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/ 28 November 2005
France coach Bernard Laporte says his team, which has recently beaten Australia and South Africa, must still improve to stand a chance of winning the 2007 World Cup. France beat South Africa 26-20 on Saturday at Stade de France to give Laporte a fourth straight win following comfortable successes against Tonga and Canada and a 26-16 win over the Wallabies.
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/ 28 November 2005
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Twenty-five million people have died from HIV/Aids in 24 years, more than three million of whom died this year alone, and at least 40-million people today have HIV, a rise of about five million over the past 12 months. With just a month left to go, the World Health Organisation’s goal of providing anti-retroviral drugs for three million poor people by the end of 2005 is poised to fall dismally short of the mark.
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/ 28 November 2005
Everything the All Blacks touch seems to turn to gold. That’s the opinion of Wallabies coach Eddie Jones and the embattled handler is not far wrong. Aside from coming from behind to land the right to host the 2011 World Cup, New Zealand finish the year with the British Isles Grand Slam, a 3-0 series win over the British and Irish Lions and the Tri-Nations trophy.
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/ 27 November 2005
France scored two tries in the first 10 minutes and held out South Africa 26-20 in a rugby international at Stade de France on Saturday. Early tries by Dimitri Szarzewski and Frederic Michalak helped France lead 15-0 at half-time, though captain Jerome Thion left shortly afterward from an elbow in the face by South African counterpart John Smit.
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/ 26 November 2005
The present South Africa side should still be the one to represent the 1995 World Cup winners in the 2007 renewal, coach Jake White said on Friday. ”This is a squad that takes the sport really seriously, and given the history of the Springboks, the fans expect us to win,” he said.
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/ 25 November 2005
The United States ran a detention centre in Kosovo that resembled ”a smaller version of Guantánamo”, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner charged on Friday in an interview with France’s Le Monde newspaper. Alvaro Gil-Robles said he had inspected the centre in 2002 and he conditions there ”shocked” him.
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/ 25 November 2005
France is denial about the dangers of alcoholism and alcohol abuse, linked to one in 10 deaths in the country, according to a government-commissioned report issued on Thursday. Two million French people are dependent on alcohol, and women and young adults are taking an increased share of the population of alcohol abusers, the report ”Alcoholism: Straight Talk, Simple Talk” said.
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/ 24 November 2005
France coach Bernard Laporte has a simple plan to counter South Africa: keep hold of the ball. Laporte says that because of the Springboks’ counter-attacking speed, along with their physical strength, Les Tricolores must keep possession at the Stade de France on Saturday. ”We will need to be very wary and make sure we keep hold of the ball,” Laporte said on Thursday at the French training camp.
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/ 24 November 2005
A 15-year-old boy who shot dead most of his family in a rampage last year that shocked France appeared in court on Thursday for the beginning of his two-day trial for murder. Identified only as Pierre F because of his age, the proceedings were taking place behind closed doors in the western French city of Rouen.
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/ 23 November 2005
Veteran wing Breyton Paulse was recalled to the South African line-up to play France at the Stade de France in Chantilly on Saturday. He and fellow veteran Os du Randt are the only two changes to the side that beat Wales 33-16 in Cardiff last Saturday. Paulse wins his 55th cap at the expense of Conrad Jantjes.
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/ 23 November 2005
Surging oil prices continue to weigh heavily on airlines’ earnings around the world, as carriers press hard to cut costs so rising fuel costs do not eat into revenue generated by a rise in passenger traffic. After a three-year slump, international passenger and cargo traffic has risen by 8,3% since the beginning of the year.
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/ 23 November 2005
Now man’s best friend can take a round in the chest and live to bark about it too, thanks to a new bulletproof vest for dogs. Manufactured by the German firm Mehler, the 3kg protective garment is on display this week at a high-tech security trade show outside Paris.
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/ 23 November 2005
While movie-goers around the world await the thunderous arrival of the new <i>King Kong</i> re-make in cinemas next month, the giant ape is already rampaging towards department stores and Christmas trees in the form of a computer game.
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/ 22 November 2005
As France ponders why its still-smoldering suburbs erupted into three weeks of sustained rioting, one culprit singled out for blame is the soulless, high-rise concrete jungles ringing the country’s major cities. Add last summer’s fatal fires in rundown Paris tenements, and suddenly affordable, livable public housing is a front-burner issue.
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/ 22 November 2005
South Africa have announced that winger Breyton Paulse has been recalled for Saturday’s Test against France having been absent from their past two matches because of club commitments. Meanwhile, France coach Bernard Laporte made nine changes to his side from the team who won 43-8 against Tonga at the weekend.
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/ 21 November 2005
Almost nobody believes radical Islam was a trigger for the rioting that exploded in France three weeks ago. But experts and authorities fear the social discontent that found an outlet in suburban rampaging could evolve among a small minority of the rioters into a dangerous form of Islamic militancy. Many predict the months to come will become a struggle for the soul of these angry suburbs.
