No image available
/ 27 February 2008
French President Nicolas Sarkozy travelled to Chad on Wednesday as rights groups urged France not to ”cover up” for President Idriss Déby Itno, accused of having a hand in the disappearance of opposition members. The president will make a brief stopover in Ndjamena en route to South Africa.
No image available
/ 10 February 2008
A new court battle will be held on Monday over the detention of French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel. The decision by a Paris appeals court on Friday to back a prosecution demand that the 31-year-old trader be held in custody was the latest twist in the worst investment banking scandal in history.
No image available
/ 9 February 2008
A second trader suspected of involvement in the multibillion-dollar losses at Société Générale bank was taken for questioning by judges on Saturday. The unnamed broker at Société Générale subsidiary Fimat was seen leaving the headquarters of the police financial brigade aboard an unmarked police van escorted by a car.
No image available
/ 7 February 2008
Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno said on Thursday he was willing to pardon six French aid workers convicted of trying to fly more than 100 children out of the country, now serving their jail terms in France. ”I am ready to pardon them,” Déby told French radio Europe 1.
No image available
/ 24 January 2008
Global digital music sales rose by 40% to an estimated -billion in 2007, but the strong growth failed to compensate for the continued slump in CD sales, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a report published on Thursday. Figures showed that digital sales in 2007 accounted for 15% of the global music market.
No image available
/ 10 January 2008
Talks are under way to explore the possibility of South Africa being invited to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) — the so-called "rich man’s club" of nations. The 30 OECD countries have already given the green light for the start of accession talks with five prospective new members.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for the Presidency to break its silence over the ongoing fracas in Kenya. ”An upfront reiteration by the South African Presidency that it will not countenance ballot rigging and improper retention of power would be both appropriate and timeous,” the DA’s Tony Leon said.
Nascar driver Robby Gordon says the cancellation of the Dakar Rally cost him approximately ,5-million, and he disagreed with the decision not to race at least a portion of the event. Gordon said his team had built two cars for the event and had more than -million invested in each vehicle.
This year’s Dakar Rally has been cancelled over security concerns, in particular direct ”terrorist” threats to the race, organisers announced on Friday. The race had been due to start in Lisbon on Saturday but the murder of four French tourists in Mauritania on December 24 led to the French government advising against any travel to the country.
No image available
/ 21 December 2007
Six French aid workers on trial on kidnapping charges in Chad were trying to save children they believed to be Darfur orphans, and therefore are protected by international law from any charges, their lawyers said on Friday moments before the trial began.
No image available
/ 21 November 2007
Widespread sabotage has damaged France’s high-speed rail network and caused huge delays to services already hit by an eight-day transport strike, a senior executive at the SNCF state railways said on Wednesday. The majority of railwaymen are now back at work ahead of the resumption of negotiations in their dispute over pension reform.
No image available
/ 16 November 2007
A special Rwandan commission handed over on Friday a 500-page report on France’s alleged role in the country’s 1994 genocide, the commission’s president said. Paris has already rejected the competency of the commission of historians and jurists tasked to assemble evidence of France’s role in Rwanda’s genocide.
No image available
/ 1 November 2007
Félicien Kabuga has a reward of several million dollars on his head, and tops the list of fugitives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Yet, he’s managed to escape justice for years. The ICTR was set up in northern Tanzania by the United Nations in 1995 to bring high-level perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide to justice.
No image available
/ 31 October 2007
Chadians chanting ”No to the slave trade, no to child-trafficking” protested on Wednesday against a French group accused of trying to illegally fly children from the the country to Europe. Several hundred angry locals gathered outside the governor’s office in the town of Abeche, where nine French nationals and seven Spaniards were arrested last week.
No image available
/ 30 October 2007
Spain ”disagrees” with charges filed against seven Spaniards in Chad over an alleged operation by a French charity to abduct 103 children to France, its Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. ”The government disagrees with this accusation,” Spain’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Bernardino Leon, told Spanish public radio RNE.
No image available
/ 30 October 2007
Tuareg-led rebels in Niger accused French uranium miner Areva on Monday of financing a government offensive and warned of ”grave consequences” for its staff and installations. The French government-controlled company has been caught in the middle of a rebellion launched in February by nomadic tribesmen.
No image available
/ 29 October 2007
Paris scrambled on Monday to contain a row sparked by a French charity’s bid to airlift more than 100 children out of Chad, a key ally for Europe’s peacekeeping strategy in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region. Chad President Idriss Déby Itno reacted furiously to the botched operation, even suggesting the charity planned to sell the children to paedophiles.
No image available
/ 25 October 2007
France is trying to shed its reputation as ”Africa’s policeman” but, despite efforts to involve European partners in peacekeeping missions, there are no signs it will hang up its baton just yet. France won backing last month for an European Union force to be deployed soon in east Chad and Central African Republic, where it already has troops stationed.
No image available
/ 22 October 2007
Three Sudanese soldiers were killed when government forces attacked a refugee camp in Darfur, the second assault reported on a shelter for displaced people in less than a week, the United Nations said on Monday. The fighting was the latest in a series of clashes just days before planned peace talks.
No image available
/ 19 October 2007
![]()
Argentina ended the World Cup the way they had started it, running in five tries to tame France 34-10 in an ill-tempered third-place playoff at the Parc des Princes on Friday.
No image available
/ 19 October 2007
![]()
France and Argentina clash on Friday in a World Cup third place play-off overshadowed by simmering French resentment at their opening night shock defeat to the Pumas five weeks ago. That 17-12 embarrassment threatened to send the hosts’ campaign into freefall before they righted their listing ship with a spectacular quarterfinal win over the All Blacks.
No image available
/ 11 October 2007
![]()
Rarely has the term ”Le Crunch”, often used to describe internationals between England and France, been more appropriate than for Saturday’s World Cup semifinal at the Stade de France. The old rivals will meet for the 90th time, knowing that defeat for either side could signal the end of some distinguished rugby careers.
French newspapers mined the Watergate archive to describe the political ramifications of a share trading scandal enveloping Airbus parent Eads on Thursday, posing questions about ”Who knew what, and when?” Coverage of suspicions of ”massive” insider trading focused on the risk of instability at Europe’s largest aerospace and defence group.
No image available
/ 4 September 2007
![]()
Days before the opening match of the Rugby World Cup, a global coalition representing news agencies and newspapers is still at odds with the International Rugby Board (IRB) concerning coverage of the event. Despite progress on several fronts over the last two weeks, two points of contention concerning photographs remain.
Panama’s former dictator, Manuel Noriega, can be extradited to France for a money-laundering trial after he completes a lengthy jail sentence in Miami next month, a United States judge ruled on Tuesday. France wants to try the 73-year-old for allegedly laundering -million in drug money through French banks.