, Czech bitters Jan Becher and Seagram’s
Martell cognac and Chivas scotch.
(WSJ, 9/7/05, p.B2)
2001 The crime rate in France
topped the US this year. Over 25,000 cars were burned in French
cities as violence increased primarily due to immigrant gangs from
sub-Saharan Africa, Romania and the former Yugoslavia.
(SSFC, 4/28/02, Par p.9)
2001 Traffic accidents in
France killed over 8,000 people this year. Speed cameras were
installed on roads beginning in 2003 and by 2005 the number of
deaths fell to just above 5,000.
(Econ, 10/21/06, p.61)
2002 Jan 1, New Euro bills
replaced the national currency.
(SFC, 12/4/97, p.C5)(SFC, 1/2/02, p.A8)
2002 Jan 11, Henri Verneuil,
film director, died at age 81.
(SFC, 1/11/02, p.A19)
2002 Feb 4, An 8-year
corruption investigation of Elf Aquitaine, privatized in 1994, ended
with 40 people implicated.
(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A6)
2002 Feb 18, France's Marina
Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat narrowly won the Olympic ice dancing
gold medal.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2002 Mar 15, Disney opened its
new $532.9 million movie-themed park adjacent to Disneyland Paris.
(WSJ, 3/12/02, p.B1)
2002 Mar 9, The Mont Blanc
tunnel reopened to connect Italy and France.
(SSFC, 3/17/02, p.C4)
2002 Mar 27, In France Richard
Durn (33), described as a tormented loner looking for a political
cause, opened fire at the end of a city council meeting in Nanterre,
a suburb of Paris, and killed 8 city council members. Durn jumped to
his death under police custody on Mar 28.
(SFC, 3/27/02, p.A7)(SFC, 3/28/02, p.A17)(AP,
3/27/07)
2002 Mar 29, France reported
the successful cloning of rabbits using genetic material from adult
cells.
(SFC, 3/30/02, p.A3)
2002 Mar 31, An arson attacked
destroyed Marseille’s Or Aviv temple. It was the 3rd synagogue
attack in France over the Passover weekend.
(SFC, 4/2/02, p.A8)
2002 Apr 21, The 1st round of
presidential elections put Jean-Marie Le Pen, a right wing
extremist, into a runoff with Pres. Jacques Chirac. Le Pen took 17%
of the vote vs. 16% for PM Lionel Jospin.
(SFC, 4/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 27, At least 200,000
protesters marched in cities around France in anger at the electoral
showing of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
(SSFC, 4/28/02, p.A12)
2002 May 5, In France Pres.
Chirac won a 2nd term in a landslide over extreme-right leader
Jean-Marie Le Pen.
(WSJ, 5/6/02, p.A1)(AP, 5/5/03)
2002 May 5, Antoine Riboud
(1918-2002), founder of French food firm Danone (1973), died.
(http://tinyurl.com/8sb5u)
2002 May 6, French Pres. Chirac
appointed Jean-Pierre Raffarin (center right) as PM.
(SFC, 5/7/02, p.A12)(Econ, 2/12/05, p.50)
2002 May 8, In Pakistan a bomb
destroyed a shuttle bus in Karachi. 11 of 14 dead were French naval
engineers helping to build a submarine for Pakistan. Asif Zaheer and
Mohammad Rizwan, who allegedly belonged to Al-Qaeda-linked extremist
group Harkatul Mujahideen al-Aalmi, were found guilty in 2003 of
assisting the suicide attack which also killed 3 Pakistanis. In May,
2009, a Pakistan court acquitted the two men sentenced to death over
the bombing. Mohammad Sohail Habib, who also allegedly belonged to
Al-Qaeda-linked extremist group Harkatul Mujahideen al-Aalmi, was
sentenced to death in his absence in 2003 for assisting the suicide
attack. Sohail was arrested in 2005 but was acquitted after a
six-month re-trial in an anti-terrorism court ordered on appeal by
the high court. In October, 2009, a Pakistani court acquitted Soheil
for lack of evidence.
(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A17)(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A8)(WSJ,
5/9/02, p.A1)(AFP, 5/5/09)(AFP, 10/30/09)
2002 May 21, Niki de Saint
Phalle (71), French pop artist, died in San Diego. Her work included
the Stravinsky Fountain outside the Pompidou Center in Paris.
(SFC, 5/23/02, p.A23)
2002 May 23, The Israeli
Embassy in Paris burned beyond repair. A faulty circuit was
suspected.
(SFC, 5/24/02, p.A16)
2002 Jun 9, Pres. Jacques
Chirac's mainstream right prevailed in a first round of elections
for France's 577-seat National Assembly.
(AP, 6/9/03)
2002 Jun 9, Albert Costa won
the French Open over fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.
(AP, 6/9/03)
2002 Jun 16, France's leftist
parliament became the latest casualty in Europe's rightward shift
with a crushing legislative victory by the mainstream right that
gave President Jacques Chirac full control of parliament.
(AP, 6/17/02)
2002 Jun 19, Air traffic
controllers in France and other nations went on strike to protest a
plan to dramatically reorganize the use of Europe's skies.
(AP, 6/19/02)
2002 Jun 22, The official
inauguration of the $89 million, Auvergne region European Volcanic
Park, was scheduled. It included a building complex designed by Hans
Hollein of Austria.
(WSJ, 4/18/02, p.D7)
2002 Jun 27, A US Air Force
pilot was killed when his A10 “Warthog” crashed during a training
mission in eastern France.
(SFC, 6/28/02, p.A14)
2002 Jun 29, Francois Perier
(82), a prolific and acclaimed actor whose presence on the French
stage and screen spanned three generations, died.
(AP, 6/29/02)
2002 Jul 14, Maxime Brunerie, a
man described as an emotionally disturbed neo-Nazi, tried to
assassinate French President Jacques Chirac. He pulled a rifle from
a guitar case and fired off a shot before being wrestled to the
ground during a Bastille Day parade. Brunerie, sentenced to 10
years, was released from prison in 2009.
(AP, 7/14/02)(AP, 8/22/09)
2002 Jul 31, US court papers
alleged that Russia's Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov (53) used his influence
with members of the Russian and French skating federations to fix
the outcome of the pairs and ice dancing competitions at the Salt
Lake City Winter Olympics last February. Tokhtakhounov was arrested
in Italy. Italy’s highest court denounced an extradition bid and
freed Tokhtakhounov.
(Reuters, 7/31/02)(SFC, 8/1/02,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alimzhan_Tokhtakhounov)
2002 Sep 7, In Paris over 6,000
people marched through to demand residency permits for France's
illegal immigrants in the largest of a series of recent rallies.
(AP, 9/7/02)
2002 Sep 10, In southeastern
France authorities said flooding and heavy rain had claimed the
lives of 26 people. Rescuers were searching for dozens of others
reported missing.
(AP, 9/10/02)
2002 Sep 12, Pres. Bush
addressed the UN and laid out his case against Iraq’s Pres. Saddam
Hussein. Bush was expected to announce US plans to rejoin Unesco,
headquartered in Paris. France favored a demand for weapons
inspectors in Iraq along with force if Iraq resisted.
(WSJ, 9/12/02, p.A1,4)(SFC, 9/13/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 14, In France Tim
Montgomery, American sprinter, set a 9.78 second record in the
100-meter dash at the IAAF Grand Prix in Paris. In 2004 he admitted
to using steroids and a growth hormone. In 2005 he was banned from
track for 2 years and his 2001-2005 records were expunged.
(SFC, 6/24/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/14/05, p.A1)
2002 Sep 18, A French appeals
court ordered wartime collaborator Maurice Papon freed, accepting
his lawyers' arguments that the 92-year-old is too sick to finish
his 10-year sentence for helping send Jews to Nazi death camps.
(AP, 9/18/07)
2002 Sep 25, Explosives
(pentrite) were discovered on a Moroccan jet after passengers left
the flight at an airport in eastern France. There was no detonator
attached to the 3 1/2 ounces of explosives discovered in the
passenger section of a Royal Air Maroc airplane after it landed at
the Metz-Nancy-Lorraine airport.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2002 Sep 25, US military C-130s
and US troops landed in Ivory Coast to rescue Americans. American
schoolchildren escaped a rebel-held Ivory Coast city that was under
siege as US special forces and French troops moved in to rescue
Westerners caught in the West African nation's bloody uprising.
(AP, 9/25/02)(AP, 9/25/07)
2002 Oct 1, The French
bolstered their forces in Ivory Coast, flying in reinforcements and
establishing a tactical command post for military action in its
embattled former colony.
(AP, 10/1/02)
2002 Oct 3, In France tens of
thousands of public workers marched through Paris to protest plans
to sell off parts of state-owned companies.
(AP, 10/3/02)
2002 Oct 4, In France Jamal
Derrar (22) poured gasoline over Sohane Benziane (17) and then
approached her with a cigarette lighter, setting her on fire. She
died later at a hospital with burns over 80 percent of her body. In
2006 Derrar was convicted for acts of torture and barbarity that led
to unintentional death. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
(AP, 4/8/06)
2002 Oct 6, A fire broke out on
the Limberg, a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, setting
barrels of oil ablaze and sparking an explosion killing one
Bulgarian crew member. The explosion was soon determined to be the
result of a terrorist attack. Insurance paid out $70 million for the
damages.
(AP, 10/6/02)(SFC, 10/11/02, p.A13)(AP,
10/6/03)(Econ, 4/22/06, p.73)
2002 Nov 6, In France a fire
broke out on an overnight express train, filling a sleeper car with
smoke and killing 12 passengers. Five Americans were among the dead,
including two children.
(AP, 11/6/02)
2002 Nov 25, In France striking
truckers blockaded roadways in about 20 locations, but police
intervened to dismantle several barricades that had slowed access to
airports and highways.
(AP, 11/25/02)
2002 Nov 26, A poll of 50,000
people, commissioned by Durex condom makers SSL International and
released in Malaysia, showed the French had sex an average 167 times
a year, pipping the Danes and the Dutch for the number one spot. It
was a bad year for sex in the United States, which came in eleventh
with an average of 138, after heading the rankings in 2001. Britons
scored an average of 149 times. At the bottom of the pile,
Singapore's 110 times was two less than Thailand's. Four in 10
people in India did not have sex until they were married and
Norwegians were most likely to have sex on the first date, the
survey showed. Norwegians, along with South Africans, were also more
likely than any other nationality to have a one-night stand. Those
in Taiwan were least likely; just 20 percent surveyed had a
one-night stand.
(Reuters, 11/26/02)
2002 Nov 26, French air traffic
controllers walked off the job as part of a nationwide protest by
civil servants.
(AP, 11/26/02)
2002 Nov 26, The Astra-1K
satellite was launched atop a Russian Proton rocket from the
Baikonur cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. The
world's largest communications satellite, manufactured by France's
Alcatel Space corporation for Societe Europeene des Satellites of
Luxembourg, was lost after it went into the wrong orbit.
(AP, 11/26/02)(WSJ, 11/27/02, p.A1)
2002 Nov 27, French police
arrested a man in Lyon after he tried to hijack an Alitalia flight
carrying 57 passengers from Bologna to Paris.
(Reuters, 11/27/02)
2002 Dec 16, French
counterterrorism agents arrested 4 suspected Islamic militants in a
Paris suburb. The three Algerians and a Moroccan had an unidentified
liquid and an anti-contamination suit.
(AP, 12/17/02)
2002 Dec 21, French forces
opened fire on rebels in western Ivory Coast, trying to stop the
insurgents from pushing past them toward the commercial capital
Abidjan.
(AP, 12/21/02)
2002 Dec 21, French television
journalist, Patrick Bourrat, was struck while crossing the path of
an incoming tank during US military exercises in Kuwait. Bourrat
died the next day.
(AP, 12/22/02)
2002 Alistaire Horne authored
“Seven Ages of Paris,” a history of the city.
(SSFC, 12/1/02, p.M6)
2002 Richard Neupert authored
“A History of the French New Wave Cinema.”
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.M2)
2002 Ian Pears authored “The
Dream of Scipio,” a historical novel set over 1,500 years in
Provence.
(SSFC, 6/30/02, p.M1)
2002 French president Jacques
Chirac received three million euros ($4 million) from Ivory Coast's
Laurent Gbagbo to finance his electoral campaign. This was made
public in 2011 by Robert Bourgi, a lawyer with a network of African
contacts who advised Chirac before changing camps in 2005 to aid
French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Bourgi also named Senegal's
Abdoulaye Wade, Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore, and
Congo-Brazzaville's Denis Sassou Nguesso and Gabon's Omar Bongo as
contributors. Bourgi later said he was mistaken concerning
(Senegal's president) Abdoulaye Wade and his son" Karim Wade.
(AFP, 9/12/11)(AP, 9/26/11)
2002 In France Paris Mayor
Bertand Delanoe inaugurated Paris Plages, filling sections of the
left and right banks of the Seine with sand and installing spray
misters, hammocks, parasols and other beach-style accoutrements. In
2006 Paris City Hall banned thong bikinis, topless sunbathing and
nudity at the summer sand-in-the-city event.
(AP, 7/29/06)
2002 France planed to abolish
the draft by the end of the year with a slimmed down force of some
357,000 volunteers. A 50,000-strong reserve force was part of the
plan.
(SFEC, 10/31/99, p.A28)
2002 France convicted George
Soros of insider trading. He was fined euro2.2 million for
purchasing shares in French bank Societe Generale in 1988, days
after being informed about a planned takeover bid for the bank.
(AP, 10/6/11)
2002 Arcelor Corp., a European
steelmaker, was created following the merger of France’s Usinor,
Spain’s Aceralia, and Luxembourg’s Arbed.
(Econ, 2/4/06, p.56)
2003 Jan 6, Rebels in western
Ivory Coast attacked French troops and French officials said 30
rebels were killed and nine soldiers wounded.
(AP, 1/6/03)
2003 Jan 17, France and Spain
opened the new 5.3-mile Somport tunnel through the western Pyrenees
mountains.
(AP, 1/18/03)
2003 Jan 19, Francoise Giroud
(86), France’s 1st minister of women’s affairs died. She co-founded
one of France's top news magazines and became a powerful force in
French post-war journalism at a time when few women were in the
business. She published an autobiography in 1997.
(AP, 1/19/03)(SFC, 1/21/03, p.A18)
2003 Jan 22, France and Germany
joined forces to prevent any U.S.-led war on Iraq.
(Reuters, 1/22/03)
2003 Jan 27, A head-on train
collision between French and Italian passenger trains killed two
people. It appeared to be the result of human error.
(AP, 1/28/03)
2003 Jan 29, The body of
Abdelmalek Benbara (41), a member of the Algerian prime minister's
party reported missing Jan 17, was found in a car in Paris.
(AP, 1/30/03)
2003 Feb 1, Across France at
least 150,000 people, some braving snow, poured into the streets to
protest government plans to reform the country's generous, but
overburdened, pension system.
(AP, 2/1/03)
2003 Feb 16, French
President Jacques Chirac said in a published interview that the
massive US military deployment in the Persian Gulf has made it
possible to peacefully disarm Iraq.
(AP, 2/16/03)
2003 Feb 20, Maurice
Blanchot (95), French postmodern novelist, died. His novels included
“Thomas the Obscure” (1973).
(SFC, 3/3/03, p.B6)
2003 Feb 24, Bernard
Loiseau (52), a celebrated French chef whose Cote D'Or restaurant in
a small Burgundy town became a mecca for the world's gourmets, died
of apparent suicide. In 2005 Rudolph Chelminski authored “The
Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine.”
(AP, 2/25/03)(SSFC, 6/12/05, p.B5)
2003 Feb 26, French
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin warned that waging war against
Iraq now, would split the international community and “be perceived
as precipitous and illegitimate.”
(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Mar 5, The foreign
ministers of France, Germany and Russia said they will block any
attempt to get U.N. approval for war against Iraq.
(AP, 3/5/03)
2003 Mar 14, Jean-Luc Lagardere
(b.1928), French engineer and founder of the Lagardere Group, died.
In 1999 the group, among the largest of French enterprises, acquired
31.5% of Aerospatiale.
(Econ, 11/11/06,
p.79)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Luc_Lagard%C3%A8re)
2003 Mar 27, France introduced
a new terrorism alert system, with 4 color-coded levels to make the
national warning plan more flexible and understandable.
(AP, 3/27/03)
2003 Apr 3, French air traffic
controllers, postal workers and other public employees brought much
of the country to a halt with a one-day strike over government plans
to overhaul the pension system.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 7, Cecile de Brunhoff
(99), the inspiration for Babar the elephant whose adventures
captivated generations of children, died in Paris. She first
invented the tale of a little elephant as a bedtime story for her
boys in 1931. They in turn told their father, painter Jean de
Brunhoff, who illustrated the story and filled in details.
(AP, 4/8/03)
2003 Apr 11, The leaders of
Russia, France and Germany gathered for a summit that was expected
to push for the United Nations to play the leading role after the
end of hostilities in Iraq.
(AP, 4/11/03)
2003 Apr 22, France proposed
that the UN suspend economic sanctions against Iraq, but continue to
operate the oil-for-food program.
(SFC, 4/23/03, A8)
2003 Apr 23, Paris police
arrested 28 airport workers for allegedly stealing digital cameras,
perfumes, jewelry, clothing and other goods from the bags of
travelers.
(AP, 4/25/03)
2003 Apr 29, The leaders of
France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, all critics of the U.S.-led
war on Iraq, agreed to beef up their military cooperation in an
effort to make Europe's defense less reliant on the US.
(AP, 4/29/03)
2003 May 15, French Foreign
Minister Dominique de Villepin said in an interview that France
wants "lies and calumny" published in both the U.S. and British
press to stop.
(AP, 5/16/03)
2003 May 31, Air France planned
to ground its last 5 Concorde airplanes.
(SFC, 4/11/03, p.B5)
2003 May 17, In G-8 talks at a
Normandy resort the United States secured a commitment from the
world's wealthiest nations and Russia not to demand that Iraq begin
paying off its huge debts before 2005. The Paris Club's 19 members,
which include the US, are alone believed to be owed an estimated $26
billion, not including interest accrued on the debt, most of which
dates from the 1970s.
(AP, 5/18/03)
2003 May 17, A German tour bus
overturned on a French highway in heavy rain, killing at least 28 of
the 74 people on board.
(AP, 5/17/03)
2003 May 19, In France more
than 300,000 protesters marched in anger over government pension
reforms and striking teachers prevented students from taking part of
their high-school graduation exams.
(AP, 5/20/03)
2003 May 25, In France at least
300,000 workers marched through the streets of Paris to protest
government plans to reform the pension system.
(AP, 5/26/03)
2003 May 31, Air France planned
to ground its last 5 Concorde airplanes. The Air France Concorde,
the world's fastest and most luxurious passenger jet, flew from New
York to Paris for the last time.
(SFC, 4/11/03, p.B5)(AP, 5/30/03)(SSFC, 6/1/03,
p.A2)
2003 Jun 1, President Bush
arrived in France from St. Petersburg and had a smile and firm
handshake for this year's Group of Eight nations summit host, French
Pres. Jacques Chirac.
(AP, 6/1/03)(SFC, 6/2/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 1, Thousands of
protesters blocked highways and bridges, set fire to barricades and
drew volleys of tear gas and rubber pellets from anti-riot police
near the Group of Eight summit in the French town of Evian. Leaders
pledged billions of dollars to fight AIDS and hunger on the opening
day of their summit.
(AP, 6/1/03)
2003 Jun 2, In Evian, France,
world leaders projected confidence that they will turn around their
weak economies and pledged joint cooperation on a host of global
issues from terrorism to the need for a coordinated effort to
rebuild Iraq.
(AP, 6/2/03)
2003 Jun 3, The G-8 in Evian,
France, issued closing statements. These included: confidence in the
global economic future; they put North Korea and Iran on notice that
member countries will not stand by and let them acquire nuclear
weapons; they committed to further improve cooperation with African
nations to lift the world's poorest continent out of civil war,
disease and poverty; and adopted a plan to help halve the number of
people without access to clean water and sanitation by 2015.
(AP, 6/3/03)
2003 Jun 6, French strikers
disrupted train and bus service and sanitation workers dumped
garbage in the street in the 4th day of a nationwide protest against
government plans to reform pensions.
(AP, 6/7/03)
2003 Jun 14, French troops
leading an international force engaged in a firefight with gunmen
for the first time in their mission to stabilize the northeastern
Congolese town of Bunia.
(AP, 6/14/03)
2003 Jun 19, In France more
Iranians set themselves on fire to protest a crackdown on an
Iraq-based anti-Tehran group. Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the
People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, was among 150 people
detained in a sweep of their European headquarters in suburban Paris
by hundreds of masked police this month. Most of those detained were
let go. In 2011 French investigators dropped terror charges against
24 members of the group.
(WSJ, 6/20/03, p.A1)(AP, 5/12/11)
2003 Jul 6, Corsicans voted in
a historic referendum to give local officials more say in running
the Mediterranean island, an attempt to end years of attacks by
separatists fighting French rule.
(AP, 7/6/03)
2003 Jul 20, In France 2
explosions rocked central Nice, slightly injuring at least 16 people
and damaging several government buildings.
(AP, 7/20/03)
2003 Jul 22, In Paris an
electrical fire broke out near the top of the Eiffel Tower, forcing
thousands of alarmed visitors to evacuate.
(AP, 7/23/03)
2003 Jul 24, French lawmakers
overwhelmingly passed a pension reform bill despite weeks of
protests by people angry about having to work longer to get full
retirement benefits. PM Rafarrin managed to push through a pension
reform against union resistance with the support of CFDP, the French
Defense and Protection Company.
(AP, 7/24/03)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.49)
2003 Jul 24, The French Senate
passed a law banning the sale of cigarettes to minors under 16 and
raises the price per pack for the second time this year.
(AP, 7/24/03)
2003 Jul 27, Lance Armstrong
rode to his 5th straight Tour de France victory in a ceremonial
final stage in Paris.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 29, A heat wave and a
drought gauged a multibillion-dollar hole into Europe's economy,
crippling shipping, shriveling crops and driving up the cost of
electricity.
(AP, 7/29/03)
2003 Jul 29, Forest fires swept
through parts of the ritzy French Riviera for a second day,
devastating scenic woods and forcing thousands to be evacuated. At
least four people have been killed.
(AP, 7/29/03)
2003 Aug 1, Marie Trintignant
(41) died after several days on a respirator in France. She was
initially hospitalized in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on July
27 after French rock star Bertrand Cantat (39) allegedly beat her at
the hotel where they were staying with her mother and one of her
sons. Trintignant, had been in Lithuania since June filming a joint
French-Lithuanian television movie, "Colette," about the French
female writer. Bertrand Cantat was later sentenced to 8 years in
prison for manslaughter. He was released for good behavior in
October 2007 after serving four years.
(AP,
8/5/03)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Trintignant)
2003 Aug 14, The French health
ministry estimated that about 3,000 people had died in France of
heat-related causes since abnormally high temperatures swept across
the country about two weeks ago.
(AP, 8/14/03)
2003 Aug 18, Lucien Abenhaim, a
senior French health official resigned after the health minister
admitted that up to 5,000 people, many of them elderly and alone,
might have died in the recent heat wave.
(AP, 8/19/03)
2003 Aug 19, It was reported
that France had provided Alstom SA a $3.9 billion lifeline to save
it from bankruptcy. The bailout was made against EU rules.
(WSJ, 8/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 22, France announced a
$525 million aid package for farmers whose animals died by the
millions and whose crops withered in a heat wave estimated to have
killed 10,000 people.
(AP, 8/22/03)
2003 Aug 21, France raised the
death toll from the recent heat wave to as many as 10,000.
(SFC, 8/22/03, p.A9)
2003 Aug 25, In Ivory Coast 2
French soldiers, part of a peacekeeping force, were killed.
(AP, 8/26/03)
2003 Aug 29, France raised the
death toll from the August heat wave to as many as 11,435.
(SFC, 8/30/03, p.A7)
2003 Aug 29, The board of Air
France approved a deal to combine with Dutch KLM under a holding
company to form the world's #3 airline.
(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.R12)
2003 Sep 25, In a new French
deck of cards Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gets the honor as
ace of spades. Pres. Bush is the king of diamonds and Osama bin
Laden the joker. Thierry Meyssan, the man behind the French deck,
headed the Voltaire Network, a left-wing association that put the
cards on its Internet site.
(AP, 9/25/03)
2003 Sep 25, In France INSERM,
the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, determined
that 14,802 people had died in August due to the heat wave.
(AP, 9/25/03)
2003 Sep 26, Robert Palmer
(54), a rock singer known for his sharp suits and hits including
"Addicted to Love," died in Paris of a heart attack.
(AP, 9/26/03)
2003 Sep 27, Europe's first
mission to the moon blasted off aboard a European Ariane rocket from
French Guiana.
(AP, 9/28/03)
2003 Oct 11, The French
government and its main opposition joined in supporting school
officials who expelled two sisters for refusing to remove
traditional Islamic headscarves in class.
(AP, 10/11/03)
2003 Oct 20, France raised
taxes on tobacco products. Cigarette prices for a pack jumped from
an average $4.60 to $5.40.
(SFC, 10/21/03, p.A3)
2003 Nov 7, France and Russia
signed an accord that is intended to pave the way for the eventual
launch of Russian rockets from a French launch pad in South America.
(AP, 11/7/03)
2003 Nov 15, In St. Nazaire,
France, a gangway to the Queen Mary 2, the world's largest passenger
ship, collapsed as people were boarding killing 15 people and
injuring 29 others. One of the injured died in 2005. The victims
were family members visiting workers involved in construction of the
nearly finished, 21-story-tall ocean liner. In 2008 a French court
ordered Chantiers de l'Atlantique, builder of the ship, and Endel,
builder of the walkway, to pay $13.8 million in damages for their
roles in the deadly accident.
(AP, 11/15/03)(AP, 11/16/03)(AP, 2/12/08)
2003 Nov 16, In Afghanistan a
French UN worker was shot and killed by a man on a motorcycle who
opened fire on her car.
(AP, 11/16/03)
2003 Nov 24, British PM Tony
Blair and French President Jacques Chirac confronted the sensitive
issue of European defense and in a show of unity announced plans for
a small rapid-reaction force of EU peacekeepers.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2003 Dec 1, French diplomats
and other Foreign Ministry staff in 126 countries walked off the job
in a one-day strike to protest planned budget cuts.
(AP, 12/2/03)
2003 Dec 2, Surging floodwaters
killed three men and swept a woman off a bridge in storms that
lashed southern France.
(AP, 12/3/03)
2003 Dec 6, Paul Louis Halley
(b.1934) French founder of Promodes (later Carrefour SA), died in a
light plane crash.
(WSJ, 4/15/08,
p.B2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Louis_Halley)
2003 Dec 9, French police
arrested Gorka Palacios Alday, the alleged military leader of the
banned Basque separatist group ETA, along with three accomplices.
(AP, 12/9/03)
2003 Dec 11, A French panel
recommended a national ban on Islamic head scarves, Jewish skullcaps
and large crucifixes at public schools.
(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 16, U.S. special envoy
James A. Baker III said France, Germany and the US agreed to seek
reductions in Iraq's foreign debt within the Paris Club of creditor
nations.
(AP, 12/16/03)(SFC, 12/17/03, p.A18)
2003 Dec 17, In France Pres.
Jacques Chirac announced his decision to pass a law banning Islamic
head scarves and other conspicuous religious symbols in public
schools.
(AP, 12/18/03)
2003 France set up the French
Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM). Dalil Boubakeur was appointed
president following negotiations with interior minister Nicolas
Sarkozy.
(Econ, 10/30/04, p.58)
2004 Jan 5, In Iraq 2 French
contractors, working on electricity projects, were killed in a
drive-by shooting near Fallujah.
(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.A10)
2004 Jan 16, Starbucks opened
its 1st coffee shop in France.
(Econ, 1/17/04, p.67)
2004 Jan 20, French transport
workers went on a 1-day train strike.
(AP, 1/21/04)
2004 Jan 26, China's President
Hu Jintao arrived in France, with European ministers considering
Beijing's request that they lift an arms embargo imposed after the
killing of Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989.
(AP, 1/26/04)
2004 Jan 30, Alain Juppe,
former French PM (1995-1997), was found guilty in a party financing
scandal and declared ineligible for public office for 10 years.
(AP, 1/30/04)
2004 Jan 30, Iliad, a French
broadband firm founded by Xavier Niel, made a successful IPO. Niel
was briefly jailed a few months after its IPO, when it was
discovered that one of his sex shops was a front for prostituion.
Niel was fully exonerated, but was fined for receiving money from
the shop.
(www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-4228042_ITM)
(Econ, 9/12/09, p.74)
2004 Feb 10, French legislators
voted 494-36 to ban religious emblems such as Muslim head scarves
from state schools.
(WSJ, 2/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 10, French prosecutors
launched a money-laundering probe into the alleged transfers of
$11.5 million dollars to accounts held by the wife of Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat.
(AP, 2/11/04)(WSJ, 2/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 14, In France
thousands of people marched to protest a law banning the Islamic
coverings and other religious apparel in public schools.
(AP, 2/14/04)
2004 Feb 27, French Foreign
Minister Dominique de Villepin held talks with leaders of Haiti's
government on how to end a three-week rebellion.
(AP, 2/27/04)
2004 Feb 28, It was reported
that 80% of Americans claim to believe in God, compared with 62% of
the French and 52% of Swedes.
(Econ, 2/28/04, p.34)
2004 Mar 3, French authorities
said a previously unknown terror group is threatening to blow up
French railway tracks unless it is paid millions of dollars.
(AP, 3/3/04)
2004 Mar 6, Thousands of women
marched through Paris to press for equal rights for women and show
support for a law to ban Islamic head scarves in public schools.
(AP, 3/6/04)
2004 Mar 10, France's
government worked to calm a revolt by scientists angry over funding
cuts, even as trade unions called for more protests.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2004 Mar 14, In Haiti French
troops took over patrols in a slum where U.S. Marines killed at
least two people.
(AP, 3/14/04)
2004 Mar 21, French voters
delivered a rebuke to PM Jean-Pierre Raffarin's reform plans in the
1st round of regional elections. The elections, held every six
years, are for regional leaders responsible for some infrastructure
projects, job training, school construction and other tasks.
(AP, 3/22/04)
2004 Mar 21, Ludmila Tcherina
(79), French ballerina and Oscar-winning actress, The Tales of
Hoffman (1950), died.
(AP, 3/22/04)
2004 Mar 28, France's left-wing
opposition bulldozed its way across the country in second-round
midterm regional elections, putting pressure on President Jacques
Chirac to revamp his Cabinet and perhaps even ditch his prime
minister due to widely unpopular economic reforms and rising
unemployment.
(AP, 3/28/04)(AP, 3/29/04)
2004 Mar 29, A Lithuanian court
found French rock star Bertrand Cantat (40) guilty of man-slaughter
for the 2003 beating death of his movie-star girlfriend, Marie
Trintignant (41), and sentenced him to 8 years in prison.
(AP, 3/29/04)
2004 Mar 30, French PM
Jean-Pierre Raffarin was spared the ax despite a massive local
election defeat, but ordered to form a new government to push ahead
with unpopular social and economic reforms.
(AP, 3/30/04)
2004 Apr 2, Police in France
captured the elusive former leader of the Basque ETA rebel group as
well as the separatist group's logistics chief.
(AP, 4/2/04)
2004 Apr 8, In France striking
power workers switched off street lights and cut electricity to
homes to protest plans to partially privatize public utilities. Even
the famed Chateau de Versailles lost power.
(AP, 4/8/04)
2004 Apr 23, France closed its
last coal mine.
(AP, 4/23/04)
2004 May 1, Jean-Jacques
Laffont (57), an award-winning French economist and one of the
leading figures in the study of information theory, died in southern
France. His books included "Incentives in Public Decision Making"
(1979).
(AP, 5/14/04)
2004 May 13, France and Germany
declared an intention to formulate a joint industrial policy aimed
at creating a framework for mergers and joint ventures.
(Econ, 5/22/04, p.55)
2004 May 18, In France Myriam
Delay, an unemployed mother, stunned a courtroom in the northern
French town of Outreau saying she lied in accusing the 13 people of
pedophilia, one of whom committed suicide behind bars. A week later
she again reversed her testimony: "I was there and I saw
everything... We ruined children's lives.” 10 of 17 defendants were
convicted in July. 6 of the 10 convicted were acquitted in 2005.
(AP, 5/20/04)(AP, 5/25/04)(AP, 12/01/05)
2004 May 23, In France a
section of the futuristic, cylindrical passenger terminal at Paris'
Charles de Gaulle airport collapsed, killing 4 people and injuring
three.
(AP, 5/23/05)
2004 May 28, French engineers
brought the two central ends of the Millau road viaduct in southwest
France together, completing the span of the highest bridge in the
world. The bridge spans the valley of the Tarn river to carry a
motorway from Clermont-Ferrand to Beziers and establishing a major
north-south axis parallel to the Rhone valley. The $378 million
bridge is expected to open Jan 2005.
(AFP, 5/29/04)(Econ, 1/8/05, p.71)
2004 Jun 1, Michel Dansel,
French intellectual, held a mock funeral ceremony for the verb. His
new 233-page book, “Le Train de Nulle Part” (The Train to Nowhere),
was written without verbs.
(WSJ, 7/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 2, Romania’s Pres. Ion
Iliescu unveiled the new Logan sedan, a joint venture between
Renault and Romania’s Dacia. Starting prices were around $6,100. In
2007 nearly 80,000 Logans were sold in western Europe.
(SFC, 6/3/04, C5)(Econ, 5/31/08, SR p.7)
2004 Jun 5, France's first gay
marriage was performed in the southwest city of Bordeaux. On July 27
it was officially declared void by a court but the two homosexual
men involved immediately said they would appeal the ruling.
(AP, 7/27/04)
2004 Jun 5, French engineering
giant Alstom said a consortium it was leading had signed an
88-million-euro ($107 mil) contract for work on three railway lines
in the suburbs of Algiers.
(AP, 6/6/04)
2004 Jun 16, French power
workers cut electricity to the Eiffel Tower and President Jacques
Chirac's residence in western Paris to protest the government's
plans to partially privatize state utilities in an effort to raise
money.
(AP, 6/16/04)
2004 Jun 22, A bus in western
France overturned, killing at least 11 people and seriously injuring
up to three others.
(AP, 6/22/04)
2004 Jun, In Alsace, France,
Pierre Bodein, nicknamed "Pierrot le fou," or "Crazy Pierre," raped,
killed and mutilated two young victims, Jeanne-Marie Kegelin (11)
and Julie Scharsch (14). He also murdered and mutilated Edwige
Vallee (38), and attempted to kidnap two other girls. In 2007 Bodein
was convicted of viciously murdering two girls and a woman and
sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2004 Jul 17, French Defence
Minister Michele Alliot-Marie proposed a defense partnership between
3 North African countries, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia -- and four
southern European countries, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain,
preferably at defense minister level.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 22, French crooner
Sacha Distel (71), whose seductive good looks won him legions of
female fans around the world, died.
(AP, 7/22/04)
2004 Jul, A fake list of public
figures, who allegedly held accounts at a Luxembourg-based clearing
house (Clearstream Banking S.A.) linked to kickbacks on the 1991
sale of French frigates to Taiwan, was leaked to a French judge.
This came to be known as the 2nd Clearstream affair. In 2001
Clearstream was accused of money laundering and tax evasion.
(Econ, 7/14/07,
p.56)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearstream)
2004 Jul, A court in
Saint-Omer, northern France, convicted 10 out of 17 defendants on
pedophilia charges relating to the abuse of 18 children between 1995
and 2000. 6 of the 10 convicted were acquitted in 2005.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2004 Aug 3, Henri
Cartier-Bresson (b.1908), French photographer of the decisive
moment, died. In 2005 Pierre Assouline authored “Henri
Cartier-Bresson: A Biography.”
(WSJ, 8/5/04, p.A1)(Econ, 8/7/04, p.67)(Econ,
9/3/05, p.75)
2004 Aug 5, In eastern France a
predawn fire swept through an equestrian school, killing seven
teenagers and possibly two adults.
(AP, 8/5/04)
2004 Aug 14, A visibly weak
Pope John Paul II joined thousands of other ailing pilgrims at a
cliffside shrine in Lourdes, France, telling them he shares in their
physical suffering and assuring them the burden is part of God's
"wondrous plan."
(AP, 8/14/05)
2004 Aug 19, Amelie Delegrange
(22), from Hanvoile, north of Paris, was battered to death in the
southwest London neighborhood of Twickenham Green after a night out
in a wine bar. In 2006 Levi Bellfield, former nightclub bouncer,
faced trial for her murder and the February, 2003, murder of student
Marsha McDonnell (19). Bellfield was convicted on February 25, 2008
of the two murders. The following day, he was sentenced to life
imprisonment with a recommendation that he should never be released.
(AFP,
6/9/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Bellfield)
2004 Aug 29, Muslim leaders in
France condemned the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq
and said the government should not capitulate to militant demands to
revoke a law that bans the wearing of Islamic head scarves in
schools.
(AP, 8/29/04)
2004 Sep 22, France signaled it
will slash its public overspending next year to come into line with
EU rules in a 2005 budget published today and forecast economic
growth of 2.5 percent.
(AP, 9/22/04)
2004 Sep 24, French author
Francoise Sagan (69), who shot to fame with her first novel "Bonjour
Tristesse" at the age of 18 and courted controversy throughout her
life, died. She was a longstanding friend of late President Francois
Mitterrand and was convicted of taking drugs and for tax evasion.
