Up To Date france

On Thursday, France submitted their bid to be the host of the Ryder Cup in 2018, with hopes to boost the country’s golf, said Christophe Muniesa, president of the French Golf Federation.

“Golf has a real potential, but it’s lacking that little something for the crowds in France to become passionate about this sport”, Muniesa said in a press conference. “In order for them to become passionate a spark is needed and this spark would be the Ryder Cup in 2018″.

Approximately 600,000 people play the sport in the country with 410,000 club members. By hosting the Ryder Cup, the French Golf Federation hopes to increase membership in golf clubs close to 700,000.

The team planes have already been given clearance to use a military airbase close to Versailles where the competition would take place.

Rama Yade, the French Sports minister, said one of the advantages that the country has is infrastructure, which is already in position.

“We’re in quite a difficult economic situation in the entire world and Europe in particular. And here we don’t have to make reckless promises because the hotels, roads, railways are already there and we have this superb site of the Golf National”, Yade said.

She added that over 70,000 audiences could watch the competition and no other venue in Europe could reach that.

Established in 1927, the venue of the Ryder Cup changes alternately between the US and Europe every two years, but it has been played outside of Europe in 1997, when the Europeans won at Valderrama on Costa del Sol, Spain.

The National Assembly held in France Thursday started a debate on whether to return to New Zealand about 20 tattooed Maori heads.

Around 15 to 20 mummified Maori head are kept in a number of museums, particularly in seven or eight at the Quai Branly in Paris, consisting of a huge collection of tribal art established by former French president Jacques Chirac.

In 2007, a museum located in Rouen was about to return the Maori heads but the French government intervened and declared to consider first a wider national restitution regarding the artefacts before making a final decision.

Several Maori heads were stored in the museum of about seven other cities, which include Lyon and Marseille as well as the university in Montpellier.

In June 2009, the Senate upper house voted to give back all the Maori heads under a legislation that indicated the first time the whole group of artefacts are to be taken from the museums, in contrast to a disputed object.

The schedule of the vote in the French National Assembly will be on Tuesday and parliamentary leaders confirmed to support the restitution.

“In the future however, it is important that we have a way of preventing and settling the problems that arise between the government, local state authorities and institutions”, stated Henri de Raincourt, minister for parliamentary relations.

Up to 500 heads of the tattooed warriors have been part of the collections of several museums all over the globe, but when New Zealand asked to return the heads, about 300 have been given back.

The warriors’ heads were stored by the Maoris, with the belief that their spirits are alive. However, during the 19th century, the tattooed heads became treasured collector items in Europe.

Four innocent Afghans were killed by French soldiers during a clash with the fighters of Taliban in April, admitted the French military on Thursday.

This marked the first time that the French military admitted that civilians were killed in the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan, noted French military spokesman, Adm. Christophe Prazuck. The incident happened in Kapisa province in eastern Afghanistan on 6 April, when a rocket was fired by the French soldiers at a squad of seven Taliban fighters, said Prazuck.

According to him, the soldiers assumed that no civilians were present in that area. However, five innocent people were under a tree near the area, and four of them lost their lives as a result of the rocket attack. The fifth sustained injuries but is now recovering, said Prazuck.

France is included in the US-led alliance which invaded the Afghan soil in 2001, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in Washington and New York. The allies are currently attempting to decrease the advances of the Islamic militia, which has ruled most part of the country in the past and has permitted the illegal activities of the al Qaeda to be launched from its territory.

However, the incident has greatly affected the bond between the government and the coalition, and it also enraged the Afghans. Haji Farid, a member of Afghan parliament from Kapisa, stated the act of the Western troops was wild and “do not pay respect to the Afghan people”.

“In the West, they have rights for animals and birds, but they are not paying respect to human beings”, said Farid. “We are fed up with these words. Why are they killing innocent people? No one is listening to us”, he concluded.

Prosecutors in France on Thursday demanded a court to impose a two-year imprisonment sentence against former interior minister Charles Pasqua over graft charges.

