Georges Tron denies allegations made by two women who worked for him at town hall in Draveil, near Paris Kim Willsher in Paris
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 May 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/29/french-minister-reisgns-accused-sexual-assault
A French minister has resigned from Nicolas Sarkozy's government after he was put under investigation for allegedly sexually assaulting two women who worked for him.
The departure of the civil service minister, Georges Tron – who denies the allegations – was announced by the prime minister, François Fillon, on Sunday.
French prosecutors were in the preliminary stages of investigating accusations of sexual aggression and rape against Tron, whose lawyer, Olivier Schnerb, said were "pure defamation" and "balderdash".
The investigation comes two weeks after the arrest of the former IMF head and Socialist presidential hopeful, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is facing sexual assault charges in New York.
Tron's position became untenable after the foreign minister, Alain Juppé, told a television show that although his colleague was "presumed innocent", he should consider resigning because "government ministers had to be above all suspicion."
The two women, aged 34 and 36, have lodged complaints with the public prosecutor, claiming Tron assaulted them between 2007 and 2010 while they worked at the town hall in Draveil, south of Paris, where he is the mayor.
The women claim the assaults started after Tron, who says he is a qualified reflexologist, offered to give the women foot massages. They say it was the arrest of Strauss-Kahn that encouraged them to come forward. "When I see that a little chambermaid is capable of taking on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, I told myself I did not have the right to stay silent," one of them told a French newspaper.
"Other women have perhaps suffered what I have suffered. I have to help them. We have to smash this omerta."
The Strauss-Kahn affair has triggered soul-searching in France about sex and power. After the shock and disbelief of the arrest of the man nicknamed the Great Seducer, French pundits have been questioning whether strict privacy laws and alleged media complicity have enabled politicians and celebrities to get away with unacceptable behaviour. Sunday's edition of the Journal du Dimanche wrote of a "before and an after DSK" (as Strauss-Kahn is known in France).
Strauss-Kahn had already been forced to apologise for a "lack of judgment" after an affair with a junior colleague at the IMF shortly after he took up his post in 2007.
Tristane Banon, a journalist, claimed in 2007 that Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her in 2002, but her claims were largely ignored by the mainstream French press and her mother, a Socialist politician and friend of the Strauss-Kahn family persuaded her not to go to the police.
Last week a women's association said one of the women, claiming she had been attacked by Tron, had come forward in November with a "credible" complaint against the 53-year-old minister.
In a statement, the European Association Against Violence Against Women at Work said: "Her credibility is not in question from our point of view."
Tron claims the women have a vendetta against him after being sacked from their jobs. "I am not naive – they are trying to echo an affair taking place the other side of the Atlantic," he told Reuters last week. In an interview prior to his resignation, he said: "The accusations against me are fantasy."
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Thursday, October 28, 2010
French Unions: We Won't Pay For 'Failures of Global Finance'
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/10/22
Friday, October 22, 2010
Agence France-Presse
French Unions: We Won't Pay For 'Failures of Global Finance'
French Police, Strikers Clash Ahead of Pension Vote
PARIS – French riot police tear-gassed workers trying to block a fuel depot and broke up a picket at a key refinery serving Paris on Friday, hours before the Senate votes on fiercely-contested pension reforms.
Police used tear gas to repel 200 demonstrators trying to block a fuel depot before dawn near the southern city of Toulouse as part of protests against President Nicolas Sarkozy's bid to hike retirement age to 62, unions said.
Police moved in a few hours later to clear the entrance to Grandpuits refinery, which serves the Paris region, after an emergency decree ordered strikers there back to work. Three people were injured, unions said.
Fuel distribution firms warned that their plans to resupply filling stations would take longer than planned, but the government insisted that as yet it has no plans to introduce petrol rationing.
Turmoil continued around the country, as students staged another day of protests, workers stepped up fuel depot pickets and unions called two more days of mass strikes and street rallies for next week and the week after.
