Unesco called on Wednesday on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to urgently stop the slaughter of mountain gorillas in a national park where four were found killed last month. Unesco said that another female gorilla and her young were also reported missing and that seven gorillas had now been shot in the Virunga National Park.
France has agreed to sell anti-tank missiles to Libya as part of a broader military agreement, the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi was quoted as saying on Wednesday. ”You know this is the first arms supply deal between Libya and a Western country,” Saif al-Islam said, adding he expected more to be signed shortly.
The controversy surrounding former Australia coach Eddie Jones advising the Springboks looks set to grow after it was revealed on Tuesday he had held talks with a view to staying on until the end of the South Africans’ campaign. Andy Marinos, rugby manager of the South African national teams, confirmed that there were ongoing talks with Jones.
A French trade union leader on Tuesday warned that the Rugby World Cup could be disrupted by industrial unrest unless the government changes a Bill intended to limit the impact of transport strikes. Bernard Thibault, of the General Labour Confederation, said the Bill was an ”intimidatory measure” because it restricted the right to strike.
Fears that teenagers using the social networking website MySpace are exposing themselves to sexual predators by disclosing too many personal details are probably overblown, researchers say. The site had come under fire from parents, teachers and law enforcement.
The 2007 Tour de France ended on Sunday after three weeks of unwelcome controversy and drama that has led to calls for far-reaching reforms ahead of 2008. One of the most tainted editions of the race since the Festina doping scandal in 1998 ended in triumph for Discovery Channel’s yellow jersey winner Alberto Contador on the Champs Elysees.
Spaniard Alberto Contador won the drug-tainted Tour de France in Paris on Sunday when he held on to his 23-second overnight lead on Australia’s Cadel Evans to secure the race’s fabled yellow jersey. Contador becomes the first Spaniard to win the three-week race since Miguel Indurain from 1991 to 1995.
The widest-yet investigation into cannabis and mental health says individuals who use marijuana increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness by more than 40%. Reporting in Saturday’s issue of the Lancet, the doctors call on health supremos to warn young people about the risk to their mind.
French judges placed former prime minister Dominique de Villepin under formal investigation on Friday for his role in an alleged plot to smear Nicolas Sarkozy and damage his chances of winning the presidency. Villepin went to the offices of judges Jean-Marie d’Huy and Henri Pons on Friday morning to answer questions.
McLaren were cleared on Thursday by Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, of any wrongdoing in the espionage affair that has engulfed the sport this season. An extraordinary hearing of the 25-strong World Motor Sports Council, the sport’s highest body, ruled that there was no evidence the British team had benefited from confidential Ferrari documents.
Did Jim Morrison OD on a nightclub toilet or die of a drug-induced heart attack in a bathtub at home? Thirty-six years after the death in Paris of the <i>Doors</i> legend, biographers are locking horns over his final hours. The latest book on the life and times of Morrison says he was found slumped behind a locked toilet door on July 3 1971 in the Rock’n Roll Circus.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy heads on Wednesday to Tripoli for strategic talks with Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi, ahead of his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as head of state. Sarkozy announced he would make the ”political trip” to Tripoli after French efforts contributed to the release of six foreign medics held in Libya since 1999.
Six foreign medics convicted of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV have left Libya for Bulgaria aboard a French presidential jet, France said on Tuesday. Libya lifted death sentences against the medics last week and commuted them to terms of life imprisonment.
A Cambodian-born French woman faces prosecution for criminal damage after planting a kiss on a painting by the artist Cy Twombly, leaving the imprint of her lipstick on the otherwise immaculate white canvas.
A French newspaper broke the embargo on the new Harry Potter book on Friday by revealing the fate of the principle characters. Le Parisien printed a brief summary of the conclusion of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows — but upside-down so that unwary readers could avoid the spoiler.
Take the gecko, famed for its ability to scale walls, and the mussel, renowned for its clamping quality, and you have the inspirations for a superglue that can stick, unstick and stick again. The glue, dubbed "geckel", can have innumerable uses, say the inventors, whose research is published in <i>Nature</i>, the British journal.
