THOUSANDS of retired people have taken to the streets to call for changes to the way the state pension is calculated.

Total SA unions called for a refinery strike to spread to all French plants and said fuel shortages could be imminent.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy traveled for a one-day visit to Haiti on February 17, amid rising popular opposition to the Western-backed Préval government and international tensions over how to rebuild the country. The US military occupied Haiti after the devastating January 12 earthquake that killed over 200,000 people, wounded over 250,000, and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.

President Nicolas Sarkozy was drawn into a corruption scandal on Thursday after French prosecutors opened an investigation into the suspected illegal funding of a presidential contender whose campaign he ran.

"Protection of childhood is shamelessly exploited by Nicolas Sarkozy to implement a measure that will lead to collateral censorship and very dangerous drifts."

Liberté, égalité, fraternité indeed. It's almost enough to make one wonder if St Helena island is still in French hands.

Iran’s Ambassador to France Mehdi Mir Abu Talebi has called on French officials to be even-handed in their dealings with Iran.
Speaking to Press TV on the eve of the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Mir Abu Talebi reminded France of its secret role in helping Israel develop its nuclear program in 1950s.

In a dramatic triumph for the debonair, poetry-writing politician, who had never ceased to claim he was in court merely at the whim of a leader who detested him, De Villepin was cleared of all charges levied during the so-called Clearstream affair. Standing beneath the arches of the ­Palais de Justice before a scrum of journalists and applauding supporters, De Villepin walked free from the court with a smile on his permanently tanned face, declaring his innocence had been recognised after years of "rumour and suspicion".

Nicolas Sarkozy has ruled out sending any more French soldiers to Afghanistan, in an apparent snub to Gordon Brown.

harles Pasqua became Interior Minister. While keeping high hand over Moroccan marijuana trade, he took advantage of his situation to legalize his other activities taking control of casinos, gambling and horse races in francophone Africa. He wove ties with Saudi Arabia and Israel and became an officer of honour to the Mossad. Nicolas Sarkozy on his part, became minister of Budget and spokesman for the government.

In Washington, Frank Wisner, Jr. became the successor of Paul Wolfowitz as head of the Political Planning department of the Department of Defense. Nobody noticed at that time the ties to the spokesman of the French government.

Captain Peter Lake trained dozens of members of the Maquis - rural resistance fighters - in sabotage and guerilla warfare and was decorated by the French and the British.

So when Lake finally met General Charles de Gaulle - the leader of the Free French Forces - he might have expected at the very least a warm welcome.

What he got was a distinct froideur.

De Gaulle - whose country had only just been liberated with help from the likes of Lake - questioned what the British officer was doing in France and in no uncertain terms told him 'go home'.

French authorities have discovered enough undeclared plutonium to make five nuclear bombs at a nuclear facility south of the country.

People no longer trust Congress, the President, the courts, the media, corporations, political parties, and other institutions of society. People even doubt science and medicine.

Dozens of France Telecom employees have staged protests in Paris and in the city of Troyes, where a 49-year-old technician employed there stabbed himself after a demotion. There have been a staggering 22 suicides at the company in just 18 months.

It is the second time in two years that the fitness fanatic, who's nicknamed 'Speedy Sarko', has been at the centre of a medical emergency.

France summoned the Israeli ambassador in Paris on Thursday to demand an immediate halt to Jewish settlement building in east Jerusalem, and the re-opening of border crossings into the Gaza Strip.

The French foreign ministry's head of political affairs Gerard Araud made the demands during a meeting with the Israeli envoy, Daniel Shek, said ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier.

Araud stressed that Paris wants "an immediate freeze on settlement activities, including in east Jerusalem," the spokesman said.

French youths burned 317 cars and wounded 13 police officers overnight during the now traditional bout of street violence on the eve of the Bastille Day national holiday, police said Tuesday.

First there was boss-napping, now angry workers at a factory in France have come up with a new tactic in their battle against mass redundancy.

Staff at bankrupt car parts maker New Fabris are threatening to blow up the plant if they do not receive compensation from the companies that provided most of the firm's business.

A unilateral attack by Israel against Iran to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions would be an "absolute catastrophe," AFP quoted French President Nicolas Sarkozy as warning on Thursday.

Sarkozy was reportedly speaking after a summit of the Group of Eight and other leaders in Italy at which they agreed on the need to pursue a negotiated deal with Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

Earlier this week, U.S. President Barack Obama rebuffed suggestions that Washington had given Israel a green light to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel believes that a nuclear Iran would pose an existential threat.

Masked vandals burst into the shop, armed with sticks and bottles of oil early on Friday afternoon, smashing the computers and cash till, pulling books off the shelves and emptying bottles of oil on the floor.

Following the incident, the MRAP anti-racism group repeated a call for a French ban on the Jewish Defense League (JDL), which was set up by a radical US rabbi in 1968.

If you elect a zionist to the office of President of your country…. the following is just one example of what you can expect:

French president: Burkas not welcome here

President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday that burqas, garments that cover women from head to toe and hide their faces, had no place in France as they were a sign of the subjugation of women.