Hundreds of riot squad officers stood by in Lyon to try to prevent a repeat of Thursday's violence that saw security forces fire water cannon and fight running battles with rampaging youths in the east-central city.
Transport Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said fuel shortages had eased but one in five petrol stations was still without supplies as many families prepared to go on holiday when schools shut Friday for a mid-term break.
For two months France has been in the grip of a wave of protests against Sarkozy's bid to raise retirement age from 60 and the age at which retirees can get full pension payments from 65 to 67.
The protests have become the biggest battle of the right-wing president's mandate and he has staked his credibility on a reform he says is essential to reduce France's public deficit.
The bill has been moving through parliament and Labour Minister Eric Woerth said it would be approved in a Senate vote "in the coming hours", clearing the last major hurdle, which means it could become law as early as next week.
"The law is the law, so the protests, the discontent, the concern ... should end the moment the law is voted," he told France 2 television.
But unions, who say the reforms unfairly penalise workers for the failures of global finance, showed no sign of easing their campaign to bring Sarkozy, whose poll ratings are at an all-time low, to the negotiating table.
On Thursday, at the end of another day of clashes between youths and police in cities across France, unions called for workers to join two new days of nationwide demonstrations next Thursday and on November 6.
"Strengthened by the support of workers, the young and a majority of the population ... the labour organisations have decided to continue and to broaden the mobilisation," the main labour groups said in a joint statement.
More than a million people took to the streets on Tuesday, the sixth day of nationwide action since early September.
An opinion poll published Friday by the BVA institute and broadcast by Canal Plus television, showed that most French voters back the strikes, by a margin of 69 percent to 29 -- but 52 percent oppose the blockade of refineries.
Charles Foulard, head of the powerful CGT union in the refinery sector, insisted the goal of the blockade was not to "paralyse the country" but was "a cry for help to the government to open negotiations."
France's 12 oil refineries have been disrupted by the strikes.
Transport Minister Borloo said the police operation at Grandpuits was not designed to restart refining but to gain access to fuel already stocked there.
In Marseille civil defence troops have been sent in to clear rubbish from the streets of the Mediterranean port where garbage collectors are on strike, and in Toulouse intensified workers are blocking access to dumps.
Rubbish was starting to pile up in some areas of Paris too due to strike action by garbage collectors.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Agence France-Presse
French Unions: We Won't Pay For 'Failures of Global Finance'
French Police, Strikers Clash Ahead of Pension Vote
PARIS – French riot police tear-gassed workers trying to block a fuel depot and broke up a picket at a key refinery serving Paris on Friday, hours before the Senate votes on fiercely-contested pension reforms.
Police used tear gas to repel 200 demonstrators trying to block a fuel depot before dawn near the southern city of Toulouse as part of protests against President Nicolas Sarkozy's bid to hike retirement age to 62, unions said.
Police moved in a few hours later to clear the entrance to Grandpuits refinery, which serves the Paris region, after an emergency decree ordered strikers there back to work. Three people were injured, unions said.
Fuel distribution firms warned that their plans to resupply filling stations would take longer than planned, but the government insisted that as yet it has no plans to introduce petrol rationing.
Turmoil continued around the country, as students staged another day of protests, workers stepped up fuel depot pickets and unions called two more days of mass strikes and street rallies for next week and the week after.
Hundreds of riot squad officers stood by in Lyon to try to prevent a repeat of Thursday's violence that saw security forces fire water cannon and fight running battles with rampaging youths in the east-central city.
Transport Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said fuel shortages had eased but one in five petrol stations was still without supplies as many families prepared to go on holiday when schools shut Friday for a mid-term break.
For two months France has been in the grip of a wave of protests against Sarkozy's bid to raise retirement age from 60 and the age at which retirees can get full pension payments from 65 to 67.
The protests have become the biggest battle of the right-wing president's mandate and he has staked his credibility on a reform he says is essential to reduce France's public deficit.
The bill has been moving through parliament and Labour Minister Eric Woerth said it would be approved in a Senate vote "in the coming hours", clearing the last major hurdle, which means it could become law as early as next week.
