"In the City of Light, an eternal question is once again spurring debate: Is the stereotype of the brusque Frenchman justified, or do visitors just not understand the French? The soul-searching is coming from an unlikely place."
I didn't even bother to look.
"Homicide case sparks outrage in France; Jeweler wins support after he shot robber" by Lori Hinnant | Associated Press, September 18, 2013
PARIS — Outrage is growing in France over the decision to bring voluntary homicide charges against a jeweler who shot and killed an escaping robber, but the country’s top security official on Tuesday urged fearful storekeepers to let justice take its course.
The 67-year-old jeweler, Stephan Turk, was confined at home with an electronic bracelet after the shooting last week that left a teenage robber dead in the street outside Turk’s jewelry store in the French Riviera city of Nice. An accomplice escaped on a motorbike as the body lay in the street.
In a country where gun violence is rare but armed robbery is increasingly common, the shooting — and the formal charges of voluntary homicide — have placed the government in a difficult position.
‘‘Even when faced with the unbearable, we have to let justice prevail,’’ Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday in Nice, where he was sent by the president a day after a protest by hundreds of Turk’s supporters.
Jewelers in southern France say they’re being targeted as never before and lack the resources to protect themselves.
‘‘It was a difficult situation. I don’t know how I would have reacted myself. I don’t endorse what he did, but he had been beaten and threatened with death,’’ Yan Turk, the son of the jeweler, told the Nice Matin paper. ‘‘We’ve had it with being targeted by robbers.’’
Who can blame them?
The young man killed, 19-year-old Anthony Asli, had been in trouble as a juvenile and was freed about a month ago from his most recent stint in detention, shedding his own electronic bracelet and moving in with a longtime girlfriend, who is pregnant. Asli’s family described him as impressionable and immature.
‘‘The family’s not condoning the robbery. They’re not condoning it and they’re not excusing it. It was Anthony’s fault. But did he deserve to die in these conditions?’’ their lawyer, Olivier Castellacci, said Tuesday. ‘‘We don’t have, in France, the notion of taking justice into your own hands. The family is revolted by that.’’
No.
But France has seen a spate of high-profile jewelry thefts lately, and Castellacci said the mobilization in support of the jeweler is a reflection of unease with increasing violence.
The robbery was carried out with a shotgun, he said. It wasn’t clear whether Asli and the accomplice both had firearms.
Looks to me like the business owner was simply defending himself.
A single gunman in the southern city of Cannes made off with a $136 million cache this summer. That was followed by another armed robbery days later in the same city. In Paris’s wealthy Place Vendome on Sept. 9, thieves drove a sport utility vehicle into a jewelry store, grabbed $2.7 million worth of loot, then set the vehicle on fire and escaped.
Related: The Cur$e of the Pink Panther, Part Deux
‘‘The number of jewelry store robberies has been climbing for years. There’s one robbery a day in France,’’ Christine Boquet, president of the union of jewelers and watchmakers, told the Nice Matin. ‘‘This creates enormous stress for the merchants. They live with this fear and insecurity every day.’’
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"Pickpockets who targeted Paris tourists arrested" by Sarah DiLorenzo | Associated Press, September 19, 2013
PARIS — French police have arrested a gang of pickpockets who dressed like tourists in order to target visitors — mostly Asian tourists — to the most famous museums and monuments in Paris.
The group was sophisticated, dangling cameras from their necks to blend in, always buying entry tickets, and slipping away unnoticed. They operated at the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, and the Chateau de Versailles, bringing in as much as $2,700 per day by grabbing the wallets of tourists, according to Commissioner Stephane Gouaud.
He said a group of fewer than 10 people was arrested Tuesday after a weeks-long investigation. But he warned that other pickpockets are no doubt still at large.
Petty theft, long a concern in Paris, has plagued the city in recent months. Workers at the Louvre went on strike in the spring to protest an increase in thefts. The situation prompted the Paris police to publish a brochure in six languages warning tourists about how to avoid falling victim to such thefts.
The group arrested this week loitered in the most visited areas of the attractions they targeted, hanging out near the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo in the Louvre, Gouaud said.
He wouldn’t give details on how the gang was finally caught.
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"French police arrest jewel thief" by Associated Press, August 22, 2013
PARIS — Police stormed a villa in southeast France and arrested a member of the notorious Pink Panther gang of jewel thieves who had escaped from a Swiss prison earlier this year, officials said Wednesday.
During the dawn sweep Monday, nearly 20 well-armed police detained Zoran Tomovic, 47, as he tried to flee through a window in the home of an acquaintance in the Provence town of Bedarrides, the officials said. The special French search brigade was working on a tip from Swiss authorities.
