"Founder of faulty-implant maker arrested" New York Times, January 27, 2012
PARIS - The founder of a French company that made hundreds of thousands of breast implants from industrial-grade silicone, causing anxiety among women around the world, was detained in a dawn raid on his home in southern France, the authorities said yesterday.
Jean-Claude Mas could be held for questioning for 48 hours in a manslaughter investigation that began after a woman whose implants ruptured died from a rare form of cancer, according to an official with the Marseille prosecutor’s office. Mas’s former deputy, Claude Couty, was also arrested. Mas’s lawyer was advising him during questioning yesterday and could not be reached for comment, his office said.
I can't say it enough: you look fine no matter what size you got, ladies.
This the same country that has a problem with veils?
French prosecutors typically file charges only after an initial informal phase of investigation is completed. Mas has not been charged with any crime.
The implants have proved vulnerable to ruptures and leaks, allowing the inferior silicone to seep into the body.
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Related: Founder of faulty breast implant company released on bail
How do you say WTF in French?
Also see: Boston Globe Boob Job
British Boobs
French have 'em, too:
"Antigay remarks imperil French politician" February 16, 2012|By Associated Press
PARIS - President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party said yesterday that it is kicking out a legislator who said gay people hold too much sway in France and downplayed the persecution of gays during World War II.
The comments by lawmaker Christian Vanneste unleashed an outpouring of criticism from left and right, and embarrassed Sarkozy’s conservative party just as the unpopular president announced that he will seek a second term in upcoming elections.
Vanneste appears set to lose his spot in the party and his Parliament seat over the remarks.
In a video broadcast on a French website, Vanneste said gays are “at the heart of power’’ in France, manipulating the media and making humankind “lose its dignity.’’
He said the media overplay “the famous legend of the deportation of homosexuals’’ from Nazi-occupied France, saying German gays were sent to concentration camps, but “there was no homosexual deportation in France.’’
Gay rights groups denounced him and fellow party members said he had crossed a line. Vanneste, responding yesterday to the uproar, said he was being unfairly targeted by a “gay lobby.’’
Party chief Jean-Francois Cope said yesterday that Vanneste would be expelled because of his “deeply shocking and intolerable comments.’’
So much for free speech in France.
The party will finalize the decision at a meeting next week, Cope said.
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"French stores begin annual sales ritual" Associated Press, January 12, 2012
PARIS - French government ministers led the country’s semiannual consumer pilgrimage known reverently as “The Sales’’ yesterday, hoping to jump-start a stagnant economy.
With skies still dark over Paris, small groups of shoppers milled outside the entrances of two iconic French department stores, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, ahead of their 8 a.m. openings.
In northern France, shoppers crawled under a store’s rolling metal shutter as it rose.
INSEE expects that the country’s economy contracted in the fourth quarter and will again in the first quarter of 2012 - the technical definition of a recession.
“We need to boost consumption, which is the driving force of our economy,’’ Finance Minister Francois Baroin told a frenzied group of reporters who trailed him around the stores after cutting a ribbon at the entrance to Galeries Lafayette. “We hope that the success of these sales will help a recovery in consumption.’’
But department store clerks said the first day seemed calmer than in years past.
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"France’s Sarkozy officially declares reelection bid" by Edward Cody | The Washington Post, February 16, 2012
PARIS - President Nicolas Sarkozy formally announced his candidacy for reelection last night, betting that emphasis on conservative values will rally French voters around him despite a Europe-wide financial crisis and an abrasive personality that have him trailing badly in the polls.
Sarkozy’s televised declaration surprised no one; he has been campaigning de facto for several months. It was nevertheless greeted as the opening salvo in what he promised would be a no-holds-barred campaign against the Socialist candidate, Francois Hollande, his main challenger in a two-round election scheduled for April 22 and May 6.
The vote hangs mainly on a judgment by France’s 43 million eligible voters as to who can best manage the economic tempest that has battered the country for nearly four years.
Aside from the crisis, Sarkozy’s first term has been marked by improved US ties, including a return to NATO’s integrated military command, and close cooperation with NATO forces in Afghanistan and Libya. Hollande has vowed to bring French troops home from Afghanistan immediately if elected - a year earlier than Sarkozy plans - but would not be expected to change France’s basic orientations in Europe or the world.
Against that background, the economic slowdown and how to reverse it are French voters’ main worries....
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Also see: Sarkozy refuses to shutter aging nuclear plant
Feisty Sarkozy shrugs off French credit downgrade