(Reuters, 9/24/04)
2004 Sep 26, A French national
was shot and killed in the Saudi Arabian city of Jiddah.
(AP, 9/26/04)
2004 Sep 24, French author
Francoise Sagan (69), who shot to fame with her first novel "Bonjour
Tristesse" (1954) at the age of 18 and courted controversy
throughout her life, died. She was a longstanding friend of late
President Francois Mitterrand and was convicted of taking drugs and
for tax evasion.
(Reuters, 9/24/04)(SSFC, 9/26/04, p.B5)
2004 Sep, French auto maker
Renault rolled out the no-frills Logan. The midsize sedan was
launched at a cost of $7,254 (€5,700) in emerging markets like
Poland. Western buyers soon clamored for the car. In June, 2005,
Renault began delivering the roomy, unpretentious five-seater to
France, Germany, and Spain.
(AP, 6/25/05)(WSJ, 10/4/06, p.B18)
2004 Oct 2, Two US ships
carrying 300 pounds of plutonium were scheduled to dock in
Cherbourg, France. A French nuclear factory planned to transform it
into fuel assemblies and return it next year to Charleston, SC.
(SFC, 10/1/04, p.A15)
2004 Oct 8, Jacques Derrida
(74), one of France's best-known philosophers and the founder of the
deconstructionist school, died of cancer in Paris.
(SSFC, 10/10/04, p.A14)(Econ, 10/23/04, p.89)
2004 Oct 9, French President
Jacques Chirac declared that France was a natural trade partner to
China and, amid a flurry of air, rail and energy deals.
(AP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 16, Pierre Salinger
(79), who served as press secretary to US presidents Kennedy and
Johnson, died of a heart attack near his home in Le Thon, France.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2004 Oct 19, In France 2 Muslim
girls who refused to remove their head scarves in class were
expelled from their schools, and two more risked the same fate.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 21, French health
officials announced that a donor whose blood was used to transfuse
10 people and to manufacture medicines has been identified as
France's eighth known victim of the human equivalent of mad cow
disease.
(AP, 10/21/04)
2004 Oct 25, Hundreds of angry
French farmers mounted blockades around the country to hold up fuel
shipments in protest at soaring diesel and gasoline prices and to
press their demands for government aid.
(AP, 10/25/04)
2004 Nov 6, Ivory Coast
warplanes bombed French peacekeepers, killing 8 French soldiers and
wounding 23, and French forces responded by shooting down government
aircraft.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 7, Machete-waving mobs
looted and burned in Ivory Coast's largest cities, laying siege to a
French military base and searching house to house for French
families after a day of sudden clashes between forces of France and
its former colony. France seized strategic control of Abidjan and
deployed new forces to stop the rampage.
(AP, 11/7/04)(SFC, 11/8/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 10, France and the UN
began evacuating thousands of French and other expatriates in Ivory
Coast.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Nov 12, It was reported
that the French government plans to merge Airbus parent EADS with
Thales, the country's largest defense company, to create a new
European giant to rival Boeing Co.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 15, The Bank of France
cut its 2004 economic growth forecast, placing further pressure on
the government's budget plans as high oil prices and a weak dollar
weigh on France's outlook.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, France concluded
its evacuation efforts in Ivory Coast, where 5,000 Westerners fled a
renewed civil war.
(WSJ, 11/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 24, President Jacques
Chirac arrived in Libya in the first ever visit by a French head of
state.
(AP, 11/24/04)
2004 Nov 25, French President
Jacques Chirac set aside years of acrimony over the bombing of a
French passenger jet in the 1980s and declared a "new chapter" in
relations with Libya.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 28, French Finance
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy took over the Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP), the ruling conservative party at a glitzy American-style
congress. This put him on course to launch a presidential bid and
possibly challenge Jacques Chirac in 2007.
(AP, 11/28/04)(Econ, 11/27/04, p.14)
2004 Nov 29, President Jacques
Chirac's office said French Agriculture Minister Herve Gaymard is to
succeed Nicolas Sarkozy as Finance Minister.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Dec 1, A French appeals
court reduced the suspended prison sentence for former Prime
Minister Alain Juppe in a party financing scandal from 18 to 14
months, and barred him from elected office for 1 year instead of 10.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Dec 3, In France
Liberation's founding CEO Serge July announced the start of
exclusive negotiations with Banker Edouard de Rothschild over a $27
million capital increase that would let the banker acquire 37
percent of the popular daily.
(AP, 12/3/04)
2004 Dec 9, The French
government sold an 18.4 percent stake in Air France-KLM, the world's
largest airline, to help reduce the state debt.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 10, In Paris a skating
rink opened on an observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, 188 feet
above the streets.
(SFC, 12/11/04, p.A2)
2004 Dec 14, In southern France
a roadway bridge, hailed as the tallest in the world, was officially
inaugurated.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 16, In France 10
accused Islamic militants were convicted and sentenced to prison
terms ranging from one to 10 years for their roles in a millennium
plot to blow up a Christmas market in the eastern city of Strasbourg
on New Year's Eve 2000.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 26, In eastern France
a gas explosion tore through a five-storey apartment building in
Mulhouse, killing 15 people and injuring another 14.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Corinne Maier authored the
French pamphlet “Bounjour Paresse” (Hello Laziness). It was
sub-titled The Art and the Importance of Doing the Least Possible in
the Workplace, and became a bestseller in France.
(Econ, 7/21/07,
p.51)(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5698558/)
2004 John J. Miller and Mark
Molesky authored “Our Oldest Enemy,” an examination of France’s
relations with the US over the last few hundred years.
(WSJ, 10/14/04, p.D7)
2004 Le Figaro, France’s
leading center-right newspaper, was acquired by Dassault, a big
defense company, which also acquired some 70 other titles.
(Econ, 8/7/04, p.44)
2004 The French public health
fund deficit was expected to top $15.7 billion.
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.43)
2004 French retailer Carrefour
SA agreed to buy 13 supermarkets in Poland.
(WSJ, 4/15/08, p.B2)
2005 Jan 1, France was forecast
for 2.4% annual GDP growth with a population at 60.6 million and GDP
per head at $36,630.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.88)
2005 Jan 12, Maud Fontenoy, a
French woman (26), set out in a row boat on a 4,900-mile solo voyage
to Polynesia, hoping to trace Thor Heyerdahl's epic 1947 Pacific
crossing aboard the balsa raft Kon-Tiki.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 18, In France Airbus
unveiled the 840-passenger A380, the world's biggest passenger jet,
in a glitzy ceremony in which the leaders of France, Britain,
Germany and Spain hailed Europe's victory over the US as the new
king of the commercial skies.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2005 Jan 19, Strikes over job
cuts and pay disrupted French rail service and hospitals.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 25, Paris' new
memorial to the Holocaust was inaugurated, with President Chirac
bowing before the wall inscribed with the names of 76,000 Jews sent
to Nazi death camps from France.
(AP, 1/25/05)
2005 Jan 31, France Telecom,
Europe's second-largest telecommunications operator, announced plans
to cut 8,000 jobs in 2005, mostly in France.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Feb 2, French Pres.
Jacques Chirac planned to visit Senegal for the first time in a
decade, hoping to boost ties with a former West African colony at a
time when the US is raising its military profile in the region.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 2, The EU told Italy,
France and Germany, to do more to bring their budgets in balance as
required by the rules of Europe's single currency.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 8, Herve Gaymard,
France's finance minister, announced new measures designed to boost
confidence, stimulate growth and tackle the "scandalously high" 9.9%
jobless rate.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 9, The French National
Assembly approved a reform of the controversial 35-hour working
week. The Socialist measure had been introduced to cut unemployment
but is now blamed by the right for doing exactly the reverse.
(AFP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 15, The Falcon 7X, a
business jet designed and built by the French aviation company
Dassault, was displayed for the first time. It was the first plane
to be digitally modeled in 3-dimensions and required no prototype.
(Econ, 6/18/05, p.78)(http://tinyurl.com/lxlgt2)
2005 Feb 22, The EU intends to
end its ban on arms sales to China, French Pres. Jacques Chirac said
after talks with Pres. Bush, who highlighted Washington's security
concerns.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 23, French film star
Simone Simon (b.1910) died in Paris.
(AP, 2/23/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon)
2005 Feb 25, French Finance
Minister Herve Gaymard quit over his handling of a scandal about his
state-paid luxury flat that rocked a conservative government as it
forces unpopular cost-cutting measures on a restive nation.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 28, Thierry Breton
arrived for work as France's 4th finance minister in less than a
year, ready to pick up the unfinished business of restoring the
French economy to good health.
(AP, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb, France passed a law
to put an upbeat spin on a painful era, making it mandatory to
enshrine in textbooks the country's "positive role" in its far-flung
colonies. Education Minister Gilles de Robien said in October that
textbooks would not be changed. But the law's detractors want it
stricken from the books, something the minister says only parliament
can do.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Mar 1, French journalist
Florence Aubenas, looking pale and distraught, appealed for help on
a video in her first since she went missing in Iraq on Jan. 5.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Mar 1, In Geneva, Switz.,
Edouard Stern, French financier and former Lazard banker, was found
dead in his home. Swiss police later arrested Cecile Brossard (36),
his French lover, who confessed to the sex-related killing of banker
Edouard Stern. During her trial in 2009 she said that she lost
control after Stern called her a whore. On June 18, 2009, Brossard
was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.
(WSJ, 3/3/05, p.A1)(AP, 3/16/05)(WSJ, 4/14/05,
p.A1)(SFC, 6/15/09, p.A2)(AP, 6/18/09)
2005 Mar 2, France's newly
appointed Finance Minister Thierry Breton pledged to keep a tight
lid on public spending in an effort to rein in the budget deficit.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 3, Alexis von
Rosenberg (82), Baron de Rede, published his memoir: “Alexis: the
Memoirs of the Baron de Rede.” Baron de Rede, the godfather of Paris
society, died a few months later.
(SFC, 3/16/05, p.G10)
2005 Mar 3, In France a trial
got under way in which 66 people were accused of participating in a
pedophilia ring.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 10, Tens of thousands
of French workers marched on Paris and strikes crippled public
transport, embarrassing the government as Olympic officials visited
to assess the city's bid to host the 2012 Games.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 15, A French court
gave the maximum 10-year prison sentence to Djamel Beghal
(39), the ringleader of an alleged plot to send a suicide
bomber into the US Embassy in Paris. The court also sentenced 5
other defendants in the case to 1-9 year prison terms. Beghal
testified that his confession of a plan to send a suicide bomber
into the U.S. Embassy was obtained under torture after his July 2001
arrest in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He was extradited to France
two months later and retracted that confession.
(AP, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 19, It was reported
that Agence France-Presse has sued Google Inc. for copyright
infringement, alleging that the Internet search engine included AFP
headlines, news summaries and photographs published without
permission.
(AFP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 23, France presented a
U.N. resolution allowing for the prosecution of Sudanese war crimes
suspects at the International Criminal Court, forcing the US to
choose between accepting a body it opposes or casting a politically
damaging veto.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 24, A French appeals
court upheld the conviction of George Soros (74) for insider
trading. Soros, whose Quantum Fund is worth about $8.3 billion,
emigrated to the US in 1956 and set up Soros Fund Management in
1973. He later made a fortune on foreign exchange markets and was
criticized in some quarters for speculating on, and arguably
encouraging, the collapse of Asian currencies in the late 1990s.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Apr 4, Chevron announced
plans to purchase Unocal Corp. for $18.4 billion. Chevron’s eventual
acquisition of Unocal included a stake in the Yadana project in
Myanmar, in which Unocal invested in the 1990s along with France’s
Total, Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and the petroleum Authority of
Thailand. Total with a 31% stake operated the project. The Yadana
project brought in an estimated $969 million to the government
undercutting international sanctions to isolate the regime.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A1)(SFC, 10/4/07, p.A10)(SFC,
4/29/08, p.D3)
2005 Apr 15, In France a fire
swept through a Paris hotel used by the city to house needy African
families. 22 people were killed, half of them children.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2005 Apr 27, The world's
largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, completed a maiden flight
in France that took it over the Pyrenees mountains.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2005 Apr, The decomposing body
of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the Earl of Shaftesbury, was found in a
ravine in the French Riviera, five months after he disappeared from
his home in Cannes. In 2007 his mistress testified that he had been
strangled to death by Mohamed M'Barek, the brother of his wife,
Jamila M'Barek.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2005 May 11, French police
swooped down by helicopter to the luxury Riviera villa of
self-exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, seizing documents and
computers.
(AP, 5/12/05)
2005 May 16, Many French
workers ignored the new national "Day of Solidarity," an extra work
day in place of the annual Pentecost holiday, that was part of the
government's response to a 2003 heat wave that killed 15,000 people.
Under a new law workers give up a holiday, while their employers pay
into a government fund to improve health care for the aged and
handicapped.
(AP, 5/15/05)(WSJ, 5/17/05, p.A10)
2005 May 20, Paul Ricoeur (92),
a French philosopher whose broad interests included biblical
interpretation and the study of human perception, died.
(AP, 5/21/05)
2005 May 23, French
anti-terrorist officers captured three suspected members of the
Basque separatist group ETA in an early morning sweep in southeast
France.
(AP, 5/23/05)
2005 May 26, In southwestern
France protesting winemakers set fire to train cars, pelted them
with rocks and blocked rail traffic on their way home from
demonstrations in Nimes.
(AP, 5/26/05)
2005 May 29, French voters
rejected the EU's first constitution, dealing a potentially fatal
blow to the charter. In 2007 it was repackaged as the Lisbon treaty.
(AP, 5/30/05)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.28)
2005 May 30, President Jacques
Chirac began a widely expected government shakeup to save face at
home as European Union officials worked to control damage after
French voters rejected the EU's first constitution.
(AP, 5/30/05)
2005 May 31, French President
Jacques Chirac appointed Dominique de Villepin, a loyalist who was
France's voice against the Iraq war, as prime minister.
(AP, 5/31/05)
2005 Jun 2, The US and France
reached a tentative deal to boost the size of the UN peacekeeping
mission in Ivory Coast by nearly 2,000 troops and police to help
enforce a shaky peace deal. Meanwhile thousands fled a region where
a village was burned and 55 people killed by unidentified gunmen.
(AP, 6/3/05)(WSJ, 6/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 5, An accident inside
the Frejus Alpine tunnel between France and Italy killed at least
two people. A truck loaded with tires and another carrying glue
caught fire along with four other vehicles.
(AP, 6/5/05)
2005 Jun 8, French PM Dominique
de Villepin easily won a parliamentary vote of confidence after
announcing a job creation plan worth $5.5 billion.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jun 11, French journalist
Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi assistant were freed and in good
health after nearly five months in captivity in Iraq.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 13, The Paris Air Show
opened.
(Econ, 6/11/05, p.60)
2005 Jun 19, A new, domestic
French low-cost airline, Air Turquoise, took to the skies, opening
budget routes from the northeast city of Reims to Bordeaux,
Marseille and Nice.
(AP, 6/19/05)
2005 Jun 23, The French
government launched the partial privatization of utility company Gaz
de France through an initial public offering of shares worth up to
4.9 billion euros ($5.9 billion).
(AP, 6/23/05)
2005 Jun 27, French
investigators raided the home and offices of finance minister
Thierry Breton. It was part of a criminal probe sparked by
complaints filed by Rhodia investors Hughes de Lasteyrie du Saillant
and Edouard Stern. [see Mar 1]
(WSJ, 6/30/05, p.C1)
2005 Jun 27, France, Germany,
Brazil and Chile called for a tax on airline tickets to help finance
the global fight against poverty.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 28, An international
consortium chose France as the site for the experimental
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a $13
billion fusion power project that developers hope will one day
generate endless, cheap energy by reproducing the sun's power source
and wean the world off fossil fuels.
(AP, 6/28/05)(Econ, 7/2/05, p.71)
2005 Jul 8, Shares of Gas de
France (GDF), a 20% stake in the state monopoly, began to trade
following the plans of PM Dominique de Villepin. The IPO was
expected to fetch up to $6 billion. A sale of shares in Electricite
de France was set for October.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.56)
2005 Jul 12, French company
Technip SA said it has been awarded a $800 million contract by
Chevron Corp. to develop its largest Nigerian oil project.
(AP, 7/12/05)
2005 Jul 24, Lance Armstrong
closed out his amazing career with a 7th consecutive Tour de France
victory.
(AP, 7/24/05)
2005 Jul 26, Pernod Ricard SA
said it has completed its takeover of British rival Allied Domecq
PLC to become the world's second-largest wines and spirits maker.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Jul 27, A French court
convicted 62 defendants in a mass pedophilia trial and sentenced
some of them to up to 28 years in prison for their roles in a
network that systematically raped and prostituted children in
western France.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Jul 27, France Telecom
bought an 80% stake in Amena, Spain’s 3rd largest mobile telephone
operator.
(Econ, 7/30/05, p.54)
2005 Jul 30, Wim Duisenberg
(b.1935), Dutch-born first chief of the European Central Bank who
helped create the euro currency, was found dead at a home in Faucon,
France.
(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Aug 2, France, Britain and
Germany hardened their tone toward Iran, warning that Tehran risked
triggering an international crisis and could face U.N. sanctions if
it follows through with a threat to resume its nuclear program.
(AP, 8/2/05)
2005 Aug 2, An Air France jet
skidded off a Toronto runway and burst into flames, prompting 309
passengers and crew to slide down escape chutes. In Dec, 2009, a
Canadian judge approved a C$12 million ($11.4 million) class-action
settlement with 184 passengers of the Air France jet.
(AP, 8/3/05)(Reuters, 12/31/09)
2005 Aug 9, Suez, a French
water and power company, announced a $14 billion purchase of 49.9%
of the shares of Electrabel, a Belgian electricity firm.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.52)
2005 Aug 9, Francois Dalle
(87), former chief executive of L'Oreal (1957-1984) and credited
with transforming the French cosmetics company into a global giant,
died in Geneva.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Aug 16, In Taize, France,
Brother Roger, the 90-year-old founder of an ecumenical religious
community dedicated to peace and reconciliation, was knifed to death
by an apparently deranged Romanian woman at an evening prayer
service attended by 2,500 people. Brother Roger founded the Taize
religious community in 1940 emphasizing the need for all Christians
to come together in peace, love and reconciliation.
(AP, 8/17/05)(WSJ, 8/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 26, Fire raced through
a crowded Paris apartment building housing African immigrants,
trapping residents in their sleep and killing 17 people, most of
them believed to be children.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 28, The French civil
aviation authority made public for the 1st time a list on its
Internet site of airlines banned to land due to safety reasons. They
included: Air Koryo of North Korea; Air St. Thomas of the U.S.
Virgin Islands; International Air Services of Liberia; Thailand's
Phuket Airlines; and Linhas Aereas de Mocambique and Transairways,
both from Mozambique.
(AP, 8/29/05)
2005 Aug 29, In France
firefighters said 7 people, including 4 children, died in an
apartment fire in Paris.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Sep 2, French police
evicted about 140 mainly African squatters, some sobbing or
screaming, from two dilapidated buildings in Paris as authorities
began a sweep of dwellings deemed fire hazards following two deadly
blazes.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 4, In France fire
ripped through a high-rise apartment building south of Paris,
killing 16 people, two of them children. 4 people were detained in
connection with the suspected arson attack. 3 teenage girls
confessed to starting the fire.
(AP, 9/4/05)(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 9, The body that
controls French winemaking said makers of Bordeaux wines have been
told to reduce their output this year by about 12% because of
overproduction and falling prices.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Sep 12, President Jacques
Chirac, following a weeklong hospital stay, met with India's PM
Singh.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Sep 16, The French civil
aviation authority DGAC said it has banned flights by Cameroon
Airlines for an indefinite period, citing safety concerns.
(AFP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 17, A French special
forces soldier was killed and one was seriously wounded when their
vehicle struck a mine while patrolling in southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 9/18/05)
2005 Sep 19, French police
probing a ring which allegedly recruited Muslim fighters for the
anti-US insurgency in Iraq arrested six men in the Paris area.
(AP, 9/19/05)
2005 Sep 22, France announced
financial incentives for parents to have a 3rd child, hoping to
boost its fertility rate by helping people to better juggle the
demands of work and family life.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Sep 28, French police
commandos swooped onto the deck of a ferry seized by striking
unionized sailors in the Mediterranean Sea, recapturing the vessel
and steering it back toward France. Butler Capital Partners, the
private investment firm picked by the government to take over ferry
operator SNCM, said 350-400 jobs might be lost in the privatization.
(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Sep, Tariq Krim (32),
French entrepreneur, launched Netvibes. It provided users the
ability to oversee their favorite blogs from a single page.
(Econ, 2/3/07, p.68)
2005 Oct 1, Riot police
forcibly expelled striking union workers who had blockaded ports in
Corsica and southeastern France for days to protest against the
planned privatization of a state-run ferry operator.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 3, In France a
widespread transit strike expected to touch on nearly all modes of
public transportation began late at night in protest of the
center-right government's economic and labor policies.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2005 Oct 4, French President
Jacques Chirac said that Turkey would need to undergo a "major
cultural revolution" before entering the EU, and he reiterated that
France would hold a referendum on admitting Ankara to the bloc.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, It was reported
that French Attorney Jean-Marc Goldnadel had launched
classaction.fr, a French Web site that lets users sign up to
lawsuits online for as little as 12 euros ($14.50). President
Jacques Chirac had announced the introduction of class action suits
earlier in the year.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 5, Americans Robert H.
Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock and Yves Chauvin of France won the
Nobel Prize in chemistry for discoveries that let industry create
drugs and advanced plastics in a more efficient and environmentally
friendly way.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 8, In France
journalists reporting on the conflict in Iraq, a humanitarian crisis
in Sudan, the plight of children in Uganda's insurrection and a
deadly school hostage siege in Russia were honored with the annual
Bayeux Prize for War Correspondents.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 20, A French couple
who poisoned their five children and then tried to commit suicide in
a desperate bid to escape towering debt was sentenced to prison
terms by a court outside Paris.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 24, An official said
more than a dozen climbers from France and Nepal were swept away in
an avalanche on a Himalayan mountain and believed killed. The
mountaineers were reported missing last week after heavy snowfall
hit the Himalayas.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 27, In France 2
teenagers, Bouna Traore (15) and Zyed Benna (17), died by
electrocution after they scaled the wall of an electrical relay
station and touched a transformer in the Paris suburb of
Clichy-sous-Bois. Local youths blamed the police for the deaths and
exploded in anger. The boys allegedly thought they were being chased
by police, but authorities denied that was the case. In 2010 two
French police officers faced trial accused of failing to save the
lives of two teens.
(AP, 10/31/05)(AP, 10/22/10)
2005 Oct 28, Raymond Hains
(b.1926), French Nouveau Realiste artist, died in Paris. In 1960 he
joined with other artists to found the Nouveau Realistes, whose
emergence came to be seen as the beginning of French Pop Art.
(SFC, 11/15/05, p.B5)
2005 Oct 29, Hundreds of French
youths fought with police and set cars ablaze in a Paris suburb in a
second night of rioting which media said was triggered when two
teenagers were electrocuted while fleeing police.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 30, Police clashed
with angry youths in a Paris suburb for the fourth straight night,
with accusations over a police teargas grenade thrown into a mosque
set to exacerbate the situation further.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Oct 31, French rower
Emmanuel Coindre ended a landmark 129-day solo voyage across the
Pacific Ocean between Japan and the United States, setting a new
record, according to his team.
(AFP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 1, French police fired
tear gas and rioters hurled Molotov cocktails as violence hit a poor
Paris suburb for the fifth straight night in unrest that officials
said had also spread to neighboring towns.
(AFP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 3, Rioting youths shot
at police and firefighters after burning car dealerships and public
buses and hurling rocks at commuter trains. France's government
faced growing pressure to curb the violence, fueled by anger over
poor conditions in suburban Paris housing projects.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 4, Small, mobile
groups of youths hit Paris' riot-shaken suburbs with waves of arson
attacks, torching hundreds of cars, as unrest entered its 2nd week
and spread to other towns.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 5, In France
marauding youths torched nearly 900 vehicles, stoned paramedics and
burned a nursery school in a ninth night of violence that spread
from Paris suburbs to towns around France. Authorities arrested more
than 250 people overnight.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 6, French President
Jacques Chirac called a security meeting of his top ministers after
urban rioting spread, with arsonists striking from the Mediterranean
to the German border and into central Paris for the first time. On
the 10th night of mayhem, some 1,300 vehicles were torched across
France overnight and 349 people were arrested.
(AP, 11/6/05)(AFP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 7, Rioting by French
youths spread to 300 towns overnight, and a 61-year-old man hurt in
the violence died of his wounds, the first fatality in 11 days of
unrest.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 8, President Jacques
Chirac declared a state of emergency, paving the way for curfews to
be imposed on riot-hit cities and towns in an extraordinary measure
to halt France's worst civil unrest in decades after 12 nights of
violence.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 9, France's storm of
rioting lost strength with a drop of nearly half in the number of
car burnings. But looters and vandals still defied a state of
emergency with attacks on stores, a newspaper warehouse and a subway
station.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 10, Violence in France
fell sharply overnight after the government toughened its stance by
imposing emergency measures and ordering deportations of foreigners
involved in riots that have raged for two weeks. The national police
said 8 French police officers had been suspended for their suspected
role in the beating of a young man in a Paris suburb.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 11, Forces tightened
security in central Paris, stationing riot police and bomb squads
along the Champs-Elysees as more than two weeks of arson and
vandalism persisted near the French capital.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 12, Some 3,000 police
fanned out around Paris to prevent any attempts to attack
high-profile targets such as the Eiffel Tower after a 16th straight
night of unrest and arson.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 13, In France police
took 212 people into custody overnight. Rioters pelted police with
stones in the historic heart of Lyon, and youths rammed a burning
car into a center for retirees in southern France in a 17th night of
urban violence. The French insurance industry estimated damages so
far at $235 million including $23 million for damage to cars.
(AP, 11/13/05)(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A19)
2005 Nov 14, The French
government approved a bill to extend a state of emergency for 3
months, giving itself more policing tools to stop the country's
worst civil unrest since the 1960s. Some 271 cars were burned
overnight.
(AP, 11/14/05)(SFC, 11/14/05, p.A10)
2005 Nov 15, Jose Bove, a
militant French farmer best known for ransacking a half-built
McDonald's, was sentenced to four months in prison for destroying a
field of genetically modified corn planted by an American seed
company in southern France.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 17, French police
declared the all-clear after three weeks of rioting which has left
the government stunned, bruised and casting around for explanations.
(AFP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, France released
its annual Beaujolais Nouveau from the 2005 harvest. The annual
release is made every 3rd Thursday in November.
(SFC, 11/22/05, p.F2)
2005 Nov 21, France's PM
Villepin pledged to find more jobs for youths from poor suburbs,
where unrest continued to simmer and a high school guard suffered a
fatal heart attack trying to extinguish blazing cars.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 22, French President
Jacques Chirac called for negotiations to end a nationwide rail
strike that caused commuter chaos and posed a new threat to his
government, just days after urban riots abated.
(Reuters, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, French union
leaders decided to recommend an end to a strike that disrupted
French train service, saying they were satisfied with concessions
offered by the national rail operator SNCF.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 23, France's Cabinet
approved a plan to put a tax on airline tickets starting next year
to finance efforts against poverty and disease in the developing
world.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 27, Doctors in France
performed the world's first partial face transplant on a woman
disfigured by a dog bite; Isabelle Dinoire received the lips, nose
and chin of a brain-dead woman in a 15-hour operation.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2005 Nov 29, France's lower
house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a tough new
anti-terrorism bill that, among other measures, would increase the
use of video surveillance and allow police more time to question
terror suspects.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 30, French doctors
performed the world’s 1st partial face transplant. They operated on
a woman (38) disfigured by a dog bite.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 2, African leaders and
French President Jacques Chirac converged on Mali for a two-day
summit expected to focus on Africa's conflict hotspots, immigration
and the problems of African youth.
(AFP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 4, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao arrived in France for a four-day visit. The Chinese
government and the European aircraft manufacturing consortium Airbus
signed a cooperation agreement at a public ceremony in Toulouse that
may pave the way for the opening of an aircraft assembly plant in
China.
(AFP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 5, France's highest
administrative body ruled that Sikhs can wear their turbans in
drivers' license photos, overturning an earlier denial of a license
to a Sikh who refused to take off his turban for the photo.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 10, The Petit Palais,
a long forgotten gem among Paris museums, reopened after an $84
million renovation that has restored the full splendor of a
structure originally built for the 1900 World's Fair.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 10-2005 Dec 11,
Hundreds of French youths smashed shop windows, ignited trash cans
and pelted police with bottles through the night to protest against
a ban on a rave party they planned in the western city of Rennes.
(Reuters, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 12, French
counterterrorism agents, some heavily armed and wearing black hoods,
raided homes and Internet cafes in a sweep against a suspected
Islamic network, arresting more than 20 suspects.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 14, The French
government said Eiffag SA, Vinci SA and Spain’s Abertis
Infraestructuras SA will buy its stakes in 3 toll-road companies
raising $17.7 billion to help cut France’s national debt.
(WSJ, 12/15/05, p.A16)
2005 Dec 15, French
counterterrorism agents arrested three people suspected of belonging
to a terror group with "indirect links" to al-Qaida in Iraq leader
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Agents seized guns, ammunition, dynamite and
other weapons in a probe of suspected Islamic militants who
officials said use robberies to fund terror groups.
(AP, 12/15/05)
2005 Dec 15, French and Italian
authorities said European police have broken up the biggest-ever
illegal immigration ring targeting Britain by arresting dozens of
suspects believed to have helped smuggle "thousands" of people into
that country.
(AP, 12/15/05)
2005 Dec 20, France's antitrust
regulator slapped a 14.4 million euros ($17.2 million) fine on Buena
Vista Home Entertainment Inc., a unit of Walt Disney Co., and three
French retailers for fixing home video prices between 1995 and 1998.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 22, France's
parliament approved an anti-terrorism bill that will boost the use
of video surveillance and allow police more time to question terror
suspects.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 23, A French military
tribunal opened an investigation into allegations that French
peacekeepers facilitated attacks on ethnic minority Tutsis during
the 1994 genocide of more than half a million Rwandans.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2005 Dec 29, France reported a
second death from freezing temperatures as blizzards swept through
northern and central Europe, forcing flight cancellations at Prague
airport and cutting power lines and rail links in Scandinavia.
(AP, 12/29/05)
2005 Sir Alistair Horne,
British historian, authored “La Belle France,” an sweeping overview
of French history.
(WSJ, 8/23/05, p.D8)
2005 Colin Jones authored
“Paris: The Biography of a City.”
(Econ, 4/23/05, p.80)
2005 Frederic Mitterand
(b.1947), the nephew of former French Pres. Francois Mitterand,
authored his autobiographical novel “The Bad Life” (French: La
mauvaise vie), which became a best seller. In the book he details
his "delight" whilst visiting the male brothels of Bangkok, and
writes, "I got into the habit of paying for boys ... The profusion
of young, very attractive and immediately available boys put me in a
state of desire I no longer needed to restrain or hide."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Mitterrand)
2006 Jan 4, French Interior
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said France will create a special police
force to ensure security for railway passengers after a band of
marauding youths robbed and sexually assaulted train travelers Jan 1
in southeast France.
(AP, 1/4/06)
2006 Jan 5, In France a
76-year-old performance artist was arrested after attacking Marcel
Duchamp's (1917) "Fountain," a porcelain urinal, with a hammer
at the Pompidou Center.
(AP, 1/6/06)
2006 Jan 6, An Indian Supreme
Court panel accused France of violating an international treaty on
hazardous waste movement by sending an asbestos-laden warship to be
scrapped in an Indian shipyard.
(AP, 1/6/06)
2006 Jan 14, Egypt and France
were locked in legal wrangling over a decommissioned aircraft
carrier containing asbestos, leaving the French warship stranded off
the Egyptian coast for the third day running.
(AFP, 1/14/06)
2006 Jan 16, In Strasbourg,
France, demonstrators fought with police and smashed windows at the
European Parliament building during a protest over a proposal to
make port operations in the European Union more competitive.
(AP, 1/16/06)
2006 Jan 16, A US-registered
private jet crashed in the French Alps outside Bourdeau and 4 people
were killed.
(AP, 1/17/06)
2006 Jan 19, Pres. Chirac said
France would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state that
carried out a terrorist attack against it, reaffirming the need for
its nuclear deterrent.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 21, Ilan Halimi (23),
a mobile phone salesman in northeast Paris, was kidnapped. Ransom
demands soon followed. He was found 3 weeks later naked, handcuffed
and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks in the Essonne
region south of Paris. He died en route to a hospital. On Feb 20 a
judge placed six men and a woman under investigation for the alleged
plot to kidnap and kill on religious, racial or ethnic motives.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Jan 29, Avalanches swept
away skiers and at least one hiker in the French Alps, killing five
people over the weekend.
(AP, 1/29/06)
2006 Jan 31, French PM
Dominique de Villepin made a televised address urging French and
other European chief executives to be better organized to resist
attacks by foreign companies. The statement was made in response to
the takeover of Arcelor by Mittal Steel.
(Econ, 2/4/06, p.56)
2006 Feb 3, BNP Paribas,
France’s 2nd largest bank by assets, declared that it was buying a
48% stake in Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL), Italy’s 6th largest
bank, and that it would bid for the rest.
(Econ, 2/11/06, p.70)
2006 Feb 13, Ilan Halimi (23),
a young Jewish man, died in a Paris suburb after being kidnapped on
Jan 21 and tortured for 24 days. The trial of a self-proclaimed
"gang of barbarians" accused of killing him went on trial in 2009.
Among the 27 defendants was the girl who is alleged to have been
used as bait to capture Halimi and young men accused of taking part
in the abduction and guarding the captive. Youssouf Fofana, the
leader of the "barbarians," fled to the Ivory Coast but was
extradited to France on March 4, 2006. On July 10, 2009, a Paris
court convicted Fofana (28) for the kidnapping, torture and murder
Halimi and sentenced him to life in prison. 24 others, including 8
women, also were found guilty in the kidnapping, torture and murder
of Ilan Halimi. On Dec 17, 2010, an appeals court upheld the
convictions of 16 people for their roles in Halimi’s murder.
(AP, 4/29/09)(AP, 7/11/09)(SFC, 12/18/10, p.A2)
2006 Feb 15, President Jacques
Chirac ordered the Clemenceau, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, to
return to France after a top administrative court suspended its
transfer to India.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2006 Feb 17, French President
Jacques Chirac has arrived for his first visit to Thailand as head
of state, with Paris hoping to secure lucrative contracts in one of
the most dynamic countries in the region.
(AFP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 19, French President
Jacques Chirac arrived in India for a whistle-stop visit aimed at
bolstering trade and civilian nuclear cooperation with the emerging
economic powerhouse.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, India and France
both confirmed their first outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu
among fowl. Health officials and farm workers in western India began
slaughtering a half-million birds to check the spread of the
disease.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 19, India's private
Kingfisher Airlines signed a deal to purchase 15 French ATR 72-500
aircraft for 270 million dollars, with the option to buy another 20.
Kingfisher began operations in May and has a 7.6 percent share of
the domestic market.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 24, Japan suspended
all French poultry imports and threatened a similar ban on the
Netherlands following reported cases of H5N1 bird flu.
(Reuters, 2/25/06)
2006 Feb 24, French legal
authorities refused to extradite to Lebanon Zouheir Mohammad
Assediq, an ex-Syrian intelligence officer, to answer questions
about the murder of former Lebanese PM Rafiq el-Hariri.
(AFP, 2/26/06)
2006 Feb 27, France began
vaccinating 300,000 domestic fowl against bird flu.
(WSJ, 2/28/06, p.A1)
2006 Mar 4, The French the
defense ministry said a French special forces officer was killed in
clashes with Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan. This was the
second French soldier to be killed in action in Afghanistan.
(AFP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, Youssef Fofana, the
suspected leader of a gang accused of torturing to death a young
Jewish man near Paris, was extradited from the Ivory Coast to
France.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 5, French President
Jacques Chirac on a trip to Saudi Arabia preached greater tolerance
and respect after the publication of satirical cartoons of the
Prophet Mohammad a month ago whipped up protests around the world.
(AP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 6, France's highest
administrative body ruled that Sikhs must remove their turbans for
driver's license photos, calling it a question of public security
and not a restriction on freedom of religion.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 7, In France
protesters opposed to a government plan to reduce joblessness by
making it easier to fire young workers rallied throughout the
country, disrupting airports, schools and the Paris Metro.
(AP, 3/7/06)
2006 Mar 8, French government
attempts to stop Internet users downloading music and movies
ratcheted up a notch when Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy blasted
the widespread practice as theft.
(AFP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 9, The French
parliament, despite protests by students and unions, enacted a
much-contested law to reduce youth unemployment by using contract
jobs.
(AP, 3/10/06)
2006 Mar 9, In France
Christophe Fauviau (46), a father who drugged his children's tennis
opponents leading to one player's death, was sentenced to 8 years in
prison.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 11, Police stormed
France's famed Sorbonne University to dislodge students occupying
the building in protest of a new national employment measure, hours
after the demonstrators hurled furniture and ladders from the
landmark's windows.
(AP, 3/11/06)
2006 Mar 15, In France a
suspected gangland-style car explosion killed one man and injured
another on a highway north of Paris.