‘‘He tried to play his card, but because the house was surrounded, he wasn’t able to get far,’’ said Divisional Commissioner Pascal Gontier of the judicial police in southern Montpellier. The owner of the home was an old acquaintance of the suspect who ‘‘apparently did not know about his recent misadventures.’’
Southeast France has faced a spate of high-profile jewelry thefts recently. Last month, a gunman walked into a diamond jewelry show at a hotel in Cannes and made off with a breathtaking $136 million worth of valuables.
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Related:
The Cur$e of the Pink Panther
The Cur$e of the Pink Panther, Part Deux
Investigation going nowhere, huh?
"Ton of cocaine seized from Air France flight" New York Times, September 24, 2013
PARIS — A record haul of cocaine, found in suitcases on an Air France flight from Venezuela, is raising a multitude of questions about the security of the baggage scanning system and the possibility of collusion either by airport or airline staff both in Venezuela and France.
The seizure this month was disclosed Saturday by the interior minister, Manuel Valls, but French officials would not specify when they had impounded the cocaine.
Valls, who showed the cocaine, tightly wrapped in plastic packaging, to French television, said there had been 1.3 metric tons, or about 2,900 pounds, with a value of $67 million. Others put the value considerably higher.
The more than 30 suitcases that had housed the cocaine were hard-cased, rolling bags decorated in glossy, bright colors, and the television images showed them stacked against a wall at the office of a special division of the French police that focuses on drugs.
As of Monday, six people were in police custody in France, said a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre. She said none of the six was French, and news agencies reported that three were British and three were Italian. In Venezuela, three members of the National Guard were detained.
The haul was remarkable both for the amount, the largest ever in France, and because it arrived by air, said Thomas Pietschmann, research officer at the Studies and Threat Analysis section of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna, which tracks drug trafficking worldwide.
“To have one ton on an airplane is exceptionally high,” he said. “It starts from a few grams to a few kilos.”
For many years, much of the cocaine consumed in Europe arrived via a wayward route, first put on boats in South America and sent to West Africa, then transported over land. However in the last six or seven years, seizures diminished even though European cocaine consumption has remained unchanged, Pietschmann said.
Related:
Sunday Globe Special: AmeriKa Expanding Drug War to Africa
One-Day Wonder: West African Drug Trade
Black Xmas: "Al-CIA-Duh" Expands Drug Operations to Africa
Air France officials would not comment, but the airline put out a statement saying that it had undertaken an internal investigation.
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"Police identity checks are upheld in France" by Elaine Ganley | Associated Press, October 03, 2013
PARIS — A French court on Wednesday rejected assertions that police identity checks on 13 people from minority groups were racist, saying officers didn’t overstep any legal boundaries.
It's called profiling.
It's called profiling.
The decision upended an unusual bid to rein in police officers often accused of racial profiling. The verdict followed a one-day trial in July billed as the first of its kind in France, a sign that long-silent minorities were increasingly finding their voice. Lawyers for the plaintiffs pledged to appeal up to the European Court of Human Rights if need be.
The ruling comes amid a public furor over stop and frisk policies of the New York Police Department. But in that case, being closely watched here, a judge has ruled against police practices said to discriminate against blacks and Hispanics.
See: French Frisk
See: French Frisk
Antiracism groups say that non-white French — particularly plack people or those of Arab origin — face routine discrimination that diminishes their chances of finding jobs, getting into nightclubs, and carving out a place for themselves in mainstream society. Such discrimination, they contend, also subjects minorities to humiliating public identity checks.
I'm so tired of being divided by race, gender, sexual preference, or anything else when class and a certain religious and ethnic identity are all that matter.
I'm so tired of being divided by race, gender, sexual preference, or anything else when class and a certain religious and ethnic identity are all that matter.
The plaintiffs, who range from students to delivery personnel, sought $13,000 each in the case. Their lawyers also wanted changes in the law that would require police to provide written reports of ID checks and spell out ‘‘objective grounds’’ for conducting the checks....
The court upheld the state’s argument that the checks are not illegal under French law.
A person who considers an identity check abusive must prove the action was a gravely serious offense, the lawyers said, quoting the judgment. They noted this is almost impossible since there is no trace an identity check took place.
A 2008 French law to fight discrimination is applicable only in professional relations ‘‘uniting an employer to his employee,’’ the court said, adding that it was not within their purview to change laws.
Judith Sunderland of Human Rights Watch said in a statement the court was, de facto, affirming that France can ignore international norms with ‘‘a single message: The state is always right, and the police have the green light to discriminate.’’
The plaintiffs were not immediately available for comment.
In France, the law allows for widespread police checks of people deemed suspicious. Opponents say police have too much discretion.
‘‘Through this decision, French justice says that the law of equality . . . basically does not apply to French police and we are pretty shocked by that,’’ lawyer Felix de Belloy said.