"The law is the law, so the protests, the discontent, the concern ... should end the moment the law is voted," he told France 2 television.
But unions, who say the reforms unfairly penalise workers for the failures of global finance, showed no sign of easing their campaign to bring Sarkozy, whose poll ratings are at an all-time low, to the negotiating table.
On Thursday, at the end of another day of clashes between youths and police in cities across France, unions called for workers to join two new days of nationwide demonstrations next Thursday and on November 6.
"Strengthened by the support of workers, the young and a majority of the population ... the labour organisations have decided to continue and to broaden the mobilisation," the main labour groups said in a joint statement.
More than a million people took to the streets on Tuesday, the sixth day of nationwide action since early September.
An opinion poll published Friday by the BVA institute and broadcast by Canal Plus television, showed that most French voters back the strikes, by a margin of 69 percent to 29 -- but 52 percent oppose the blockade of refineries.
Charles Foulard, head of the powerful CGT union in the refinery sector, insisted the goal of the blockade was not to "paralyse the country" but was "a cry for help to the government to open negotiations."
France's 12 oil refineries have been disrupted by the strikes.
Transport Minister Borloo said the police operation at Grandpuits was not designed to restart refining but to gain access to fuel already stocked there.
In Marseille civil defence troops have been sent in to clear rubbish from the streets of the Mediterranean port where garbage collectors are on strike, and in Toulouse intensified workers are blocking access to dumps.
Rubbish was starting to pile up in some areas of Paris too due to strike action by garbage collectors.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Why French unions don't want to wait until 62 to retire
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0923/Why-French-unions-don-t-want-to-wait-until-62-to-retire
Why French unions don't want to wait until 62 to retire
French unions rallied again in protest of President Sarkozy's proposal to increase the minimum retirement age to 62.
Anita Elash, Contributor / September 23, 2010
French workers took to the streets today for the second time this month in a massive and colorful protest against the government’s plans to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62.
In Paris, tens of thousands of demonstrators of all ages wound their way through the city center singing protest hymns and waving banners that bore slogans such as “Prisoners of work” and “Time to retire Sarkozy, racist,” in a reference to the controversy over Roma expulsions. There were similar marches in towns and cities across France, and in major centers the strikes created havoc for travelers. About 50 percent of national and regional trains and flights at French airports were cancelled.
Organizers considered the protest crucial in their fight against the pension reform, but it was unclear who won this round. Unions said the turnout was even higher than demonstrations earlier in the month, when between 1 million and 3 million people protested, but police estimates put it much lower and a statement from the Elysée presidential palace said that showed the French are ready to put the debate behind them.
But many workers say they’re prepared to stay the course, in spite of perceptions that they are simply too lazy to accept what would still be the lowest retirement age in Europe.
Two years too many, workers say
Jean-Pierre Lesouef, an electronics manager at the transportation giant Thalys, says he has already worked for 37 years and is too tired to work into his 60s.
“I’ve had enough,” he says. “When you’re at my age and you’ve worked as long as I have, you see if you want to work another two years.”
Some experts say complaints like Mr. Lesouef’s go a long way toward explaining why the proposal to add an extra two years to French working life has caused so much upset.
Why French workers might not be the happiest
Annual studies for the European Commission looking at attitudes toward work show the French, along with the Italians and the Spanish, are among the unhappiest workers on the continent.
Henri Sterdyniak, an economist at the Paris-based Centre for Economic Research, blames a hierarchical work structure within French companies that rarely allows room for professional development or promotions. Performance reviews are rare and negotiations on working conditions or career paths practically are scarce.
“The French model dictates that if you have a certain diploma you will have a certain career, and if you don’t you will never climb the ladder,” he says. “The worker at the bottom feels like he is constantly squeezed and never consulted. By the end of his career he is exhausted and uninterested, so it’s no wonder he wants to leave.”
Worker satisfaction has also dropped since the 37-hour workweek was introduced, because most people are forced to do the same tasks but in less time, Mr. Sterdyniak says.