(AP, 3/15/06)
2006 Mar 18, As many as 1.5
million people took to the streets of French cities in a show of
strength over a contested new labor law, the government's First
Employment Contract (CPE), as police deployed in force in Paris to
head off the risk of violence. An open-ended contract for under
26-year-olds that can be terminated within the first two years
without explanation, the CPE is supposed to encourage employers to
take on young staff by removing some of the financial risks
involved. Police made 170 arrests.
(AP, 3/18/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.53)
2006 Mar 21, Some 30% of French
people consider themselves at least somewhat racist, according to a
report submitted to the government, prompting concerns that racism
is becoming socially acceptable.
(AP, 3/21/06)
2006 Mar 22, Pierre Clostermann
(85), French fighter pilot and WW II hero, died. In 1948 he
published the story of his exploits under the title “Le Grand
Cirque.” The English version was titled “The Big Show.”
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.85)
2006 Mar 28, Some 1-3 million
protesters poured onto France's streets and absent workers hobbled
transport services in the first nationwide strike against a new
labor law for youths, increasing pressure on the embattled PM to
withdraw the contested measure.
(AP, 3/28/06)(Econ, 4/1/06, p.22)
2006 Mar 28, It was reported
that France produced 78% of its electricity from nuclear power.
(WSJ, 3/28/06, p.A1)
2006 Mar 31, French President
Jacques Chirac offered to soften a labor law that makes it easier to
fire young workers, but the student and labor leaders who have
organized nationwide strikes rejected his compromise and repeated
calls for the measure's repeal.
(AP, 3/31/06)
2006 Mar, A French school
ranking by Le Figaro, based on the 2005 school-leaving exam,
indicated that the all but one of the top 29 schools were private.
(Econ, 3/11/06, p.48)
2006 Apr 2, Alcatel SA and
Lucent Technologies Inc. said that the French telecom equipment
maker would acquire its US rival. The deal valued Lucent at about
$13.5 billion (11.1 billion euros) in a stock swap that would form a
major new global player. Headquarters would be in Paris and about
8,800 jobs would be cut.
(AP, 4/2/06)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.63)
2006 Apr 4, In France a
nationwide strike shut down the Eiffel Tower and snarled air and
rail travel for the second time in a week while students barricaded
themselves in schools to protest a jobs measure that has riven the
country and put the government in crisis mode.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 5, In France
demonstrators blocked roads, rail lines and mail delivery trucks in
a second straight day of protests to demand the repeal of a divisive
jobs law, while unions vowed they would not compromise in talks with
President Jacques Chirac's ruling party on the issue.
(AP, 4/5/06)
2006 Apr 6, Students protesting
a new labor law put more pressure on France's embattled government
by blocking roads, trains and a convoy of parts heading to the
factory that builds the world's largest airliner.
(AP, 4/6/06)
2006 Apr 10, French President
Jacques Chirac threw out part of a youth labor law that triggered
massive protests and strikes, bowing to intense pressure from
students and unions and dealing a blow to his loyal premier in a bid
to end the crisis.
(AP, 4/10/06)
2006 Apr 12, France's lower
house of parliament approved a compromise youth job plan to replace
a measure that triggered nationwide protests and plunged the country
into crisis.
(AP, 4/12/06)
2006 Apr 17, Jean Bernard
(b.1907), French doctor, died. His research on blood disease helped
to found the discipline of hematology.
(AP, 4/21/06)
2006 Apr 29, It was reported
that just over 8% of workers in France belonged to a trade union
compared with 12% in America and nearly 30% in Britain.
(Econ, 4/29/06, p.54)
2006 Apr, France released 2
Slovenian brown bears in the Pyranees and planned to add five more
to boost genetic diversity.
(Econ, 5/13/06, p.60)
2006 May 3, Britain and France
introduced a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Iran
abandon its uranium enrichment program, possibly setting the stage
for sanctions if Tehran does not comply.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 12, Spain's Banco
Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) agreed to the French bank BNP
Paribas' purchase of its 14.75-percent stake in Italy's Banca
Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL), saying it will reap 567 million euros
(731 million dollars) in capital gains from the sale.
(AP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 13, More than 11,000
people marched through Paris to protest a bill that would stiffen
rules for immigrants in France and give authorities power to choose
who can enter.
(AP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 16, France's PM
Dominique de Villepin was in the firing line as parliament debated a
no confidence motion filed by the opposition over the Clearstream
dirty tricks scandal. Jean-Luis Gergorin, a senior executive at
EADS, was later identified as the anonymous informer who tried to
link important politicians to secret bank accounts in Luxembourg.
(AP, 5/16/06)(Econ, 5/27/06, p.63)
2006 May 29, French Agriculture
Minister Dominique Bussereau ruled out changes to the EU's system of
farm subsidies, saying he would prefer that the Doha trade talks
fail instead.
(AFP, 5/29/06)
2006 May 31, In France youths
torched a dozen cars and hurled stones at police in a second night
of violence in the troubled Paris suburbs, raising memories of
rioting that rocked the nation last year.
(AP, 5/31/06)
2006 May 31, Greenpeace said
nuclear waste from a storage facility is seeping into groundwater in
the Champagne region of France and threatening vineyards that
produce the sparkling wine.
(AP, 5/31/06)
2006 Jun 1, The NYSE under John
Thain agreed to acquire Paris-based Euronext NV, Europe’s 2nd
largest stock exchange, for $10 billion.
(SFC, 6/2/06, p.A3)
2006 Jun 6, The Spanish
interior ministry said that 67 suspects had been arrested for
accessing child porn on the Internet over the past five days. The
international police operation arrested 38 in France, 10 in Spain, 9
in Slovakia, 7 in Belgium and 3 in the Netherlands.
(AP, 6/6/06)
2006 Jun 10, Justine
Henin-Hardenne won the French Open, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4,
6-4.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2006 Jun 13, European
Aeronautic Defense and Space (EADS), the parent company of Airbus,
announced that its new 555-seat airliner would be delayed up to 7
months.
(Econ, 6/24/06, p.69)
2006 Jun 14, A French court
handed down prison terms ranging from six months to 10 years for 25
Islamic radicals convicted of planning to carry out attacks on the
Eiffel Tower and other targets in Paris. All but one had been
accused of helping Islamic fighters in Chechnya.
(AP, 6/14/06)
2006 Jun 14, France's highest
court upheld George Soros' conviction for insider trading in a case
dating back nearly 20 years, and the billionaire investor vowed to
fight the ruling at the European Court of Human Rights.
(AP, 6/14/06)
2006 Jun 20, In France Pres.
Chirac inaugurated the new, $293 million Musee du Quai Branly,
designed by Jean Nouvel.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.88)
2006 Jun 20, In Spain and
France 12 people, including one of the founders of the Basque
separatists ETA, were arrested in pre-dawn raids in a crackdown on
illegal financing of the armed group.
(AFP, 6/20/06)
2006 Jan 28, Maurice Lever
(b.1935), French writer, died in Paris of cancer. His work included
a biography of Marquis de Sade (1994), “Bloody Rumors” (1993), a
history of violent news stories, and “Scepter and Bauble” (1909), a
history of court jesters.
(SFC, 5/30/09,
p.E2)(www.imdb.com/name/nm1927840/bio)
2006 Jul 1, Thousands of people
marched through Paris to protest plans to tighten restrictions on
immigration and step up deportations of immigrant families with
children who are in the country illegally.
(AP, 7/2/06)
2006 Jul 1, The 3-week Tour de
France began. 4 favorites, including Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich,
were barred with 5 others from the cycling competition after their
names popped up in a Spanish probe of a network that allegedly
supplied riders and other athletes with banned drugs and doping
know-how.
(AP, 6/30/06)(SFC, 7/1/06, p.D1)
2006 Jul 2, EADS's French
co-chief executive Noel Forgeard and Airbus's German head Gustav
Humbert tendered their resignations over delays to deliveries of the
A380 superjumbo that has wiped billions of euros (dollars) off
EADS's share price. Louis Gallois became the new EADS co-CEO;
Christian Strieff was named the new president and CEO of Airbus.
(AFP, 7/2/06)(WSJ, 7/3/06, p.A2)
2006 Jul 4, A French court
convicted respected wine exporter Georges Duboeuf Wines of fraud
after one of its wineries mixed a variety of grapes in its
Beaujolais.
(AP, 7/4/06)
2006 Jul 5, A France court
convicted 38 people in a vast party financing scandal centered on
Paris City Hall from 1987 to 1993, when Jacques Chirac was mayor.
(AP, 7/5/06)
2006 Jul 5, France beat
Portugal 1-0 and will play Italy for Soccer’s World Cup on July 9.
(WSJ, 7/6/06, p.A1)
2006 Jul 9, Italy beat France
5-3 in a shootout following a 1-1 tie in the World Cup final.
Zinedine Zidane, captain of the French team, was sent off for
head-butting an Italian player.
(SFC, 7/10/06, p.A1)(Econ, 7/15/06, p.49)
2006 Jul 17, EAD’s Airbus,
reeling from a management shakeup that followed delays in its
flagship superjumbo jet program, unveiled a long-awaited revamp of
its mid-sized A350 at the Farnborough Air Show in England.
(AP, 7/17/06)(WSJ, 7/17/06, p.A3)
2006 Jul 19, Director Gerard
Oury (87), a cultural icon of France whose decades-old comedies
remain hits today, died at his Riviera home. His top hits include
the 1973 movie "Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob" (The Mad Adventures of
Rabbi Jacob).
(AP, 7/20/06)
2006 Jul 21, It was reported
that Saudi Arabia has ordered 76 artillery howitzers from the French
armaments manufacturer Giat Industries as defense minister Crown
Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz completed a two-day visit.
(AFP, 7/21/06)
2006 Jul 23, US cyclist
Floyd Landis (31) won the 3-week, 2,267-mile Tour de France 57
seconds ahead of Oscar Pereiro of Spain. Reports on July 27 Landis
said had tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone. In
2007 arbitrators upheld results that showed he had used synthetic
testosterone and that he must forfeit his title.
(SFC, 7/24/06, p.D1)(Reuters, 7/27/06)(WSJ,
9/21/07, p.A1)
2006 Jul 27, French health
officials said 64 people have died in a heat wave that has gripped
the country for nearly two weeks.
(AP, 7/27/06)
2006 Jul 27, Floyd Landis'
stunning Tour de France victory just four days earlier was thrown
into question when he tested positive for high levels of
testosterone during the race. Landis denied cheating.
(AP, 7/27/07)
2006 Jul 31, France's
agriculture minister condemned the destruction of two fields of
genetically modified corn by activists in southwestern France.
(AP, 7/31/06)
2006 Aug 2, A Paris commercial
court granted Eurotunnel protection from creditors, enabling the
operator of the Channel Tunnel to freeze payments on its debt
mountain of 9.0 billion euros (11.5 billion dollars).
(AFP, 8/2/06)
2006 Aug 3, A French law that
allows regulators to force Apple Computer Inc. to make its iPod
player and iTunes online store compatible with rival offerings went
into effect.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, French health
officials said the sweltering temperatures that gripped Europe last
month killed 112 people.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 5, The US and France
reached agreement on a UN Security Council resolution aimed at
ending the fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah
guerrillas.
(AP, 8/5/06)
2006 Aug 5, Floyd Landis was
fired by his team and the Tour de France no longer considered him
its champion after his second doping sample tested positive for
higher-than-allowable levels of testosterone. Landis maintained his
innocence.
(AP, 8/5/07)
2006 Aug 15, French Interior
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said nearly 30,000 illegal immigrants with
school-age children applied for French residency under a special
government offer, and about 6,000 will get it.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 17, President Jacques
Chirac announced that France will immediately double to 400 troops
its contingent in the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 19, French soldiers
landed in Lebanon, the first reinforcements for an expanded UN
peacekeeping force tasked with keeping the truce in the
Israel-Hezbollah conflict. About 50 French troops, military
engineers, were to prepare for the arrival of 200 more soldiers
expected next week.
(AP, 8/19/06)
2006 Aug 20, In northern France
a fire broke out in a run-down apartment building that mainly housed
immigrants, killing five people and injuring 10.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 24, France said it was
ready to send an extra 1,600 troops to bolster a revamped U.N. force
for Lebanon, bringing the total French contingent to 2,000 and
making it easier to recruit other nations.
(Reuters, 8/24/06)
2006 Aug 31, Sexus Politicus,
by co-authors Christophe Dubois and Christophe Deloire, was
published in France. It revealed decades of philandering, adultery
and seduction at the heart of the French state, with politicians of
all colors apparently sharing the same passion for extra-marital
sex.
(AP, 8/31/06)
2006 Sep 4, In France the
Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet, took off with a full
load of passengers for the first time. Carrying 474 Airbus
employees, the 308-ton jet left from Toulouse, southern France, on
the first of four test flights.
(AP, 9/4/06)
2006 Sep 5, French oil and gas
field surveyor Geophysique said it will buy US rival Veritas for
$3.1 billion in cash and stock, establishing a major new global
player in the booming oil exploration industry.
(AP, 9/5/06)
2006 Sep 10, Armed Yemeni
tribesmen kidnapped four French tourists in the east of the country
to press for their relatives to be released from jail.
(AP, 9/10/06)
2006 Sep 14, Current and former
French officials specializing in terrorism said that an al-Qaida
alliance with the Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known
by its French initials GSPC, was cause for concern. Al-Qaida's No.
2, Ayman al-Zawahri, announced the "blessed union" in a video posted
this week on the Internet to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept.
11 attacks in the United States.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 20, Henri Jayer (84),
a master of balanced pinot noir, died in Dijon, France. He was
viewed by many connoisseurs to be the finest Burgundy winemaker of
his generation.
(AP, 9/21/06)
2006 Sep 22, France and Russia
signed deals in the transport and aviation sectors worth 10 billion
dollars following a summit between Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin and
his French counterpart Jacques Chirac.
(AP, 9/23/06)
2006 Sep 22, Yvan Keller (46),
arrested a week earlier in France’s eastern city of Mulhouse in
connection with a robbery, hanged himself while in custody. Mr.
Keller admitted to killing dozens of elderly women who lived alone,
all within 40 miles of Mulhouse, in the border region straddling
France, Switzerland and Germany, starting in 1989.
(www.newagebd.com/2006/sep/27/inat.html)
2006 Sep 23, Russian Pres.
Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac joined
German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a three-way informal summit in a
chateau in Compiegne.
(AP, 9/23/06)
2006 Sep 27, France ended a
decades-old system of inequality by bringing lagging pensions of war
veterans from former colonies into line with those of their French
counterparts whose retirement payment is two-thirds higher. The
decision was not retroactive.
(AP, 9/28/06)
2006 Sep 27, A team of French
doctors said they successfully operated on a man in near
zero-gravity conditions on a flight looping in the air like a roller
coaster to mimic weightlessness.
(AP, 9/27/06)
2006 Sep 29, Segolene Royal,
who tops polls as the Socialist choice to run for French president
next spring, formally announced her candidacy.
(AP, 9/29/06)
2006 Sep 30, André
Schwarz-Bart (b.1928), French novelist of Polish-Jewish origins,
died in Guadeloupe. His books included the novel “The Last of the
Just” (1960), based on the Jewish teaching that the fate of the
world lies with 36 just men.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Schwarz-Bart)(WSJ, 12/9/06,
p.P12)
2006 Oct 3, A top Iranian
nuclear official proposed that France create a consortium to enrich
uranium in Iran, saying that could satisfy international demands for
outside oversight of Tehran's nuclear program.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 7, In France the press
advocacy group Reporters Without Borders and the northwest town of
Bayeux unveiled a memorial to some 2,000 journalists and other media
workers killed in the line of duty around the world since World War
II.
(AP, 10/7/06)
2006 Oct 8, France said it
would ban smoking in public places as of Feb 1, 2007. The ban would
extend to restaurants, bars and clubs at the start of 2008.
(WSJ, 10/7/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 9, Christian Streiff,
the head of Airbus, resigned after 99 days on the job due to clashed
over operational powers with the EADS board of directors. EADS named
Louis Gallois, a co-chief executive officer to replace him.
(SFC, 10/10/06, p.E3)
2006 Oct 11, In northeastern
France a passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train,
killing at least five people and injuring 16.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 12, French lawmakers
approved a bill making it a crime to deny that the 1915-1919 mass
killings of Armenians in Turkey amounted to genocide. It was thought
unlikely that Jacques Chirac’s government would forward the bill to
the Senate.
(AP, 10/12/06)(SFC, 10/13/06, p.A21)
2006 Oct 13, The French state
rail network said some 1,200 claims for compensation have been
leveled against the rail network for its role in helping transport
people to Nazi camps during World War II.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, The EU condemned a
French bill making it a crime to deny that the World War I-era
killing of Armenians in Turkey was genocide, calling it unhelpful at
a critical stage in the Muslim country's EU entry talks.
(AP, 10/14/06)
2006 Oct 14, French leader
Jacques Chirac told Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan he is sorry French
lawmakers approved a bill making it a crime to deny Armenians were
victims of genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
(Reuters, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 25, French President
Jacques Chirac and a delegation of French executives traveled to
China in hopes of expanding trade with one of the world's largest
economies.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 26, In France youths
forced passengers off three buses and set the vehicles on fire
overnight in suburban Paris, raising tensions ahead of the first
anniversary of the riots that engulfed France's rundown, heavily
immigrant neighborhoods.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 27, French President
Jacques Chirac called for closer ties with China in
telecommunications, nuclear power and other fields after Airbus's
decision to open a Chinese aircraft assembly line.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, Xavier Niel (39),
one of France's most high-profile Internet entrepreneurs, was handed
a suspended jail sentence for embezzling funds from a sex shop that
served as a front for prostitution. He was also fined 250,000 euros
($320,000) for embezzling money from the Roxane sex shop in the
eastern city of Strasbourg.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 27, In France 6 police
officers suffered minor injuries and 25 people were arrested in
scattered violence across the country on the first anniversary of
the start of nationwide riots.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 28, In France
marauding youths torched hundreds of vehicles overnight and into the
day. In Marseilles Mama Galledou (26) was on the bus with some 10
other passengers when it was forcibly boarded by at least three
teenagers wearing hoods. They doused the inside of the vehicle with
flammable liquid and set it on fire before running away. Galledou
was badly burnt and on the verge of death.
(AFP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 31, France's Defense
Minister ordered that 105 secret intelligence reports be handed over
to a judge investigating allegations that Paris helped Rwanda's
former Hutu government massacre ethnic Tutsis in a 1994 genocide.
(Reuters, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 2, In St. Maarten 4
French nationals were convicted of beating two gay American tourists
on Guadeloupe and were sentenced to between six months and six years
in prison.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 3, French conductor
Paul Mauriat (81), whose arrangement of "Love is Blue" topped US
charts in the 1960s, died in Perpignan, France.
(AP, 11/3/07)
2006 Nov 4, Swathes of Austria,
Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the
Netherlands and went dark for up to an hour in the late evening as
cold Germans rushing to switch on heaters sucked up electricity from
Europe's interconnected networks.
(AP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 7, French authorities
handed over to Spain Jose Javier Arizcuren Ruiz, a former leading
member of the armed Basque separatist group ETA, who police blame
for killing at least 15 people and planning several major attacks.
Ruiz, also known as "Kantauri," was arrested in Paris in 1999 and
served time in a French prison on charges of being a member of an
armed group.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 7, A shipload of toxic
waste arrived in France for disposal. It was collected from the
Ivory Coast following illegal dumping last August.
(WSJ, 11/8/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 7, In France
Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber (1924), who co-founded the French
newsweekly L'Express (1953) and encouraged Europe to emulate the
United States, died. In 1967 Servan-Schreiber published a popular
essay called "The American Challenge," which detailed the mechanisms
of an economic power struggle brewing between Europe and the US.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 13, France said it
will aid the Central African Republic's army with logistics and
aerial reconnaissance in its fight against rebels in the northeast
of the country.
(AFP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 15, Turkey suspended
military relations with France in a dispute over whether the mass
killings of Armenians early in the last century amounted to
genocide.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 16, In France Segolene
Royal (53) overwhelmingly won the backing of the main opposition
Socialist Party in her bid to become France's first female
president.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 16, Spain, France and
Italy unveiled a five-point Middle East peace initiative, calling
Israeli-Palestinian violence intolerable and saying that Europe must
take a lead role in ending the conflict.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 20, French prosecutors
approved international arrest warrants for 9 Rwandan officials in
connection with the 1994 attack that killed Rwanda's president,
triggering the central African country's genocide. Magistrate
Jean-Louis Bruguiere also said there was evidence that "Paul Kagame
and members of his military staff devised the operation" to destroy
Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane.
(Reuters, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 21, In Paris, France,
nations representing half the world's population signed a
long-awaited, $12.8 billion pact for a nuclear fusion reactor that
could revolutionize global energy use for future generations. The
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project by
the US, the EU, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea will
attempt to combat global warming by harnessing the fusion that runs
the sun, creating an alternative to polluting fossil fuels. The
project under the direction of Kaname Ikeda of Japan will be built
in Cadarache in the southern French region of Provence and is
expected to create about 10,000 jobs and take about eight years to
build. The project was first proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985.
(AP, 11/21/06)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.61)
2006 Nov 23, Philippe Noiret
(b.1930), French comedian and film actor, died in Paris.
(AP, 11/23/07)
2006 Nov 23, A military
official said France has bolstered its presence in the Central
African Republic with 100 more troops following rebel attacks and
growing concern over the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 22, Rwanda’s Pres.
Kagame dismissed French accusations as "rubbish," and instead said a
trial should be opened against France, which he accuses of abetting
the 100-day 1994 genocide in which minority Tutsis and moderate
Hutus were targeted by Hutu extremists.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, A military
official said France has bolstered its presence in the Central
African Republic with 100 more troops following rebel attacks and
growing concern over the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Thousands of
Rwandans took to the streets of Kigali to denounce France's alleged
complicity in the 1994 genocide and a French judge's call for the
prosecution of President Paul Kagame.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 24, France said it
will give Tanzania 46 million euros (60 million dollars) to fund
development projects in the east African nation over the next five
years.
(AFP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 24, Rwanda cut
diplomatic ties with France and gave France's ambassador to Rwanda
24 hours to leave the central African country. This was in response
to a French judge’s call for President Paul Kagame to stand trial
over the 1994 killing of a former leader, sparking the genocide of
800,000 people.
(Reuters, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 27, French developers
have selected a design by Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne, an
award-winning American architect, for a bold new building in Paris
nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower, and powered partly by the wind.
Completion was set for 2012.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 27, In Paris
Eurotunnel, operator of the Channel tunnel, was rescued from looming
bankruptcy when key creditors approved a plan to slash debt
exceeding 9.0 billion euros (11.9 billion dollars).
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 28, Government
soldiers in the Central African Republic were on the offensive, with
French military support, to seize back towns captured by rebels who
have steadily advanced from border territory.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Dec 6, France went
head-to-head with CNN and the BBC with the launch of its
state-funded 24/7 news channel, part of President Jacques Chirac's
efforts to make his country's voice heard. The France 24 news
channel was a joint venture between TF1, a private firm, and the
state-owned France Televisions.
(AP, 12/6/06)(Econ, 12/2/06, p.63)
2006 Dec 6, Philippe
Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, said that Iran will face
UN sanctions for refusing to halt its nuclear program but that major
world powers remain divided over their extent.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 11, Two Rwandan
ex-soldiers told a panel probing alleged French complicity in the
1994 massacres that France armed and trained members of the
Interahamwe militia, a radical militia blamed for most of the
killings in Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
(AFP, 12/11/06)
2006 Dec 12, In Rwanda an
ex-Interahamwe member said that he had participated in transporting
weapons from a French military plane in the former Zaire, now
Democratic Republic of Congo, to the north Rwanda province of
Gisenyi during the 1994 genocide. Witness #4 told a Rwandan
commission that French troops raped women fleeing militia gangs
during the African country's 1994 genocide.
(AFP, 12/12/06)(Reuters, 12/13/06)
2006 Dec 14, Australia and
France signed an agreement on military cooperation designed to
enhance their ability to work together.
(AFP, 12/14/06)
2006 Dec 16, British PM Tony
Blair arrived in Egypt for Middle East peace talks, saying the next
few days and weeks would be critical in determining whether Israel
and the Palestinians can break their cycle of violence.
(AP, 12/16/06)
2006 Dec 23, Two road accidents
in France within hours of each other left four people dead in
central Paris and some 24 injured in a 60-vehicle pileup on a foggy
highway near Bordeaux.
(AP, 12/24/06)
2006 France had about 18,000
soldiers abroad. They included 3,500 in the Ivory Coast, 1,700
in Lebanon, 1,200 in Chad, 1,000 in the Congo, and 5,000 spread
between permanent bases in Djibouti, Senegal and Gabon.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.49)
2006 France numbered some 3.7
million people living in poverty, defined as having a household
income of less than half of the median income. 2.4 million people
were unemployed.
(Econ, 10/28/06, Survey p.5)
2006 Nicolas Baverez (b.1961)
authored “New World, Old France,” a follow-up to his 2003 book,
“France in Freefall,” cataloguing the nihilism of the French.
(Econ, 2/4/06, p.46)
2006 Jonathan Laurence and
Justin Vaisse authored “Integrating Islam.” They focused on French
efforts to integrate its Muslim population and expressed a
cautiously optimistic tone.
(WSJ, 10/26/06, p.D6)
2006 Antoine Zacharias
(b.1939), head of the VINCI Group, a French construction giant, was
forced out of his position and left with a generous severance
package. He sued the company for €81 million for allegedly
preventing him from exercising some stock options. In 2008 a court
ruled against him.
(Econ, 6/14/08,
p.77)(http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Zacharias)
2007 Jan 2, In France prisoner
Nicolas Cocaign (b.1971) killed his cellmate killed Thierry Baudry.
In 2010 Cocaign, who was in jail for armed robbery and was awaiting
trial for attempted rape at the time, said he proceeded to eat part
of the lung raw before frying the rest with onions on a camping
stove and dining on the dish.
(AP, 6/23/10)
2007 Jan 5, Nicolas Cocaigne, a
French prisoner in Rouen, confessed to killing his cellmate and then
eating part of the man's body. Thierry Baudry's mutilated body was
found Jan 3 by a guard at the prison. A third cellmate who claimed
he slept though the attack was charged with complicity in homicide.
(AP, 1/6/07)
2007 Jan 7, A helicopter
crashed into the garden terrace of a restaurant in southeastern
France, killing three people on the ground and severely injuring a
fourth.
(AP, 1/7/07)
2007 Jan 8, Fatah gunmen
released the deputy mayor of Nablus unharmed, two days after
kidnapping him. Fatah militants torched stores of Hamas supporters
in Ramallah and shot at the house of a top Hamas official. Agence
France-Presse expressed gratitude for the release of a photographer
who had been held hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza
Strip.
(AP, 1/8/07)
2007 Jan 9, Mikhail Prokhorov
(41), chief executive of Russian mining giant OAO Norilsk Nickel,
was detained in France for questioning as part of a crackdown on a
suspected prostitution ring at an upscale ski resort.
(AP, 1/11/07)
2007 Jan 12, French authorities
freed Mikhail Prokhorov, a Russian billionaire, following four days
of questioning in connection with an investigation into a suspected
prostitution ring at the swank Alpine ski resort of Courchevel.
(AP, 1/12/07)
2007 Jan 12, East Timor and
France signed non-aggression treaties with ASEAN member countries on
the sidelines of the annual ASEAN summit in the Philippine resort
city of Cebu. Both countries looked to strengthen ties with a bloc
representing a sixth of the world's people.
(AP, 1/13/07)
2007 Jan 14, France's interior
minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, formally clinched the ruling
conservatives' presidential nomination.
(AP, 1/14/07)
2007 Jan 22, Abbe Pierre
(b.1912), a French priest praised as a living legend for devoting
his life to helping the homeless, using prayer and provocation to
tackle misery, died in Paris. He founded the international Emmaus
Community for the poor. Abbe Pierre, born as Henry Groues,
served as a spokesman for France's conscience since the 1950s when
he persuaded parliament to pass a law, still on the books,
forbidding landlords to expel tenants during winter months.
(AP, 1/22/07)(Econ, 2/3/07, p.87)
2007 Jan 23, French doctors
said that they had performed the world’s third partial face
transplant on a man whose face was disfigured by severe tumors.
(SFC, 1/24/07, p.A2)
2007 Jan 24, Jean-Francois
Deniau (b.1928), a former French government minister, diplomat,
sailor and novelist, died. His novel "Un Hero Tres Discret" (A Very
Discreet Hero) told of an ordinary man who reinvented himself as a
hero of the World War II Resistance. The book was adapted into a
movie by director Jacques Audiard and given the English-language
title "A Self Made Hero."
(AP, 1/24/07)
2007 Jan 29, Paris City Hall
announced it has selected French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux
SA to operate a new free bicycle service in the capital.
(AP, 1/30/07)
2007 Jan, Work began on the
Int’l. Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Cadarache,
France. 34 nations collaborated to realize the ITER project's First
Plasma in November 2019. The project was born at the Geneva
Superpower Summit in November, 1985.
(Econ, 9/3/11, p.79)(www.iter.org/factsfigures)
2007 Feb 1, In France top
global warming experts huddled for a last day of talks with
bureaucrats from more than 100 countries on a closely watched global
warming report that could influence government and business policy
worldwide.
(AP, 2/1/07)
2007 Feb 1, In France a ban on
smoking in public spaces came into effect.
(AP, 2/1/07)
2007 Feb 2, A French court
convicted dozens of people in a baby-trafficking case involving the
sale of nearly two dozen Bulgarian infants over two years.
(AP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, Scientists from 113
countries issued a report saying they have little doubt global
warming is caused by man, and predicting that hotter temperatures
and rises in sea level will "continue for centuries" no matter how
much humans control their pollution. The 4th report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published in
Paris.
(AP, 2/2/07)(Econ, 2/10/07, p.86)
2007 Feb 6, In France nearly 60
nations pledged not to use children to wage war and to disarm and
rehabilitate underage soldiers. The Paris Commitments agreement was
seen as a strong moral step against the problem, though it carried
no legal weight. They also signed a treaty that bans governments
from holding people in secret detention, but the United States and
some of its key European allies were not among them.
(AP, 2/6/07)
2007 Feb 7, Michel Niaucel, a
French diplomat with the European Union in Ivory Coast, was shot to
death in his home overnight. Niaucel was in charge of West Africa
security operations for the EU.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 8, In France teachers,
tax collectors, railway workers and other public servants went on
strike to protest job losses and demand higher pay.
(AP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 9, A French appeals
court ruled that Pierre Pinoncelli (78), who attacked Marcel
Duchamp's famed porcelain urinal (fountain) with a hammer last year,
does not have to pay $260,000 in damages. Pinoncelli urinated on
"Fountain" during a 1993 exhibition in Nimes in southern France, and
cut off his own finger as an expression of solidarity with
Colombian-French politician Ingrid Betancourt, held hostage by
leftist guerrillas in Colombia since 2002.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, In France
Alcatel-Lucent SA said it plans to cut another 3,500 jobs after it
swung to a loss in the fourth quarter, the first for which the
telecom equipment maker reported combined earnings.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 11, In France
socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal unveiled a
long-awaited platform that promised to boost the minimum wage and
pension payments.
(AP, 2/11/07)
2007 Feb 15, A summit of
African leaders opened in Cannes on the French Riviera. The crisis
in Darfur and violence in Guinea overshadowed the summit, as well as
perennial issues of poverty, development and AIDS. France won
agreement from three involved African nations (Sudan, Chad and
Central African Republic) that they would not support armed rebel
movements on each other's territories.
(AP, 2/15/07)(AP, 2/15/07)
2007 Feb 16, French President
Jacques Chirac said US cotton subsidies were scandalous and immoral
because they hurt African farmers.
(Reuters, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 17, President Jacques
Chirac awarded the Legion d'Honneur order to actor and director
Clint Eastwood (76), calling his latest films lessons in humanity.
Chirac said Eastwood's latest films "Flags of our Fathers" and
"Letters from Iwo Jima" showed the impasse that can follow from the
blind use of force.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 17, Maurice Papon
(96), a former French Cabinet minister, died. He was convicted of
complicity in crimes against humanity for his role in deporting Jews
during World War II and became a symbol of France’s collaboration
with the Nazis.
(AP, 2/17/07)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.99)
2007 Feb 26, Three Frenchmen
who lived in Saudi Arabia were killed by gunmen on the side of a
desert road leading to the holy city of Medina in an area restricted
to Muslims only. Soon after a 4th died from his wounds. An
investigation later revealed that Waleed bin Mutlaq al-Radadi, among
the kingdom's most wanted terrorists, was the mastermind and one of
the triggermen in the shooting. Al-Radadi was killed on April 6 in a
gunbattle with Saudi forces.
(AP, 2/26/07)(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Feb 27, At least 2 Picasso
paintings ("Maya and the Doll" and "Portrait of Jacqueline"), worth
a total of nearly $66 million, were stolen overnight from the
artist's granddaughter's house in Paris. The paintings were
recovered August 7 and police took 3 people into custody.
(AP, 2/28/07)(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Feb 27, In Brazil 3 French
nationals who ran a nonprofit group that helps poor children were
stabbed to death at their headquarters near Rio's Copacabana beach
and authorities arrested three suspects. The slayings that left one
of the victims decapitated were part of a botched scheme to protect
a Brazilian accountant, Tarsio Wilson Ramires (25), accused of
stealing money from the group.
(AP, 2/27/07)
2007 Feb 28, European airliner
maker Airbus told unions that it would dispose of six factories and
switch some work from France to Germany under a plan costing some
10,000 jobs.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Feb 28, French author
Dominique Lapierre opened the first of 15 schools planned in India
with money raised by auctioning an iconic dress worn by Audrey
Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Mar 1, In France, Germany
and Spain workers at Airbus revolted against massive cutbacks,
planning a strike next week in a warning to the company that its
recovery strategy is in for a long, tough haul.
(AFP, 3/1/07)
2007 Mar 2, Henri Troyat (95),
French writer, died. He fled Russia's revolution as a child and went
on to become one of France's most prolific, popular and respected
authors.
(AP, 3/5/07)
2007 Mar 4, In the Central
African Republic French fighter jets destroyed several rebel
vehicles in retaliation for an attack on French troops.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 6, France and the
United Arab Emirates signed an agreement to open a branch of the
Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi, despite criticism that the French
government is peddling the country's artistic treasures.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2007 Mar 6, Jean Baudrillard
(b.1929), French philosopher and social theorist, died. He was best
known for his writings on gender relations and consumerism.
(Econ, 3/17/07,
p.93)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard)
2007 Mar 7, In France a new law
took effect that makes it a crime for anyone, who is not a
professional journalist, to film real-world violence and distribute
the images on the Internet. Critics call it a clumsy effort by
authorities to battle "happy slapping," the youth fad of filming
violent acts, which most often they have provoked, and spreading the
images on the Web or between mobile phones.
(AP, 3/7/07)
2007 Mar 11, Jacques Chirac,
admired and scorned during 12 years as France's president, announced
he will not seek a third term in elections this spring, a widely
expected move given his low popularity, his age and a conservative
rival who has siphoned off his political base. His popularity had
shrunk to 29% as unemployment stood at 8.6%.
(AP, 3/11/07)(Econ, 3/17/07, p.27)
2007 Mar 13, France's highest
court rejected as unlawful the first marriage by a gay couple in
France, annulling the union of the two men.
(AP, 3/13/07)
2007 Mar 14, Lucie Aubrac
(b.1912), a hero of the French Resistance, died. She helped free her
husband from the Gestapo. In 2000, Aubrac published "The Resistance
Explained to my Grandchildren" about her experiences. She is also
the author of the 1984 book "They'll Leave Exhilarated." French
director Claude Berry made the hit 1997 movie "Lucie Aubrac,"
starring Carole Bouquet in the title role. Two other films,
Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 "The Army of Shadows" and the 1991
"Boulevard of the Swallows" by Jose Yanne, were also based on
Aubrac's story.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 15, A French court
convicted a doctor in the poisoning death of a terminally ill cancer
patient, in a trial that has raised the issue of euthanasia in
France's presidential race.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 17, In France tens of
thousands of people filled the streets of five cities to protest
plans to build the next generation of nuclear reactors.
(AP, 3/17/07)
2007 Mar 21, French President
Jacques Chirac endorsed the presidential bid of Interior Minister
Nicolas Sarkozy despite their long rivalry.
(AP, 3/21/07)
2007 Mar 22, France became the
first country to open its files on UFOs when the national space
agency unveiled a website documenting more than 1,600 sightings
spanning five decades.
(AFP, 3/22/07)
2007 Mar 22, Brian Joubert
became the first Frenchman in 42 years to win the world title by
taking the men's event at the World Figure Skating Championships in
Tokyo.
(AP, 3/22/08)
2007 Mar 26, Nicolas Sarkozy
resigned as French interior minister to focus on his presidential
bid, recalling his successes but also challenges, including violence
by poor young minorities.
(AP, 3/26/07)
2007 Mar 27, French riot police
firing tear gas and brandishing batons clashed with bands of youths
who shattered windows and looted shops at a major Paris train
station. Nine people were arrested.
(AP, 3/28/07)
2007 Mar 28, In France an
official at a Paris maternity hospital said Sister
Marie-Simon-Pierre is the French nun whose testimony of a mystery
cure from Parkinson's disease will likely be accepted as the miracle
the Vatican needs to beatify Pope John Paul II.
(AP, 3/28/07)
2007 Mar 30, A French architect
claimed to have uncovered the mystery about how Egypt's Great
Pyramid of Khufu was built. Jean-Pierre Houdin said advanced 3D
technology had shown the main ramp which was used to haul the
massive stones to the apex was contained 10-15 meters beneath the
outer skin, tracing a pyramid within a pyramid..