‘‘I would not say that this decision legalizes ethnic profiling, but clearly the judges closed their eyes to ethnic profiling,’’ he added.
French authorities have rejected a proposal to make police write out reports for each person they stop, making the acts traceable. However, Interior Minister Manuel Valls plans to require police to wear identifying numbers on their uniforms by the end of the year.
A study conducted in Paris by France’s National Center for Scientific Research and the Open Society Justice Initiative, which backed the legal action, has shown that black people have six times more chance of being checked by police than white people, and those of Arab origin have eight times more.
I find it interesting that Arabs rank below blacks.
Discrimination against France’s minorities became a national issue after fiery riots in 2005 spread through suburban housing projects, where many residents have ties to former French colonies in Africa.
I find it interesting that Arabs rank below blacks.
Discrimination against France’s minorities became a national issue after fiery riots in 2005 spread through suburban housing projects, where many residents have ties to former French colonies in Africa.
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Related: Freed Al Qaeda hostages back home in France
Hey, war is fun -- or haven't you heard?
Related: Freed Al Qaeda hostages back home in France
Hey, war is fun -- or haven't you heard?
"French calls for spending cuts to spur economy" by Sarah DiLorenzo | Associated Press, September 26, 2013
PARIS — The French government has declared the economic crisis over and is promising that its budget for next year will bring growth and jobs, but experts are criticizing the proposal from all sides, and a true rebound looks a ways off.
In a budget unveiled Wednesday, the government says it will cut the deficit by nearly $24 billion, $20 billion of which will come from spending cuts and the rest from taxes.
The government has promised the measures will reenergize the economy by reducing the money spent on retirement and health benefits and by offering companies a tax credit if they hire. But taxpayers are grumbling about even the modest tax increase, and economists are split on the merits of cutting spending now.
I thought they were being run by Socialists now.
‘‘Purchasing power is our preoccupation,’’ Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici told French television on the eve of the budget unveiling, calling it a budget for growth and employment.
But much of the criticism of the budget was that it is in fact likely to hurt household spending. Though the government argues the budget provides relief for lower income households, economists note that the tax credit meant to boost hiring at companies is being paid for largely by a hike to the sales tax. That directly takes money out of the pockets of shoppers of all incomes.
And it takes money from the individual and gives it to bu$ine$$.
Un-phoqueing-believable!
In terms of reducing the deficit, the budget appears to be Paris’s belated effort to fall in line with the rest of Europe by focusing on cutting public spending, which makes up 57 percent of gross domestic product.
The slow approach is typical of President Francois Hollande’s approach to policymaking. Hollande is famous for trying not to be famous. His most notable domestic policy so far, the creation of a 75 percent income tax, was rejected by a court and amended so many times that it lost much of its shock value. His reforms have been painstakingly negotiated and have often lost much of their punch by the time they are announced.
See: Hollande Most Hated President in French History
I can $ee why. What an a$$hole!
Such delays have drawn a critical eye from the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, and from Germany, which led the push for austerity in Europe.
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"France’s pension reform criticized" by Sarah DiLorenzo | Associated Press, October 16, 2013
PARIS — President Francois Hollande has managed to do what was once thought impossible: make changes to France’s cherished and generous retirement system with little resistance from unions. His secret? The changes are so small and put off so far into the future that economists say they aren’t worthy of the name ‘‘reform.’’
A few thousand people gathered across the river from the lower house of Parliament, which passed the bill Tuesday ahead of a Senate vote. But the demonstrations have not grown into the massive protests and strikes that brought France to a standstill in 2010, when Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, raised the retirement age.
Partially that is because Hollande, a Socialist, consulted with union leaders when drawing up the reform. Also, the changes will fix only a part of what needs changing, analysts say.
Oh, the French have the same feckless union leaders we do here in Amurka!
‘‘It’s the salami strategy,’’ said Elie Cohen, an economist at Sciences Po university. ‘‘We have a big problem, we don’t know how to fix it, so we cut it into pieces, like a nice sausage.’’
Or a mortgage-backed security.
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The issue of pensions is so sensitive that no political party wants to make the painful changes that are needed.
Yes, everybody in this world must give back so bankers can have more, more, more!!!!!
In other European countries with unsustainable retirement systems, such as Spain and Italy, the financial crisis has threatened to bankrupt the government, pushing politicians to act. France has been spared such turmoil, and lacked the same incentives.
‘‘There is only one party in France and that is the status quo party,’’ said Jacob Kirkegaard, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
In AmeriKa it is the War Party.
So in another few years, France probably will apply another Band-Aid to its pension system. And so it will go, Kirkegaard said, until the crisis in France gets deep enough that it is forced to make the kinds of changes Madrid and Rome have made.