The light rail projects for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are both facing difficulties. In a body-blow to the future Jerusalem light rail, the French company Veolia, which was supposed to run the train system after its construction, is abandoning the project.

About 200 inmates were temporarily released to take part in the “Penal Tour de France” that started yesterday and will last two weeks, taking them across the country much like the famous bicycle race, the most punishing of professional sports. Flanked by an equal number of prison guards, they will cycle through 10 regions including the island of Corsica.

French arms sales to Israel are "in total contradiction" of European Union rules on the defence industry, the author of a new study has said.

Between 2003 and 2007 France issued licences worth more than 446 million euros (623 million dollars) for arms exports to Israel. This made France by far the largest supplier of weapons to Israel in the EU.

Dieudonne who, in the past, had always enjoyed ridiculing pretty much every segment of French society clearly had never expected the hysterical uproar that his humor would trigger that day: the huge constellation of French Zionists organizations lead by the notorious CRIF ("Representative Committee of Jewish organization in France" - the French version of AIPAC) immediately attacked Dieudonne, suing him for racists comments and suing him for "anti-Semitism" (a criminal offense in France). This was hardly the first time that the French Zionist mob had decided to crush an outspoken critic of its role in French politics or its unconditional support for the last racist state on the planet: Israel. But this time, the Ziomob miscalculated, badly.

This was hardly the first time that the French Zionist mob had decided to crush an outspoken critic of its role in French politics or its unconditional support for the last racist state on the planet: Israel. But this time, the Ziomob miscalculated, badly.Dieudonne began making the accusations of anti-Semitism made against him a central piece of his shows.

Nicolas Sarkozy took o?ce in May 2007 promising to transform France and restore its status as a great nation. Brash, con?dent and now married to one of the most glamorous woman in Europe, his presidency has not lacked drama. But approval ratings have plummeted, unemployment is rising and public sector workers are in revolt. Has Sarko really delivered?

The ignominy is evidently too much to bear. When he flies to international summits President Sarkozy is confronted by a number of private jets that dwarf his French Airbus A319.

Even the Spanish and German leaders arrive in bigger aircraft, let alone Barack Obama’s mighty Air Force One.

Next month work will begin on a project to give Mr Sarkozy wings in keeping with his ambitions when French engineers take possession of an aircraft that will be turned into an ultra-modern presidential airliner.

France's interior minister defended on Sunday the police handling of violent anti-NATO protests in Strasbourg in which shops were ransacked and buildings including a seven-story hotel were set ablaze.

Hundreds of French workers, angry about proposed layoffs at a Caterpillar factory, were holding executives of the company hostage Tuesday, a spokesman for the workers said.
Caterpillar's French staff say they are angry about a lack of negotiations over layoffs.

It is at least the third time this month that French workers threatened with cutbacks have blockaded managers in their offices to demand negotiations. Executives were released unharmed in both previous situations.

France has warned that the Gaza Strip cannot remain an 'open-air prison' forever, urging Israel to lift the blockade on the territory.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has returned home after a two-day trip to Central and West Africa during which he signed uranium-mining deals.

With renewed global interest in nuclear power, France is eager to secure and develop its supply of uranium.

Several million workers and youth took to the streets in 213 cities and towns throughout France yesterday in opposition to rising poverty, rapidly growing unemployment and government austerity policies involving cuts in the social services.

The shooting at the Harmony nursery school occurred just as parents were coming to collect their children in the late morning. The shots appeared to be aimed at the building.

Five of the injured received light wounds and the others suffered even less significant injuries, said Raphaelle Padovani, a spokesperson for the regional prefecture.

As many as three million people took to the streets across France today to protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of the economic crisis and demand more help for struggling workers.

The protests, which polls show are backed by three quarters of the French public, reflect growing disillusion with Sarkozy's pledges of reform as the crisis has thrown tens of thousands out of work and left millions more worried about their jobs.

More than a million angry French workers took to the streets Thursday in a nationwide strike to force President Nicolas Sarkozy to boost wages and protect jobs as the economic crisis deepens.

Workers demand government do more to fight effects of economic crisis

In an attampt to rid it's country from the contol of Zionist Lobby Groups and organizations, France has launched it's new Anti Zionist Political Party called "Parti Anti Sioniste."

There are currently more than 68,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan.
French Defense Minister Herve Morin has requested that NATO set a timetable for the withdrawal of alliance forces from Afghanistan.

The political map of France may be radically redrawn under ambitious, intriguing – and explosive – proposals which will be presented to President Nicolas Sarkozy next week.

Paris would become part of a "Greater Paris" of six million people, copying the model of Greater London. Normandy might be unified for the first time in 805 years (since King John carelessly lost William's dukedom to the French in 1204).

An academic in France has been sacked by the Ministry of Defence after questioning the official version of events surrounding the 9/11 attacks. He now reportedly plans to sue the government.

The French State was responsible for deporting Jews during the Second World War, the top judicial authority ruled for the first time yesterday, but it dismayed families of victims by declaring that they had already been compensated.