(Reuters, 3/30/07)
2007 Apr 3, A French train with
a 25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels broke the world speed
record for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph as it zipped
through the countryside to the applause of spectators. It surpassed
the record of 320.2 mph set in 1990 by another French train. It fell
short of beating the ultimate record set by Japan's magnetically
levitated train, which hit 361 mph in 2003.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 19, Rwanda filed a
case against France at the UN's highest court in The Hague over a
French request that President Paul Kagame be tried by the Rwanda war
crimes tribunal.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 22, French voters
turned out in force to choose a new president in one of the
country's most suspense-filled elections in recent times. In the
first round conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist rival
Segolene Royal received enough votes to advance to a runoff, which
Sarkozy won.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/22/08)
2007 Apr 23, In France Sarkozy
and Royal advanced to the second round of France's presidential
election, With nearly all votes counted, Sarkozy had 31.1%, followed
by Royal with 25.8% and Bayrou with 18.5%. Turnout was 84.6 percent,
the highest in more than 40 years and just shy of the record set in
1965.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 24, Rwandan media said
that a former Belgian army officer in the UN mission to Rwanda
(Minuar) has accused French soldiers of training extremist Hutus
responsible for the 1994 genocide.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 May 3, In France Claude
Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told a news
conference that there is no reason why Iran should not have nuclear
energy.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 6, French voters
turned out in force in a presidential election offering divergent
choices for the future, with conservative front-runner Nicolas
Sarkozy urging the French to work more and Socialist Segolene Royal
pledging to safeguard welfare protections. Nicolas Sarkozy (52), a
US-friendly conservative and an immigrant's son, defeated Socialist
Segolene Royal by 53% to 47% with about 85% voter turnout.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 8, The leader of
France's defeated Socialists appealed for calm after a second night
of post-election violence left cars burned and store windows
smashed.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 9, France’s interior
minister said violence hit for a third night following the election
of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, with about 200 vehicles torched by
vandals and more than 80 people taken in for questioning nationwide.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In France Nayef
al-Shaalan, a Saudi Prince, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in
jail on charges of involvement in a cocaine smuggling gang.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 12, Eric Damfreville,
a French aid worker, returned to France after five weeks in Taliban
captivity in Afghanistan and made a plea for his captors to free
three Afghans seized with him.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Waves reaching 36
feet high thrashed France's Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean,
leaving two fishermen missing and flooding homes and hotels.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 16, Nicolas Sarkozy
took office as France's president.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, French Pres.
Nicolas Sarkozy named Francois Fillon (53), a Gaullist former social
affairs minister, to be his prime minister.
(SFC, 5/18/07, p.A3)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.56)
2007 May 18, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy named his first Cabinet, radically revamping the
government, which included seven women among its 15 members. Bernard
Kouchner, former UN administrator for Kosovo and co-founder of the
Nobel Prize-winning aid group Doctors Without Borders, was named
foreign minister.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 27, Christian Mungiu,
a Romanian director, won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or for his
“3 Weeks and 2 Days,” which looked at abortion during the communist
era. Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” a film on the inequities of America’s
health system, also featured at Cannes.
(WSJ, 5/29/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.32)
2007 Jun 1, A French naval
frigate conducting a surveillance mission off Malta discovered the
bodies of 18 people floating in the Mediterranean. Crew members on
"La Motte Picquet" noticed no boat nearby as the bodies, possibly of
illegal immigrants hoping to reach Europe, were pulled out of the
water.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 2, In San Francisco,
Ca., Hugues de la Plaza (36), a French national, was found dead in
his apartment in Hayes Valley. Police labeled his stabbing death as
a possible homicide or suicide. In 2009 a French probe called his
death a homicide. The French probe concluded that de la Plaza was
stabbed in a surprise attack outside his apartment.
(SFC, 1/27/09, p.B1)(SFC, 2/27/09, p.B1)
2007 Jun 3, Pope Benedict XVI
named four new saints from France, Malta, the Netherlands and Poland
at a ceremony in St. Peter's Square. Among those honored was Sister
Marie Eugenie de Jesus Milleret, a French nun who in 1839 founded
the Religious of the Assumption to educate young girls; the Rev.
George Preca of Malta, who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine
in 1932 as a group of lay people who teach the faith to others; the
Rev. Szymon z Lipnicy of Poland, a Franciscan monk who comforted
Poles afflicted by the plague that broke out in Krakow from 1482-83
and died of it himself; and the Rev. Charles of St. Andrew (Dublin),
who was born Karel Van Sint Andries Houben in the Netherlands in
1821.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 10, France held
parliamentary elections. President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to revive
France's economy and its identity stood their first test, with
voters widely expected to give allies of their new conservative
leader a mandate for change. In round one of Sarkozy’s UMP party won
39.6 percent of the vote, while the opposition Socialists had 24.7
percent. The results gave the conservatives a strong advantage
heading into the decisive runoff next Sunday.
(AP, 6/10/07)(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 10, The first
high-speed rail link between France and Germany began scheduled
services, slashing travel times and marking a major step towards a
truly pan-European rapid transit network.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 12, Baron Guy de
Rothschild (b.1909), French banker, died. He managed his family's
French banking empire and saw it taken over first during the Nazi
occupation and then by a Socialist government 40 years later.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, A US panel said an
obesity treatment made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis
was unsafe and should not be marketed in the United States.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 16, Voting began in
some overseas French territories in the final round of parliamentary
elections expected to give conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy a
big majority for his reform plans.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 17, President Nicolas
Sarkozy looked set to win a powerful majority as the French voted in
runoff elections for parliament. Sarkozy won a comfortable majority
but not the crushing victory predicted in polls.
(AP, 6/17/07)(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, In France Airbus
racked up a series of big orders at the opening of the Paris Air
Show. Airbus announced that it had booked firm orders or letters of
intent to order for 339 aircraft, a record figure, for a value of
45.7 billion dollars (34.1 billion euros) at catalogue prices.
(AP, 6/18/07)(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jul 2, Brahim Deby (27),
the son of Chad's president, was found dead with a head wound in the
basement of his apartment building in a Paris suburb. Authorities
treated the case as a murder investigation.
(AP, 7/2/07)
2007 Jul 5, France’s
Agriculture Ministry said 3 swans found dead in a pond in eastern
France have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu.
(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 5, Regine Crespin
(80), the French opera great who took her personal magnetism and
soprano voice to the world's leading stages, died.
(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 6, In France some 50
masked attackers smashed cars and clashed with police in northeast
Paris. Three officers were injured.
(AP, 7/6/07)
2007 Jul 8, France’s President
Nicolas Sarkozy said he will not offer mass pardons to prisoners on
Bastille Day, keeping up his law-and-order reputation and breaking
with tradition.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 10, EU finance
ministers agreed to have Dominique Strauss-Kahn at top man at the
IMF to replace Rodrigo de Rato, who will resign in October.
(Econ, 7/14/07,
p.12)(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19691259/)
2007 Jul 12, French legislators
approved a measure championed by President Nicolas Sarkozy that
would encourage people to work beyond the 35-hour workweek by
cutting taxes on overtime pay.
(AP, 7/12/07)
2007 Jul 12, France told Serbia
its EU bid depends on letting Kosovo break away.
(WSJ, 1/13/07, p.A1)
2007 Jul 13, French legislators
approved a measure lowering the cap on tax burdens to 50% of income,
despite resistance from leftists and even within the ruling
conservative coalition.
(AP, 7/13/07)
2007 Jul 13, A French gendarme
shot a superior officer dead in a Paris suburb before killing his
own twin children and finally turning the gun on himself.
(AP, 7/13/07)
2007 Jul 14, In southern France
Pascal Payet (43), who was serving a 30-year sentence for a holdup
on an armored truck that left a guard dead, escaped by helicopter
from the Grasse prison. Payet had escaped from the Luynes prison in
October 2001. In 2003, he helped organize the helicopter escape of
three fellow inmates from the same prison. In September Payet was
arrested along with 2 accomplices in Mataro, Spain.
(AP, 7/17/07)(AP, 9/22/07)
2007 Jul 15, JCDecaux launched
a bike rental system in Paris.
(Econ, 9/22/07, p.76)
2007 Jul 20, Two suspects in
the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a priest and a prefect, were arrested in
France on a warrant from an international court investigating the
massacres. Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Roman Catholic priest in
Normandy, and Laurent Bucyibaruta, a former prefect, were jailed
before possible extradition to Tanzania where the UN International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is based.
(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Jul 22, A bus carrying
Polish pilgrims from a holy site in the French Alps plunged off a
steep mountain road, crashed into a river bed and burst into flames,
killing 26 people.
(AFP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul 25, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy headed for talks with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi,
a day after the release of six foreign medics, in a signal of
normalized ties between Europe and Tripoli. France and Libya signed
a memorandum of understanding to build a Libyan nuclear reactor for
water desalination and clinched a raft of other deals.
(AP, 7/25/07)(AFP, 7/25/07)
2007 Jul 26, Juan Cruz Maiza,
the alleged head of ETA’s logistics, was arrested in France along
with two helpers.
(Econ, 8/4/07, p.44)
2007 Jul 27, French judges
filed preliminary charges against former PM Dominique de Villepin
for his suspected role in a smear campaign that targeted Nicolas
Sarkozy before he became president.
(AP, 7/27/07)
2007 Jul 29, Alberto Contador
of Spain won the doping-scarred Tour de France.
(AP, 7/29/08)
2007 Jul 29, French actor
Michel Serrault died in Honfleur, France, at age 79.
(AP, 7/29/08)
2007 Aug 1, Denmark, France and
Indonesia offered to contribute to a joint UN-African Union mission
for Darfur, a 26,000-strong force expected to be made up mostly of
peacekeepers from Africa with backup from Asian troops. Sudan
accepted a UN resolution approving a joint African Union-UN
peacekeeping force in Darfur.
(AP, 8/1/07)(AFP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, A French court
ruled that indictments for Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and another man,
Laurent Bucyibaruta, violated the presumption of innocence. Rwanda
had sought the extradition of the 2 men for their roles in the
country's 1994 genocide.
(Reuters, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 5, A group of armed,
masked men burst into a museum in the southern French city of Nice
and made off with a painting by French master Claude Monet and two
others by Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel. The paintings were
recovered on June 4, 2008, in a sting operation that captured 3 men
near Marseilles.
(AP, 8/5/07)(AP, 6/5/08)(WSJ, 8/22/08, p.W1)
2007 Aug 5, French Cardinal
Jean-Marie Lustiger (80) died. He was a Jew who converted to
Catholicism and rose through church hierarchy to become one of the
most influential Roman Catholic figures in France.
(AP, 8/5/07)(Econ, 8/18/07, p.76)
2007 Aug 6, Baron Elie Robert
de Rothschild (90), who helped France's renowned Rothschild
winemaking and banking dynasty recover from the ravages of World War
II, died while vacationing at his Austrian hunting lodge.
(AP, 8/6/07)
2007 Aug 11, President George
W. Bush welcomed France's Pres. Sarkozy to the Bush family's
oceanfront home in Maine for a private meeting, boat ride and picnic
fare.
(www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/08/11/bush-sarkozy.html)
2007 Aug 21, In Iraq French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called on Europe to play a bigger
role in Iraq because "the Americans will not be able to get this
country out of difficulty alone." The postwar Iraqi tribunal trying
former Saddam Hussein aides opened its third proceeding, putting
former Defense Minister Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical
Ali," and 14 other men on trial.
(AP, 8/21/07)(AP, 8/21/08)
2007 Aug 25, Raymond Barre
(b.1924), a tough-speaking former French prime minister (1976-1981)
and economist, died.
(AP, 8/25/07)
2007 Aug 27, Pres. Sarkozy
called for a clear timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops
from Iraq as he outlined an assertive role for France in other world
hotspots. Sarkozy urged EU nations to accept a greater share of
defense spending to cope with escalating global threats.
(AFP, 8/27/07)(Reuters, 8/27/07)
2007 Aug 27, The French
government said a tax official cheated the government out of 600,000
euros ($820,000) by creating a phantom identity as a university
professor and claiming a salary for some 15 years.
(Reuters, 8/28/07)
2007 Sep 20, Floyd Landis lost
his expensive and explosive case when two of three arbitrators
upheld the results of a test that showed the 2006 Tour de France
champion had used synthetic testosterone to fuel his spectacular
comeback victory. Landis forfeited his Tour title and was subject to
a two-year ban, retroactive to Jan. 30, 2007.
(AP, 9/20/08)
2007 Aug 29, Pierre Messmer
(b.1916), a member of the French Resistance who was the country's
prime minister from 1972 to 1974, died.
(AP, 8/29/07)
2007 Aug 30, Pres. Sarkozy
became the first ruling head of state to address the Medef, France’s
leading business organization. He laid out the second stage of his
economic reforms, including a wholesale review of tax and social
security contributions.
(Econ, 9/1/07, p.59)
2007 Sep 1, Police arrested
four suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA in
south-west France, believed to be linked to the deadly Madrid
airport bomb in December.
(AP, 9/1/07)
2007 Sep 1, In Morocco
Renault-Nissan head Carlos Ghosn signed a deal to build an assembly
plant in Tangiers, with a planned investment of one billion euros
(1.36 billion dollars) and final capacity of 400,000 vehicles.
(AFP, 9/1/07)
2007 Sep 3, President Nicolas
Sarkozy said France and Jordan want to work "hand-in-hand" to help
resolve crises in the Middle East, following talks with King
Abdullah II.
(AP, 9/3/07)
2007 Sep 3, The French
government tied up the long-delayed merger of Suez and state-owned
Gaz de France, giving the country another world energy champion in a
sector that Paris was eager to protect from foreigners.
(AP, 9/3/07)
2007 Sep 4, A Eurostar train
shattered the record for the quickest rail journey between Paris and
London, using a new high-speed track that shaved some 30 minutes off
the previous fastest time. The 306 mile (492 kilometer) journey from
the Gare du Nord in Paris to Saint Pancras took just two hours,
three minutes and 39 seconds from station to station.
(AP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 14, Jacques Martin
(b.1933), the French television personality once married to
now-first lady Cecilia Sarkozy, died. Martin shot to fame as the
host of a series of hit comedy shows on French television, including
the satirical "Le Petit Rapporteur," a spoof newscast that ran from
1975-1976.
(AP, 9/14/07)
2007 Sep 16, Bernard Kouchner,
France's foreign minister, warned that the world should prepare for
war if Iran obtains nuclear weapons and said European leaders were
considering their own economic sanctions against the Islamic
country.
(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 17, Ukrainian
officials signed a $505 million contract with a French-led
consortium for construction of a new shelter for the Chernobyl
reactor, the site of the word's worst nuclear accident.
(AP, 9/17/07)
2007 Sep 20, In a nationally
televised interview, Pres. Sarkozy went further, saying he wants
France to adopt immigration quotas by regions of the world and by
occupation. With three months left in the year, police have caught
at least 11,800 immigrants, less than half the 25,000 target,
ordered by Pres. Sarkozy, who has ordered officials to pick up the
pace.
(AP, 9/22/07)
2007 Sep 21, US Sec. of State
Condoleeza Rice said the US and France have agreed on increasing
diplomatic and economic pressure to force Iran to abandon its
nuclear program.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.A3)
2007 Sep 22, Marcel Marceau
(b.1923), the world's best-known mime artist, died in Paris, France.
For decades he moved audiences across the globe without uttering a
single word.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7009040.stm)
2007 Sep 24, French PM Francois
Fillon warned that the country's public finances were in a
"critical" state and need drastic action to reduce worrying
deficits.
(AP, 9/24/07)
2007 Sep 26, The French
government unveiled its 2008 budget with a deficit forecast at €41.7
billion ($58.8 billion).
(Econ, 9/29/07, p.53)
2007 Sep 28, The IMF chose
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, France’s former Socialist finance minister,
as its new head, continuing the tradition of a European leading the
organization.
(WSJ, 9/29/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 4, In northeast France
dozens of hooded youths attacked two police vehicles with metal
bars, set fire to more than a dozen parked cars and torched a
community center in Saint-Dizier.
(AP, 10/5/07)
2007 Oct 7, In Paris, France,
intruders, apparently drunk, broke into the Orsay Museum through a
back door and punched a hole in "Le Pont d'Argenteuil," a renowned
work by Impressionist painter Claude Monet.
(AP, 10/8/07)
2007 Oct 9, Two European
scientists won the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics for a discovery that
lets computers, iPods and other digital devices store reams of data
on ever-shrinking hard disks. France's Albert Fert and German Peter
Gruenberg independently described giant magnetoresistance in 1988,
then saw the electronics industry apply it in disks with incredible
amounts of storage.
(AP, 10/9/07)
2007 Oct 13, Bob Denard (78), a
French former mercenary who staged coups and led uprisings across
Africa and the Middle East, died in Paris.
(AFP, 10/14/07)(Econ, 10/20/07, p.119)
2007 Oct 18,
Strikers defying Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy's push to reform France
crippled the country's public transport system, forcing commuters to
drive, pedal or walk to work, or stay home. Some workers vowed to
continue the walkout, France’s biggest strike in 12 years. Sarkozy's
office said Pres. Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, are divorcing after
nearly 11 years of marriage by mutual consent.
(AP, 10/18/07)(WSJ, 10/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 19,
Train service started back up throughout much of France but
many commuters in Paris biked, roller-bladed and even used
children's scooters as city transit workers kept up a second day of
strikes against proposed economic reforms.
(AP, 10/19/07)
2007 Oct 19, French media
reported that Celine Lesage was arrested after her partner
discovered the corpses of 6 infants in plastic garbage bags in the
basement of their apartment building in Valognes.
(AP,
3/15/10)(www.crimemagazine.com/07/murderousmothers,0919-7.htm)
2007 Oct 20,
France handed Algeria details of where its forces laid some 3
million landmines on the country's eastern and western borders from
1956-1959.
(AFP, 10/20/07)
2007 Oct 22,
French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Morocco's King
Mohammed XVI and signed a string of deals aimed at fostering closer
cooperation between the two countries and economic development
projects.
(AP, 10/22/07)
2007 Oct 23,
French lawmakers adopted a hotly contested bill that would
institute language exams and potential DNA testing for prospective
immigrants, making it more difficult for families to join loved ones
in France.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 24,
France's government agreed to reward drivers of cars that use
little gasoline, drastically slow road construction and renovate all
the country's public buildings to slash energy consumption.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 24, A French defense
ministry official said France will for the first time send dozens of
military trainers to the volatile south of Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 25, In Chad 9 French
citizens were arrested after a group tried to fly 103 African
children to France, saying it wanted to save them from the crisis in
neighboring Darfur. On Oct 29 six French nationals were charged with
kidnapping and a judge in the eastern city of Abeche also agreed to
allow prosecution charges of complicity against three French
journalists.
(AP, 10/26/07)(AP, 10/30/07)
2007 Oct 27, Queues of
frustrated, angry passengers built up at main French airports as Air
France cancelled scores of flights on the third day of a strike by
cabin staff.
(AP, 10/27/07)
2007 Oct 28, Authorities in
Chad charged six French charity workers with kidnapping after they
tried to put 103 children on a plane to France, claiming they were
orphans from Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur region. The charity
workers were later convicted, jailed for several months, then
pardoned.
(AP, 10/29/08)
2007 Oct 31,
Authorities said French police had arrested 20 suspects as
part of a Europe-wide crackdown on child pornography over the
Internet.
(AP, 10/31/07)
2007 Oct 31, Alcatel-Lucent,
the struggling French-US telecommunications equipment maker,
announced it would cut an additional 4,000 jobs by 2009 as it
unveiled a sharp third quarter net loss.
(AP, 10/31/07)
2007 Nov 1, Dominique
Strauss-Kahn, former French finance minister, took over as head of
the IMF. By convention the IMF chief is European.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.88)
2007 Nov 4, In Chad 7
Europeans, among 17 detained for over a week in an alleged attempt
to kidnap 103 African children, were released. French President
Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Chad on a visit to discuss the fate of
Europeans facing charges for trying to fly 103 African children to
Europe.
(AP, 11/4/07)(Reuters, 11/4/07)
2007 Nov 7, Pres. Bush met with
France’s Pres. Sarkozy, who addressed the US Congress and backed
Bush’s strategy to confront Iran.
(SFC, 11/8/07, p.A8)
2007 Nov 10, A top police
officer said the Champs Elysees, held up by France as the most
beautiful avenue in the world, has become blighted by prostitution,
racketeering and violence.
(AP, 11/10/07)
2007 Nov 11, In France Jessica
Davies (28), the niece of multi-millionaire junior defense minister
Quentin Davies, plunged a knife into Olivier Mugnier (24), a young
Frenchman she picked up in an Irish bar. Mugnier died in her Paris
suburb flat, an hour after police arrived. He had been stabbed twice
in the upper chest. Her trial opened on Dec 11, 2010.
(AFP, 1/11/10)
2007 Nov 13, French rail
workers went on a nine-day strike over President Nicolas Sarkozy's
bid to strip away labor protections.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 Nov 14, In France striking
transportation workers cut train service and forced Parisians to
walk, bike or skate to work in a pivotal standoff with President
Nicolas Sarkozy over his bid to pare down labor protections.
(AP, 11/14/07)
2007 Nov 14, A French court
approved the handover to a UN court of Dominique Ntawukuriryayo
(65), a Rwandan 1994 genocide suspect accused of coordinating the
massacre of up to 25,000 people in one incident.
(Reuters, 11/14/07)
2007 Nov 15, Transport workers
shut down most rail traffic in France for a 2nd day, frustrating
passengers forced to postpone trips and Parisians who had to walk,
bike or skate to work.
(AP, 11/15/07)
2007 Nov 16, French transport
workers voted to keep a national strike going through the weekend
over President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to strip away generous
pension benefits.
(AP, 11/16/07)
2007 Nov 17, France's biggest
rail union said a new offer of talks from employers did not go far
enough, as the country headed towards a fifth day of crippling
transport strikes.
(AP, 11/17/07)
2007 Nov 19, In France a "large
majority" of rail workers voted to keep up the train strike.
(AP, 11/19/07)
2007 Nov 20, Travel woes piled
up in France with air traffic delays adding to a week of rail
strikes as many of the nation's 5 million civil servants held a
day-long walkout in the biggest test of President Nicolas Sarkozy's
appetite for reform.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 21, A French judge
filed preliminary charges against former President Jacques Chirac in
a probe of suspicions that people were given fake jobs while he was
mayor of Paris (1977-1995). Some 10,000 people, mainly tobacco
sellers, marched through Paris to protest a smoking ban in cafes as
of Jan 1. Coordinated acts of sabotage struck France's high-speed
trains, causing further delays to services already widely disrupted
by strikes, just as talks were opening to coax unions into ending
their walkout.
(AP, 11/21/07)(AP, 11/22/07)(Econ, 11/24/07,
p.56)
2007 Nov 22, A nine-day
transport strike that has crippled the French rail network appeared
to be drawing to a close as many local union committees voted to
suspend their stoppage and give negotiations a chance.
(AP, 11/22/07)
2007 Nov 24, Full service was
restored on the Paris Metro and most French trains were running
after transport workers ended a crippling strike so that talks on
pension reform could run their course.
(AP, 11/24/07)
2007 Nov 25, In France youths
assaulted a police station, torched cars and vandalized stores in a
rampage that injured 21 police officers in Villiers-le-Bel, a
rundown Paris suburb. The violence was prompted when two teens were
killed in a motorbike crash with a police patrol car.
(AP, 11/26/07)
2007 Nov 26, France netted
deals in China for nuclear reactors and passenger jets worth a
combined $29.62 billion on the second day of a state visit by
President Nicolas Sarkozy.
(AP, 11/26/07)
2007 Nov 27, Police said
rampaging youths rioted for a second night in Paris' suburbs, firing
at officers and ramming burning cars into buildings. At least 77
officers were injured.
(AP, 11/27/07)
2007 Nov 27, French police
detained a 68-year-old retired "drag queen" performer on suspicion
of murdering 18 mainly gay men between 1980 and 2000.
(AFP, 11/28/07)
2007 Nov 28, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to punish rioters who shot at police but
sought to ease tensions with an independent probe into the deaths of
two youths that triggered the unrest.
(AP, 11/28/07)
2007 Dec 1, ETA gunmen shot and
killed a Spanish policeman and seriously injured another in France,
the first killing by the Basque separatist group in almost a year.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 4, France and Algeria
agreed to cooperate on civilian nuclear technologies. French oil
group Total said it had signed a deal to invest about 1.5 billion
dollars in a new 3.0-billion-dollar (2.0 billion euros)
petrochemical plant in Algeria.
(AFP, 12/4/07)(AP, 12/4/07)
2007 Dec 5, French police
arrested two armed people in connection with a weekend shooting that
left two Spanish officers dead in what authorities described as the
first Basque-related killings in France in more than three decades.
(AP, 12/5/07)
2007 Dec 6, A French
anti-terrorist judge filed preliminary charges against Guillaume
Dasquie, an investigative journalist and author, accused of
publishing defense secrets.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2007 Dec 6, A parcel bomb
exploded at a lawyer's office in central Paris, killing a secretary
and seriously injuring an attorney, but a motive was not immediately
clear.
(AP, 12/6/07)
2007 Dec 7, Six French
nationals detained in Chad on suspicion of trying to illegally fly
103 children to Europe started a hunger strike, complaining their
case was being neglected.
(Reuters, 12/8/07)
2007 Dec 10, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi arrived on his first visit to France in 34 years,
sparking protests from rights groups and criticism from the
government's own human rights minister. Gadhafi got straight to
business, cutting $14.7 billion in deals for arms and nuclear
reactors on his first official visit to the West since renouncing
terrorism and atomic weapons.
(AFP, 12/10/07)(AP, 12/11/07)
2007 Dec 12, Ashraf Juma Hajuj,
the Palestinian-born doctor held with five Bulgarian nurses in a
Libyan prison for over eight years, filed suit in Paris against
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi for torture. The six medics, who always
maintained their innocence, said they were subjected to torture,
including beatings, electric shocks, food and sleep deprivation, and
even sexual abuse, in order to confess to their alleged crime.
(AFP, 12/13/07)
2007 Dec 22, Making the
first-ever trip to Afghanistan by a French president, Nicolas
Sarkozy met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss the
political and military situation in the war-torn country.
(AP, 12/22/07)
2007 Dec 22, French author
Julien Gracq (97), one of the last links with the pre-World War II
Surrealist movement, died.
(AP, 12/23/07)
2007 Dec 24, Gunmen shot dead
four French tourists in Mauritania in West Africa. Sidi Ould Sidna,
was charged with planning and executing the killings of the French
tourists. He was extradited by Guinea-Bissau in January but later
escaped from authorities. 2 other suspected terrorists were arrested
on April 30. In 2010 a court sentenced 3 young men to death for the
murder of the French tourists. The men pleaded not guilty and said
their confessions were extracted under torture.
(AP, 12/24/07)(AP, 4/30/08)(SFC, 5/26/10, p.A2)
2007 Dec 26, A Chadian court
convicted six French aid workers of trying to kidnap 103 African
children and sentenced them to eight years of forced labor. The
French Foreign Ministry in Paris said it would ask Chadian
authorities to transfer the six convicted to France. The countries
have a bilateral judicial agreement that could allow for such a
transfer.
(AP, 12/26/07)
2007 Dec 28, In Chad 6 French
aid workers sentenced to eight years' forced labor for trying to
kidnap 103 children left for France, boarding a plane in handcuffs
as security officers looked on.
(AP, 12/28/07)
2007 Dec 30, President Nicolas
Sarkozy said France will have no more contact with Syria until
Damascus shows its willingness to let Lebanon end its current crisis
and appoint a new president.
(AP, 12/30/07)
2007 The English translation of
presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy’s “Testimony: France in the
Twenty-First Century,” became available. It had been published in
France in 2006 as Temoignange.”
(Econ, 3/3/07, p.86)
2007 Yasmina Reza authored
“L’Aube le soir ou la nui” (Dawn evening or night), an account of
her year shadowing Nicolas Sarkozy.
(Econ, 9/1/07, p.73)
2007 Olivier Roy, a French
scholar, authored “Secularism Confronts Islam.”
(Econ, 8/11/07, p.75)
2007 Bernard Arnault, chairman
of luxury goods maker LVMH, and Colony Capital, an American private
equity firm, jointly bought a 9.8% stake in France’s Carrefour, the
world’s 2nd largest retailer.
(Econ, 10/18/08, p.74)
2008 Jan 1, Vandals torched 372
cars as France celebrated the New Year, down on the figure last year
after a night the police described as "relatively calm."
(AP, 1/1/08)(Reuters, 1/1/08)
2008 Jan 1, Smokers took to
lighting up on the sidewalks as a ban took effect across France ,
Germany and Lithuania, the latest European countries to say "no
smoking." Across France smokers took advantage of a one-day grace
period and savored their last cigarettes over morning coffee in
cafes as a ban against lighting up in bars and restaurants took
effect.
(AP, 1/1/08)(AFP, 1/1/08)
2008 Jan 2, France's most
drastic measure to curb smoking went into effect with a full ban on
lighting up in cafes, restaurants and discotheques.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 9, French legal
plaintiffs said police have arrested Marcel Bivugabagabo (53), a
former officer in the Rwandan army accused of taking part in the
1994 genocide. Bivugabagabo was commander of the Ruhengeri sector in
western Rwanda from April to July 1994.
(AFP, 1/9/08)
2008 Jan 11, Belgium, France
and Poland pledged to provide the resources needed to launch a
European Union peacekeeping force for Chad and the Central African
Republic.
(AP, 1/11/08)
2008 Jan 11, In France militant
French farmer Jose Bove and about 15 supporters called off their
hunger strike in its eighth day after the government ordered the
suspension of the use of genetically modified corn.
(AP, 1/11/08)
2008 Jan 13, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed plans to sign a nuclear cooperation
agreement with the United Arab Emirates amid reports French firms
could construct up to two nuclear reactors there.
(AP, 1/13/08)
2008 Jan 15, The French
government announced during a visit by Pres. Sarkozy that it will
set up a permanent military base of up to 500 troops in the United
Arab Emirates.
(AP, 1/15/08)
2008 Jan 22, The French
government unveiled proposals to slash youth unemployment in the
high-immigrant suburbs that exploded into rioting in 2005, pledging
to create tens of thousands of new jobs.
(AP, 1/22/08)
2008 Jan 23, In France an
economic commission headed by Jacques Attali issued a report: 300
Decisions for Changing France,” which had been requested by Pres.
Sarkozy.
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.51)
2008 Jan 24, French bank
Societe Generale announced a $3 billion write-down on its exposure
to mortgage related investments. Societe Generale also said it has
uncovered a $7.14 billion fraud, one of history's biggest, by
futures trader Jerome Kerviel (31). His scheme of fictitious
transactions was discovered as stock markets began to stumble in
recent days. In 2010 he authored “The Spiral: Memoirs of a Trader,”
in which he presented himself as the victim of an immoral financial
system.
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.73)(AP, 1/24/08)(Econ, 5/8/10,
p.77)
2008 Jan 25, In France tens of
thousands of civil servants demonstrated to protest job cuts and
press for higher salaries in what the government dismissed as a
"labor union ritual."
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 25, India and France
said they would push their military ties beyond weapons sales and
open up nuclear power cooperation as soon as New Delhi is able to
enter the global atomic energy market.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 27, France's Societe
Generale said Jerome Kerviel, the young trader blamed for losses
that cost the bank more than $7 billion, hacked computers and used
"several techniques of fraud." Judicial officials said the man would
remain in custody a further 24 hours. The bank said Kerviel had
built up a position worth some $73.5 billion, which was eventually
closed or hedged by Jan 23 with a loss of $7.21 billion.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 28, A French court
sentenced six French charity workers to 8 years in prison, after
they were convicted in Chad of trying to kidnap 103 children they
said were orphans from Darfur.
(AP, 1/28/08)
2008 Jan 30, Thousands of
striking taxi drivers drove at a snail's pace around France as part
of a protest against government plans to open up their business to
greater competition.
(AP, 1/30/08)
2008 Jan, In France,
investigating magistrates seized 23 notebooks of Yves Bertrand,
former head of Renseignements Genereaux (RG), one of the country’s
domestic intelligence services, as part of an inquiry into the
“Clearstream Affair.”
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.60)
2008 Feb 1, Chad's army fought
to drive off rebels who pushed to within 100 km (60 miles) of the
capital N'Djamena and the clashes delayed the deployment of European
peacekeepers. A French Defense Ministry official said France has
sent about 150 supplementary troops to Chad as a "precautionary
measure" in response to a rebel offensive.
(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 2, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy married former model Carla Bruni at the Elysee
Palace.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 6, In France 7 doctors
and pharmacists went on trial for the deaths of more than 100 young
people who died of a brain-destroying disease after being treated
with tainted human growth hormones.
(AP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 7, Chadian President
Idriss Deby Itno issued a "solemn call" for a European peacekeeping
force for Darfur refugees, to deploy as soon as possible. The
president also said he was "ready to pardon" six French aid workers
convicted in December of trying to kidnap more than 100 children
they said were orphans from Darfur.
(AP, 2/7/08)(AFP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 7, NATO defense
ministers held talks on Afghanistan in Lithuania. France agreed to
help Canada in fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 8, France’s President
Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to send thousands of extra police and more
than $700 million in aid to neglected, heavily immigrant
neighborhoods that exploded in riots in 2005 and 2006.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 9, The French
government suspended the use of genetically modified corn crops in
France while it awaits EU approval for a full ban.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 12, President Nicolas
Sarkozy said France is ready to transfer technology to Brazil so
that an attack submarine, helicopters and the Rafale fighter plane
can be built there.
(AP, 2/12/08)
2008 Feb 18, More than 1,000
police raided housing projects outside Paris, detaining over 30
people in a bid to find rioters who led an outburst of violence last
year.
(AP, 2/18/08)
2008 Feb 18, Alain
Robbe-Grillet (85), avant-garde French author, died. He dispensed
with conventional storytelling as a pioneer of the postwar "new
novel" movement.
(AP, 2/18/08)
2008 Feb 27, French ambassador
Bernard Bajolet said France has handed Algeria details of
radioactive leaks from nuclear tests in the Algerian desert in the
1960s and should have acted earlier to clean up the damage.
(Reuters, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 28, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, following talks with South African President Thabo
Mbeki in South Africa, announced a "renegotiation" of all French
military accords with African nations, arguing that France no longer
had a "policing" role to play on the continent. French power giant
Alstom announced a 1.36 billion euro (two-billion-dollar) contract
for the construction of a coal-fuelled power plant in South Africa
which is suffering from a severe electricity shortage.
(AFP, 2/28/08)
2008 Feb 28, In Paris the body
of former top model Katoucha Niane (47) was found in the River
Seine. The former model and speaker against female circumcision went
missing in January. Her 2007 book, "Katoucha, In My Flesh,"
described her own experience with female circumcision at age 9.
(AP, 2/29/08)(AP, 3/7/08)
2008 Feb 29, France and
energy-hungry South Africa signed three economic accords, including
one for the construction of a 1.36-billion euro coal-fuelled power
plant by French energy giant Alstom.
(AP, 2/29/08)
2008 Feb, Renault SA invested
$1 billion for a 25% stake in Russian car maker OAO Avtovaz.
(WSJ, 3/21/08, p.A1)(Econ, 6/7/08, p.74)
2008 Mar 4, France pinned the
blame on Sudanese forces for a shooting near the border with Chad
that left one French soldier wounded and another missing and asked
Sudanese authorities for help in locating the missing soldier. Sgt.
Gilles Pollin’s remains were formally identified Mar 7 and flown to
Paris from Khartoum.
(AP, 3/4/08)(AP, 3/7/08)
2008 Mar 9, French voters went
to the polls for local elections predicted to deliver yet more bad
news to Nicolas Sarkozy, whose popularity has plummeted since his
triumphant presidential victory last year.
(AP, 3/9/08)
2008 Mar 15, Alitalia, Italy’s
state-owned national airline, accepted a takeover offer worth $217
made by air France-KLM, a French-Dutch airline group. The Italian
government accepted the offer on March 17.
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.73)
2008 Mar 16, In France the
Socialists took an estimated 49% of the vote, against 47.5% for the
Pres. Sarkozy’s UMP. Socialists now control 58% of towns with more
than 30,000 inhabitants, after winning 40 from the right including
several bastions.
(AFP, 3/17/08)
2008 Mar 16, In France a pipe
ruptured while a tanker was being loaded at a Total refinery. Some
3,000 barrels of fuel oil leaked in and along the Loire River.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 19, Chantal Sebire
(52), who suffered from a painful facial tumor and had drawn
headlines across France with her quest for doctor-assisted suicide,
was found dead. On Mar 17 a court in the city of Dijon rejected her
request to be allowed to receive a lethal dose of barbiturates under
a doctor's supervision.
(AP, 3/20/08)
2008 Mar 21, President Nicolas
Sarkozy announced a modest cut in France's nuclear arsenal, to less
than 300 warheads, and urged China and the United States to commit
to no more weapons tests.
(AP, 3/21/08)
2008 Mar 26, French Pres.
Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to open a new chapter in ties with Britain as
he arrived for a state visit which he hopes will also help repair
his image as a statesman.
(AP, 3/26/08)
2008 Mar 27, Comorans staged
angry anti-French protests as France decided whether to give ousted
rebel leader Mohamed Bacar asylum after he fled to its Indian Ocean
territory of Mayotte.