What about pension benefits?
Workers like Daniel Quittot, an air conditioning technician, say they’re concerned they will be forced out of their jobs and unable to find new work well before they turn 62. “I’m afraid that if the retirement age goes up, I’ll have two extra years on unemployment and in the end I won’t have worked long enough to collect my full pension,” he says.
Sterdyniak says Mr. Quittot has legitimate fears. Surveys show that unemployment among French workers over 55 rose dramatically when the retirement age was reduced to 60 from 65 in 1983 and is now among the highest in Europe. Although many want to work up to 60, French employers are on average forced out of their jobs at 58.
“There is a real problem of age discrimination right now in France,” says Sterdyniak. “Unless that changes with the pension reform, we are going to create a whole new problem of unemployment.”
Why French unions don't want to wait until 62 to retire
French unions rallied again in protest of President Sarkozy's proposal to increase the minimum retirement age to 62.
Anita Elash, Contributor / September 23, 2010
French workers took to the streets today for the second time this month in a massive and colorful protest against the government’s plans to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62.
In Paris, tens of thousands of demonstrators of all ages wound their way through the city center singing protest hymns and waving banners that bore slogans such as “Prisoners of work” and “Time to retire Sarkozy, racist,” in a reference to the controversy over Roma expulsions. There were similar marches in towns and cities across France, and in major centers the strikes created havoc for travelers. About 50 percent of national and regional trains and flights at French airports were cancelled.
Organizers considered the protest crucial in their fight against the pension reform, but it was unclear who won this round. Unions said the turnout was even higher than demonstrations earlier in the month, when between 1 million and 3 million people protested, but police estimates put it much lower and a statement from the Elysée presidential palace said that showed the French are ready to put the debate behind them.
But many workers say they’re prepared to stay the course, in spite of perceptions that they are simply too lazy to accept what would still be the lowest retirement age in Europe.
Two years too many, workers say
Jean-Pierre Lesouef, an electronics manager at the transportation giant Thalys, says he has already worked for 37 years and is too tired to work into his 60s.
“I’ve had enough,” he says. “When you’re at my age and you’ve worked as long as I have, you see if you want to work another two years.”
Some experts say complaints like Mr. Lesouef’s go a long way toward explaining why the proposal to add an extra two years to French working life has caused so much upset.
Why French workers might not be the happiest
Annual studies for the European Commission looking at attitudes toward work show the French, along with the Italians and the Spanish, are among the unhappiest workers on the continent.
Henri Sterdyniak, an economist at the Paris-based Centre for Economic Research, blames a hierarchical work structure within French companies that rarely allows room for professional development or promotions. Performance reviews are rare and negotiations on working conditions or career paths practically are scarce.
“The French model dictates that if you have a certain diploma you will have a certain career, and if you don’t you will never climb the ladder,” he says. “The worker at the bottom feels like he is constantly squeezed and never consulted. By the end of his career he is exhausted and uninterested, so it’s no wonder he wants to leave.”
Worker satisfaction has also dropped since the 37-hour workweek was introduced, because most people are forced to do the same tasks but in less time, Mr. Sterdyniak says.
What about pension benefits?
Workers like Daniel Quittot, an air conditioning technician, say they’re concerned they will be forced out of their jobs and unable to find new work well before they turn 62. “I’m afraid that if the retirement age goes up, I’ll have two extra years on unemployment and in the end I won’t have worked long enough to collect my full pension,” he says.
Sterdyniak says Mr. Quittot has legitimate fears. Surveys show that unemployment among French workers over 55 rose dramatically when the retirement age was reduced to 60 from 65 in 1983 and is now among the highest in Europe. Although many want to work up to 60, French employers are on average forced out of their jobs at 58.
“There is a real problem of age discrimination right now in France,” says Sterdyniak. “Unless that changes with the pension reform, we are going to create a whole new problem of unemployment.”
