Au revoir to SarkozyFrench president Nicolas Sarkozy is sacking 20% of his government’s advisors as part of his modest reforms of a government embroiled with scandal. With personal popular ratings at just 33%, Sarkozy won’t last much longer.
France
How Parisians cheat the metro ticket system
The French sure know how to be freeloaders. Fare evaders on the Metro system are forming co-ops and charging a small monthly group fee to pay off fines they receive when busted without a ticket.
Business As Usual: Market snubs Stokes’ China bank deal … Kiwi economy grows … Fed recovery watch …
Investors gave Kerry Stokes’ deal to buy shares in China’s Agricultural Bank a very decisive thumbs down yesterday. Also, New Zealand’s economy grows, the US Federal Reserve’s recovery caution and other business news.
French women get equality, as long as they’re beautiful
France is to become the second country in the world with a quota of women on company boards. But oh la la, is this turning into a policy to get wives and girlfriends of bosses appointed, pretty things who’ll be seen and not heard?
Oh la la: the sexy nature of French politics
A political sex scandal would send the media crazy in the USA or Australia, but although the French blogsophere is buzzing with news that both Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are having affairs, none of the mainstream media will touch it. Why?
Blowing off the tobacco industry
“To smoke is to be a slave to tobacco” may not sound like a troublesome anti-smoking slogan. But juxtapose that with a young person hinting at a submissive sexual act, and you can understand the controversy surrounding the new French campaign.
How America was conned into buying 16m bottles of cheap French plonk
French wine merchants passed off 13.5 million litres of cheap wine as “Pinot Noir” — and US drinkers lapped it up.
The sickly state of Europe
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs for the Euro and Western Europe at the moment, with the German, Spanish and Greek economies all struggling. The lack of demand for the Euro has left only France looking vaguely trouble free.
Greek bailout offers ouzo many problems
It now seems very likely that France and Germany will lead the EU to bail out the struggling Greek economy. Does this attempt to save the euro simply highlight the fragility of a single European currency?
Sheridan: Ban the burqa
Immigrants must adhere to and embrace the values of their adopted countries, says Greg Sheridan. In western societies, like France and Australia, that means equality for women, and burqas have no place.
Now hear this: Greece’s debt is bigger than its economy
Greece revealed a public debt of 300 billion euros — or more than $A480 billion — overnight, leaving European leaders to contemplate a financial black hole in Athens.
France to force gender equality on boardrooms
The French Government is considering legislation to force all companies to reserve 50% of their board seats for women, in an effort to break the male-dominated culture of its business world.
Did Sarkozy secure Roman Polanski’s release?
Roman Polanski’s sister-in-law says French President Nicolas Sarkozy was “super” and “very effective” in helping to win the film director’s release from prison in Switzerland.
France’s mushroom mafia
The French mushroom market is under threat as gangs of pickers pillage private forests of their mushrooms to sell to restaurants on the black market for a quick buck.
No luck for the Irish as French cheats prosper
Ireland’s football team was cruelly denied a place at next year’s World Cup in South Africa due to a blatant piece of cheating from the French this morning, declares Neil Walker.
Why Jacques Chirac is facing corruption charges
Former French president Jacques Chirac will be trialled for misappropriating public funds during his nearly twenty years as mayor of Paris. Will the French justice system hold Chirac and other dodgy high profile pollies to account? No guillotine necessary.
Sarkozy’s £250,000 shower
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made British MPs’ expenses look like chump change, with a new report finding he spent £160m (AU$290m) during his six-month stint in charge of the European Union, including £250,000 on a new shower that he never actually used.
Downing Street plots to buy Blair’s way into the EU Presidency
British PM Gordon Brown is planning to buy off Angela Merkel and Nikolas Sarkozy’s votes for the European Union Presidency by offering them big jobs within the Union should Tony Blair get up.
Asterix turns 50
French comic star Asterix has been battling the Roman Empire for 50 years now, and despite hitting middle age, the pint-sized Gaulish warrior, his friend Obelix and dog Dogmatix are about to embark on their 43th adventure.
How Italy’s Taliban bribery got French soldiers killed
When French soldiers arrived in the Afghan region of Sarobi last year, they believed the area to be peaceful. Ten dead and mutilated soldiers later, it’s clear they were wrong. And it was Italy who misled them.
French Vogue does blackface
What, is everybody doing it now? The latest edition of French Vogue magazine features supermodel Lara Stone in blackface. Stay tuned for next month’s spread, featuring a man in a duck suit and a guest appearance by Farnsy.
Renowned nuclear physicist was an Al Qaeda mole
Adlène Hicheur, a French physicist working on the Hadron Collider, has been arrested on terrorism charges after admitting to working as a “mole” for Al Qaeda. Cue calls of “He seemed like such a nice boy…”
revealed 
The Middle East’s secret plan to bring down the dollar
Arab states, along with China, Japan, Russia and France, have been holding secret meetings to plot a move from doing oil deals in US dollars, instead moving to a mix of the yen, yuan, euro, gold and a new, unified Arab currency.
McDonald’s in the Louvre? Sacré bleu!
McDonald’s is setting up shop at the Louvre, and the French are not lovin’ it. But the gallery claims erecting the Golden Arches outside the home of fine art “is in line with the museum’s image”.
ANL’s French owner can’t pay its $5.7b debt
The French shipping company that owns and operates Australian National Line, is involved in talks to reschedule an estimated $A5.7 billion of debt on which it is unable to make payments, as banks clamp down hard.