(AP, 3/27/08)
2008 Mar 30, The Pritzker jury
announced French architect jean Nouvel (62) as the winner of the
2008 Pritzker Prize.
(WSJ, 3/31/08, p.A5)
2008 Mar 30, Pernod Ricard SA,
a French spirits company, agreed to pay the Swedish government 5.28
billion euros for Vin & Sprit, the maker of Absolut, outbidding
three competitors.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 Mar 31, Chad's state radio
announced that the president has pardoned six French aid workers
convicted of kidnapping 103 children.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 Apr 1, In France the
stockmarket watchdog Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) filed a
formal complaint against the European Aeronautic Defense and Space
Company, the parent company of Airbus, and more than a dozen current
and former executives. It confirmed evidence of massive insider
trading in shares of EADS in late 2005 and early 2006 in the
knowledge that the A380 airbus program was in deep trouble.
(Econ, 6/21/08, p.80)(http://tinyurl.com/3kd8vh)
2008 Apr 2, France pledged to
send up to 1,000 troops to Afghanistan in a move that will avert a
Canadian threat to pull its contingent out of NATO's war in the
violent south.
(Reuters, 4/2/08)
2008 Apr 2, Chad's main rebel
group urged former colonial ruler France to stop backing President
Idriss Deby Itno and cease flying over rebel positions in the
central African nation's restive east.
(AP, 4/2/08)
2008 Apr 3, French protesters
hurled bottles and stones at riot police who responded with tear gas
during a march by high school students in Paris over teacher job
cuts.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Alitalia edged
closer to bankruptcy protection after Air France-KLM abruptly broke
off talks to buy the struggling national airline and Alitalia's
chairman of seven months resigned in frustration.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 4, Pirate attackers
off Somalia’s coast stormed the 288-foot Le Ponant as it returned
without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean. French
officials hoped to avoid using force to free the 30 crew members.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 7, Security officials
extinguished the Olympic torch three times as protests against
China's human rights record turned a relay through Paris into a
chaotic series of stops and starts. France's former sports minister,
Jean-Francois Lamour, said that though the torch had been put out,
the Olympic flame itself still burned in the lantern where it is
kept overnight and on airplane flights.
(AP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 9, In Peru 5 French
tourists visiting the Nazca lines were killed when their small plane
crashed after becoming tangled in power lines.
(AP, 4/9/08)
2008 Apr 11, Foreign Minister
Bernard Kouchner said France will boost its contribution to NATO
forces fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to some
3,000 troops, around double the present level.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2008 Apr 11, French officials
said pirates have freed the 30 crew from Le Ponant, a French luxury
sailing ship, which was seized off Somalia on April 4, and had been
tailed by the French Navy. Helicopter-borne French troops seized 6
of the dozen hostage takers, after the hostages were freed, and
recovered sacks of money, apparently ransom paid by the ship’s
owners.
(AFP, 4/11/08)(SFC, 4/12/08, p.A9)
2008 Apr 15, French high school
students threw bottles and rocks on the fringes of a Paris
demonstration that drew thousands of protesters to a march against a
government plan to cut teaching jobs.
(AP, 4/16/08)
2008 Apr 18, In Morocco French
PM Francois Fillon announced the signing of economic tie-ups with
Morocco, alongside the sale of a naval warship to aid defense
coordination.
(AP, 4/18/08)
2008 Apr 19, In France the
charred body of Sussanna Zetterberg (19), a Swedish teenager, was
discovered in woods outside Paris just hours after she left a
nightclub. A postmortem showed she had been stabbed.
(Reuters, 4/24/08)
2008 Apr 21, The Paris city
council bestowed the title of "honorary citizen" on the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 4/21/08)
2008 Apr 22,
Alitalia flew into the unknown after Air France-KLM withdrew
its takeover offer, leaving Italy's long-struggling flagship airline
with little choice but to contemplate bankruptcy or receivership.
The outgoing center-left government allowed a loan of €300 million
to Alitalia.
(AP, 4/22/08)(Econ, 4/26/08, p.68)
2008 May 1, Rescuers found the
bodies of five French ski mountaineers who had been missing since
the day before when they were swept away by an avalanche during an
excursion on Punta Basei, a 10,000-foot peak in Italy's northwestern
Alps.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 14, A French court
handed down jail sentences to seven men convicted of running a
network that recruited poor young Muslims in Paris to fight in the
Iraqi insurgency.
(AFP, 5/14/08)
2008 May 15, In France hundreds
of thousands of teachers and other public sector workers went on
strike to protest jobs cuts and other changes proposed by Pres.
Sarkozy’s government.
(WSJ, 5/16/08, p.A8)
2008 May 20, Xavier Lopez Pena
(49), the suspected leader of the Basque separatist group ETA, was
detained along with three other suspected ETA members in a sweep on
an apartment in the French city of Bordeaux just before midnight.
(AP, 5/21/08)
2008 May 21, Hundreds of French
fishermen clashed with police in Paris and severely disrupted
cross-Channel traffic as they stepped up a 10-day-old protest
against soaring fuel costs.
(AFP, 5/21/08)
2008 May 22, Tens of thousands
of French workers took to the streets as unions mounted a one-day
show of force against President Nicolas Sarkozy's government over
pension reforms.
(AP, 5/22/08)
2008 May 25, The French film
“The Class” (Entre les Murs) won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film
Festival. It was based on m a book by Francois Begaudeau. Matteo
Garrone’s “Gomorrah,” a study of the criminal underworld in Naples,
won the grand prize. Paolo Sorrentino’s “Il Divo,” a portrait of
former Premier Giulio Andreotti, won the jury award.
(SFC, 5/26/08, p.F5)(Econ, 5/31/08, p.89)
2008 May 29, In France Pres.
Sarkozy’s government presented a draft bill that would effectively
scrap the 35-hour workweek.
(WSJ, 5/30/08, p.A9)
2008 May 30, Jordan and France
signed an agreement to help the Arab kingdom develop its nuclear
energy program.
(AP, 5/30/08)
2008 Jun 1, Yves Saint Laurent
(b.1936, one of the most influential and enduring designers of the
20th century, died in Paris.
(AP, 6/2/08)
2008 Jun 2, In eastern France
at least five people were killed when a train crashed into a bus
carrying schoolchildren near Allinges.
(AP, 6/2/08)
2008 Jun 3, In France a Paris
court convicted Brigitte Bardot of provoking discrimination and
racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying France. She
was fined $23,325.
(SFC, 6/4/08, p.A4)
2008 Jun 6, Dr. Paul Tessier
(b.1917), pioneering French surgeon, died in Paris. He introduced
innovative techniques in facial surgery.
(WSJ, 6/28/08, p.A7)
2008 Jun 16, It was reported
that France will slash 54,000 defense jobs and boost funding for
space- and land-based military intelligence, according to a new
strategy aimed at adapting the country's forces to evolving threats.
(AP, 6/16/08)
2008 Jun 18, Classic French
filmmaker Jean Delannoy (100), who adapted novels by Victor Hugo and
Andre Gide and won the Cannes Film Festival's top prize in 1946,
died.
(AP, 6/19/08)
2008 Jun 19, In France a man
suspected of stealing $15 million of historic treasures from
churches was arrested. The 30-year-old suspect was taken into
custody by police in Saint-Ouen, north of Paris, after he allegedly
asked an antiques dealer to sell an object stolen from a church in
Normandy.
(AP, 6/19/08)
2008 Jun 20, A rocket carrying
a US-French satellite for monitoring ocean surface height was
launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The data will
be used to monitor climate change effects on sea level.
(SFC, 6/21/08, p.A3)
2008 Jun 21, Paris Mayor
Bernard Delanoe blamed "organized gangs" for clashes overnight near
the Eiffel Tower between police and high school students celebrating
the end of their final exams. 29 people were arrested, and 22 kept
in custody, after the unrest in the Champ de Mars park.
(AFP, 6/21/08)
2008 Jun 21, Four French
nationals, all Niger-based employees of the nuclear company Areva,
were abducted by rebels from the Movement for Justice in a part of
Niger known for its uranium mines. They were freed on June 25.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jun 23, In Jerusalem
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said there could be no Mideast
peace unless Israel drops its refusal to cede sovereignty over parts
of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinians, challenging one of
Israel's most emotionally held positions.
(AP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun 29, In France a
shooting at a military show injured 17 people when real bullets were
used instead of blanks. Gen. Bruno Cuche, the head of France's army,
resigned following the shooting.
(AP, 7/1/08)
2008 Jun 29, The bound and
battered bodies of Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were
found in a burning ground-floor bedsit (studio) in New Cross,
southeast London. Bonomo was stabbed nearly 200 times while Ferez
suffered around 50 wounds during a prolonged ordeal. The two
scholars, both biochemists from a university in Clermont-Ferrand,
central France, were on a short exchange program at London's
Imperial College. On July 7 Nigel Edward Farmer (33) turned himself
in at a London police station.
(AFP, 7/3/08)(AP, 7/6/08)(AP, 7/10/08)
2008 Jun 30, A French court
ordered online auctioneer eBay to pay nearly 40 million euros in
damages to Louis Vuitton for selling fake luxury goods, in a ruling
cheered as a victory for copyright protection.
(AP, 6/30/08)
2008 Jun 30, Brahim Deby, the
eldest son of Chad’s President Idriss Deby, was found dead in the
basement of his apartment building in a Paris suburb. He was
asphyxiated by chemicals from a fire extinguisher that lay near his
body. In late November Romanian police arrested a French-Romanian
national identified as Marius C. after on a warrant from France.
(AP,
11/28/08)(www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02560147.htm)
2008 Jul 1, France took over
the rotating presidency of the European Union with high-level
meetings and a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe.
(AP, 7/1/08)
2008 Jul 1, French officials
said the asbestos-contaminated aircraft carrier Clemenceau, which
was towed half-way across the globe in a failed bid to have it
dismantled, will be broken up by Able UK in Britain. The ship was
decommissioned in 1997.
(AFP, 7/1/08)
2008 Jul 7, European Union
nations gave their backing to a French-drafted pact calling for
tightening immigration and asylum rules across the 27-nation bloc.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 9, US electronic games
publisher Activision under Bobby Kotick closed its merger with the
gaming arm of Vivendi, a French media conglomerate, in a deal valued
at $18.8 billion.
(Econ, 8/15/09,
p.60)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_Blizzard)
2008 Jul 10, In France four
people were found shot dead near the southwestern city of Toulouse.
A fifth victim died later in hospital.
(AFP, 7/11/08)
2008 Jul 12, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy met his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, kicking
off a round of diplomacy with Middle East leaders ahead of an
EU-Mediterranean summit. Sarkozy said that Syria and Lebanon will
open embassies in each other's countries for the first time. Syria's
leader cautioned there was still work to be done before that could
happen.
(AP, 7/12/08)(AP, 7/13/08)
2008 Jul 13, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy urged the disparate and conflicted countries around
the Mediterranean Sea to make peace as European rivals did in the
20th century as he launched an unprecedented Union for the
Mediterranean. 43 nations, including Israel and Arab states, pledged
to work for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction at the
close of a summit to launch an unprecedented Union for the
Mediterranean aimed at securing peace across the restive region.
(AP, 7/13/08)(AP, 7/14/08)
2008 Jul 16, In France the
first stone was laid at the Louvre's new Arts of Islam gallery, the
first major modern architectural addition to the museum since its
famed glass pyramid was built in the 1980s.
(AP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 21, President Nicolas
Sarkozy's risky bid to rewrite France's political rules with
sweeping constitutional changes worked, but just barely, with both
houses of parliament meeting in special session to pass the measures
by a single vote. The reform gives parliament greater power but also
adds a new privileges to France's already strong presidency, notably
allowing the chief of state to address together the two houses of
congress. However, it limits the president to two five-year terms.
(AP, 7/21/08)
2008 Jul 23, France passed a
new law to let companies negotiate longer working hours with union
representatives, all but squelching the 35-hour week.
(Econ, 7/26/08, p.61)
2008 Jul 24, French PM Francois
Fillon said a 15% cut in military manpower and base closings will
save billions of dollars. The military ranks will be cut by 54,000.
(SFC, 7/25/08, p.A12)
2008 Jul 24, French giant
automaker Renault said it will cut about 5,000 jobs in Europe among
measures to reduce costs by 10 percent as it prepares for a sharp
and possibly rocky downturn.
(AFP, 7/24/08)
2008 Jul 25, The EU and South
Africa began their first-ever summit in the French city of Bordeaux.
Brussels solidly backed Pretoria's mediating role in Zimbabwe as the
only way of ending ruinous political chaos.
(AFP, 7/25/08)
2008 Jul 25, US presidential
hopeful Barack Obama met with Pres. Sarkozy during a short stop in
Paris.
(SFC, 7/26/08, p.A3)
2008 Jul 28, Pierre Beres
(b.1913), king of the French booksellers, died.
(SFC, 8/4/08, p.B3)
2008 Aug 5, Rwanda formally
accused senior French officials of involvement in its 1994 genocide.
(Reuters, 8/5/08)
2008 Aug 6, France accused
Rwanda of making "unacceptable accusations" by alleging Paris played
an active role in the 1994 genocide, but said it was still
determined to mend damaged ties with Kigali.
(AP, 8/6/08)
2008 Aug 13, Henri Cartan
(b.1904), French mathematician, died in Paris. In 1956 he and Samuel
Eilenberg wrote a fundamental textbook on homological algebra.
(SFC, 8/25/08, p.B3)
2008 Aug 18, In eastern
Afghanistan a suicide car bomb blew up outside Camp Salerno, a US
military base in Khost, killing 12 civilian laborers, as the country
marked Independence Day. A mine blew up a police vehicle in the
province of Nangarhar and killed two policemen. About 100 insurgents
ambushed a group of French paratroopers, killing 10 soldiers in an
area outside the capital known as a militant stronghold. An Afghan
official said insurgents kidnapped four of the soldiers and later
killed them. 13 militants were reported killed [see Oct 15, 2009].
(AFP, 8/18/08)(AP, 8/19/08)(Econ, 8/34/08, p.34)
2008 Aug 19, Zambia's President
Levy Mwanawasa (b.1948) died in France. He had been hospitalized at
a French military hospital since suffering a stroke in June.
(AP, 8/19/08)(SFC, 8/20/08, p.B4)
2008 Aug 23, The Tibetan
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, left Paris on a flight bound for
New Delhi after concluding a 12-day visit that fuelled tensions
between Paris and Beijing.
(AP, 8/23/08)
2008 Aug 24, A wall of snow in
the Mont Blanc range of the French Alps buried 3 Swiss and 5
Austrian climbers.
(AFP, 8/24/08)
2008 Aug 29, French
neurosurgeons said they had successfully treated brain tumors
through ultra-keyhole surgery, using a tiny fiber-optic laser to
destroy cancerous cells.
(AFP, 8/29/08)
2008 Sep 3, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy encouraged Syria to pursue face-to-face peace talks
with Israel during his first trip to the Arab nation, a visit also
aimed at undercutting Iranian influence in Damascus.
(AP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 8, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy pressed Moscow to honor its pledge to withdraw
troops from Georgia, while Russian soldiers prevented international
aid convoys from visiting Georgian villages in a tense zone around
the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
(AP, 9/8/08)
2008 Sep 8, Legal sources said
the Church of Scientology is to be tried for fraud, and seven of its
members for illegally prescribing drugs, in the latest clash between
French officials and the controversial religion.
(AP, 9/8/08)
2008 Sep 9, The 27-member EU
stopped short of offering Ukraine membership during an EU-Ukraine
summit hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. But the two sides
began work on an "association accord," a step that offers closer
political and economic ties and in the past has been designed to
prepare nations for eventual membership.
(AP, 9/10/08)
2008 Sep 11, A Paris court
convicted Didier Bourguet, a former UN employee, for the rape of
young Africans during his postings in Central African Republic and
Congo. Bourguet was sentenced to nine years in prison for having
committed about 20 rapes of teenage girls between 1998 and 2004
during his postings as a mechanic for the UN.
(AP, 9/11/08)
2008 Sep 11, Israeli divers
found a red suitcase containing a small skull, bones and clothes,
which police said may belong to Rose Pizem, a 4-year-old French girl
missing since May, whose grandfather is jailed in the slaying.
(AP, 9/11/08)
2008 Sep 12, British and French
firefighters extinguished a 1,000-degree inferno in the Channel
Tunnel but tens of thousands of travelers faced more delay as they
waited for the undersea link to reopen.
(AP, 9/12/08)
2008 Sep 12, Pope Benedict XVI
urged France to take Christianity into account despite its secular
tradition, saying on his first visit there as pontiff that church
and state should be open to each other.
(AP, 9/12/08)
2008 Sep 14, France's ecology
minister said the government is considering a "picnic tax" on
disposable dishes to encourage people to use reusable plates and
cups instead.
(AP, 9/14/08)
2008 Sep 16, French troops
stormed a yacht hijacked by Somali pirates, killing one, capturing
six others and freeing their two French hostages, who had been held
since Sep 2.
(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 18, The Bank of China
announced that it would take a 20% stake in the French arm of LCF
Rothschild, its first investment in a euro-zone bank.
(Econ, 9/27/08, p.77)
2008 Sep 20, It was reported
that Muslims in France, about 8% of the population, were estimated
to make up over half the prison population.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.69)
2008 Sep 24, French power
provider EDF said it has agreed to acquire British Energy Group PLC
for about $23.2 billion in cash in a deal that would create a
powerhouse in nuclear energy.
(AP, 9/24/08)
2008 Sep 30, A French court
ended a long legal battle between Bernard Tapie (b.1943) and the
Crédit Lyonnais bank. Crédit Lyonnais had allegedly
defrauded Tapie in 1993 and 1994 when it sold Adidas on his behalf
to Robert Louis-Dreyfus, apparently by arranging a larger sale with
Dreyfus without Tapie's knowledge. The court awarded 405 million
euros to Tapie. This decision was partially overturned on 9 October
2006 by the Court of Cassation. In 2011 a French court ordered an
investigation into IMF chief Christine Lagarde, France’s finance
minister at the time of the settlement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Tapie)(SFC,
8/5/11, p.A2)
2008 Oct 4, The leaders of
Britain, France, Germany and Italy began meeting in Paris at a
summit on the world financial crisis threatening banks, growth and
jobs across the continent. They vowed to do all they could to
prevent Wall Street's turmoil from destabilizing their banking
systems. Germany's No. 2 commercial property lender, Hypo Real
Estate Holding AG, said its $48 billion rescue plan had unraveled
when private banks pulled out.
(AP, 10/5/08)
2008 Oct 6, Three European
scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine for separate
discoveries of viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer,
breakthroughs that helped doctors fight the deadly diseases. French
researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were cited
for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV; while
Germany's Harald zur Hausen was honored for finding human papilloma
viruses that cause cervical cancer,
(AP, 10/6/08)
2008 Oct 6, In France
Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, the son of a late French president, an
Israeli-Russian billionaire and 40 other people charged with
trafficking arms to war-riven Angola or taking kickbacks faced
judges in a long-awaited trial in Paris. Prosecutors alleged that
French businessman Pierre Falcone and Arkady Gaydamak, an Israeli
tycoon based in France at the time, organized the sale of Russian
arms to Angola from 1993-2000, for a total of US$791 million, in
breach of French government rules. In 2009 Falcone and Gaydamak were
sentenced to 6 years in prison.
(AP, 10/6/08)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.62)
2008 Oct 6, In France traders
at Groupe Caisse d’Epargne bank, founded in 1818, began trading in
equity derivatives hoping the market would rise. The irregular
trades were unwound at a loss of some $808 million.
(WSJ, 10/18/08, p.B1)
2008 Oct 9, The Swedish Academy
announced French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (b.1940)) as
the 2008 Nobel Prize in literature for his poetic adventure and
"sensual ecstasy." Le Clezio made his breakthrough as a novelist
with "Desert," in 1980.
(AP, 10/9/08)
2008 Oct 9, Ethiopia signed a
220-million-euro (300 million dollar) deal with a French company for
the construction of Africa's largest wind farm.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 13, Guillaume
Depardieu (37), French film star, died of pneumonia. The
often-troubled son of renowned French film star Gerard Depardieu had
gained praise for his own career as an actor. In 2003 he Depardieu
had his right leg amputated to end years of pain from a bacterial
infection that followed a motorcycle accident in 1996.
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 17, Some 30 leaders of
French-speaking nations attended a 3-day summit of French-speaking
nations in Quebec City, Canada. The focus was dominated by the
world's financial woes.
(AFP, 10/17/08)
2008 Oct 19, The French
Cabinet's spokesman said "swindlers" last month broke into the
personal bank account of President Nicolas Sarkozy and swiped small
sums of money. More than 30,000 demonstrators marched across Paris
to denounce the conservative government's budget restrictions, job
cuts and other controversial reforms in the public education system.
On Oct 21 police arrested two men suspected of stealing the bank
details of several people without realizing the identity of their
victims. They are believed to have used small sums to pay mobile
telephone bills.
(AP, 10/19/08)(AP, 10/21/08)
2008 Oct 20, The French
government allocated €10.5 billion among six of its banks.
(Econ, 10/25/08, p.89)
2008 Oct 20, Sister Emmanuelle
(b.1908), a Belgian-born nun who devoted her life to helping the
poor in North Africa and in France, died in France. Madeleine
Cinquin had spent 20 years working with children in a slum in Cairo
as part of a lengthy career helping the dispossessed.
(AFP, 10/20/08)
2008 Oct 21, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy backed the creation of sovereign wealth funds in
Europe that, when coordinated, could provide an "industrial
response" to the financial crisis.
(AFP, 10/21/08)
2008 Oct 23, France’s Pres.
Sarkozy unveiled a strategic national investment fund that will buy
stakes in French industries with borrowed money to protect them from
foreign predators.
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.62)
2008 Oct 23, A Paris criminal
court convicted nine people including a French-Algerian former
prison inmate who admitted establishing an Islamic group that called
for armed jihad in France.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, The French Navy
captured nine pirates near the Gulf of Aden finding anti-tank
missiles, other weapons and ship boarding gear on the boats. A
Somali pirate warned that if a hijacked Ukrainian arms ship was
attacked the ship's 20-man crew would be killed.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, An Italian
military helicopter crashed in northeastern France, killing all
eight people on board.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 31, Heavily-armed
pirates swarmed aboard an oil industry support vessel working off
the coast of Cameroon and kidnapped 10 of 15 crew members, including
six Frenchmen. A man claiming to represent a rebel group opposed to
Cameroon's takeover of the Bakassi Peninsula warned the hostages
would be killed unless Cameroonian officials agreed to reopen the
issue.
(AFP, 10/31/08)
2008 Nov 2, The Moroccan
government banned an issue of the French magazine L'Express
International, claiming it insults Islam in articles exploring the
relationship between that religion and Christianity.
(AP, 11/3/08)
2008 Nov 3, In Afghanistan
gunmen abducted Dany Egreteau (32), a French aid worker in Kabul,
and shot dead an Afghan man who tried to rescue him. The Taliban
said it was not involved. Afghan and coalition troops seized 40 tons
of hashish during a raid in Nawa Kili village in southern Kandahar
province.
(AFP, 11/3/08)(AP, 11/3/08)
2008 Nov 5, In Somalia 6
employees of the French aid group Action Against Hunger were
kidnapped in the town of Dhusamareb. They included four non-Somali
workers and two chauffeurs.
(AP, 11/5/08)
2008 Nov 9, Rose Kabuye, Rwanda
Pres. Kagame's chief of protocol, was arrested at Frankfurt airport
on an international warrant issued in 2006 by French anti-terrorism
judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere.
(AFP, 11/10/08)
2008 Nov 10, Afghan writer Atiq
Rahimi won France's top book prize, the Goncourt, for a novel penned
in French, "Syngue Sabour", or Stone of Patience.
(AFP, 11/10/08)
2008 Nov 11, French police
arrested 10 people, described as anarchists, suspected for the
recent sabotaging of high-speed trains. In 5 instances since late
October iron rods were jammed into power cables in order to hold up
trains.
(WSJ, 11/12/08, p.A12)
2008 Nov 14, Nearly half of Air
France's flights were grounded by a pilots' strike expected to last
through the weekend.
(AP, 11/14/08)
2008 Nov 17, French police
arrested ETA's alleged military chief, the most wanted Basque
separatist still at large and a man Spanish officials branded a
"bloodthirsty terrorist." Miguel De Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina (35),
alias "Txeroki", was captured in Cauterets, a spa and ski resort in
the Pyrenees near the border with Spain's autonomous Basque region.
On Nov 24 Spain indicted Aspiazu and four other men over the car
bombing at a Madrid airport parking garage on Dec. 30, 2006.
(AFP, 11/17/08)(AP, 11/24/08)
2008 Nov 19, Germany extradited
to France Rose Kabuye (47), chief of protocol to Rwandan President
Paul Kagame, over an assassination triggering the 1994 genocide,
amid mass anti-European protests in Kigali. Some European
investigators feared that Kabuye deliberately delivered herself to
German authorities so her lawyers could gain access to the case
files prepared against her and other Kagame allies.
(AFP, 11/19/08)
2008 Nov 20, The 2008 edition
of Beaujolais Nouveau wine arrived, and vintners hoped it will lift
spirits despite the financial crisis and a dismal crop.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 22, The French
Socialist Party said that Martine Aubry, the architect of France's
35-hour work week, has won the party's leadership in an extremely
tight race, an outcome quickly challenged by partisans of rival
Segolene Royal.
(AP, 11/22/08)
2008 Nov 22, In Afghanistan a
French trooper was killed and another wounded when a mine engulfed
them about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Kabul. A bomb exploded
in a vegetable market in the eastern town of Khost, killing a
15-year-old boy and a man passing-by. Another bomb blew up a police
vehicle in the central province of Ghazni and killed three policemen
and wounded two. The bullet-riddled body of Ghais Haqmal, the
governor of Marawara district, was found in Kunar province. He had
been abducted by Taliban three months ago and the militants had
demanded the release of 50 of their jailed comrades in exchange for
his life. The US-led military announced that troops had killed 14
insurgents in operations in the southern provinces of Helmand and
Farah in the past two days. Afghan and coalition forces killed 17
insurgents in air strikes in the southern province of Kandahar. The
government of the central province of Ghazni said its forces had
thwarted a Taliban attack on the Ab Band district administration
center killing eight gunmen.
(AFP, 11/22/08)(AFP, 11/23/08)
2008 Nov 27, An Airbus A320
passenger plane crashed off France's southern coast during a
maintenance flight, killing 3 people and leaving the 4 others on
board missing.
(AP, 11/28/08)(AP, 12/1/08)
2008 Nov 29, In Qatar French
President Nicolas Sarkozy told Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir to
take action to end the conflict in Darfur.
(AFP, 11/29/08)
2008 Dec 4, In France armed
robbers, some disguised as women, snatched €85 million ($108
million) worth of diamond rings, necklaces and luxury watches from a
Harry Winston boutique on a posh Paris avenue in one of the largest
jewel heists in history. In June, 2009, French police arrested 25
suspects in connection with the robbery and recovered some of the
jewelry. In 2011 investigators found jewels valued at $25 million in
a plastic container set in a cement mold inside a sewer at a home in
the Paris suburb of Seine-St. Denis. The house belonged to one of
the 9 people charged in the heist.
(AP, 12/5/08)(SFC, 6/23/09, p.A2)(SFC, 3/10/11,
p.A4)
2008 Dec 7, China protested
strongly to France over President Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the
Dalai Lama, calling it a "rude intervention" into Chinese affairs.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2008 Dec 7, Francois-Xavier
Lalanne (81), French sculptor, died at his home in Ury. For 40 years
he and his wife worked in tandem, producing some works jointly,
others independently.
(www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/arts/design/14lalanne.html)
2008 Dec 8, British and French
leaders met with European business executives to discuss plans for
major government spending on infrastructure and energy projects
aimed at helping Europe to beat the downturn.
(AP, 12/8/08)
2008 Dec 8, French police
arrested the suspected military chief and "No. 1 member" of ETA, a
new blow to the banned Basque militant group just weeks after his
alleged predecessor was caught.
(AP, 12/9/08)
2008 Dec 9, In Paris, France,
entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, Jordan's Queen Noor and other
dignitaries launched an ambitious project aimed at eliminating the
world's nuclear weapons over the next 25 years.
(AP, 12/9/08)
2008 Dec 11, As Greece suffered
through its sixth day of violence, there were troubling signs of
unrest spreading across Europe. Angry youths smashed shop windows,
attacked banks and hurled bottles at police in small but violent
protests in Spain and Denmark, while cars were set alight outside a
consulate in France.
(AP, 12/11/08)
2008 Dec 16, French police
found explosives hidden in a Paris department store after a tip-off
from a group demanding the withdrawal of French troops from
Afghanistan.
(Reuters, 12/16/08)
2008 Dec 16, French competition
watchdogs slapped a record fine of 575 million euros (785 million
dollars) on global steel giant ArcelorMittal and another 10 steel
firms found guilty of price-fixing.
(AFP, 12/16/08)
2008 Dec 19, France’s finance
ministry unveiled a package of financial aid from the EU and others
totaling $10.7 billion to help Latvia.
(WSJ, 12/20/08, p.A8)
2008 Dec 23, Brazil and France
signed an arms deal that could lead to Latin America's first nuclear
submarine.
(AP, 12/23/08)
2008 Dec 29, Ted Lapidus
(b.1929), French fashion designer who redefined chic with the 1960s
unisex look, died. Lapidus created his label in 1951, and in 1963
became a member of the prestigious Paris fashion club that runs
haute-couture, La Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.
(AP, 12/30/08)
2009 Jan 1, Somali pirates
seized the Blue Star, an Egyptian cargo ship, and its 28
crewmembers. A Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker
from being hijacked in the new year's first attacks by pirates in
the dangerous Gulf of Aden. A crew of the French warship "PM L'Her"
dispatch boat intercepted two speedboats carrying 8 Somali pirates
as they were preparing to board a Panamanian cargo ship. The Blue
Star and its crew of 28 were freed on March 5 after a ransom was
dropped from a plane.
(AP, 1/1/09)(AP, 1/2/09)(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Jan 4, A French warship
foiled attempts by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden to seize two
cargo vessels and intercepted 19 people.
(AFP, 1/5/09)
2009 Jan 4, Gunmen hijacked a
vessel and 9 crewmen belonging to French oil services group Bourbon
off Nigeria's Niger Delta as it traveled toward a Royal Dutch Shell
offshore oilfield. The 9 crewmen: five Nigerians, two Ghanaians, one
Cameroonian and one Indonesian aboard. were released on Dec 7.
(Reuters, 1/4/09)(AP, 1/6/09)(AP, 1/7/09)
2009 Jan 6, Signs mounted that
the conflict in Gaza is starting to spill over into violence in
Europe's towns and cities, with assaults against Jews and arson
attacks on Jewish congregations in France, Sweden and Britain.
(AP, 1/6/09)
2009 Jan 10, Two British
climbers, including the youngest Briton to conquer Everest, fell
hundreds of meters to their deaths on Mont Blanc in the French Alps.
(AFP, 1/11/09)
2009 Jan 12, French teachers
hurled shoes and other objects at police to protest President
Nicolas Sarkozy's high school reforms, prompting police to respond
with tear gas.
(AP, 1/12/09)
2009 Jan 12, Alitalia's board
accepted Air France-KLM's offer to buy 25 percent of the company and
become its international partner.
(AP, 1/12/09)
2009 Jan 14, A French court
acquitted six doctors and pharmacists in the deaths of at least 114
people who contracted a brain-destroying disease after being treated
with tainted human growth hormones.
(AP, 1/14/09)
2009 Jan 15, A Luxembourg court
ordered Swiss bank UBS AG to pay French financial company Oddo &
Cie euro30 million ($40 million) it had invested in a fund linked to
the alleged fraud perpetrated by US financier Bernard Madoff.
(AP, 1/15/09)
2009 Jan 16, Frenchman Lluis
Colet broke the world record for the longest speech after rambling
nonstop for 124 hours about Spanish painter Salvador Dali, Catalan
culture and other topics.
(AFP, 1/17/09)
2009 Jan 17, A helicopter
carrying 10 French soldiers crashed off the coast of Gabon in
central Africa. At least 2 survived and 2 were killed as rescuers
searched for 6 missing.
(AP, 1/17/09)
2009 Jan 24, A storm killed 11
people in Spain, including four children who were killed when a
sports center collapsed near Barcelona, and four in France as high
winds swept across Spain and southern France.
(AP, 1/24/09)(AP, 1/25/09)
2009 Jan 27, In Mexico thieves,
apparently targeting people who exchange money at Mexico City's
international airport, shot a French citizen in the head.
Authorities warned that gangs have put lookouts at exchange windows
in the terminal. Mexico City prosecutors soon detained two suspects
in the shooting. French scientist Christopher Augur died at a Mexico
City hospital four days after his assault.
(AP, 1/27/09)(AP, 1/30/09)(AP, 1/31/09)
2009 Jan 28, French PM Francois
Fillon said 1,000 French 1,650 soldiers would be pulled out from the
EUFOR mission to protect refugees in Chad. He also says France's
1,800-strong contingent in Ivory Coast will be reduced by half.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 29, In France hundreds
of thousands of workers staged a nationwide strike to try to force
President Nicolas Sarkozy and business leaders to do more to protect
jobs and wages during the economic crisis.
(Reuters, 1/29/09)
2009 Feb 4, French-US telecom
equipment group Alcatel-Lucent said its net loss widened 48.5
percent to 5.215 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars) in 2008,
blaming asset write-downs in a crumbling world economy.
(AFP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, French group Areva
signed a draft accord for the sale of two to six nuclear reactors to
India, a huge new market now open with the end of a nuclear trade
embargo on New Delhi.
(AFP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 9, The French
government said it would give $8.4 million in low interest loans to
Renault SA and PSA Peugeot-Citroen in exchange for pledges that the
car makers won’t close any factories of lay off workers in France
for the duration of the funding.
(WSJ, 2/10/09, p.B2)
2009 Feb 10, President Nicolas
Sarkozy made the first-ever visit by a French head of state to Iraq,
seeking to reassert French influence in the country even as the US
prepares to draw down its forces.
(AP, 2/10/09)
2009 Feb 15, French specialists
unveiled a new weapon against cancer, a molecular "decoy" that
mimics DNA damage and prompts cancerous cells to kill themselves.
(AFP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, France's top
judicial body recognized the French government's responsibility for
the deportation of Jews during World War II, the clearest such
recognition of the state's role in the Holocaust.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, Authorities
acknowledged that nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France
collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, touching off new
concerns about the safety of the world's deep sea missile fleets.
The HMS Vanguard, the oldest vessel in Britain's nuclear-armed
submarine fleet, and the French Le Triomphant submarine, which was
also carrying nuclear missiles, both suffered minor damage in the
collision.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 16, On the French
island of Guadeloupe police detained about 50 people after coming
under a barrage of stones as they tried to take down barricades. On
Martinique as many as 10,000 demonstrators marched through the
narrow streets of the capital to protest spiraling food prices and
denounce the business elite.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 17, France's lower
house of parliament unanimously passed a law granting government
payments to those who take time off work to care for dying relatives
in their last weeks of life.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 18, In Guadeloupe
rioters manning barricades fatally shot Jacques Bino, tax agent and
union member, in a housing project in Pointe-a-Pitre, as he returned
home from protests. This was the first death in unrest that has
convulsed France's Caribbean islands for weeks.
(AP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 19, France bowed to
demands for wage increases in Guadeloupe in the hope of ending a
month-long strike that has plunged the French Caribbean island into
rioting.
(AP, 2/19/09)
2009 Feb 22, In Egypt a group
of French teenagers on a school trip was hit hard by a bombing at a
landmark Cairo bazaar, which killed a 17-year-old girl on the tour
and wounded more than a dozen other students. Egyptian police soon
arrested three suspects.
(AP, 2/23/09)
2009 Feb 23, Finance Minister
Christine Lagarde said the French government is to provide 2.5-5.0
billion euros in loans to support the merger of banks Caisse
d'Epargne and Banque Populaire.
(AP, 2/23/09)
2009 Feb 24, France’s Pres.
Sarkozy and Italy’s Premier Berlusconi signed a deal pairing
utilities from each nation to study the feasibility of building
nuclear power plants in Italy.
(WSJ, 2/25/09, p.A11)
2009 Feb 24, A Paris appeals
court overturned five men's terror convictions, ruling that French
intelligence officials improperly questioned them while they were
detained at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay. Lawyers for the men:
Brahim Yadel, Khaled ben Mustafa, Nizar Sassi, Mourad Benchellali
and Ridouane Khalid, hailed the decision. During their 2007 Paris
trial, the five acknowledged having spent time in military training
camps in Afghanistan but they said they had never put their combat
skills to use.
(AP, 2/24/09)
2009 Feb 25, In Paris an
auction of art works owned by the late fashion designer Yves Saint
Laurent concluded with dazzling sales of nearly $500 million. Two
rare bronze sculptures that disappeared from China nearly 150 years
ago and demanded back by Beijing, sold for millions. The Chinese
businessman, who bid $15.1 million, later refused payment.
(AP, 2/26/09)(Econ, 3/7/09, p.92)
2009 Feb 25, In Martinique
vandals burned cars and looted stores overnight, as violence spread
to a second French Caribbean island in protests over high prices,
low pay and alleged neglect by officials in Paris.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Feb 27, The French film
industry awarded the best film Cesar to Martin Provost's
"Seraphine." Yolande Moreau, who plays Seraphine, won in the 34th
annual Cesar awards best actress category for her portrayal of the
dimwitted maid whose talents as a painter were discovered by a
German art collector on the eve of World War I. The Cesar for best
actor went to Vincent Cassel in "Mesrine," a story based on the real
life of a gangster.