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Masterpieces Stolen From Paris Museum
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559004575255903983038016.html
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
MAY 21, 2010
Masterpieces Stolen From Paris Museum
DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS
PARIS — Five paintings valued at close to €100 million ($124 million) and including works by Picasso and Matisse were stolen from one of Paris's most prestigious museums, French authorities said.
The theft was discovered early Thursday, before Paris's Musée d'Art Moderne, located across the River Seine from the Eiffel Tower, opened its doors to the public.
Police late Thursday weren't sure how the robbery was carried out but thought it could have been done by a single thief acting alone, said Christophe Girard, Paris deputy mayor in charge of culture.
They have so far collected several clues, he said: a broken padlock on a gate; a dismantled window; footage of a masked intruder caught by a surveillance camera; and five picture frames lying against a wall outside the museum.
The museum is equipped with alarm systems and surveillance cameras—equipment that was upgraded five years ago as part of a €15 million refurbishment. It was also guarded by three night wardens, said Mr. Girard.
Police examine the frames of the stolen paintings outside the Paris Museum of Modern Art on Thursday.
"People at the museum are traumatized," he said in a telephone interview. "These are such important pieces of art. It's clear that the security system was outfoxed."
The museum's alarm system had suffered technical problems in recent weeks, and a supplier had yet to deliver some replacement parts, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, said in a statement.
However, Mr. Girard said the alarm problem alone couldn't explain how a thief or a team of thieves could have broken into the museum so easily.
Four paintings—the Picasso, the Matisse, a Braque and a Léger—were stolen from one exhibition hall. The fifth, by Modigliani, was taken from another hall.
"It seems as if they knew exactly what they were looking for and knew the value of each painting," Mr. Girard said. "There were two paintings by Modigliani hung next to each other and they took the more expensive."
Police didn't rule out the possibility that the thief or thieves had accomplices within the museum, he said.
Mr. Girard said the stolen paintings were valued at a combined €92 million, according to the museum's books. The two most expensive were "Dove With Green Peas" by Pablo Picasso, valued at €25 million, and "Pastoral" by Henri Matisse, valued at an estimated €20 million, he said.
Police said it would be virtually impossible to sell the stolen paintings to museums or at art auctions because they are too well known. They said, however, that thieves sometimes try to extort money from insurance companies, which may be willing to recover stolen goods at a fraction of their value, instead of paying full compensations to museums.
The Paris mayor's office said the museum would remain closed until further notice.
Alice Farren-Bradley of the Art Loss Registry in London said the Paris theft "appears to be one of the biggest" art heists ever, considering the estimated value, the prominence of the artists and the high profile of the museum, the Associated Press reported. She also said the value of the paintings would have to be verified as museums and art dealers often value paintings differently.
French museums have suffered several thefts in recent months. Last year, a notepad with Picasso drawings, valued at an estimated $5 million, was stolen from Paris's Picasso museum, which was undergoing renovation. In December, a drawing by Edgar Degas was stolen at a museum in Marseille.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
MAY 21, 2010
Masterpieces Stolen From Paris Museum
DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS
PARIS — Five paintings valued at close to €100 million ($124 million) and including works by Picasso and Matisse were stolen from one of Paris's most prestigious museums, French authorities said.
The theft was discovered early Thursday, before Paris's Musée d'Art Moderne, located across the River Seine from the Eiffel Tower, opened its doors to the public.
Police late Thursday weren't sure how the robbery was carried out but thought it could have been done by a single thief acting alone, said Christophe Girard, Paris deputy mayor in charge of culture.
They have so far collected several clues, he said: a broken padlock on a gate; a dismantled window; footage of a masked intruder caught by a surveillance camera; and five picture frames lying against a wall outside the museum.
The museum is equipped with alarm systems and surveillance cameras—equipment that was upgraded five years ago as part of a €15 million refurbishment. It was also guarded by three night wardens, said Mr. Girard.
Police examine the frames of the stolen paintings outside the Paris Museum of Modern Art on Thursday.
"People at the museum are traumatized," he said in a telephone interview. "These are such important pieces of art. It's clear that the security system was outfoxed."