Part of the cosmetics giant L’Oréal was recently found guilty of racial discrimination after it sought to exclude non-white women from promoting its shampoo. In a landmark case, the Garnier division of the beauty empire, along with a recruitment agency it employed, were fined â,¬30 000 each after they recruited women on the basis of race.
Scientists say they have cracked a nearly eight-decade-old riddle involving the Möbius strip, a mathematical phenomenon that has also become an icon of art. Since 1930, the Möbius strip has been a classic poser for experts in mechanics. The teaser is to resolve the strip algebraically.
The McLaren Formula One team was charged by the sport’s governing body on Thursday with unauthorised possession of secret Ferrari documents. McLaren were summoned to appear before the FIA’s world motor-sport council in Paris on July 26 to explain how they gained possession of the documents.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner travels to Serbia this week amid signs that Europe is ready to recognise Kosovo’s independence even without a supporting United Nations resolution. Serbia rejects independence for Kosovo, seen by many Serbs as the cradle of their nation and religion.
The official story goes like this: on the last night of Jim Morrison’s life, the rocker went to a movie in Paris, listened to records, fell ill and died of heart failure in his bathtub at age 27. But rumours and mystery have always swirled around the death of the Doors frontman, and now a former Paris nightclub manager is telling another story.
Where once there were lawsuits and restraining orders, now there are tearful tributes and emotional reconciliations. There can never have been a better time to be a tennis dad. Just ask Dr Walter Bartoli and Richard Williams who provided a touching sideshow to the disappointing Wimbledon final their daughters served up on Centre Court on Saturday.
The hooded killers of the Chadian president’s son were filmed on video surveillance cameras in the underground car park in France where his body was found, a judicial source said on Tuesday. Brahim Déby was discovered dead in his car early on Monday near his home outside Paris.
Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno’s son, Brahim, was found dead on Monday morning in the underground parking lot of a building he lived in near Paris, police and court officials said. President Déby sacked Brahim as his adviser in June 2006 after the then 27-year-old was arrested in a Paris discotheque for possessing an illegal firearm and drugs.
This year, 7/7/07 provides a unique opportunity for superstition and marketing to come together: starry-eyed couples are tying the knot, casinos are over-booked and Live Earth concerts as well as the proclamation of the world’s seven new wonders take place that day.
The number of millionaires in the world increased by 8,3% in 2006, with about 9,5-million individuals now estimated to have more than -million in financial assets, a report said on Wednesday. The financial assets owned by the group totalled ,2-trillion, an increase of 11,4% from 2005.
France, the United States, China and 15 other nations agreed on Monday to redouble efforts to end bloodshed in Sudan’s Darfur region by supporting a new peace force and negotiations on a settlement. ”The international community simply cannot continue to sit by,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the end of the one-day conference.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged world powers on Monday to take a tough line with Sudan if it balks at efforts to end bloodshed in Darfur, and argued that ignoring the situation was tantamount to complicity. ”Silence kills,” Sarkozy told ministers from 20 nations taking part in a one-day meeting in Paris to shore up the peace process in Darfur.
Under-fire defending champion Floyd Landis will be among the notable absentees when the 94th edition of the Tour de France kicks into gear on July 7. Landis’s future is still in limbo following his positive test for testosterone, which brought the Tour to its knees only days after he had sealed a spectacular yellow jersey triumph in Paris last year.
Springbok skipper Victor Matfield is to play for French second division side Toulon next season, L’Equipe sports daily reported on Thursday. The 30-year-old lock will join the Mediterranean coast team on a one-year contract after the World Cup in France.
Records from the trial of Nelson Mandela, a medieval French tapestry, a millennium-old Iranian epic and the Hollywood movie The Wizard of Oz are among 38 new items on a Unesco cultural heritage list, the body said on Tuesday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy met his prime minister on Monday after securing an unexpectedly small parliamentary majority and losing a senior minister — setbacks that nonetheless left his reform programme on track. Sarkozy formally reappointed Prime Minister Francois Fillon, and their first task will be to find a replacement for government number two Alain Juppe.