(AP, 2/2709)
2009 Mar 4, Channel tunnel
operator Eurotunnel said it will pay its first ever dividend after
making a net profit of 40 million euros in 2008 despite fire damage
of 200 million euros (250 million dollars).
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 7, In France a
commuter train slammed into a group of football fans who were
walking on railway tracks in a Paris suburb, killing two youths and
injuring 11 people.
(AFP, 3/8/09)
2009 Mar 9, French lawmakers
passed an amendment to ban the sale of alcohol to teens under 18,
part of an effort to tackle the rise of binge drinking in a country
known for a relaxed attitude toward a little libation.
(AP, 3/10/09)
2009 Mar 11, French Pres.
Sarkozy announced that France will return as full-fledged member of
the 26-naqtion NATO alliance.
(SFC, 3/12/09, p.A2)
2009 Mar 16, Bernard d’Espagnat
(87), French physicist and philosopher, was named in Paris as the
winner of this year’s $1.42 million Templeton Prize.
(SFC, 3/17/09, p.A2)
2009 Mar 17, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy's government won a parliamentary confidence vote
prompted by his plans to rejoin NATO's military command, which many
legislators fear would compromise France's independence.
(AP, 3/17/09)
2009 Mar 19, In France hundreds
of thousands of people began protests expected to draw at least a
million demonstrators to the streets to denounce President Nicolas
Sarkozy's handling of the economic crisis.
(Reuters, 3/19/09)
2009 Mar 20, In France several
teenagers were taken into custody after 11 adults were injured in a
pellet gun shooting near a nursery school in Lyon.
(AP, 3/20/09)
2009 Mar 20, Iranian engineer
Majid Kakavand (37) was taken into custody in Paris as he arrived in
Paris from Moscow as part of a European tour with his wife. He was
arrested at the airport under a US warrant suspected of evading
export controls to buy US technology for Iran's military. He was
held in La Sante prison until Aug. 26, then released on condition he
stay in Paris. He faced a Feb. 17 Paris hearing on whether to be
extradited to the United States.
(AP, 1/22/10)
2009 Mar 24, The French
government offered for the first time to compensate victims of
nuclear tests in Algeria and the South Pacific, bowing to decades of
pressure by people sickened by radiation.
(AP, 3/24/09)
2009 Mar 24, Striking French
workers for US manufacturer 3M held their boss hostage amid labor
talks at a plant south of Paris, as anger over layoffs and cutbacks
mounted around the country. Manager Luc Rousselet was released after
being held for 2 days.
(AP, 3/26/09)
2009 Mar 26, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy visited Brazzaville and Kinshasa. During the
Kinshasa trip, given over in large part to regional political
issues, Areva signed an agreement with the government allowing the
company to prospect for and mine uranium.
(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 26, An official said
France will limit or ban bonuses and stock options for executives at
companies bailed out with taxpayer money, as the government
scrambled to calm public outrage at what some see as the greed that
caused the global financial crisis.
(AP, 3/26/09)
2009 Mar 27, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy wrapped up his mini-tour of three African countries,
after meeting with Niger leader Mamadou Tandja. This followed visits
to Kinshasa and Brazzaville.
(AFP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 29, The mostly Muslim
Indian Ocean island of Mayotte overwhelmingly voted to integrate
fully with France, a move that will bring financial benefits to
residents but also outlaw practices like polygamy and early
marriages.
(AP, 3/29/09)
2009 Mar 29, Maurice Jarre
(b.1924), Oscar-winning French composer, died in LA. His film scores
included “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago.”
(Econ, 4/18/09,
p.92)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Jarre)
2009 Mar 30, The French
government banned companies that get state funding from issuing
stock options to top managers and limited some other forms of
compensation in an effort to quell public anger over executive pay.
(WSJ, 3/31/09, p.B1)
2009 Mar 31, Angry French
workers facing layoffs at a Caterpillar factory briefly detained
four of their bosses at the US manufacturer's plant in the Alps to
protest job cuts.
(AP, 3/31/09)
2009 Apr 3, In France US Pres.
Obama won enthusiastic support for his new Afghan war strategy from
French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy, who pledged more police trainers and
civilian aid.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, NATO began its
2-day 60th anniversary summit in France and Germany.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 4, France and Germany
fully endorsed President Barack Obama's new Afghan war strategy but
firmly resisted sending more combat troops in a rift that
overshadowed symbols of unity at NATO 60th-anniversary summit.
NATO's European leaders pledged a significant increase in troops for
the US-led war in Afghanistan at their summit, but the alliance
seemed sure to arouse hostility in the Muslim world by choosing the
controversial Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the alliance's new
secretary general. All 28 NATO leaders unanimously approved
Rasmussen as the new civilian leader of the alliance. Black-clad
protesters attacked police and set a hotel and a customs station
ablaze near a bridge linking France and Germany that served hours
earlier as the backdrop for a show of unity by NATO leaders.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 4, In Sudan armed men
in the Darfur kidnapped two aid workers Claire Dubois of France and
Canadian Stephanie Jodoin, of Aid Medicale International (AMI). They
were seized from their compound in the south Darfur settlement of Ed
el Fursan. Both women were released on April 29.
(AFP, 4/5/09)(Reuters, 4/12/09)(AP, 4/30/09)
2009 Apr 8, In France workers
at a British-owned adhesives factory held three British executives
and a local manager captive over plans to close the site down.
Scapa, which announced in February it would close its plant in
Bellegarde, said it was forced to cut back after the market for car
industry adhesives collapsed by 50 percent in 2008. The managers
were released after being held overnight.
(AP, 4/8/09)(SFC, 4/9/09, p.A2)
2009 Apr 9, French lawmakers
rejected a tough new Internet piracy bill that would cut off illegal
downloaders, in a surprise setback for President Nicolas Sarkozy's
government.
(AP, 4/9/09)
2009 Apr 10, In France Ekaitz
Sirvent Auzmendi (29), suspected of being a master forger for ETA,
was captured by French and Spanish police as he got off a bullet
train that had arrived from Bordeaux at the French capital's
Montparnasse station.
(AP, 4/11/09)
2009 Apr 10, France's navy
freed a sailboat seized off Somalia last week by pirates, but one of
the hostages was killed. Pirates had seized the sailboat carrying
Florent Lemacon, his wife, 3-year-old son and two friends off the
Somali coast a week ago. Two pirates were killed, and Lemacon died
in an exchange of fire as he tried to duck down the hatch.
(AP, 4/11/09)
2009 Apr 13, In France a
65-year-old man opened fire on three people apparently at random,
killing two. The man, who had holed up in a house in the town of
Douchy-les-Mines surrendered after the shootings.
(AP, 4/14/09)
2009 Apr 14, France's
government launched a campaign against forced marriages and genital
mutilation, seeking to protect women from practices that quietly
thrive in immigrant communities the nation is struggling to
integrate.
(AP, 4/14/09)
2009 Apr 14, French author
Maurice Druon (b.1918), a fighter for France's World War II
Resistance movement and writer of one of its anthems, died. After
the conflict he wrote historical novels including the "Rois Maudits"
(Accursed Kings) series.
(AP, 4/15/09)
2009 Apr 15, A blockade by
French fishermen angry at EU quotas cut ferry links with Britain for
a second day as a union official threatened to block the Channel
Tunnel in support of the movement.
(AFP, 4/15/09)
2009 Apr 15, French forces
detained 11 pirates during an assault on a pirate "mother ship" and
thwarted a pirate attack on a Liberian-registered vessel.
(AP, 4/15/09)
2009 Apr 16, French fishermen
allowed traffic to resume to three English Channel ports after
receiving a government promise of euro4 million ($5.27 million) in
aid, but they vowed to keep up their fight against European fishing
quotas.
(AP, 4/16/09)
2009 Apr 18, French and Spanish
security forces thwarted a new ETA attack with the arrest of Jurdan
Martitegi, the military chief of the Basque separatist group, and
seven other suspected members.
(AFP, 4/19/09)(Econ, 4/25/09, p.56)
2009 Apr 18, Jon Anza Ortunez
(47), a member of the armed Basque group ETA, was last seen. ETA
blamed Spanish police for a role in his disappearance — a claim
Spain denied. ETA said Anza had been transporting a large sum of
money between the French cities of Bayonne, which is not far from
the border with Spain, and Toulouse for the group when he vanished.
In 2010 his body turned up in a morgue in France. French officials
told Anza's family that he had fallen ill on a street on April 29
and was taken to a hospital in Toulouse, where he died May 11. At
the time, no one was reportedly able to identify him.
(AP, 3/12/10)
2009 Apr 20, In southeast
France workers at a French subsidiary of the American company Molex
detained two bosses to protest plans to close the plant.
(AP, 4/21/09)
2009 Apr 21, French police
detained around 200 undocumented migrants in a major operation in
the Channel port of Calais.
(AP, 4/21/09)
2009 Apr 22, In northern
France an auto parts factory was closed after employees angry
over job losses ransacked offices and prompted new concern about
increasingly violent French worker protests.
(AP, 4/22/09)
2009 Apr 28, In California a
charter bus carrying French tourists overturned near Soledad killing
at least 5 people.
(SFC, 4/29/09, p.B1)
2009 May 1, May Day protesters
clashed with riot police in Germany, Turkey and Greece, while
thousands angry at the government's responses to the global
financial crisis took to the streets in France. Riot police battled
700 stone-throwing left-wing militants in Berlin for more than five
hours in May Day clashes that stretched into early pre-dawn hours.
(Reuters, 5/1/09)(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 3, A French naval
vessel intercepted 11 suspected pirates traveling off the Somali
coast in two assault vessels and a so-called "mothership" loaded
with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers.
(AP, 5/3/09)
2009 May 12, Italian
anti-terrorism investigators said two French citizens behind bars
since last year on suspicion of smuggling migrants were al-Qaida
propaganda point men in Europe and were heard talking in jail about
a possible attack on a Paris airport. Bassam Ayachi (62) and Raphael
Frederic Gendron (33) were served warrants in jail accusing them of
criminal association for international terrorism. The men have been
held in Bari since November when they were arrested on suspicion of
smuggling two Syrians and three Palestinians into Italy.
(AP, 5/12/09)
2009 May 14, A French rocket
carrying the largest space telescope ever was launched into space on
a mission that European scientists hope will help unravel the
mystery of the universe's creation. The Ariane-5 rocket was loaded
with the Herschel space telescope and the Planck spacecraft,
carrying a payload of 5.3 tons (4.81 metric tons) when it launched
from the city of Kourou near the jungles of French Guiana.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 May 15, Lakhdar Boumediene
(43), a Guantanamo Bay prisoner who was at the center of a Supreme
Court battle over inmates' rights, arrived in France, which agreed
to take in the Algerian in a gesture to the Obama administration.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 May 20, British actress
Lucy Gordon (28), an up-and-coming talent who played a role in
Spider-Man 3 and will soon appear as Jane Birkin in a Serge
Gainsbourg biopic, killed herself in Paris.
(AFP, 5/21/09)
2009 May 24, At the Cannes Film
Festival the film “The White Ribbon” by Austrian director Michael
Haneke won the top prize. Christolph Waltz won the best actor prize
for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Bastards.” Charlotte
Gainsbourg won the best actress prize for her role in Lars von
Trier’s “antichrist.”
(SFC, 5/25/09, p.E4)
2009 May 25, In Paris the
Church of Scientology and six of its French leaders went on trial on
charges of organized fraud that could lead to an outright ban on the
organization in France.
(AFP, 5/25/09)
2009 May 26, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy opened his nation's first military base in the Gulf
outside Abu Dhabi, boosting the naval presence along strategic oil
routes and in pirate-infested waters off the Somali coast.
(AP, 5/26/09)
2009 May 26, In Paris the body
of Polish-born French woman Kinga Legg (36) was found at the
exclusive Hotel Bristol. Police sought her English boyfriend Ian
Griffin (39).
(AFP, 5/30/09)
2009 May 30, In Paris a man,
wearing a suit and a hat, walked into the Chopard jewelry boutique
on the chic Place Vendome. He threatened employees with a gun and,
minutes later, walked calmly out of the store with loot worth up to
euro6.5 million. A suspect (52) was detained in the Belgian port
city of Antwerp in mid-July at the request of French justice
authorities. He was extradited to France several weeks later and put
in custody here.
(AP, 8/10/09)
2009 May, In France fashion
house of Christian Lacroix filed for bankruptcy. It had been founded
inside LVMH, a luxury goods group in 1987 and lost money every year
since then.
(Econ, 7/11/09, p.66)
2009 Jun 1, France implemented
its revenue de solidarite active (RSA), a welfare payment introduced
by anti-poverty campaigner Martin Hirsch.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenu_de_solidarit%C3%A9_active)
2009 Jun 1, A missing Air
France Airbus A330 jet, Flight 447, carrying 228 people from Rio de
Janeiro to Paris ran into lightning and strong thunderstorms over
the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil soon began a search mission off its
northeastern coast.
(AP, 6/1/09)
2009 Jun 2, An airplane seat, a
life jacket, metallic debris and signs of fuel were found in the
middle of the Atlantic Ocean by Brazilian military pilots searching
for a missing Air France airliner Flight 447.
(AP, 6/2/09)
2009 Jun 6, President Barack
Obama at Omaha Beach, France, paid tribute to the Allies' 1944
D-Day landings, an invasion that turned the tide of World War II and
cemented the trans-Atlantic alliance.
(AP, 6/6/09)
2009 Jun 6, Jean Dausset
(1916), French immunologist, died. The 1980 Nobel prize-winner was a
pioneer behind organ transplants and the mapping of the human
genome. Dausset's discovery in 1958 of the human leukocyte antigen
(HLA) tissue system allowed doctors to verify compatibility between
donor and receiver for an organ transplant.
(AP, 6/24/09)
2009 Jun 6, Brazilian search
crews retrieved the first 2 bodies in the Atlantic from the May 31
crash of Air France Flight 447. Investigators said faulty
speed readings had been found on the same type of jets.
(Reuters, 6/6/09)
2009 Jun 7, Brazilian and
French ships recovered 14 more bodies from ocean near Air France
crash, bringing the total to 16.
(AP, 6/7/09)(SFC, 6/8/09, p.A3)
2009 Jun 8, Brazilian and
French ships recovered 8 more bodies from Air France Flight 447,
bringing the total recovered to 24. The tail section of the plane
was also recovered. The plane disappeared during a flight from Rio
de Janeiro to Paris on May 31 amid strong thunderstorms.
(AP, 6/9/09)(SFC, 6/9/09, p.A3)
2009 Jun 9, In France Veronique
Courjault (41), went on trial after admitting killing two baby boys
born secretly in Seoul in 2002 and 2003, and a third child born in
France in 1999. On June 18 she was convicted and sentenced to 8
years in prison.
(AFP, 6/9/09)(SFC, 6/19/09, p.A2)
2009 Jun 10, The French nuclear
submarine Emeraude reached the crash zone of Air France Flight 447
where 41 of 228 bodies have been recovered.
(AP, 6/10/09)
2009 Jun 12, A Brazilian ship
recovered three more bodies from the Atlantic bringing the total to
44. Searchers said weather and currents complicated their job and
warned it is unlikely that all the dead from Air France Flight 447
will be found.
(AP, 6/12/09)
2009 Jun 13, Brazil reported
that a French ship had found six more bodies from Air France Flight
447, which would bring the total to 50. It went down May 31 with 228
on board.
(AP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 19, Isamu Akasaki
(80), a professor at Nagoya University in central Japan, was among
the winners of this year's Kyoto Prizes. He will receive the
advanced technology award for his pioneering work in the development
of blue light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Peter (72) and Rosemary
Grant (72), a husband-and-wife team of biologists from Princeton
University, won for their decades of research on evolution in the
Galapagos Islands and will share an award of $515,000. This year's
award in arts and philosophy went to French composer and conductor
Pierre Boulez (84).
(AP, 6/19/09)
2009 Jun 22, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy declared that the Islamic burqa is not welcome in
France, branding the face-covering, body-length gown as a symbol of
subservience that suppresses women's identities.
(AP, 6/22/09)
2009 Jun 23, The French
parliament created a commission to study the wearing of
body-covering burqas and niqabs in France, a day after President
Nicolas Sarkozy said the Islamic garment turns women into prisoners.
(AP, 6/23/09)
2009 Jun 23, Frederic
Mitterrand (b.1947) was appointed to the French government as the
Minister of Culture and Communications.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Mitterrand)
2009 Jun 26, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy said that Martinique is free to hold a referendum on
greater political autonomy but made clear the island would always
belong to France.
(AP, 6/26/09)
2009 Jun 30, A Yemenia Airbus
310 jet with 153 people on board crashed into the Indian Ocean as it
tried to land during strong winds on the island nation of Comoros.
The passengers were on the last leg of a journey from Paris and
Marseilles to Comoros with a stop in Yemen to change planes. Bahia
Bakari (14), the only person to survive, was plucked from the sea
after clinging to wreckage for 13 hours. Investigators on Aug 28
retrieved the slightly damaged flight data recorder and 10 more
bodies from the Yemenia Airways flight. The voice recorder was
recovered on Aug 29.
(AP, 6/30/09)(SFC, 7/2/09, p.A3)(AP, 8/29/09)
2009 Jun 30, Shi Pei Pu
(b.1938), a Chinese operatic soprano, died in Paris. His affair with
French lover Bernard Boursicot (b.1945), inspired the 1988 play and
1993 film “M. Butterfly.” Both were arrested for espionage in 1983
and convicted in 1986. Shi was pardoned in 1987.
(SFC, 7/4/09, p.B3)
2009 Jul 1, In Iran Clotilde
Reiss (24), a French academic, was among the hundreds of people
detained following the disputed presidential elections. She was
released on bail after a month and a half and later convicted of
provoking unrest and spying. In May, 2010, she was released after
paying a $300,000 fine.
(AP, 5/15/10)(AP, 5/16/10)
2009 Jul 4, A joint
French-Spanish operation captured 3 suspected members of ETA in the
French city of Pau.
(SFC, 7/6/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 8, In France some 60
youths rioted outside Saint-Etienne after hearing that man had tried
to hang himself in jail. Mohamed Benmouna (21) died soon after at a
hospital.
(SFC, 7/9/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 14, In Somalia two
French officials working as security advisers to the Somali
government were kidnapped in Mogadishu. Agent Marc Aubriere managed
to escape on August 26. Secret-agent Alexx Denis remained captive.
(Reuters, 7/14/09)(AP, 8/26/09)(SFC, 8/27/09,
p.A2)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.45)
2009 Jul 16, In Marseilles,
France, a worker was killed immediately when the roof of a stage
being built for a Madonna concert fell apart on top of several
workers. Madonna canceled her scheduled July 19 performance. A
2nd worker died the next day.
(AP, 7/17/09)
2009 Jul 21, French factory
workers angry over layoffs and cost cuts locked up their bosses at a
Michelin tire plant and a US-owned cigarette-paper mill. The
managers were released the next morning after regional officials
offered to mediate.
(AP, 7/22/09)
2009 Jul 24, In Europe deadly
summer wild fires spread across Spain, France, Italy and Greece with
holidaymakers rescued from beaches and thousands of firefighters
brought into the battle.
(AFP, 7/24/09)
2009 Jul 27, A Congo government
spokesman said The Democratic Republic of Congo has suspended
transmission of French broadcaster Radio France International (RFI).
(Reuters, 7/27/09)
2009 Aug 1, In Afghanistan 3 US
troops were killed by improvised explosives in Kandahar province and
a French soldier was killed in an insurgent attack in Kapisa
province. Two more ISAF troops were killed when two bomb blasts
struck their patrol in the south. A dozen rebels were killed in a
gunfight with police in the southwestern province of Nimroz. 4
Afghan soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside
bomb planted by "terrorists" in southern Helmand province. 3
policemen including a senior officer were killed when their vehicle
struck a roadside bomb in the northern province of Baghlan.
(AFP, 8/1/09)(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 8, In Mauritania a
suicide bomber killed himself outside the French Embassy, wounding
two embassy guards and a woman in the street. An African branch of
Al-Qaida later said the attack was a response to the aggression of
"crusaders" including former colonial ruler France, and to
Mauritanian leaders against Islam and Muslims.
(AP, 8/8/09)(AP, 8/18/09)
2009 Aug 9, The French
advertising group Publicis said it would buy the digital advertising
agency Razorfish from Microsoft for 530 million dollars (380 million
euros).
(AFP, 8/9/09)
2009 Aug 11, In France restive
youths in a Paris suburb torched a tourist bus and nearly a
half-dozen cars and hurled objects at police, in a night of
fullblown unrest prompted by the death of a teen fleeing police on
Aug 9. Some witnesses claimed a police car hit the young
motorcyclist after he tried to flee a document check outside the
project.
(AP, 8/11/09)
2009 Aug 12, A French teenager
(16) shot and killed his parents and twin brothers, apparently while
they were asleep in their home on the island of Corsica.
(AFP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 12, In France a
35-year-old convert to Islam, identified only as Carole, complained
of religious discrimination after trying to go swimming in a
"burquini," a full-body swimsuit, in the town of Emerainville,
southeast of Paris. Officials insisted they banned the woman's use
of the Islam-friendly suit at a local pool because of France's pool
hygiene standards.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 19, French police with
Spanish help detained three suspected members of Basque separatist
group ETA in a French Alps ski resort and seized material for making
explosives, after a series of bombings claimed by the group on the
Spanish island of Mallorca.
(AP, 8/19/09)
2009 Aug 20, A French
government-sponsored report was released saying that decomposing
algae covering some beaches in Brittany represent a serious health
risk and gases that can kill within minutes were detected on a beach
where a horse died last month.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Sep 1, Malaysian police
arrested Alain Robert (47), a French climber nicknamed "Spiderman,"
after he scaled the iconic 88-story Petronas Twin Towers.
(AP, 9/1/09)
2009 Sep 8, Deutsche Telekom AG
and France Telecom SA said they intend to combine their British
mobile phone units, shaking up the country's intensely competitive
market and forming the country's biggest mobile operator. Analysts
said Nokia Siemens Networks, the key equipment vendor to British
operations of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, had most to lose
in the merger.
(AP, 9/8/09)(Reuters, 9/8/09)
2009 Sep 10, A new book, whose
title translates as "Hold-Ups, Swindles and Treasons," by French
journalists Antonin Andre and Karim Rissouli, hit French stores
alleging that a vote last year to elect the leader of France's
Socialist Party was rigged, sparking further disarray among the
once-mighty champions of the left.
(AP, 9/10/09)
2009 Sep 12, Willy Ronis (99),
the last of the great French photographers, died. Lovers, nudes and
scenes from Paris streets were the mainstay of Ronis' photographs in
an award-winning career that began in the 1930s.
(AP, 9/12/09)
2009 Sep 14, France Telecom SA
summoned all 20,000 of its managers to a conference call in an
effort to respond to a string of 23 employee suicides that unions
blame partly on layoffs and restructuring at the telecommunications
giant.
(AP, 9/14/09)
2009 Sep 14, In Somalia foreign
troops firing from helicopters killed at least two people in a car
and then took two others captive in a town controlled by Islamic
insurgents. One witness said the helicopters took off from a warship
flying a French flag, but that could not be confirmed.
(AP, 9/14/09)
2009 Sep 15, The Frankfurt auto
show opened. The French company Renault unveiled a lineup that
includes a purely electric sedan, without a backup internal
combustion engine. Renault says the vehicle will be in showrooms by
2011.
(www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/automobiles/14electric.html)(Econ,
10/17/09, p.74)
2009 Sep 17, In Brussels French
Pres. Sarkozy said EU leaders have agreed to impose a cap on
bankers’ pay.
(SFC, 9/18/09, p.A2)
2009 Sep 17, Serbian men
brutally attacked Brice Taton (28), a French soccer fan, in front of
a downtown cafe in the Serbian capital before Partizan Belgrade's
Europa Cup match against Toulouse. On Jan 25 a Belgrade court
convicted 14 Serbs of the fatal beating of Taton. Two of the
convicted remain at large and were tried in absentia.
(AP, 1/25/11)
2009 Sep 18, Angry French
farmers dumped millions of liters of fresh milk next to next the
famed Mont Saint-Michel, one of France's most famous tourist sites,
to denounce the slumping cost of milk and an EU plan to end
production quotas, which could further drive prices down.
(AP, 9/18/09)
2009 Sep 22, French police
cleared out, then bulldozed, a squalid forest camp near the northern
city of Calais, detaining hundreds of illegal immigrants who had
hoped to slip across the English Channel into Britain.
(AP, 9/22/09)
2009 Sep 22, A sharply divided
EU failed to protect the threatened bluefin tuna, as the bloc's
Mediterranean nations refused to back even a temporary a ban on
catching the fish prized by sushi aficionados. Greece, Cyprus,
Malta, Spain, France and Italy, with strong fishermen's lobbies at
home, insisted on continuing the hunt despite the precarious state
of the species. Conservation groups had earlier criticized the EU
for not pushing to list the bluefin tuna under the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species.
(AP, 9/22/09)
2009 Sep 24, Two French
military fighter Rafale jets crashed into the Mediterranean Sea
during a training mission and one pilot was missing.
(AP, 9/24/09)
2009 Oct 1, Benjamin Chocat
(20), from Choisy-Le-Roi south of Paris, and his mother Christiane
Chocat (51), a councilor in Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux southeast of
Paris, helped to smuggle at least 13 men and 3 women in a hire van
on a ferry from Cherbourg in France to Portsmouth. The Vietnamese
immigrants were hidden behind boxes of shrimp noodles.
(AP, 1/4/10)
2009 Oct 2, In France Armenia's
President Serge Sarkisian started his tour of Armenian communities
worldwide amid violent protests from members of a diaspora angry
over plans to establish ties with Turkey.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Kazakhstan
French President Nicolas Sarkozy scored a diplomatic coup during a
visit, overseeing an agreement to allow military hardware for French
forces fighting in Afghanistan to pass through Kazakh territory and
clinching a raft of lucrative energy deals.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 7, Egypt's antiquities
department severed its ties with France's Louvre museum because it
has refused to return what are described as stolen artifacts,
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, Somali pirates in
two skiffs fired on a French navy vessel after apparently mistaking
it for a commercial boat. The French ship gave chase and captured
five suspected pirates.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 8, French police
arrested a nuclear physicist in Vienne on suspicion that he had
links to terrorist organizations in Algeria. The man had been
working on analysis projects with the LHCb experiment at CERN since
2003.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, French utility
group GDF Suez said it had signed a contract worth 3.0 billion
dollars (2.0 billion euros) to supply electricity to subsidiaries of
the Chilean electricity company EMEL.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 9, France's culture
minister agreed to return painted wall fragments to Egypt after a
row over their ownership prompted the country to cut ties with the
Louvre Museum.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 10, The French
military fired on pirates in the Indian Ocean to protect two tuna
fishing vessels.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 11, Pope Benedict XVI
canonized five new saints, including Father Damien, a 19th-century
priest who worked with leprosy patients on a Hawaiian island;
Zygmunt Szcezesny Felinski, a 19th-century Polish bishop who
defended the Catholic faith during the years of the Russian
annexation; Spaniards Francisco Coll y Guitart, who founded an order
of Dominicans in the 19th century, and Rafael Arniaz Baron, who
renounced an affluent lifestyle at age 22 to live a humble life in a
strict monastery and dedicate himself to prayer; and Jeanne Jugan
(d.1879), a French nun, who helped found the Little Sisters of the
Poor.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 13, French soldiers in
the Indian Ocean opened fire on pirates, warding off an attack on
two French tuna fishing vessels off the Seychelles Islands.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 15, A French court
turned down a bid by Fabienne Justel, a 39-year-old widow, to
retrieve her late husband's frozen sperm in order to have his child
by insemination in another country. A French law prohibited
post-mortem insemination.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Italy and NATO
denied a newspaper report that the Italian intelligence secretly
paid the Taliban thousands of dollars to maintain peace in an area
in Afghanistan that was under Italian control. The Times of London
had just reported that Italy had paid "tens of thousands of dollars"
to Taliban commanders and warlords in the Surobi district. It
accused Rome of failing to inform its allies about the payments and
of misleading the French, who took over the Surobi district in
mid-2008, into thinking the area was quiet and safe. An ambush of
the French in a mountain pass on Aug. 18, 2008, was the biggest
single combat loss for international forces in Afghanistan in more
than three years.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 16, French farmers
struggling with slumping grain prices blanketed the Champs-Elysees
with bales of hay and set them ablaze, and blocked highways around
the country as they demanded government help.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 19, French police
apprehended suspected ETA militant Aitor Elizaran (30) in a car park
at the wheel of a stolen car in the Brittany seaside town of Carnac,
along with a woman suspect, Oihana Sanvicente (32). They were soon
charged with conspiracy to collaborate with a terrorist
organization.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Sudan gunmen
kidnapped Gauthier Lefevre (35), a French staff member working for
the International Committee of the Red Cross, in the western Darfur
region. The kidnappers soon demanded a three-million-euro ransom.
(AP, 10/22/09)(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 23, In France Jean
Sarkozy (23), President Nicolas Sarkozy's son, was elected to the
board of the organization that runs France's most important business
district after a dramatic withdrawal of his bid for the top spot
amid fierce accusations of favoritism. He had been the leading
candidate to head EPAD, a quasi-governmental organization overseeing
real estate and the administration of La Defense, the neighborhood
of skyscrapers west of Paris that is home to top companies and the
workplace of 150,000 people.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 27, A Paris court
convicted the French branch of the Church of Scientology of fraud
and fined it more than euro600,000 ($900,000), but stopped short of
banning the group as prosecutors had demanded.
(AP, 10/27/09)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 28, Somali pirates
exchanged fire with a French fishing vessel. They sped away, but
were soon stopped by a Spanish naval helicopter. 7 pirates were
detained on the German naval vessel, FGS Karlsruhe.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 31, A Russian news
agency reported that Moscow plans to buy a French amphibious assault
ship, the first such purchase from a NATO country, as the Kremlin
seeks to reaffirm Russia's global reach.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Nov 2, French-born writer
Marie Ndiaye (b.1967) won France's top literary prize for "Three
Strong Women," her moving tale of the struggles of women in Europe
and Africa. She was born in Pithiviers, to a French mother and a
Senegalese father and currently lived in Berlin.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 3, Claude Levi-Strauss
(b.1908), Brussels-born French intellectual, died. He was widely
considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included
theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial
societies. His books included literary and anthropological classics
such as "Tristes Tropiques" (1955), "The Savage Mind" (1963) and
"The Raw and the Cooked" (1964).
(AP, 11/3/09)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.106)
2009 Nov 5, In France security
workers picked up euro11.6 million ($17.2 million) in cash at the
Banque de France branch in Lyon. They then stopped at another bank
and while two security workers were inside that bank, the driver
made off with the cash. Loomis identified the alleged thief as Tony
Musulin (39). As no violence was involved in the theft, Musulin
risked only three years in jail if caught and charged. On Nov 9 Lyon
Prosecutor Xavier Richaud said euro9.5 million ($14.25 million) in
cash was found in a storage space near a railway track where police
earlier found the security truck used in the theft. On Nov 16
Musulin handed himself in to police in Monaco. Musulin was convicted
on May 11, 2010, and sentenced to 3 years in prison.
(AP, 11/7/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A2)(AP,
11/9/09)(AFP, 11/16/09)(SFC, 5/12/10, p.A2)
2009 Nov 9, In eastern Chad a
French Red Cross staff member was abducted by several armed men,
close to the border with Sudan. Laurent Maurice was freed in Sudan
on Feb 6.
(AFP, 11/10/09)(AP, 2/7/10)
2009 Nov 11, The leaders of
France and Germany appeared together at a ceremony in Paris, for the
first time since World War I, to commemorate the end of the
conflict, saying it is now time to celebrate their countries'
reconciliation and friendship.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 13, The French
government said its navy has seized 3 boats of Somalia’s coast and
detained 12 suspected pirates, while seizing an arsenal including
assault rifles and rocket launchers.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 16, French tire maker
Michelin announced plans to invest nearly 900 million dollars to
build a tire plant to supply India's fast-growing vehicle market.
(AFP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 18, In France a 2-day
Congress of the International Association of Francophone Mayors
opened in Paris. The mayors jeered a speech by PM Francois Fillon
and denounced an effort to emasculate local power.
(Econ, 11/21/09,
p.54)(http://www.azi.md/en/story/7016)
2009 Nov 19, In France South
Korean model Daul Kim (20), a fashion week regular in New York,
Milan and Paris, was been found hanged in her Paris apartment.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In France a man
with an automatic rifle opened fire on a car near a Paris train
station, killing one man and wounding two others.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 22, In the northeast
of Central African Republic 2 French aid workers in Birao were
kidnapped by a gang of armed men, close to the border with Sudan.
Olivier Denis and Olivier Frappe wee freed on March 14, 2010, in
Darfur.
(AFP, 11/24/09)(AFP, 3/14/10)
2009 Nov 25, In Mali gunmen
kidnapped Pierre Camatte, a French national, in the remote east. The
kidnapping was attributed to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Camatte was released on Feb 23, 2010.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)(AFP, 12/1/09)(SFC, 2/24/10,
p.A2)
2009 Nov 26, In Lyon, France,
thieves used a sledgehammer to smash through the reinforced glass on
a downtown Cartier storefront. They then swiped jewelry and watches
from display cases. In Dec police recovered nearly euro800,000
($1,181,900) in jewels stolen in the holdup. Officers came across
the stash by accident while searching the apartment of a suspect in
another jewelry theft. The suspect was still at large.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Nov 26, Georgia’s foreign
minister said his country is very worried about the possible sale of
French warships to Russia and intends to press the issue of security
guarantees in France.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 28, French Transport
Minister Dominique Bussereau said Russia has given the green light
for Air France's A380 superjumbo to overfly Siberia, opening the way
for a projected Paris-Tokyo service. The accord was approved by PM
Vladimir Putin at the end of a two-day visit to France which saw a
number of business deals concluded. Putin's trip also secured a deal
for French investment in a key pipeline project and the struggling
Avtovaz car maker, as well as a promise that France will consider
selling Moscow a huge amphibious assault ship.
(AFP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 29, France and Rwanda
agreed to restore diplomatic ties three years after they were cut
off amid tensions over a French judicial investigation.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Dec 2, In France the
Pompidou Center modern art museum and the Musee d'Orsay, with its
famed paintings by the Impressionists, closed after workers angry
about a government cost-cutting measure voted to strike. Workers at
the Louvre also voted to strike, but by mid-morning parts of the
sprawling complex had been opened to visitors. The Rodin Museum, the
Arc de Triomphe and the Palais de Versailles were also affected.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 8, Ratings agency
Moody's warned of a "fiscal crisis" lasting "several years" in
Britain, France, Germany and the United States, but saw no immediate
threat to their top AAA credit assessments.
(AFP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 16, France’s Finance
Minister Christine Lagarde said France will follow Britain and slap
a 50 percent tax on bankers' bonuses above 27,500 euros (40,000
dollars).
(AFP, 12/16/09)
2009 Dec 16, Egypt's
antiquities chief said the wall paintings that caused a feud between
Egypt and the Louvre Museum will be returned to their original
location in a tomb in Luxor.
(AP, 12/16/09)
2009 Dec 18, A French judge
filed preliminary charges against former Pres. Jacques Chirac over
allegations that Paris City Hall paid for jobs in his political
party when was mayor, part of a financing scandal that has long
dogged the man who for decades dominated French politics.
(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 18, A Paris court
ruled that Google Inc. is breaking French law with its policy of
digitizing books, handing the US Internet giant a euro10,000
($14,300)-a-day fine until it rids its database of the literary
extracts.
(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 18, The European
Medicines Agency (EMEA) recommended the withdrawal of all medicines
containing benfluorex, a diabetes and weight-loss drug, in the
European Union. In 2010 French officials said the drug, marketed as
mediator, may have been linked to the deaths of 500 people over the
33 years it was on the market. Fenfluramine, a related drug, had
been withdrawn from the market in 1997 after reports of heart valve
disease, pulmonary hypertension, and development of cardiac
fibrosis.
(SFC, 11/17/10,
p.A2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benfluorex)
2009 Dec 19, Four passenger
trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France,
stranding more than 2,000 passengers for hours, many without
heating, light or water. Fatigued passengers arrived in London 10
hours late after a long night trapped on trains. The problem began
because of the abrupt temperature change when trains traveled
through extremely cold air in France and then entered the warm
tunnel.
(AP, 12/19/09)
2009 Dec 21, Eurostar halted
services for a third day to probe a breakdown of trains through the
Channel Tunnel that stranded thousands, prompting an angry French
government to demand an explanation and call its own inquiry.
President Nicolas Sarkozy summoned the head of the French train
authority to the Elysee Palace and ordered him to get the Eurostar
moving again after a three-day suspension of the cross-Channel train
service that has wreaked havoc on the holiday travel plans of some
40,000 people. The death toll from winter storms across Europe rose
to at least 80 as transport chaos spread amid mounting anger over
the failure of high-speed trains.
(AP, 12/21/09)(AFP, 12/21/09)(Reuters, 12/21/09)
2009 Dec 21, China and France
hailed their reinvigorated ties and sealed a series of economic
deals during a visit to Beijing by PM Francois Fillon. Electricite
de France (EDF) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC)
formalized their joint venture for the construction of two nuclear
reactors at a power plant in Taishan in southern Guangdong province.