The museum's alarm system had suffered technical problems in recent weeks, and a supplier had yet to deliver some replacement parts, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, said in a statement.
However, Mr. Girard said the alarm problem alone couldn't explain how a thief or a team of thieves could have broken into the museum so easily.
Four paintings—the Picasso, the Matisse, a Braque and a Léger—were stolen from one exhibition hall. The fifth, by Modigliani, was taken from another hall.
"It seems as if they knew exactly what they were looking for and knew the value of each painting," Mr. Girard said. "There were two paintings by Modigliani hung next to each other and they took the more expensive."
Police didn't rule out the possibility that the thief or thieves had accomplices within the museum, he said.
Mr. Girard said the stolen paintings were valued at a combined €92 million, according to the museum's books. The two most expensive were "Dove With Green Peas" by Pablo Picasso, valued at €25 million, and "Pastoral" by Henri Matisse, valued at an estimated €20 million, he said.
Police said it would be virtually impossible to sell the stolen paintings to museums or at art auctions because they are too well known. They said, however, that thieves sometimes try to extort money from insurance companies, which may be willing to recover stolen goods at a fraction of their value, instead of paying full compensations to museums.
The Paris mayor's office said the museum would remain closed until further notice.
Alice Farren-Bradley of the Art Loss Registry in London said the Paris theft "appears to be one of the biggest" art heists ever, considering the estimated value, the prominence of the artists and the high profile of the museum, the Associated Press reported. She also said the value of the paintings would have to be verified as museums and art dealers often value paintings differently.
French museums have suffered several thefts in recent months. Last year, a notepad with Picasso drawings, valued at an estimated $5 million, was stolen from Paris's Picasso museum, which was undergoing renovation. In December, a drawing by Edgar Degas was stolen at a museum in Marseille.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Babewatch: Rihanna Goes to Paris
http://www.infdaily.com/2009/10/rihanna-is-a-french-fancy.html
RIHANNA IS A FRENCH FANCYThu, 2009-10-01
Oooh, La La!!
Singer Rihanna certainly gave French photographers an Eiffel when she showed up at a Fashion Week event in Paris in this revealing outfit.
Just the other week in New York, she shocked paps when she paraded around Manhattan in a see-through dress, flashing her pierced nipple to the world.
Rihanna is well known for her crazy and shocking ensembles.
And her motto certainly is ''if you've got it, flaunt it.''
GO GIRL!
Oooh, La La!!
Singer Rihanna certainly gave French photographers an Eiffel when she showed up at a Fashion Week event in Paris in this revealing outfit.Just the other week in New York, she shocked paps when she paraded around Manhattan in a see-through dress, flashing her pierced nipple to the world.
Rihanna is well known for her crazy and shocking ensembles.
And her motto certainly is ''if you've got it, flaunt it.''
GO GIRL!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Paul Laffoley in Paris at Palais de Tokyo
http://www.dangerousminds.net/index.php/site/comments/paul_laffoley_sixties_paintings_in_paris_at_palias_de_tokyo/Paul Laffoley in Paris at Palais de Tokyo
09.23.2009
Richard Metzger
Douglas Walla and New York’s Kent Gallery announce a big Paul Laffoley show in Paris, to be held at the Palais de Tokyo as part of their Chasing Napoleon exhibit, from October 15, 2009 to January 17, 2010. If you happen to find yourself in Paris this winter, it’s going to be a must-see show.
When Paul moved a couple of years ago, several early works from the Sixties were found hidden in his storage space and make up the bulk of this show. The piece above, I’ve seen in person and—like all Laffoleys—it’s truly stunning, vibrant and electric.
Tara and I own two of Paul’s paintings that will be in the Paris show. We were sure sad to see them leave our home a few weeks ago. Now the walls seen so bare! (They’re huge, 6 by 6 ft).