All so banks and money junkies can have more.
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Maybe you French need a "new" president:
"France’s Sarkozy cleared in campaign finance case" by Jamey Keaten | Associated Press, October 08, 2013
PARIS — Former president Nicolas Sarkozy was cleared Monday of allegations he illegally took donations from France’s richest woman on the way to his 2007 election victory, his lawyer and an official said.
The announcement fanned speculation of a political comeback for Sarkozy, who lost the presidency to Socialist Francois Hollande last year.
Citing a lack of evidence, two investigating magistrates dismissed claims that Sarkozy had taken advantage of the frail state of Liliane Bettencourt, the L’Oreal cosmetics heiress who is now 90, the official in the Bordeaux prosecutor’s said. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not permitted to speak to the media.
‘‘I am delighted about this decision, which I expected,’’ Sarkozy’s lawyer Thierry Herzog told reporters outside the former president’s office. After leaving a private meeting on Monday at the main Paris mosque, Sarkozy nodded to cameras but did not speak to journalists.
Ten other people — including Sarkozy’s former budget minister, Eric Woerth — are still expected to face trial next year on charges in the case that include alleged fraud and money laundering.
A former Bettencourt accountant told police she handed over $192,000 in cash that she was told would be passed to Woerth, Sarkozy’s campaign treasurer for the 2007 presidential bid. That was over the maximum campaign contributions under French law.
After reports of the illegal campaign cash surfaced in 2010, investigators pieced together their case, coming closer to Sarkozy himself. In March, he was handed preliminary charges, meaning magistrates had reason to believe wrongdoing was committed. But after deeper investigation, the case against Sarkozy collapsed because of lack of evidence.
‘‘The dismissal is good news, but I am not surprised because this case file was totally empty,’’ said Patrick Balkany, a National Assembly lawmaker and longtime Sarkozy friend.
Sarkozy, 58, has drifted out of the political arena but polls show he’s still popular among his fellow conservatives, whose UMP party is riven with infighting. He has been seen more often in public in recent weeks, prompting talk that he might run for president again in 2017.
The poor French.
While Sarkozy is off the hook in the Bettencourt affair, his name has surfaced in other investigations. Relatives of French victims of a deadly 2002 bombing in Pakistan filed a complaint in Paris last year against Sarkozy and two former advisers for allegedly violating a duty to secrecy in an investigation of the case.
What, did he use it for propaganda purposes?
Maybe you French need a "new" president:
"France’s Sarkozy cleared in campaign finance case" by Jamey Keaten | Associated Press, October 08, 2013
PARIS — Former president Nicolas Sarkozy was cleared Monday of allegations he illegally took donations from France’s richest woman on the way to his 2007 election victory, his lawyer and an official said.
The announcement fanned speculation of a political comeback for Sarkozy, who lost the presidency to Socialist Francois Hollande last year.
Citing a lack of evidence, two investigating magistrates dismissed claims that Sarkozy had taken advantage of the frail state of Liliane Bettencourt, the L’Oreal cosmetics heiress who is now 90, the official in the Bordeaux prosecutor’s said. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not permitted to speak to the media.
‘‘I am delighted about this decision, which I expected,’’ Sarkozy’s lawyer Thierry Herzog told reporters outside the former president’s office. After leaving a private meeting on Monday at the main Paris mosque, Sarkozy nodded to cameras but did not speak to journalists.
Ten other people — including Sarkozy’s former budget minister, Eric Woerth — are still expected to face trial next year on charges in the case that include alleged fraud and money laundering.
A former Bettencourt accountant told police she handed over $192,000 in cash that she was told would be passed to Woerth, Sarkozy’s campaign treasurer for the 2007 presidential bid. That was over the maximum campaign contributions under French law.
After reports of the illegal campaign cash surfaced in 2010, investigators pieced together their case, coming closer to Sarkozy himself. In March, he was handed preliminary charges, meaning magistrates had reason to believe wrongdoing was committed. But after deeper investigation, the case against Sarkozy collapsed because of lack of evidence.
‘‘The dismissal is good news, but I am not surprised because this case file was totally empty,’’ said Patrick Balkany, a National Assembly lawmaker and longtime Sarkozy friend.
Sarkozy, 58, has drifted out of the political arena but polls show he’s still popular among his fellow conservatives, whose UMP party is riven with infighting. He has been seen more often in public in recent weeks, prompting talk that he might run for president again in 2017.
The poor French.
While Sarkozy is off the hook in the Bettencourt affair, his name has surfaced in other investigations. Relatives of French victims of a deadly 2002 bombing in Pakistan filed a complaint in Paris last year against Sarkozy and two former advisers for allegedly violating a duty to secrecy in an investigation of the case.
What, did he use it for propaganda purposes?