French aerospace and defense industries group Safran and US
conglomerate General Electric won a multi-billion-dollar contract to
equip China's future C919 passenger jet with engines.
(AFP, 12/21/09)
2009 Dec 22, Eurostar resumed
its high-speed rail service linking Britain, France and Belgium
after a three-day suspension that stranded tens of thousands of
holiday travelers.
(AP, 12/22/09)
2009 Dec 29, In France an armed
robber burst into a jewelry store in southern Paris and made off
with euro100,000 ($144,330) worth of watches and jewels.
(AP, 12/29/09)
2009 John Bowen authored “Can
Islam Be French: Pluralism and Pragmatism in a Secularist State.”
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.93)
2009 France’s 194 prisons, with
a capacity of 51,000, housed some 63,000 prisoners. It was estimated
that 20% of the inmates were mentally il. Over half of the inmates
were Muslim.
(Econ, 5/16/09, p.57)
2009 The US helped fund a
training camp for nearly 1,000 Somali soldiers in neighboring
Djibouti. The French-trained troops were supposed to earn $100 per
month, but about half of them deserted because they were not paid.
Some returned to ordinary life and others joined the al-Shabab
rebels.
(SFC, 4/28/10, p.A3)
2010 Jan 2, French police said
about 30 works of art, including paintings by Pablo Picasso and
Henri Rousseau, have been stolen from the home of a private
collector in southern La Cadiere-d'Azur, near Marseilles. The theft
comes days after a drawing by Impressionist Edgar Degas worth
euro800,000 ($1.15 million) was stolen from the Cantini Museum in
Marseilles.
(AP, 1/3/10)
2010 Jan 3, Eric Rohmer
(b.1920), French new Wave film director and critic, died in Paris.
His first feature film, “The Sign of Leo,” was released in 1959.
(SFC, 1/15/10, p.C5)
2010 Jan 7, Eurostar passengers
faced further disruption after one of its high-speed trains got
stuck for 2 hours in the Channel Tunnel again, weeks after a major
breakdown due to the cold.
(AFP, 1/7/10)
2010 Jan 7, Rwanda and France
pledged to improve ties after a lengthy freeze in diplomatic
relations triggered by a French judge issuing arrest warrants for
top aides to President Paul Kagame.
(AFP, 1/7/10)
2010 Jan 8, The beleaguered
Eurostar train service cancelled half of its trains between London
and Paris because of freezing temperatures.
(AP, 1/8/10)
2010 Jan 9, Four suspected
members of the Basque separatist group ETA were arrested in Portugal
and France, one driving a van loaded with explosives near a police
barracks. two police officers stopped the van in Spain when their
suspicions were raised by its French license plates. The driver of
the van then pushed passed the police and proceeded to flee the
scene driving off in their patrol car which he stole. The police
alerted their Portuguese counterparts who rapidly arrested the man
and a woman, who had been following the van in a presumed getaway
vehicle with French plates.
(AP, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 10, Heavy snowfall
caused havoc in parts of Europe, causing hundreds of traffic
accidents, downing power lines in Poland, halting flights out of
southern France and trapping more than 160 people overnight on a
frozen highway in northeastern coastal Germany.
(AP, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 10, Voters in French
Guiana overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to give local government
more autonomy while remaining a part of France. 70% voted "no," with
48% turnout.
(AP, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 10, Voters in
Martinique overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to give local
government more autonomy while remaining a part of France. Election
officials said 80% of voters rejected the plan, with 55%
participation. An estimated 50,000 people were unemployed on
Martinique, home to some 400,000 inhabitants.
(AP, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 13, In France a
Chinese student (26) stabbed to death a 49-year-old secretary and
wounded three teachers in an attack at a university in the southern
town of Perpignan.
(AFP, 1/13/10)
2010 Jan 15, In Haiti the UN
and other aid organizations struggled to get food and water to
stricken millions. Fears spread of unrest among the people in their
fourth day of desperation. France urged Haiti’s creditors to cancel
the nation’s debt.
(AP, 1/15/10)(SFC, 1/16/10, p.A2)
2010 Jan 20, A French court
ruled that a Russian Orthodox cathedral built on the French Riviera
nearly a century ago under Czar Nicholas II now belongs to Moscow.
The ruling was a defeat for an association founded by Russians who
fled the Bolshevik Revolution that has been fighting to maintain its
control over the Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, and its
archbishop is accusing the Russian government of a land grab as part
of a national pride campaign.
(AP, 1/20/10)
2010 Jan 27, France's main
Jewish organization, CRIF, says at least 18 tombstones at the
Cronenbourg cemetery in Strasbourg were found marked with swastikas
and 13 of them were overturned. The desecration came as Jews marked
the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz death camp.
(AP, 1/27/10)
2010 Jan 28, France's
ex-premier Dominique de Villepin was acquitted of charges of
plotting to smear Nicolas Sarkozy and sabotage his presidential bid
in a verdict seen as bolstering his chance at a comeback.
(AFP, 1/28/10)
2010 Feb 2, Venezuela deported
alleged major drug traffickers to the US and France. Suspected
Colombian drug kingpin Salomon Camacho Mora, French smuggling
suspect Jean Marie Bonnamy and alleged Colombian paramilitary member
Oscar Ospino were ferried to the nation's main airport for
deportation.
(AP, 2/3/10)
2010 Feb 6, Interfax reported
that French Pres. Sarkozy has sanctioned the sale of a Mistral
amphibious assault ship to Russia.
(SSFC, 2/7/10, p.A6)
2010 Feb 8, French engineering
giant Areva said that it will buy Ausra, a Mountain View, Ca.,
startup specializing in large-scale solar power.
(SFC, 2/9/10, p.D1)
2010 Feb 13, French transport
and utility group Veolia was given the green light to run passenger
trains in France in competition with national rail operator SNCF.
(AFP, 2/13/10)
2010 Feb 17, France's Pres.
Nicolas Sarkozy made the first visit ever by a French president to
Haiti, once his nation's richest colony. Sarkozy said France will
cancel Haiti’s 56 million in debt and pledged hundreds of millions
in aid for the catastrophic Jan 12 earthquake.
(AP, 2/17/10)(SFC, 2/18/10, p.A3)
2010 Feb 22, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy met with Total Chairman Thierry Desmarest for talks
about a labor strike that has shuttered over half of France's oil
refining capacity. Workers at all six of Total SA's French
refineries and at six of its 31 fuel depots have been on strike for
five days over the uncertain future of a plant in Dunkirk, in
northern France. Workers at France's fourth-largest refinery,
British-owned chemicals company INEOS, met to vote on whether they
too would join the widening strike.
(AP, 2/22/10)
2010 Feb 24, French oil giant
Total said it is to invest seven billion dollars (5.16 billion
euros) in Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production over the
next four to five years.
(AFP, 2/24/10)
2010 Feb 25, In Rwanda French
Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy visited with pres. Paul Kagame too cement
improved diplomatic relations following years of acrimony,
recriminations and diplomatic standoffs over events surrounding the
1994 genocide. He said France made serious errors of judgment over
the genocide, and those responsible for the killings should be found
and punished, including any who might be residing in France.
(Reuters, 2/25/10)(AP, 2/25/10)
2010 Feb 26, In France a strike
by air traffic controllers disrupted flight for a 4th day and some
Air France pilots walked off the job to protest cost cutting
measures.
(SFC, 2/27/10, p.A2)
2010 Feb 28, The leader of the
armed Basque group ETA was arrested in France, in another setback
for the separatists, who have seen five of their commanders taken
into custody in the last two years. Eta chief Ibon Gogeascoechea and
two other suspected separatists, Jose Ayestaran and Beinat
Aginagalde, were arrested in a joint French-Spanish police operation
in the village of Cahan, France.
(AP, 2/28/10)(Econ, 3/6/10, p.69)
2010 Feb 28, A violent late
winter storm named Xynthia battered France, Spain, Portugal and
Germany with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds. The storm
smashed sea walls and killed at least 62 people across western
Europe.
(AP, 2/28/10)(AP, 3/1/10)(SFC, 3/2/10, p.A2)
2010 Mar 1, France and Russia
pursued their burgeoning courtship with a formal state visit by
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Paris, which is angling to sell
Moscow a massive warship and secure stakes in pipelines pumping
Russian gas to western Europe.
(AP, 3/1/10)
2010 Mar 2, French authorities
arrested Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of the former Rwandan
president killed in a plane crash, on a Rwandan warrant issued on
genocide-related charges. She was soon freed on bail. The crash is
widely considered the event that sparked the east African country's
1994 genocide. In 2004 France rejected her request for political
asylum, alleging she was at the heart of the regime responsible for
the genocide.
(AP, 3/2/10)(Econ, 3/6/10, p.65)
2010 Mar 5, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy summoned bank leaders to his Elysee palace to order
them to boost lending to the economy and smaller companies.
(AP, 3/5/10)
2010 Mar 5, Swarms of Somali
pirates moved into the waters off East Africa, triggering four
shootouts with French and Spanish fishing vessels including a
skirmish with French military personnel that sunk a pirate skiff.
(AP, 3/5/10)
2010 Mar 14, France voted in
regional polls. French voters scarred by economic crisis dealt
President Nicolas Sarkozy and his conservative leadership a stern
blow by strongly favoring leftist candidates in regional elections.
(AFP, 3/14/10)(AP, 3/15/10)
2010 Mar 21 In France the
second-round regional poll left Pres. Sarkozy's right-wing UMP in
charge of only one of the mainland regions in the last ballot-box
test of his popularity before the 2012 presidential vote. The
Socialists won 54% of the vote.
(AFP, 3/22/10)(Econ, 3/27/10, p.18)
2010 Mar 24, Dozens of French
sex workers proclaiming themselves proud to be prostitutes marched
to protest a lawmaker's proposal to legalize brothels in France,
arguing that such a law would deny them the freedom to work on their
own.
(AP, 3/24/10)
2010 Mar 25, Former French PM
Dominique de Villepin announced the creation of a new center-right
party set to challenge bitter rival President Nicolas Sarkozy in
elections in two years' time.
(Reuters, 3/25/10)
2010 Apr 4, In France masked
men brandishing assault rifles burst into a crowded casino in Lyon,
fired shots at the ceiling and made off with about euro28,000
($37,800).
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 7, Auto giants
Renault, Nissan and Daimler launched a partnership to save billions
of euros and accelerate sales of low-pollution electric cars.
(AP, 4/7/10)
2010 Apr 9, France and Italy
agreed to cooperate more closely to increase nuclear power
generation and vowed to come to the aid of debt-laden Greece in
order to defend the euro.
(AP, 4/9/10)
2010 Apr 10, French explorer
Jean-Louis Etienne (63) made the first Arctic crossing by balloon,
landing in the tundra of eastern Siberia five days after taking off
in Norway.
(AP, 4/10/10)
2010 Apr 16, Renault announced
that it has pulled out of a joint venture with Indian car
manufacturer Mahindra and Mahindra, which produced its first car for
the growing South Asian market, the Logan.
(AFP, 4/16/10)
2010 Apr 22, Al-Qaida in North
Africa kidnapped Frenchman Michel Germaneau (78) in northern Niger.
On May 14 a militant Web site said it wanted to trade him for the
group's prisoners in France and other nations. A day before the
kidnapping, four Sahara Desert nations opened a joint military
headquarters in the Algerian city of Tamanrasset to combat terrorism
and trafficking. On July 25 al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said it
had killed the 78-year-old French hostage in retaliation for the
killing of six al-Qaida members in a recent raid by Mauritanian
forces aided by the French military.
(AP, 5/14/10)(AP, 7/25/10)
2010 Apr 26, Former Panamanian
dictator Manuel Noriega extradited was from the US to France to face
money laundering charges in a French courtroom, opening up a whole
new legal battle for the strongman who spent two decades behind bars
in Florida for drug trafficking.
(AP, 4/27/10)
2010 Apr 28, In Beijing France
and China said they would work together to consider an overhaul of
the global monetary system, at the start of a state visit by French
President Nicolas Sarkozy.
(AFP, 4/28/10)
2010 May 4, French lawmakers
decided to return 16 tattooed and mummified Maori heads to New
Zealand, ending years of debate on what to do with the human remains
acquired long ago by French museums seeking exotic curiosities.
(AP, 5/4/10)
2010 May 8, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that
Europe will set up an intervention mechanism to calm markets rattled
by the Greek debt crisis.
(AP, 5/8/10)
2010 May 9, A plume of volcanic
ash snaked its way through southern France, Switzerland, Italy and
Germany, shutting down airports and disrupting flights across
Europe.
(AP, 5/9/10)
2010 May 11, French lawmakers
unanimously passed a resolution, 434-0, asserting that face-covering
Muslim veils are contrary to the principles of liberty, equality and
fraternity.
(SFC, 5/12/10, p.A2)
2010 May 16, Clotilde Reiss
(24), a young French academic who battled spying charges in Iran for
more than 10 months, returned to France and thanked President
Nicolas Sarkozy and other officials for insisting on her innocence
and pressing for her release.
(AP, 5/16/10)
2010 May 17, France decided to
send home an Iranian agent it had jailed for murdering the Shah's
last prime minister, two days after Tehran freed a young French
academic accused of spying. Ali Vakili Rad was serving a life
sentence for stabbing Shapour Bakhtiar to death at his home outside
Paris in August 1991.
(AP, 5/17/10)
2010 May 19, The French
government decided to impose a $185 fine on women who wear a
full-face Islamic veil in public. The legislation was forwarded to
Parliament.
(SFC, 5/20/10, p.A2)
2010 May 20, In France a lone
thief stole five paintings valued at $123 million, including major
works by Picasso and Matisse, in an overnight heist from the Paris
Museum of Modern Art.
(AP, 5/20/10)(SFC, 5/21/10, p.A2)
2010 May 20, French police
arrested the leader of Basque separatist group ETA and his second in
command, calling it an important blow but not a death knell for the
violent organization.
(AP, 5/20/10)
2010 May 22, At the
Cannes film festival “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,"
a surreal tale of the afterlife with giant monkeys and an erotic
catfish scored gold for Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
(AFP, 5/23/10)
2010 May 26, In France Eugene
Rwamucyo, a Rwandan doctor accused of participation in the 1994
Tutsi genocide, was arrested. He was dismissed from his hospital
post in northern France last month, and was wanted by Kigali for
allegedly planning and carrying out atrocities in the Butare region
of southern Rwanda.
(AFP, 5/27/10)
2010 May 27, In France
thousands of workers staged strikes across the country to protest
government plans to raise the retirement age past 60, one of the
lowest in Europe.
(SFC, 5/28/10, p.A2)
2010 May 31, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy opened a France-Africa summit saying Africa will
fuel world economic growth for decades to come and must have a
stronger voice in global affairs. Guinea Bissau's Pres. Malam Bacai
Sanha, among the 38 African leaders attending the summit in Nice,
called for an international effort to help him fight drug
trafficking in his west African country.
(AP, 5/31/10)(AFP, 5/31/10)
2010 Jun 2, France's former top
anti-terrorism judge said the Turkish Islamic charity behind the
flotilla of aid ships that was raided by Israeli forces on its way
to Gaza had ties to terrorism networks, including a 1999 al-Qaida
plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.
(AP, 6/2/10)
2010 Jun 4, France's Interior
Minister Brice Hortefeux was convicted of making racist comments and
ordered to pay compensation in an controversy that prompted calls
for his resignation. He was also fined euro750 ($900) and ordered to
pay euro2,000 ($2,400) to an anti-racism group.
(AP, 6/4/10)
2010 Jun 8, In France Maurice
Dufresse, a former agent for the DGSE counterintelligence agency,
was detained for questioning. The Defense Ministry had filed a
complaint against Dufresse, who wrote his book "Twenty-Five Years in
the Secret Services" under the pen-name Pierre Siramy. Among other
things, the book describes how spies recruit sources and various
espionage affairs.
(AP, 6/10/10)
2010 Jun 8, France officially
opened up its online gaming market, granting 17 licenses to 11
operators three days before the start of the soccer World Cup in
South Africa. Online betting on horses, sport and poker was
legalized.
(AFP, 6/8/10)(Econ, 7/17/10, p.70)
2010 Jun 9, The US, Russia and
France dismissed a proposal by Iran to swap some of its enriched
uranium for reactor fuel hours before an expected UN Security
Council vote on new sanctions. The UN Security Council endorsed a
4th round of sanctions against Iran.
(AP, 6/9/10)(Econ, 6/2/10, p.15)
2010 Jun 12, French PM Francois
Fillon said France will slash state spending by 45 billion euros
(54.5 billion dollars) in the next 3 years to get its public deficit
back down to 3%.
(AFP, 6/12/10)
2010 Jun 12, A French fishing
vessel rescued Abby Sunderland (16), a California teenager from her
crippled sailboat in the turbulent southern Indian Ocean, bringing
relief to her family but ending her around-the-world sailing effort.
Sunderland had set out from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey on
Jan. 23, trying to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the
globe solo and nonstop.
(AP, 6/12/10)
2010 Jun 15, In southeastern
France at least 25 people were killed and another 12 missing after
flash floods hit the Var region, turning city streets into
meters-high (feet-high) brown rivers that swept away cars, trees and
parts of houses.
(AP, 6/16/10)(AP, 6/17/10)
2010 Jun 16, The French
government unveiled plans to raise the retirement age to 62 in a
sweeping overhaul of the pensions system that labor unions have
vowed to fight to the end.
(AFP, 6/16/10)
2010 Jun 19, Former French PM
Dominique de Villepin launched a new political movement to act as an
alternative to the policies of President Nicolas Sarkozy, his
longtime rival.
(AP, 6/20/10)
2010 Jun 22, Britain, France
and Germany committed to levying a fee on banks to shield taxpayers
from the cost of resolving financial crises and said they would ask
other countries to join them.
(AP, 6/22/10)
2010 Jun 24, In France workers
around the country went on strike to protest Pres. Sarkozy’s plans
to raise the retirement age by 2 years to 62. Unions stage nearly
200 marches in several cities over a broad reform of the
money-losing pension system.
(SFC, 6/25/10, p.A2)
2010 Jun 25, In southern France
Giuseppe Falsone, an Italian mobster and one of the country's top 30
most wanted fugitives, was arrested in Marseille.
(AP, 6/25/10)
2010 Jul 6, In France Pres.
Sarkozy came under mounting pressure over allegations that he took
illegal cash donations from Liliane Bettencourt, owner of the
L’Oreal cosmetics firm and the richest woman in France.
(SFC, 7/7/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 7, A French court
convicted Manuel Noriega of money-laundering and sentenced Panama's
former dictator to seven years in jail after he spent two decades in
a US prison.
(AFP, 7/7/10)
2010 Jul 8, In France exiled
Darfur rebel leader Abdelwahid Nur announced his decision to join
peace talks brokered by Qatar.
(AFP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 15, French oil firm
Total SA said it has signed a deal to acquire Chevron Corp.'s stake
in an offshore oil block near Nigeria's coastline.
(AP, 7/15/10)
2010 Jul 17, In France rioters
exchanged gunfire with police in Grenoble early in the day, setting
fire to shops and cars after police shot dead a man accused of
robbing a casino.
(AP, 7/17/10)
2010 Jul 20, Paris-based
International Energy Agency said China has overtaken the United
States as the world's largest energy consumer. The IE said China's
2009 consumption of energy sources ranging from oil and coal wind
and solar power was equal to 2.265 billion tons of oil, compared to
2.169 billion tons for the US.
(AP, 7/20/10)
2010 Jul 22, France and
Mauritania carried out a military operation against al Qaeda's North
African wing, believed to be holding Michel Germaneau, a 78-year-old
French hostage in the desert Sahel region.
(Reuters, 7/23/10)
2010 Jul 24, French-backed
Mauritanian military operations against al Qaeda fighters in the
Sahara desert wound up after four days of hunting Islamists deep
inside Mali.
(AP, 7/24/10)
2010 Jul 26, France said it is
upgrading its diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Territories
to try to spur international efforts toward creating a Palestinian
state.
(AP, 7/2610)
2010 Jul 26, French Defense
Minister Herve Morin visited Vietnam marking the first time a French
defense minister traveled to the country since Vietnam's 1954
surprise defeat at Dien Bien Phu. The next day Vietnam’s state media
reported that Morin has agreed to help Vietnam modernize its
military.
(AP, 7/27/10)
2010 Jul 27, French PM Francois
Fillon said France is "at war" with al-Qaida and will step up
efforts to fight its North African offshoot after it executed a
French hostage in the Sahara.
(AP, 7/27/10)
2010 Jul 28, French Pres.
Nicolas Sarkozy ordered authorities to expel Gypsy illegal
immigrants and to dismantle their camps.
(SFC, 7/29/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 28, In northern France
Dominique Cottrez (46) and her husband, Pierre-Marie Cottrez, were
detained after two corpses were discovered in plastic bags by new
owners in the garden of a house that had belonged to the woman's
father in the town of Villers-au-Tertre. Under questioning, the
woman admitted that there were six other corpses and told
investigators that they were in plastic bags in the garage of her
home where they were found.
(AP, 7/29/10)
2010 Jul 29, In Sierra Leone
'Papa Jacques,' Montouroy (63), French legendary aid worker, died of
complications from an ulcer. He spent 41 years as a humanitarian
worker for Catholic Relief Services and was known for delivering
food in parts of the world no one else dared enter.
(AP, 8/3/10)
2010 Aug 1, UNESCO added five
cultural sites to its World Heritage List, including the Imperial
Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi in Vietnam. The other new sites include
the historic monuments of Dengfeng in China, the archaeological site
Sarazm in Tajikistan, the Episcopal city of Albi in France and a
17th-century canal ring in Amsterdam.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 12, French Interior
Minister Brice Hortefeux said that over 40 illegal gypsy camps have
been dismantled around the country in the last two weeks and that
700 people among those in the camps will be returned to Bulgaria and
Romania.
(SFC, 8/13/10, p.A2)
2010 Aug 19, France deported
nearly 100 Gypsies, or Roma, to their native Romania as part of a
very public effort by conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy to
dismantle Roma camps and sweep them out of the country.
(AP, 8/19/10)
2010 Aug 20, France put about
100 Gypsies, or Roma, on a charter flight headed to their native
Romania, the second day in a row that it has expelled Roma in a much
criticized government crackdown.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 26, The archbishop of
Paris joined the tide of criticism over France's crackdown on
Gypsies, calling it a "circus," while the EU's justice commissioner
denounced French officials' discriminatory tone about the vulnerable
minority.
(AP, 8/26/10)
2010 Sep 3, Britain and France
announced they are talking about sharing the cost of military
aircraft programs, but rejected reports that they plan to merge
their aircraft carrier fleets.
(AFP, 9/3/10)
2010 Sep 4, In France Roma
migrants whose camp was bulldozed led a protest in Paris against the
French government's security crackdown, with similar demonstrations
taking place across the country and abroad.
(AFP, 9/4/10)
2010 Sep 7, Strikes hobbled
public transit in London and across France, forcing tourists and
commuters to alter their plans as they bore the brunt of a wave of
discontent over government cost-cutting measures, a wave expected to
soon prompt walkouts elsewhere on the continent. Some 1.2-2.7
million people in France took to the streets for the one-day strike.
(AP, 9/7/10)(Econ, 9/11/10, p.31)
2010 Sep 9, The European
Parliament called on France to suspend its expulsion of gypsies. The
rare criticism of an EU state was backed by 337 lawmakers meeting in
Strasbourg, France, with 245 opposed and 51 abstentions. To date
France had deported 8,000 people to Romania and Bulgaria this year
alone.
(AP, 9/9/10)(Econ, 9/18/10, p.73)
2010 Sep 12, French film
director Claude Chabrol (b.1930) died. His work included over 70
films and TV productions including “Les Biches” (Bad Girls - 1968)
and “Story of a Woman (1988).
(SFC, 9/13/10, p.C5)
2010 Sep 14, The European
Commission threatened legal action against France over its crackdown
on Roma minorities, drawing a parallel between their treatment and
World War II-era deportations.
(AFP, 9/14/10)
2010 Sep 15, France's National
Assembly passed President Nicolas Sarkozy's controversial pension
reform bill by 329 votes to 233 during a stormy session in the lower
house. The measure would raise the minimum pension age to 62 by
2018. Unions have vowed to stage mass protests when the law goes
before France's upper house, the Senate, on September 23.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, A French court
rejected Kigali's request to extradite Rwandan doctor Eugene
Rwamucyo, who is suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide,
sparking Rwanda's ire.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 16, In Niger armed
assailants kidnapped 7 people, including 5 French nuclear experts, a
person from Togo and a person from Madagascar, near the uranium
mining town of Arlit, in the northern Sahara desert region. 3 of the
hostages were released in February, 2011.
(AP, 9/17/10)(SFC, 9/22/10, p.A2)(SFC, 2/26/11,
p.A2)
2010 Sep 18, Frenchman Philippe
Croizon (42), whose arms and legs were amputated, swam about 21
miles across the English Channel in 13½ hours using leg
prostheses that have flippers attached.
(AP, 9/19/10)
2010 Sep 20, French defense
contractor Safran SA said it will pay $1.1 billion to buy Stamford,
Connecticut-based security firm L-1 Identity Solutions Inc., to
bolster its presence in the US homeland security market.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 22, A Thai national
and 3 French employees of marine services company Bourbon were
kidnapped overnight in an attack on one of its ships, the Bourbon
Alexandre, in an oil field off Nigeria. The hostages “in poor
health” were released on Nov 10.
(AP, 9/22/10)(AP, 11/10/10)(AFP, 11/12/10)
2010 Sep 23, French trade
unions staged their second 24-hour strike in a month against
President Nicolas Sarkozy's unpopular pension reform, seeking to
force him to scrap plans to raise the retirement age to 62 from 60.
(Reuters, 9/23/10)
2010 Sep 27, Indonesia and
France served as co-chairs of the Group of 20 Working Group on
Anti-corruption during a 2-day meeting in Jakarta. The WGAC was
among the most significant outcomes of the G20 summit in Toronto in
June 2010.
(www.deplu.go.id/Pages/PressRelease.aspx?IDP=1002&l=en)
2010 Sep 29, The European Union
decided to launch legal action against France over its expulsions of
Gypsies, or Roma, to poorer EU nations.
(AP, 9/29/10)
2010 Sep 29, Security sources
and media reports said Western intelligence agencies have uncovered
an Al-Qaeda plot to launch attacks in Britain, France and Germany by
extremists based in Pakistan.
(AFP, 9/29/10)
2010 Oct 2, French families,
students and private sector workers joined mass demonstrations
against the government's pension reforms, and unions hoped as many
as 3 million protesters would take to the streets.
(Reuters, 10/2/10)
2010 Oct 2, The Paris Motor
Show opened. Renault unveiled the Twizzy, its smallest 4-wheeled
electric vehicle.
(Econ, 10/2/10, p.87)
2010 Oct 4, France's
Sanofi-Aventis launched an $18.5 billion hostile takeover offer for
Genzyme Corp., stepping up its effort to capture the US biotech
company's promising drugs for high cholesterol and lucrative
treatments for rare genetic disorders.
(AP, 10/4/10)
2010 Oct 5, In France former
Societe Generale SA trader Jerome Kerviel was convicted on all
counts in one of history's biggest trading frauds. He was sentenced
to three years in jail, with 2 years suspended, and was ordered to
repay the bank euro4.9 billion ($6.7 billion) in damages.
(AP, 10/5/10)(Econ, 10/9/10, p.110)
2010 Oct 5, Police in southern
France arrested 12 suspects in sweeps against suspected Islamic
militant networks, including three men linked to a network
recruiting fighters for Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/5/10)
2010 Oct 8, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy met with the pope and top Vatican officials in a
fence-mending visit following France's controversial crackdown on
Gypsies, while a top Vatican cardinal urged France to welcome
immigrants and those who have been persecuted.
(AP, 10/8/10)
2010 Oct 8, The YM Uranus, a
chemicals tanker loaded with 6,000 tons of solvent, ran into trouble
after a collision off the coast of France but authorities said its
crew was rescued and its cargo did not seem to be leaking. The
120-meter-long YM Uranus had been in a collision with the 179,000
dead-weight ton bulk carrier Hanjin Rizhao.
(Reuters, 10/8/10)
2010 Oct 11, Callixte
Mbarushimana, a Rwandan leader of the FDLR rebel group, was arrested
in Paris on charges of leading rebels accused of mass rapes and
killings in Congo. The International Criminal Court said he is
charged with 11 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes,
including killings, rape, persecution based on gender and extensive
destruction of property committed by the FDLR during most of 2009.
(AP, 10/11/10)
2010 Oct 11, Al Arabiya TV said
Al Qaeda's north African arm wants a repeal of a ban on the Muslim
face veil in France, the release of militants and 7 million euros to
free hostages who include five French. Al Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM) is holding seven foreigners in the Sahara desert
after kidnapping them last month.
(Reuters, 10/11/10)
2010 Oct 12, In France hundreds
of thousands of workers, students and functionaries staged protests,
the 4th this month, aimed to reverse a new law requiring people to
work until 62 rather than 60 before receiving their retirement
pensions.
(SFC, 10/13/10, p.A2)
2010 Oct 15, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy sent in riot police to reopen fuel depots blocked by
strikes, as the pipeline to Paris airports was cut in an escalating
battle over pension reform.
(AFP, 10/15/10)
2010 Oct 16, In France diesel
and jet fuel supplies were running low in parts of the country as
workers took to the streets for another nationwide protest against
President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age to 62.
(AP, 10/16/10)
2010 Oct 18, French truck
drivers staged go-slow operations on highways, rail strikes
intensified and petrol stations ran out of fuel as protests gathered
pace ahead of a Senate vote on an unpopular pension overhaul.
(Reuters, 10/18/10)
2010 Oct 19, In France masked
youths clashed with police and set fires in cities across the
country as protests against a proposed hike in the retirement age
took an increasingly radical turn. Hundreds of flights were
canceled, long lines formed at gas stations and train service in
many regions was cut in half.
(AP, 10/19/10)
2010 Oct 19, The European
Commission said it will temporarily suspend its human rights
complaint against France for its expulsions of Gypsies, or Roma,
after Paris promised to alter some of its laws to match EU
regulations.
(AP, 10/19/10)
2010 Oct 19, European Union
finance ministers sealed a deal to regulate the trillion-dollar
hedge fund industry after Britain and France settled a long-running
conflict.
(AFP, 10/19/10)
2010 Oct 20, In France workers
opposed to a higher retirement age blocked roads to airports around
the country, leaving passengers in Paris dragging suitcases on foot
along an emergency breakdown lane. Pres. Sarkozy sent in police to
clear access to barricaded fuel depots and restore supply as trade
unions kept up their resistance to an unpopular pension reform due
for a final vote this week.
(Reuters, 10/20/10)(AP, 10/20/10)
2010 Oct 21, In France
protesters blockaded Marseille's airport, Lady Gaga canceled
concerts in Paris and rioting youths attacked police in Lyon ahead
of a tense Senate vote on raising the retirement age to 62.
(AP, 10/21/10)
2010 Oct 22, French riot police
forced a strategic refinery to reopen, aiming to halt growing fuel
shortages. The French Senate voted 177-153 to back the contested
retirement reform.
(AP, 10/22/10)(SFC, 10/23/10, p.A4)
2010 Oct 23, French unions took
their battle against extending retirement from 60 to 62 to the
courts, challenging orders to return to work the day after the
Senate backed the fiercely-contested reform.
(AFP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 24, A quarter of
French petrol stations were short on fuel as refinery strikes over
pension reform continued to drain supply, and one official said
several holiday spots were likely to be particularly hard-hit.
(Reuters, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 25, President Nicolas
Sarkozy's government warned that strikes against pension reform have
cost up to three billion euros and threaten to derail France's still
fragile economy recovery. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said
the strikes are costing the economy up to euro400 million ($562
million) each day.
(AFP, 10/25/10)(AP, 10/25/10)
2010 Oct 27, The French
Parliament passed Pres. Sarkozy’s pension bill raising the minimum
retirement age to 62 from 60, and the full-pension age to 67 from
65. Most French oil refineries were set to start outbound deliveries
of fuel as work stoppages ended at two plants, further easing a
strike movement that has led to pump shortages across France.
(Reuters, 10/27/10)(SFC, 10/28/10, p.A2)
2010 Oct 27, Al-Qaida leader
Osama bin Laden threatens in a new audio tape to kill French
citizens to avenge their country's support for the US-led war in
Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils.
(AP, 10/27/10)
2010 Oct 28, In France further
strikes disrupted rail and air transport, but the broader protest
over plans to raise the retirement age appeared to be waning a day
after parliament adopted pension reform legislation.
(AP, 10/28/10)
2010 Oct 28, A French
helicopter crashed in Antarctica during rough weather conditions
killing all 4 aboard. The downed AS350 Squirrel helicopter was
operated in Antarctica from the French research vessel, L'Astrolabe,
which was currently icebound about 230 miles (370 km) northeast of
the Dumont-d'Urville station.
(AP, 10/29/10)(AP, 10/30/10)
2010 Oct 29, French unions said
they have decided to end strikes at all oil refineries and several
major ports.
(SFC, 10/30/10, p.A4)
2010 Oct 31, A French airliner
landed at Baghdad International Airport, becoming one of the first
passenger planes to fly into the Iraqi capital direct from western
Europe since the Gulf War and opening a potential new route to
stronger international business ties.
(AP, 10/31/10)
2010 Nov 1, Police in Greece
arrested two terrorism suspects carrying letter bombs addressed to
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and western embassies in Athens.
The two Greek men, aged 22 and 24, were arrested in central Athens
after a parcel bomb addressed to the Mexican embassy in Athens
exploded at a mail delivery service.
(AP, 11/1/10)
2010 Nov 2, Britain and France
vowed to work hand-in-glove as their leaders ushered in an
unprecedented era of defense cooperation by agreeing to create a
joint force and share nuclear test facilities.
(AP, 11/2/10)
2010 Nov 3, A Paris appeals
court said Callixte Mbarushimana could be extradited to the court in
the Hague, Netherlands, but only on condition that he not be later
sent to Rwanda. Rwanda has the death penalty, which France opposes.
(AP, 11/3/10)
2010 Nov 4, China's President
Hu Jintao landed in Paris for a three-day state visit set to see the
signing of billions of dollars in deals for nuclear, aviation and
energy technology. The visit resulted in more than $20 billion-worth
of contracts, including an agreement by China to buy 66 more Airbus
jets.
(AFP, 11/4/10)(Econ, 11/13/10, p.51)
2010 Nov 5, In France
environmentalists handcuffed themselves in front of a train carrying
what activists claim is "the most radioactive ever" cargo of nuclear
waste. The shipment was returning German waste for storage after it
was treated in France by the Areva group.
(AFP, 11/6/10)(SFC, 11/6/10, p.A2)
2010 Nov 5, France and China
reached a "real convergence" over the need to reform the global
financial system after two days of talks between President Nicolas
Sarkozy and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. France told China
that balanced trade and close cooperation was the best way to shield
the world from future crises and the menace of protectionism, and
China promised its support for Paris as it takes over the G20
presidency this month.
(Reuters, 11/5/10)
2010 Nov 6, Tens of thousands
of French protesters took to the streets once more for what might
prove to be the last in their recent series of marches against
President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reform.
(AP, 11/6/10)
2010 Nov 6, A train carrying
what activists claim is "the most radioactive ever" cargo of nuclear
waste ran the gauntlet of hundreds of protesters as it crossed the
Rhine from France to Germany. The shipment was returning German
waste for storage after it was treated in France by the Areva group.
(AFP, 11/6/10)
2010 Nov 9, France's
constitutional watchdog ruled that the bill raising the minimum
retirement age to 62 is perfectly legal, marking a political victory
for Pres. Sarkozy.
(AP, 11/9/10)
2010 Nov 9, French detained 5
people (ages 25-30) suspected of a role in a network that allegedly
sends French citizens to the tribal zone bordering Pakistan and
Afghanistan to train for war. 2 of the five were detained at Charles
de Gaulle airport, north of Paris, on their return from Egypt on Nov
8. Three others were picked up in Paris today. A woman was soon
released. On Nov 13 four men were charged with "criminal association
linked to a terrorist enterprise."
(AP, 11/9/10)(AP, 11/13/10)
2010 Nov 9, France's highest
court authorized a probe into the assets of three African heads of
state, after two rights groups' alleged that the leaders laundered
money through French villas, cars and bank accounts. The probe will
target Gabon's late leader Omar Bongo, the Republic of Congo's
President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and President Teodoro Obiang of
Equatorial Guinea.
(AP, 11/9/10)
2010 Nov 14, In France an early
morning fire in a building housing immigrant workers in Dijon killed
seven people, including two who jumped from the windows to try to
escape. Some 90 other people were injured, of whom 11 are in
life-threatening condition.
(AP, 11/14/10)
2010 Nov 16, The UN Education,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized everything
from the growing of corn, beans and chilies to Mexican dishes
prepared with grinding stones and mortars as an ancient process
worth safeguarding in the face of encroaching global influences.
France's multi-course gastronomic meal, Flamenco in Spain and
carpet-weaving in Azerbaijan also made the list.
(AP, 11/17/10)
2010 Nov 19, French Pres.
Sarkozy, infuriated by reports linking him to an investigation into
possible kickbacks to French politicians in the 1990s, lashed out
“off the record” at a journalist in Lisbon and said he could just as
easily accuse him of being a pedophile.