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/ 15 November 2005
French telecom equipment maker Alcatel said on Tuesday that it had signed a preliminary agreement with Australian telecoms giant Telstra for a maintenance and supply contract worth €2,18-billion. Telstra is planning an overhaul of its communications network to enable it to transmit all of its voice and broadband internet data via a single web-based system.
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/ 14 November 2005
French artist Raymond Hains, a member of the new-realism movement who was famous for his shredded posters, has died at age 78, French officials said. Hains banded together with leading artists, including Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely and Arman, to found new realism in 1960.
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/ 14 November 2005
The French government was to meet on Monday on whether to extend a state of emergency in a number of places to tackle more than two weeks of urban unrest as the number of attacks was dropping nationwide. An overnight curfew was still in force in 40 municipalities and authorities in the southeastern city of Lyon banned public gatherings in order to head off a repeat of clashes in the historic centre.
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/ 12 November 2005
More than two weeks of rioting by youths in France have left a mark on the country’s less than shining economy. The direct losses — despite spectacular pictures of buses and carpet warehouses ablaze — are small. It is France’s image that has suffered the greatest damage.
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/ 11 November 2005
France was on alert on Friday for a possible upsurge of violence as the country headed into a long holiday weekend, two weeks after rioting first broke out in a run-down suburb of Paris. Exceptional security measures were taken for Armistice Day ceremonies attended by President Jacques Chirac in the capital.
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/ 10 November 2005
Violence across France appeared to abate on Thursday in the first 24 hours of emergency measures aimed at stopping the country’s worst civil unrest in decades. Some cities, including the Riviera resorts of Cannes and Nice, imposed curfews on minors. At least 482 cars were set on fire across the country on Wednesday night.
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/ 9 November 2005
British, French and German soldiers down their rifles and celebrate Christmas between their trenches in a moving French film due for release on Wednesday, two days before the anniversary of the 1918 Armistice. Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) covers a 24-hour festive truce made by three lieutenants who meet in no-man’s-land.
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/ 9 November 2005
They are gathered, as every night, on the edge of the car park at the foot of the block. Far enough into the shadows not to be easily seen; close enough to the stairwell to leg it inside if the police come near. Sylla, Sossa, Karim, Rachid, Mounir and Samir are the names they give. The oldest is 21, the youngest 15.
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/ 8 November 2005
French Cabinet ministers were to meet on Tuesday to authorise curfews aimed at stopping rioters after the country’s worst civil unrest in decades raged for a 12th night. Rioters in the southern city of Toulouse ordered passengers off a bus and then set it on fire and pelted police with gasoline bombs and rocks. Youths also torched another bus in the north-eastern Paris suburb of Stains.
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/ 7 November 2005
Riots in France’s poor city suburbs appeared to be spiralling out of control on Monday after the worst night of violence to date, in which more than 30 police were injured and 1 400 cars burned across the country. "The shockwave has spread from Paris to the provinces," said the director general of the national police.
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/ 5 November 2005
Nearly 900 vehicles were torched and 250-plus people arrested on Saturday as French police desperately battled the country’s worst rioting for decades, which has now raged for nine consecutive nights. Again, the bulk of the violence hit deprived suburbs with large immigrant populations on the fringes of Paris, although rioting again spread to several cities elsewhere in France.
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/ 4 November 2005
Further serious rioting broke out on the outskirts of Paris early on Friday as gangs of youths challenged authorities’ vow to crack down on urban violence that has plagued the French capital for more than a week. Police said about 400 cars were torched, mostly in the Paris region, while 27 buses went up in flames at a depot.
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/ 3 November 2005
France’s government faced mounting pressure on Thursday after suburban rioters fired at police and firefighters, hurled rocks at trains and torched buses and car dealerships. Nine people were injured in Seine-Saint-Denis and 315 cars were torched across the Paris area where acts of violence ranged from stone-throwing to torching vehicles.
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/ 3 November 2005
Top-seeded Andy Roddick beat Taylor Dent 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5 on Wednesday to reach the third round at the Paris Masters. Meanwhile, ninth-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden beat Belgium’s Kristof Vliegen 6-3, 6-2 to move into the third round. He next plays number six Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.
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/ 2 November 2005
Unrest spread across troubled suburbs around Paris in a sixth night of violence as police clashed with angry youths and scores of vehicles were torched in at least nine towns, officials said on Wednesday. Police fired rubber bullets at advancing gangs of youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois, where 15 cars were burned on Tuesday night, officials said.
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/ 1 November 2005
With the spread of bird flu prompting fears of an epidemic or even pandemic that could kill humans by the million, a Chinese spice hitherto associated with the pleasures of aperitifs has suddenly assumed key medical significance. The fruit known as star anise has an ingredient vital to a drug to fight the strain of avian flu that has already killed more than 60 people in Asia.