The decision on the corruption case filed against the 83-year-old ally of former president Jacques Chirac, who said in the court that he was dishonoured and harmed in the 10th day of his trial, will be released on Friday.

Prosecutors also asked for a two-year suspension of sentence and a fine worth €200,000 ($265,000) against the defendant, and requested the court to take away his right to hold public position.

Pasqua, an influential right-wing politician, was facing three cases related to bribes and kickbacks paid out when he was still serving as interior minister in 1993-1995.

He was accused of accepting payments in exchange of granting a friend licence to operate a casino in 1994 and of being connected to bribes received by his colleagues in another two business deals.

Pascua was the most recent high-profile politician from the party of Chirac to face trial.

In February, Chirac also was tried for breach of trust and defalcating public funds when he was serving as the mayor of Paris in the 1990s.

In the entire duration of the proceedings, Pascua maintained that he was innocent. In his two-hour statement in the Paris court on Wednesday, he claimed that he was subjected to an excruciating ordeal that greatly affected him and his whole family.

“This court appearance affects me deeply”, said Pasqua in the court. “I am humiliated as a politician, humiliated because my family and I have been dragged through the mud for the past ten years”.

An environmental regulator on Friday encouraged Cambodia’s donors to study multi-million dollar payments by France’s oil giant Total to acquire the rights for the exploration of an offshore region in Cambodia.

London-based Global Witness appealed to donors to “ask some tough questions and get some answers” regarding petroleum concession revenues, following Tuesday’s announcement of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on a $28-million deal with the oil company.

“We welcome the prime minister’s openness on this latest round of oil payments”, said Global Witness campaigner George Boden in a statement. “But we still don’t know whether the money from Total has turned up in national accounts because the information has not been made public”.

Total has secured the right to explore natural gas and oil in the ‘Block 3’ – Cambodia’s offshore in the Gulf of Thailand.

Hun Sen said on Tuesday that $8 million would proceed to “social fund”, as he disclosed the price given by Total.

The premier also denied claims that the Anglo-Australian mining company BHP Billiton had given a huge bribe for an exploration deal in Cambodia and said that the money had also proceeded to a social fund.

The environmental watchdog said in a meeting of aid donors in June that “questions regarding oil and mining payments made to the Cambodian government should top the bill”.

A local media report said foreign assistance to Cambodia will top $1 billion this year during the June meeting when international donors make their vows.

Cambodia was instantly feted as the next potential petro-state in the region after the oil discovery in 2005.

However, concerns have been raised on how Cambodia, which is among the most corrupt nations in the world, will exploit its newly discovered gas and oil wealth.

The Shanghai World Expo gives a chance to further strengthen communication and trade between China and other nations of the world, French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China (CCIFC) President Annick de Kermadec-Bentzmann said.

De Kermadec-Bentzmann said the Chamber has been actively advertising the World Expo and the different French pavilions in the Expo.

“The French pavilions include the main French Pavilion and the three regional pavilions (Alsace, Rhne-Alpes and Ile de France) situated in the Best Urban Practices Area at the Expo and the Pavilion from Pas-de-Calais that will be located outside the expo site”, she claimed.

The French Pavilion represents both sensuality and technicality, ecological as a whole and is constructed with the use of the latest French green technologies.

Companies in France that use advanced technologies will showcase their recent invention for the green urban services as well as sustainable development in the French pavilion.

“The Pavilion will symbolize the French ‘Art de Vivre’ aesthetic. Architect Jacques Ferrier sought to create a serene and sensual environment”, she stated, adding that culture will be ubiquitous around the pavilion, including remarkable masterpieces from Orsay Museum, cultural activities and events as well as gastronomic restaurant.

De Kermadec-Bentzmann also said that they will give support to Francophone pavilion or French-Speaking countries.

A newsletter has been mailed weekly to all CCFIC members as well as all the regional French Chamber in France to give them the latest updates regarding the events and activities in different pavilions. They were also given useful and practical information about the Expo itself.