(AP, 11/23/10)
2010 Nov 27, In France
delegates at an Atlantic conservation conference in Paris took
measures to protect sea turtles and several types of sharks. ICCAT
members agreed to reduce the allowable Mediterranean and eastern
Atlantic bluefin tuna catch to 12,900 tons from 13,500 tons. The
allowable western Atlantic catch was reduced to 1,750 tons from
1,800, a level that American and Canadian fisherman already had been
unable to meet due to stock decline.
(AP, 11/27/10)(SSFC, 11/28/10, p.A10)
2010 Nov 28, Nuri al-Mismari, a
top aide of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was arrested in Paris
after a request from Tripoli, which said he was suspected of
embezzlement. France gave Libya 30 days to submit evidence backing
its accusations. Supporters of al-Mismari later said he was a victim
of a power struggle inside the ruling elite.
(Reuters, 12/2/10)
2010 Nov 29, The French daily
Liberation reported that Pierre Le Guennec (71), a retired French
electrician, and his wife have come forward with 271 undocumented,
never-before-seen works by Pablo Picasso estimated to be worth at
least $79.35 million. Police on Oct. 5 raided the couple's home,
questioned them and hauled off the works, which are now held by
France's official agency in charge of battling the illegal traffic
of cultural items.
(AP, 11/29/10)
2010 Dec 6, India and France
signed a multibillion agreement to build two nuclear power plants in
India as French President Nicolas Sarkozy worked to drum up business
for his nation during his four-day visit.
(AP, 12/6/10)
2010 Dec 7, An expert report
submitted to the French foreign ministry said respected French
epidemiologist Professor Renaud Piarroux conducted a study in Haiti
last month and concluded the epidemic began with an imported strain
of the disease that could be traced back to the Nepalese base.
(AFP, 12/7/10)
2010 Dec 8, A French court put
14 former Chilean officials on trial in absentia over the 1973-1975
disappearance of four French citizens under the regime of Chilean
dictator Augusto Pinochet.
(AP, 12/8/10)
2010 Dec 8, In France heavy
snowfall forced the closure of Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport and
shut down the Paris bus system.
(AP, 12/8/10)
2010 Dec 10, A German battalion
in a French-German military brigade officially took up arms at a
ceremony in eastern France attended by the two countries' defense
ministers. This was the first time since World War II that German
combat troops were stationed in France, part of a conscious effort
to show the two EU powers have forever buried former hatreds.
(AP, 12/10/10)
2010 Dec 16, Lawyers said a
French judge has filed preliminary charges against six people close
to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda over the 1994 assassination of
the country's then-president in a missile attack on his plane. Among
the six people in question are ranking Rwandan army officers,
including James Kabarebe, who has been Rwanda's defense minister
since April, Charles Kayonga and Jackson Nkurunziza. The remaining
three were identified as Jacob Tumwine, Sam Kaka and Franck Nziza.
(AP, 12/16/10)
2010 Dec 17, A French court
convicted 13 former officials who served under Chilean dictator
Augusto Pinochet for roles in the disappearance of 4 French
nationals. It sentenced two to life in prison: Juan Manuel Contreras
Sepulveda, who at the time headed Pinochet's political police, and
Octavio Espinoza Bravo, an army colonel. All 14 of the defendants
were tried in absentia.
(AP, 12/17/10)
2010 Dec 21, A French judge
charged exiled Rwandan Hutu rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana (47)
over his alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The former
"executive secretary" of the Hutu guerrilla FDLR, who had been
living in France as a computer technician, was charged with crimes
against humanity.
(AFP, 12/22/10)
2010 Dec 22, In France 113
children arrived from Haiti to start new lives with adoptive parents
in time for the holidays.
(AP, 12/22/10)
2010 Dec 24, Russia announced a
deal to buy at least two of France’s advanced Mistral-class
amphibious warships. This was the first time in modern history that
Russia has made a major defense acquisition abroad.
(SFC, 12/25/10, p.A2)
2010 Stephane Hessel (93), a
former French Resistance spy, authored “Indignez-Vous” (Get
Indignant), a 32-page pamphlet calling people to action to protect
human rights and combat against the yawning gap between rich and
poor.
(www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/05-8)(SFC,
1/7/11, p.A5)
2010 The French public health
system had a $16 billion (€12 billion) shortfall.
(Econ, 2/12/11, p.58)
2011 Jan 5, French automaker
Renault suspended three top managers suspected of leaking secrets
about electric cars, the auto industry's big hope for the future.
Renault and the French secret service suspected Chinese involvement
in the affair. In March the firm apologized to the managers after it
emerged police found no trace of bank accounts the accused men were
alleged to have held and that the source of the spying allegations
may have been a fraudster.
(AFP, 1/7/11)(AFP, 4/11/11)
2011 Jan 7, In Niger two French
citizens were kidnapped by four armed men while dining at a
restaurant in the capital, Niamey.
(www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/09/french-hostages-killed-niger)
2011 Jan 8, France’s Pres.
Sarkozy said 2 French hostages, kidnapped a day earlier in the Niger
capital Niamey, were killed by their captors despite a rescue
attempt by French forces.
(SSFC, 1/9/11, p.A5)
2011 Jan 11, Police in Spain
and France arrested two suspected members of ETA, suggesting the
government in Madrid will keep up pressure on the violent Basque
separatist group despite the latter's declaration of a permanent
cease-fire.
(AP, 1/11/11)
2011 Jan 13, France's
parliament gave final approval to a law forcing large companies to
reserve at least 40 percent of their boardroom positions for women
within six years.
(Econ, 7/23/11, p.11)(http://tinyurl.com/447vuoy)
2011 Jan 16, France's far-right
National Front party elected the daughter of its founder, Jean-Marie
Le Pen, as its new leader, who says she wants to broaden the appeal
of a party known best for its anti-immigration, anti-Islam platform.
(AP, 1/16/11)
2011 Jan 19, In western France
Laetitia Perrais, an 18-year-old waitress, disappeared after her
restaurant shift in Pornic. Officials later filed preliminary
charges against suspect Tony Meilhon (31), recently out of prison
with 15 convictions on his record, for the "kidnapping followed by
death." On Feb 3 Pres. Sarkozy said: "Our duty is to protect society
from these monsters." The president's incautious comments about the
suspect, and his complaints of incompetence in the legal system,
sparked a revolt among judges, prosecutors and lawyers.
(AP, 2/10/11)
2011 Jan 21, Osama bin Laden
demanded that France withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in
exchange for the release of French hostages being held by al-Qaida
affiliates, according to an audio message broadcast on an Arabic
news channel.
(AP, 1/21/11)
2011 Jan 21, Dozens of
Palestinians, enraged by France's sympathy for an Israeli soldier
held by Gaza militants, ambushed the French foreign minister's
motorcade in the Gaza Strip, pelting it with eggs and hurling a shoe
that narrowly missed hitting her.
(AP, 1/21/11)
2011 Jan 28, France's top
constitutional watchdog ruled that law prohibiting gay marriage does
not violate the constitution, all but challenging parliament to
debate overturning the ban.
(AP, 1/28/11)
2011 Feb 7, France-based
Alcatel-Lucent unveiled technology that reduces the filing cabinet
size of a wireless base station to that of Rubik’s cube.
(Econ, 2/12/11, p.70)
2011 Feb 10, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy declared that multiculturalism had failed, joining a
growing number of world leaders or ex-leaders who have condemned it.
(AFP, 2/11/11)
2011 Feb 10, French judges
demonstrated in cities throughout France, with the main march in the
western city of Nantes, where a teenage waitress disappeared on Jan
19. A police hunt found her severed limbs and head in the waters of
an abandoned quarry. Pres. Sarkozy’s incautious comments about the
suspect, and his complaints of incompetence in the legal system,
sparked the revolt among judges, prosecutors and lawyers.
(AP, 2/10/11)
2011 Feb 11, Diplomatic
relations between France and Mexico deteriorated into a crisis,
after a Mexican court upheld a 60-year prison term for Florence
Cassez (36), a French woman convicted of kidnapping.
(AFP, 2/12/11)
2011 Feb 14, France called on
Algeria to allow anti-government protests, inspired by uprisings in
Egypt and Tunisia, to take place freely and without violence.
(AFP, 2/14/11)
2011 Feb 15, Venezuelan and
French authorities seized 3.6 metric tons of cocaine aboard a vessel
in the Caribbean Sea.
(AP, 2/16/11)
2011 Feb 16, France-based
Sanofi-Aventis agreed to buy Massachusetts-based Genzyme Corp., the
world’s largest maker of medicines for rare genetic disorders, for
at least 20.1 billion.
(SFC, 2/17/11, p.D2)
2011 Feb 22, A French creator
of specialized search engines filed a new complaint with the
European Union about alleged anticompetitive behavior by Google Inc.
(AP, 2/22/11)
2011 Feb 23, France and Germany
threatened to hit Libya with EU sanctions for Moammar Gadhafi's
fierce crackdown on protesters, while the European Union said the
violence in Libya could constitute "crimes against humanity" and
urged an independent probe into it.
(AP, 2/23/11)
2011 Feb 25, The French film
industry awarded the coveted Cesar award for best movie to "Of Gods
and Men" ("Des Hommes et des Dieux") by Xavier Beauvois, a masterful
drama based on the real-life tragedy of seven French monks abducted
and beheaded during Algeria's civil war in 1996. Director Roman
Polanski won Best Director for "The Ghost Writer," and "The Social
Network" won Best Foreign Film.
(AP, 2/25/11)
2011 Feb 27, French Pres.
Sarkozy selected Defense Minister Alain Juppe to replace foreign
minister Michele Alliot-Marie. Gerard Longuet, head of the
conservative party in the Senate, will take over the defense
portfolio.
(SFC, 2/28/11, p.A2)
2011 Feb 28, Libyan rebels
downed a military aircraft as they fought a government bid to take
back Libya's third city, Misrata. French PM Francois Fillon said
that France was sending two planes with humanitarian aid to
Benghazi, the opposition stronghold in eastern Libya. Libya's oil
chief said production was down 50 percent because of the exodus of
foreign oil workers fleeing the country's violent uprising. Al
Jazeera reported that the beleaguered Kadhafi regime has asked Bu
Zaid Dorda, Libya's foreign intelligence chief, to hold a dialogue
with opposition leaders in eastern Libya.
(Reuters, 2/28/11)(AP, 2/28/11)(AFP, 2/28/11)
2011 Mar 1, French fashion
house Christian Dior said John Galliano has been immediately laid
off, just days after he was suspended as its creative director
pending an investigation into an alleged anti-Semitic incident in a
Paris cafe last week.
(AP, 3/1/11)
2011 Mar 3, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and his indebted government said they are abandoning
a tax ceiling for big earners, once hailed as key to modernizing
France and luring investors.
(AP, 3/3/11)
2011 Mar 7, A long-awaited
French corruption trial opened with former President Jacques Chirac
(78) as the star defendant. Chirac was accused of embezzlement,
breach of trust and conflict of interest, based on allegations
linked to his tenure as Paris mayor, before he became president from
1995 to 2007.
(AP, 3/7/11)
2011 Mar 7, French fashion
colossus LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced that it has
agreed to buy Rome-based jeweler Bulgari SpA in a cash-and-shares
deal worth euro4.3 billion ($6 billion).
(AP, 3/7/11)
2011 Mar 10, France blazed a
diplomatic trail as it recognized a newly formed Libyan opposition
group, drawing the ire of other European nations for stepping out on
its own even as the situation in Libya remained unclear.
(AP, 3/10/11)
2011 Mar 10, In France the
suspected leader of the Basque separatist group ETA's armed cells
and three other alleged members of the organization were arrested in
Willencourt in northern Pas-de-Calais region. They included
Alejandro Zobaran Arriola (29), who an Interior Ministry statement
described as the head of ETA's "military apparatus." Another was the
alleged logistics chief, Mikel Oroz Torrea (31).
(AP, 3/11/11)
2011 Mar 18, The European Court
of Human Rights in Strasbourg France, ruled that crucifixes in
public schools do not violate a student’s freedom of conscience.
(SFC, 3/19/11, p.A2)
2011 Mar 19, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy said that French warplanes are already targeting
Gadhafi's forces. 22 participants at a summit in Paris "agreed to
put in place all the means necessary, in particular military" to
make Gadhafi respect a March 17 UN Security Council resolution to
protect civilian areas. Libyan government tanks and troops reached
the edges of Benghazi in fierce fighting that killed more than 120.
Gibreil Hewadi, a member of the rebel health committee, said the
dead included rebel fighters and civilians, among them women and
children.
(AP, 3/19/11)(AP, 3/20/11)
2011 Mar 21, A top French
official said the international military intervention in Libya is
likely to last "awhile," echoing Moammar Gadhafi's warning of a long
war ahead as rebels said they were fighting to reclaim Ajdabiya. New
fighting broke out in Misrata, the last rebel-held city in western
Libya.
(AP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 21, France's data
privacy regulator said it had imposed a record fine of 100,000 euros
($142,000) on Google for private information collected while
compiling its panoramic Street View service.
(AFP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 22, France's foreign
ministry said that NATO would provide support to military
intervention by the Western-led coalition in Libya when the US
scales back its participation.
(Reuters, 3/22/11)
2011 Mar 24, French airstrikes
hit an air base deep inside Libya and NATO ships patrolled the coast
to block arms and mercenaries from flowing in to help Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi. Other coalition bombers struck artillery, tanks and
parked helicopters.
(AP, 3/24/11)
2011 Mar 26, In Switzerland 1
person was missing after an avalanche swept away 11 French skiers
near the southern border with Italy. 4 people were killed.
(AP, 3/26/11)
2011 Mar 31, In China French
President Nicolas Sarkozy and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
called for more flexible exchange rate regimes as G20 nations met on
global monetary reform in Nanjing.
(AFP, 3/31/11)
2011 Apr 3, The French air
accident investigation agency BEA said that a team aboard the
expedition ship Alucia using underwater robots "has located pieces
of an aircraft ... in the past 24 hours." Air France Flight 447
slammed into the ocean June 1, 2009, after running into an intense
high-altitude thunderstorm.
(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 4, In Ivory Coast UN
and French forces opened fire with attack helicopters on the home of
incumbent Pres. Laurent Gbagbo and 3 strategic military garrisons as
foot soldiers backing Alassane Ouattara pierced the limits of
Abidjan.
(SFC, 4/5/11, p.A4)
2011 Apr 6, France’s top court
refused to allow citizenship for 10-year-old twin girls born to a
surrogate mother in California, affirming France’s legal ban on
surrogacy.
(SFC, 4/7/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 7, Forces allied with
Ivory Coast's internationally recognized president Alassane Ouattara
have stormed the gates of Laurent Gbagbo's home. French forces
wearing night vision goggles rappelled from a helicopter to rescue
the Japanese ambassador and 7 others, as strongman leader Laurent
Gbagbo remained in an underground bunker amid the fighting.
(AP, 4/7/11)
2011 Apr 8, France and Italy
announced an agreement to joint sea-and-air patrols to try to block
new Tunisian migrants from sailing to European shores.
(AP, 4/8/11)
2011 Apr 10, Police in central
France arrested a man and a woman allegedly linked to the Basque
separatist group ETA following a pair of weekend shooting incidents
against officers that injured at least one.
(AP, 4/10/11)
2011 Apr 10, In the Ivory Coast
UN and French helicopters fired rockets on strongman Laurent
Gbagbo's residence in an assault the UN said was to retaliate for
attacks by his forces on UN headquarters and civilians.
(Reuters, 4/10/11)
2011 Apr 11, In France a law
went into effect banning women from wearing full-face veils in
public places. Several women appeared veiled in front of Paris'
Notre Dame Cathedral and two were detained for taking part in an
unauthorized protest. The $214 burqa fine also included mandatory
lessons on being French.
(SFC, 4/9/11, p.A2)(AP, 4/11/11)
2011 Apr 14, A top French
security official said two French citizens have been arrested in
Pakistan, where authorities have linked them to a top suspected
al-Qaida militant over the 2002 nightclub bombing in Bali.
(AP, 4/14/11)
2011 Apr 17, A train carrying
Tunisian immigrants from Italy was halted at the French border in an
escalation of an international dispute over the fate of North
African migrants fleeing political unrest for refuge in Europe,
unprecedented since the introduction of the Schengen travel-free
zone.
(AP, 4/17/11)
2011 Apr 21, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy hosted Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in Paris as
Europe reflects more and more openly on the prospect of recognizing
an independent Palestine.
(AFP, 4/21/11)
2011 Apr 22, French police
began exhuming five bodies from a freshly dug grave at a house in
the northwestern city of Nantes. They are believed to be those of
Agnes Dupont de Ligonnes (49), and her four children, aged 13-21.
The family went missing almost three weeks ago. The father, Xavier
Dupont de Ligonnes, remained unaccounted for.
(AP, 4/22/11)
2011 Apr 26, French dairy giant
Lactalis offered $5 billion (€3.4 billion) for Parmalat, Italy’s
biggest manufacturer of milk products.
(Econ, 5/7/11, p.70)
2011 Apr 28, France based Total
SA announced plans to buy a 60% stake in SunPower Corp. of San Jose,
Ca.
(SFC, 4/29/11, p.D1)
2011 May 1, A French submarine
probing 3,900 meters (12,800 feet) below the ocean's surface located
and recovered the flight data recorder of Air France Flight 447,
which crashed June 1, 2009, in a remote area of the mid-Atlantic.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 3, French
investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder from an Air
France Flight 447 that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1,
2009, killing all 228 people on board.
(AP, 5/3/11)
2011 May 6, France ordered 14
diplomats loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to leave the
country within 48 hours.
(AP, 5/6/11)
2011 May 11, Three top French
publishers said they were suing US Internet giant Google for
scanning thousands of their books for its online library without
permission.
(AP, 5/11/11)
2011 May 11, The sculpture
"Leviathan" was unveiled at Paris's Grand Palais by Mumbai-born
British sculptor Anish Kapoor. It created an experience of being
swallowed by a whale.
(Reuters, 5/10/11)
2011 May 11, France canceled
all of Togo's debt, amounting to 101.1 million euros, in a bid to
encourage the West African nation to pursue economic reforms.
(AFP, 5/12/11)
2011 May 11, The French
government imposed a moratorium on fracking, the blasting of
fissures in subterranean rock and pumping in water and sand to
extract shale gas.
(Econ, 6/25/11, p.79)
2011 May 14, Dominique
Strauss-Kahn (62), the leader of the International Monetary Fund and
a possible candidate for president of France, was yanked from an
airplane moments before it was to depart for Paris and arrested in
the alleged sexual assault of Nafissatou Diallo, a NYC hotel maid.
The immigrant maid from Guinea identified him in a line-up. On Aug 8
Diallo sued Strauss-Kahn for sexual assault.
(AP, 5/15/11)(Econ, 5/21/11, p.25)(SFC, 8/9/11,
p.A5)
2011 May 22, The Cannes Film
Festival awarded its top prize to the drama “Tree of Life” by
Terence Malick. Kirsten Dunst too the best actress prize for
“Melancholia.” Jean Dujardin claimed the best actor prize for the
silent film “The Artist.”
(SFC, 5/23/11, p.E2)
2011 May 23, A French
diplomatic source said France and other members of a NATO-led
coalition plan to deploy attack helicopters in Libya, a move aimed
at ramping up pressure against Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
(Reuters, 5/23/11)
2011 May 24, In France the
world's most powerful Internet and media barons gathered in Paris in
a show of strength to leaders at the G8 summit, amid rows over
online copyright, regulation and human rights.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, The Libyan rebel
council fighting to oust Muammar Gaddafi said it will open an office
in Paris but a representative has not yet been named. Top US
official Jeffrey Feltman said Libya's rebels have accepted an
invitation to open a representative office in Washington as he
renewed a US call for Moamer Kadhafi to step down immediately.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 26, In France G8
leaders met to discuss military operations in Libya, implications of
the Arab Spring, and financial support for the recently toppled
autocracies of Egypt and Tunisia.
(SFC, 5/27/11, p.A2)
2011 May 27, Pres. Obama and
other G8 leaders wrapped up a 2-day summit in France and announced
plans for a $40 billion in aid to support democracy in Egypt,
Tunisia and the rest of North Africa.
(SFC, 5/28/11, p.A3)
2011 May 27, Japan's PM Naoto
Kan used a G8 summit in France to reassure Tokyo's most powerful
allies that his country would learn the lessons of its nuclear
disaster and recover fully.
(AP, 5/27/11)
2011 May 28, Yemen's government
and armed tribesmen seeking President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ouster
agreed to a temporary cease-fire to allow for negotiations after
five days of clashes that killed at least 124 people. The truce was
to expire in the evening. Three French aid workers, two women and
one man, were abducted while working for the Triangle Generation
Humanitaire. Men linked to an al-Qaida offshoot demanded $12 million
in ransom. The 3 aid workers were freed on Nov 13 after Oman and
Yemeni tribesmen negotiated their release.
(AP, 5/28/11)(AP, 7/27/11)(AP, 11/14/11)
2011 Jun
5, In France, the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSL)
announced that radio and TV stations would no longer be allowed to
promote or recommend their Facebook pages and Twitter feeds on air,
unless such sites are part of a news story. The decision,
which was first issued quietly on May 27, has now attracted
international media outrage thanks to the French bloggers who began
writing about it yesterday.
(AP, 6/6/11)
2011 Jun 16, In France a 7th
child was hospitalized with an E. coli infection after eating meat
that manufacturers said could come from Germany, where an outbreak
of the bacteria has killed 37 people.
(AFP, 6/16/11)
2011 Jun 22, In France European
plane maker Airbus won a slew of orders for its A320 medium-haul
workhorse, including a record deal for 180 from Indian budget
carrier IndiGo at a rainy Paris Air Show.
(AFP, 6/22/11)
2011 Jun 23, France said it
will pull its 4,000 troops out of Afghanistan on the same staggered
timetable as the US withdrawal, helping pave the way for drawdowns
by other allies.
(AP, 6/23/11)
2011 Jun 23, The Paris-based
International Energy Agency (IEA) said 28 countries have agreed to
release 60 million barrels of crude to the market to offset
disruptions prompted by Libya's war. The countries will make 2
million barrels a day available from their emergency stocks over a
period of 30 days.
(AP, 6/23/11)
2011 Jun 24, French junior
transport minister Thierry Mariani said French engineering group
Alstom is in exclusive talks to build a high-speed rail line between
Baghdad and Basra in Iraq.
(AFP, 6/24/11)
2011 Jun 25, In Paris tens of
thousands turned out for a gay pride parade. In Germany thousands
packed downtown Berlin for the 33rd annual CSD (Christopher Street
Day) festival, an annual European LGBT celebration and demonstration
held in various cities across Europe for the rights of LGBT people.
(SSFC, 6/26/11, p.A10)
2011 Jun 25, Thailand announced
its withdrawal from the UN's World Heritage Convention, at a meeting
of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Paris. Thailand said it
was withdrawing because the committee's consideration of Cambodia's
plan for managing the Preah Vihear temple site could threaten Thai
sovereignty and territory.
(AP, 6/26/11)
2011 Jun 26, An English climber
found the bodies of six mountaineers in the French Alps who appeared
to have died after a fall caused by an avalanche of snow and stones.
(AFP, 6/26/11)
2011 Jun 27, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy said French banks are ready to help troubled Greece
by accepting a significant debt rollover, a move that could push
other banks to pitch in to the Europe-wide effort to keep Athens
from defaulting.
(AP, 6/27/11)
2011 Jun 28, French finance
chief Christine Lagarde (55) was named as the first female head of
the Int’l. Monetary Fund (IMF).
(SFC, 6/28/11, p.D4)
2011 Jun 29, France-3
television said that their reporters Stephane Taponier and Herve
Ghesquiere, held hostage in Afghanistan since December 2009, have
been freed.
(AP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jun 29, French daily Le
Figaro reported that France has begun parachuting arms shipments to
Berber rebels fighting Kadhafi's forces in the highlands south of
Tripoli.
(AFP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jul 1, In NYC former IMF
chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn (62) was released without bail after a
dramatic court hearing where the sexual assault case against him
appeared to shift in his favor. Prosecutors said the credibility of
the woman at the center of the case had been thrown into question.
(Reuters, 7/1/11)
2011 Jul 5, French author
Tristane Banon (31) filed charges of attempted rape against former
IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The incident took place in 2003.
She had first recounted the incident on a 2007 TV show. The charges
were dismissed on Oct 13 due to a 3-year statute of limitations.
(SFC, 7/6/11, p.A5)(SFC, 10/14/11, p.A2)
2011 Jul 6, French police
arrested ETA suspect Daniel Derguy on terrorism charges in Cahors.
(AFP, 7/7/11)
2011 Jul 8, French police
investigated a train robbery on the outskirts of Marseille in which
a group of youths held up a passenger train and robbed a freight
train following behind.
(SFC, 7/9/11, p.A2)
2011 Jul 11, Air Algerie cabin
crew went on strike. They wanted a 106-percent pay rise and left
thousands of angry travelers stranded in Paris, Marseille and Nice
airports.
(AFP, 7/13/11)
2011 Jul 12, President Nicolas
Sarkozy said that France would withdraw a quarter of its 4,000
troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year.
(AFP, 7/12/11)
2011 Jul 13, In Afghanistan 5
French soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing in the northeastern
province of Kapisa. A NATO soldier in the south was killed in an
insurgent attack.
(AFP, 7/13/11)
2011 Jul 14, In France
thousands of angry travelers were still stranded in airports and in
Algiers as a strike by Air Algerie cabin crew, who want a 106% pay
rise, went into its 4th day. Air Algerie staff ended their four-day
strike after mediation by the office of PM Ahmed Ouyahia.
(AFP, 7/14/11)
2011 Jul 14, Switzerland
suspended imports of some seeds, beans and sprouts from Egypt, after
the EU blamed Egyptian fenugreek seeds for E.coli outbreaks in
Germany and France. The temporary ban would expire in October 31,
2011, in line with the EU's suspension.
(AFP, 7/14/11)
2011 Jul 24, Cadel Evans won
the Tour de France, becoming the first Australian to capture
cycling's most prestigious title.
(AP, 7/24/11)
2011 Aug 2, French authorities
agreed to extradite Manuel Noriega back to Panama.
(SFC, 8/3/11, p.A2)
2011 Aug 6, France's Overseas
Ministry said four people have been killed and another 23 injured in
a conflict over an increase in airline ticket prices on Mare, an
island in the South Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia.
(AP, 8/6/11)
2011 Aug 6, Roman Opalka
(b.1931), French-born Polish painter, died in France. In 1965 in his
studio in Warsaw, Opalka began painting a process of counting – from
one to infinity.
(Econ, 8/20/11,
p.79)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Opa%C5%82ka)
2011 Aug 16, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel called for
greater economic and political unity among the 17 nations that share
the euro.
(AP, 8/17/11)
2011 Aug 25, Libyan rebels
battled forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi on the streets of
Tripoli. European officials confirmed that small numbers of
British, French and other special forces have been working inside
Libya in recent months.
(AP, 8/25/11)
2011 Aug, Belgium, France,
Italy and Spain introduced bans to prevent the short selling of
financial stocks. The EU banned naked shorting of shares in October,
effective in Nov, 2012.
(Econ, 10/22/11, p.88)
2011 Sep 8, British fashion
icon John Galliano (50) was convicted of anti-Semitism for hurling
abuse at bar patrons in Paris' Jewish quarter in a career-breaking
outburst he has blamed on drink and drugs. In the French trial in
July Galliano apologized for his conduct. He received suspended
fines totaling 6,000-euro (£5,200, $8,400).
(AFP, 9/8/11)
2011 Sep 12, In southern France
the Centraco nuclear waste site had an explosion that killed one
person, seriously burned another and slightly injured three others.
Centraco is located on the 300-hectare Marcoule site, which also
houses a research center and four industrial sites, including one
that makes Mox, a fuel made from plutonium and uranium.
(AP, 9/12/11)
2011 Sep 14, In France
Dominique de Villepin, former chief of staff for former Pres.
Jacques Chirac, was acquitted on appeal in the “Clearstream” trial
(see July 2004).
(Econ, 9/17/11, p.50)
2011 Sep 15, British PM David
Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave Libya's new rulers
strong support during a landmark visit to Tripoli, vowing to release
billions of dollars more in frozen assets and to push ahead with
NATO strikes against Gadhafi's last strongholds. 11 fighters were
killed and 34 wounded in a first assault on Sirte launched before
sunset.
(AP, 9/15/11)(AFP, 9/16/11)
2011 Sep 21, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy called on the United Nations to admit Palestine as a
non-member state, upgrading its status as a simple observer but
opposing a Palestinian bid for full membership.
(AFP, 9/21/11)
2011 Sep 23, French oil giant
Total said it had restarted production from an offshore oil platform
off Libya, making it the first major to return to work since the
fall of Kadhafi.
(AFP, 9/26/11)
2011 Sep 28, In France a fire
in an abandoned building, set for demolition in the city-owned
building in the Paris suburb of Pantin, killed six suspected illegal
immigrants.
(AP, 9/28/11)
2011 Sep 29, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Morocco to kick off work on Africa's
fastest rail line, in a bid to highlight France's role in the
project.
(AFP, 9/29/11)
2011 Oct 1, The French press
called Aga Kahn’s divorce settlement the most expensive in French
history. A court has ordered Kahn, a billionaire and spiritual
leader to 20 million Muslims, to pay $80 million to Gabriele
Thyssen. He married the German princess in 1998.
(SSFC, 10/2/11, p.A4)
2011 Oct 6, The European Court
of Human Rights ruled that France did not violate George Soros'
rights when convicting him of insider trading, defeating a
years-long effort by the billionaire financier to clear his name. He
was fined euro2.2 million in 2002, for purchasing shares in French
bank Societe Generale in 1988, days after being informed about a
planned takeover bid for the bank.
(AP, 10/6/11)
2011 Oct 9, The governments of
Belgium, France and Luxembourg said they had approved a plan for the
future of embattled bank Dexia, but they offered no details. France
and Belgium became part owners of the bank during a euro6 billion
($7.8 billion) 2008 bailout. They have promised to ensure that no
Dexia depositors lose money. Luxembourg holds a smaller stake.
(AP, 10/9/11)
2011 Oct 12, An Indian-French
satellite that will study monsoon patterns and global warming was
launched from a space center in southern India. Three other smaller
satellites were also released from the rocket.
(AFP, 10/12/11)
2011 Oct 12, Taiwan said that
it was seeking nearly $100 million in compensation from France, in
the latest twist to a long-running kickback scandal over the 1991
sale of warships to the island.
(AFP, 10/12/11)
2011 Oct 13, In France a high
school math teacher in the city of Beziers sprayed herself with a
flammable product and set herself alight in the school yard during
recreation. She was hospitalized with serious burns.
(AP, 10/13/11)
2011 Oct 16, In France Francois
Hollande was elected head of the Socialist Party by a margin of 58%
to 43% over Martine Aubry.
(Econ, 10/22/11, p.61)
2011 Oct 20, France said that
the Somali kidnappers of Marie Dedieu (66), a disabled Frenchwoman
who died after being snatched from her home in Kenya, are demanding
a ransom for the return of her body.
(AP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 20, ETA announced it
was ceasing its 43-year-long bloody campaign for an independent
Basque state in territory straddling northern Spain and southwest
France. But the group stopped short of declaring defeat and called
on Spain and France to open talks on the conflict.
(AP, 10/21/11)
2011 Oct 22, France's Socialist
Party announced Francois Hollande (57) as its candidate for
presidential elections in six months, culminating a weeks-long
process of primaries.
(AP, 10/22/11)
2011 Oct 24, A French military
spokesman said France would soon help supply Kenyan troops fighting
al-Qaida-linked militants. One person was killed and 29 were wounded
in two grenade attacks in Nairobi. Police the next day arrested a
suspect with 13 grenades and six guns. On Oct 26 suspect Elgiva
Bwire Oliacha (28) said he is a member of the al-Qaida-linked Somali
militant group al-Shabab. On Oct 28 Oliacha was sentenced to life in
prison.
(AP, 10/24/11)(AP, 10/26/11)(AP, 10/28/11)
2011 Oct 27, France's nuclear
monitor said that the amount of cesium 137 that leaked into the
Pacific from the Fukushima disaster was the greatest single nuclear
contamination of the sea ever seen.
(AFP, 10/27/11)
2011 Nov 2, France's PM Sarkozy
condemned an apparent overnight arson attack that destroyed the
offices of Charlie Hebdo weekly, satirical French newspaper that had
"invited" the Prophet Muhammad as a guest editor this week.
(AP, 11/2/11)
2011 Nov 3, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy branded Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu "a liar" in a
private conversation with US President Barack Obama that was
accidentally broadcast to journalists during the G20 summit in
Cannes.
(Reuters, 11/8/11)
2011 Nov 4, G20 nations,
meeting in France, pledged to fight cross-border tax evasion under
an agreement, which supporters say could raise tens of billions of
dollars at a time when indebted European nations are scrambling for
more revenue. Eurozone leaders accepted that a member could default
and leave the euro.
(AP, 11/4/11)(Econ, 11/12/11, p.62)
2011 Nov 7, The French
government unveiled its 2nd austerity plan in three months. This
promised savings of €7 billion in 2012 in addition to €11 billion
announced in August.
(Econ, 11/12/11, p.59)
2011 Nov 7, France marked the
resumption of security cooperation with Ivory Coast after a
seven-year hiatus with the delivery of police vehicles in Abidjan.
(AFP, 11/7/11)
2011 Nov 8, A French court
ruled that the News of the World had violated the privacy of former
world motorsport chief Max Mosley when it published photographs of
him in a sadomasochistic orgy. The court fined Rupert Murdoch's News
Group, publisher of the now-defunct tabloid, 10,000 euros ($13,800)
and ordered it to pay 7,000 euros in damages for violating Mosley's
privacy, but said there was no defamation. Mosley (71) had already
won a case in a British court against News Group, after the News of
the World published a front-page story in March 2008 entitled "F1
boss has sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers."
(AFP, 11/8/11)
2011 Nov 11, French Pres.
Sarkozy presided over the traditional Armistice Day ceremony, which
marks 93 years since fighting in WWI came to an end. He lay a wreath
at the tomb of the unknown soldier under Paris' Arc de Triomphe and
lit a flame, but strayed from convention by declaring Nov. 11 a day
to remember the dead from all of France's wars.
(AP, 11/11/11)
2011 Nov 12, French Foreign
Minister Alain Juppe vowed to help Nigeria in its fight against
extremist groups as the country faces an intensifying Islamist
insurgency. Nigeria is France's biggest trading partner in
sub-Saharan Africa.
(AFP, 11/12/11)
2011 Nov 17, It was reported
that French company Fonroche plans invest $115 million to build a
44-megawatt solar farm in Puerto Rico. The farm will be built on 160
acres (65 hectares) and will provide power to the state-owned
electric company as part of a 20-year, $240 million contract.
(AP, 11/17/11)
2011 Nov 22, In France Danielle
Mitterrand (b.1924), a decorated member of the French Resistance and
combative advocate for the poor who broke the mold as first lady
alongside France's first Socialist president, died.
(AP, 11/22/11)
2011 Nov 23, A French court
ruled that former dictator Manuel Noriega can be extradited to
Panama to serve time for past crimes, more than 20 years after being
ousted and arrested in a US invasion.
(AP, 11/23/11)
2011 Nov 25, A shipment of
nuclear waste reprocessed in France crossed into Germany on its way
to a controversial storage site near the town of Dannenberg that
protesters say is unsafe.
(AP, 11/25/11)
2011 Nov 30, A French court
jailed five Somali men for between four and eight years and
acquitted a sixth in the Sep 2, 2008, hostage taking of a French
couple on their yacht in the Gulf of Aden.
(AFP, 11/30/11)
2011 Dec 2, Britain’s PM David
Cameron held emergency talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
while France and Germany tried to drum up support for a new EU
treaty to enforce budget discipline.
(AFP, 12/2/11)
2011 Dec 5, France and Germany
reached a compromise agreement to seek mandatory limits on budget
deficits among debt-laden European governments.
(SFC, 12/6/11, p.A9)
2011 Dec 5, In France
Greenpeace activists broke into the Electricite de France’s
Nogent-sur-Seine plant. EDF said 9 people were arrested.
(SFC, 12/6/11, p.A2)
2011 Dec 5, Paris, France,
launched an electric car sharing program with 250 vehicles. 3000
vehicles were planned for the program over the next two years.
(SFC, 12/5/11, p.A3)
2011 Dec 11, Former French PM
Dominique de Villepin, who gained international renown as France's
spokesman against the war in Iraq, announced he'll run as an
independent.
(AP, 12/12/11)
2011 Dec 15, A French court
convicted former Pres. Jacques Chirac (79) of embezzling government
money while he was mayor of Paris (1977-1995) and handed him a
2-year suspended sentence.
(SFC, 12/16/11, p.A7)
2011 Dec 15, A French court
convicted Carlos the Jackal (62), already serving a life sentence
for a triple murder in 1975, was convicted of instigating four
bombings in France in 1982-1983 that killed 11 people. He was
sentenced to another life term in prison.
(SFC, 12/16/11, p.A7)
2011 Dec 16, A court in Paris
charged Sosthene Munyemana, a Rwandan doctor living in France, on
suspicion he took part in the country's 1994 genocide.
(AFP, 12/16/11)
2011 Elaine Sciolino authored
“La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life.”
(Econ, 6/11/11, p.87)
2015 The construction of a
$10-20 billion new airport was planned to begin near Chartres,
southwest of Paris.
(WSJ, 6/6/96, p.A11)
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Subject = France
End of file.