Thanton III, 1989
Alchemy, 1973Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Princess Diana: death 'was not an accident'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/diana/6124673/Princess-Diana-death-was-not-an-accident-says-leading-lawyer.html
Princess Diana: death 'was not an accident' says leading lawyer
The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, was not an accident, according to the memoirs of lawyer Michael Mansfield who represented Mohamed Fayed at the inquest into the crash.
By Alastair Jamieson
02 Sep 2009
The 1997 accident in the Alma Tunnel in Paris still poses unanswered questions despite lengthy inquest at the High Court, he claims in his book, Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer.
The 67-year-old QC, who has represented clients in high profile cases ranging from the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence to the Birmingham Six, insisted the inquest had not been a waste of time and that Mr Fayed was entitled to the procedure as “a grieving father”.
Haunting CCTV images shed light on Diana's zest for life In the book, which is being serialised in The Times, he wrote: “I found it difficult simply to accept that what happened in the Alma Tunnel in Paris was ‘just one of those tragic things’. Of course it might have been, but then that’s what “they” always hope we will think.
“Judging whether a hidden hand is at work is always difficult, but I prefer a healthy and inquisitive assessment of the authorised version, and for me it was mere serendipity to be approached a year after the crash and asked to represent Mohamed Al Fayed for the purposes of an inquest.”
He added: “There is still a widespread belief that the inquest was a waste of time and money and came to no different conclusion than previous investigations and inquiries. This is a serious misconception.
“On April 7, 2008, the jury did not decide it was just a tragic accident but returned a verdict of unlawful killing by the drivers of both the Mercedes and the following vehicles. The ‘following vehicles’ element in the verdict was an aspect that very few commentators picked up on, or bothered with.”
The book also reprises other issues set out in the trial but were not “resolved by evidence, or reflected in the verdict”. These included the box of missing personal papers belonging to Diana, the missing driver of the white Fiat, the three hours on the evening of August 30, 1997, during which the movements of Dodi’s chauffeur Henri Paul could not be established and the unexplained regular and sizeable sums of money going into Henri Paul’s several bank accounts over the three months before the crash.
He also expresses “real sympathy” for Mr Fayed, who had been “unceasingly and erroneously attacked for wanting what any parent would have wanted: answers to why and how their loved one had died”.
Princess Diana: death 'was not an accident' says leading lawyer
The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, was not an accident, according to the memoirs of lawyer Michael Mansfield who represented Mohamed Fayed at the inquest into the crash.
By Alastair Jamieson
02 Sep 2009
The 1997 accident in the Alma Tunnel in Paris still poses unanswered questions despite lengthy inquest at the High Court, he claims in his book, Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer.
The 67-year-old QC, who has represented clients in high profile cases ranging from the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence to the Birmingham Six, insisted the inquest had not been a waste of time and that Mr Fayed was entitled to the procedure as “a grieving father”.
Haunting CCTV images shed light on Diana's zest for life In the book, which is being serialised in The Times, he wrote: “I found it difficult simply to accept that what happened in the Alma Tunnel in Paris was ‘just one of those tragic things’. Of course it might have been, but then that’s what “they” always hope we will think.
“Judging whether a hidden hand is at work is always difficult, but I prefer a healthy and inquisitive assessment of the authorised version, and for me it was mere serendipity to be approached a year after the crash and asked to represent Mohamed Al Fayed for the purposes of an inquest.”
He added: “There is still a widespread belief that the inquest was a waste of time and money and came to no different conclusion than previous investigations and inquiries. This is a serious misconception.
“On April 7, 2008, the jury did not decide it was just a tragic accident but returned a verdict of unlawful killing by the drivers of both the Mercedes and the following vehicles. The ‘following vehicles’ element in the verdict was an aspect that very few commentators picked up on, or bothered with.”
The book also reprises other issues set out in the trial but were not “resolved by evidence, or reflected in the verdict”. These included the box of missing personal papers belonging to Diana, the missing driver of the white Fiat, the three hours on the evening of August 30, 1997, during which the movements of Dodi’s chauffeur Henri Paul could not be established and the unexplained regular and sizeable sums of money going into Henri Paul’s several bank accounts over the three months before the crash.