The world financial crisis is forcing more and more once relatively comfortable French workers to seek out charity food banks and soup kitchens to get a free hot meal.

"It is incredible, shocking and inadmissible to be able to find in the 21st century somebody who dares question the gas chambers, the Holocaust, the martyrdom of Jews. It is inadmissible," Sarkozy said on French TV on Thursday night.

One should judge Nicolas Sarkozy according to his actions, and not according to his personality. Yet when his doings surprise even his own constituents, it is legitimate to take a detailed look at his biography and question the bonds that brought him to power. Thierry Meyssan has decided to write the truth about the French Republic’s president background.

Bernard Kouchner, France's most popular politician, had to defend his reputation as a moral crusader yesterday when he was accused of using his public profile to secure contracts with African dictators.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through French cities, with violence erupting in some places, as part of a day of national strikes demanding pay rises and better protection for jobs.

Hundreds of thousands of workers have begun a nationwide strike in France. Eight labor unions have called the industrial action to protest against what they say are insufficient measures by the government to tackle the economic crisis. Unions say that with unemployment mounting, French workers should not have to foot the bill for a crisis that has led to expensive government bailouts for banks, carmakers and other sectors. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a 26-billion-euro stimulus package while pledging to press ahead with unpopular reforms to trim the public sector workforce and liberalize the labor market.

Huge crowds have taken to the streets in France to protest over the handling of the economic crisis, causing disruption to rail and air services.

Thursday's French national strike reflects growing despair on the Continent with the way governments are handling the recession.

Mr Val's decision to fire Sine was backed by a group of eminent intellectuals, including the philosopher Bernard-Henry Lévy, but parts of the libertarian Left defended him, citing the right to free speech.

Using intense diplomatic pressure over the past two days, Israeli officials blocked a French attempt to weaken Jerusalem's stance with Hamas at the pre-written closing statement of the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels last night.

France wanted the statement to say that the European Union would be prepared to hold talks with a future Palestinian unity government that agreed to honor the principles of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In addition, the French delegation to Brussels proposed striking from the statement an article calling for reopening the crossing points between Israel and the Gaza Strip in accordance with the 2005 agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Thousands of protesters marched through Paris on Saturday in support of Palestinians following Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, police and organisers said.

The march towards the presidential Elysee Palace, drew 20,000 people according to organisers and 9,000 according to police.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday the government would not offer any more assistance to companies in the current financial crisis unless the beneficiaries made firm commitments in return.

Speaking to union and employer representatives, Sarkozy said that if the state were to make taxpayers' money available to support businesses, "the factories have to stay in France."

They are two small men in a hurry, who each believes in his personal destiny to drag France out of chaos and decline.

Both are outsiders ill-at-ease among the Paris elite; they are control-freaks who interfere in every corner of government; they are obsessed by image and see the media as a vital tool of power.

One way or another, they both dream of taking the reins of Europe.

They were left battered by farmer Jose Bové's attacks on McDonald's and bruised by the birth of the "freedom fry". But yesterday the French and the Americans proved they had the stomach for another gloriously messy food fight.

Less than a week before it leaves office, the Bush administration has sparked anger across the Atlantic by tripling the import duty rate on roquefort cheese to 300%, a move which the US hopes will "shut down trade" in the sheep's milk product by making it prohibitively expensive.

The conflict in Gaza is provoking tensions between France's large Muslim and Jewish communities, the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby reports from Paris.

French protesters march through Paris, other French cities to denounce Israeli's offensive in Gaza.

A winter storm brought blankets of snow across Europe on Monday, forcing the closure of an icy Eiffel Tower in Paris and causing flight cancellations.

Despite claims of exaggeration, government reports insist a new generation of extremists will soon launch a wave of sabotage and bombings

It has long been the stuff of dreams, of bestselling books and sometimes even of profit. The British love of France has led tens of thousands to cross the Channel in search of a better quality of life, a ruin to renovate, or simply to snap up a cheap second home.

France will deploy hundreds of extra police at busy public places in its main cities after dynamite was planted in a Paris department store, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Wednesday.

The gradual rolling out of France's 26 billion euro ($33.76 billion) stimulus package will raise the country's budget deficit to around 70 billion euros in 2009, Budget Minister Eric Woerth said on Wednesday.

Amid deepening economic gloom, the tale of the voodoo doll of Nicolas Sarkozy has provided some needed light relief for the French.

Twice, the French president asked the courts to ban the sale of a figurine made in his image. On Friday, an appeals court dealt him the latest rebuff: not only can the doll remain on sale, but the judges ordered that it be sold with a bright-red banner on the packaging entitled "Judicial Injunction" and a warning that sticking needles into the doll affronts Sarkozy's dignity.

Nicolas Sarkozy has not been at all happy that there is a voodoo doll made in his image. He’s been trying to get the doll banned, but has lost yet another court case to have it banned. Even worse, in the latest attempt to have the doll banned, the court ordered that the Nicolas Sarkozy voodoo doll be packaged with a bright red banner with black block lettering declaring that sticking pins in the doll is insulting to the French President.