The CCIFC is organizing several functions will the said pavilions.

Michel Platini, the UEFA president, believes that Laurent Blanc should be the next coach of Les Bleus, although he admitted that his influence on the decision seems to be little.

The France Football Federation council is expected to decide, when they meet on 20 May, who will replace Raymond Domenech after the World Cup.

Platini has given his support to the Bordeaux coach, who also heads a short list that includes Jean Tigana, Didier Deschamps and current assistant coach Alain Boghossian.

“Laurent Blanc, that would be a good choice,” Platini said in an interview. “But it is the federal council who will choose, not me.

“It’s good that the transition is going smoothly. That will disturb neither the players nor Raymond. Just the opposite, the players will want to make a good impression around the new coach.”

The UEFA president said last week that he believed France would advance through the group stage but is unlikely to win the tournament. He also insisted that the French national football team can begin anew after a poor qualifying campaign.

Nonetheless, Platini urged the players to improve gear in South Africa, calling for more effort from the most of them.

“The World Cup has nothing to do with the qualifiers,” he added. “We’re starting again from zero.

“The players will be good, they will prepare themselves.”

He noted, after considering the number of players who rested during the year, that the national team would do well in the World Cup.

France is not keeping Manuel Noriega in conditions suitable to his ‘prisoner of war’ status after his extradition, said one of the lawyers of Panama’s former dictator on Wednesday.

“At the moment the Geneva convention (on the treatment of prisoners of war) is being utterly scorned”, said Attorney Antonin Levy to AFP after he visited Noriega in detention at La Sante jail in the French capital.

Noriega, 76, who governed Panama between 1981 and 1989, was deported from Miami, Florida, to Paris on Tuesday to face laundering drug profit charges.

The general will be detained at the prison while waiting for the beginning of his trial.

Noriega had been detained for 21 years in Miami after he was extradited in 1989 when then-US President George Bush sent forces into Panama to take him in custody on charges of money laundering and drug trafficking.

“As a prisoner of war, he has the right to a certain freedom of movement within his place of detention, which does not correspond to the French penitentiary system”, said Levy.

In the US, the former dictator had been living in surveillance in a type of house inside a prison.

Another lawyer for Noriega said earlier that the former strongman of Panama was depressed by the decision on Tuesday to detain him while awaiting trial.

“We sensed that he was particularly demoralised by the decision. It was a difficult moment for him”, Yves Leberquier said.

Noriega was found guilty in absentia in France 11 years ago over laundering drug profit charges and was sentenced to be imprisoned for 10 years. Under the French law, suspects tried in absentia have the right to get a new trial.

The defence lawyers of Noriega question the jurisdiction of France to try the case and claim that the former leader should be permitted to go back to his homeland.

France and China vowed Wednesday to relieve past tensions regarding Tibet and start a new relationship by acting together on matters that range from Iran to the global monetary policy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese President Hu Jintao commented following their meeting in Beijing indicating that they have moved past their dispute over Tibet, which peaked two years ago when Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, met.

“President Sarkozy’s visit to China has opened a new page in Sino-French relations”, said Hu in his media appearance with Sarkozy.

“We should hold close consultations and strengthen political coordination on the reform of the international monetary system”, and other main issues, said Hu as quoted by the state television.

Sarkozy, making second official visit to China, said to journalists that he and Hu held “in-depth discussions about the Iranian crisis and the G20″, adding that their nations would work together about the issues on global monetary reform.

The West sought support from China to make tough moves on Tehran on its nuclear programme, in which some are suspecting it to be a cover for developing nuclear weapons, and the issue was expected to be prioritised on Sarkozy’s agenda.

Beijing was hesitant to punish Iran but US Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stated the previous week that China would support new sanctions, which could be agreed upon by both sides within days.

Sarkozy promised France would back China for the new multipolar monetary system when France assumes G20’s rotating leadership this November.

“We are going to prepare the French presidency of the G20 well in advance by thinking about a new multipolar monetary order”, Sarkozy said to reporters in the Great Hall of the People.