He also expresses “real sympathy” for Mr Fayed, who had been “unceasingly and erroneously attacked for wanting what any parent would have wanted: answers to why and how their loved one had died”.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
On a Plane Ride Home From Paris
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/johntully/2009/08/on-a-plane-ride-home-from-pari.php
On a Plane Ride Home From Paris Sitting Next to a Douchebag With an Ed Hardy Shirt Reading Glenn Beck's Book
John Tully
August 5, 2009
"1441!!"
Whether it was Michael Wolff's "piece" in Vanity Fair on Politico or the Paris tap water that produced the explosive diarrhea on a hot sweaty July night in the City of Lights, we'll never know...
Time moves both slow and fast in these Dog Days of Summer and the memory hole of the past eight bloody years is fading and digging deeper.
I take you back to the city of D.C.
A few years ago...
A quaint city, soon to written about like Rome, gilded on their own lily and pathetic to boot.
Sucked in to television, watching the camera moves, editing, and heavy music to a story about a mom and a dad and a wife who lose their little/big man to a fiery explosion in Iraq. The soldier leaves a "just in case" final video for his bride, tells her of his deep love, and urges her to go on with life: "get married, have kids" It's a noble gesture from a brave young man and the camera cuts to the weeping widow watching the tape.
The evening news comes on and the 80 year-old man who marched against Iraq in a February freeze watches a report on two dead Marines and 17 Iraqi dead civilians . Remember seeing that look on the face of the Marines' mother or the site of yet another widow with two babies that finally punches the gut.
At this point in the war, President Bush hadn't been to one funeral service for them.
Remember.
Remember banned television cameras at the arrival of the bodies from Germany, at the base in Delaware .
The cowering, obedient press corpse giving the President a free pass after 9/11 and the Administration using it to make the United States less safe, less secure, and spoil environmental and geopolitical progress for years to come.
Remembering Television and Freedom Fries and Terror Alerts here in Paris 6 years later, the mind once again boggles and crunches the serious, sad, mistaken war of choice that ignored all plans and warnings of consequences.
Powered by arrogance and breathtaking hubris and television's Meet The Press and This Week With Will for the latest talking points of the day.
MR. RUSSERT: All right, this way: Should the blogs, talk radio, cable TV--should people lower their voices, and, and, and control their rhetoric?
Remember that very same week when the Vice-President poked a fat finger in the eye of Russia while the Bush Administration reflexively rejected the first written communication from Iran in seventeen years. Neither Vice President Cheney's speech or the letter was ever mentioned on either program.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney had blown the cover of longtime C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame who it turns out was working on nuclear proliferation. Her contacts through front company Brewster Jennings were actively working the underground nukes world. That intel might have been helpful that very same week in dealing with Iran.
Instead, the latest Cool-Kids Media Club Memes emerged: "Anger on the Blogs"
That's right. Three different allusions to blogs and anger on both Meet The Press and This Week complete with an obligatory question from Tim Russert to new/old ham Newt Gingrich.
Schmuck David Brooks, perpetual mealy-mouthed defender of the Bush administration throwing out his shoulder shrugging off the incident at Haditha in front of two shocked Marines: Mark Shields and Jim Lehrer.
Remember when columnist Tony Blankley said the war protests were organized by the communist party and the Press corps labeled Al Gore as Crazy for his pre-war criticism about invading Iraq.
How about when war hero Max Cleland was derisively compared to both Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in a television advertisement by his republican opponent, Saxby Chambliss during their Senate race? Mr. Cleland lost his legs and an arm during Vietnam but the republican claimed the democrat was soft on National Security. Mr. Chambliss sat out the war with a bad knee.
Go back in time and recall when Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz had no idea how many Americans had been killed in Iraq and called the idea of two hundred thousand troops needed in Iraq as "wildly off the mark"
It's apparent that there Was Not a massive intelligence failure and the administration indeed was warned about the vagueness of the information about Iraq.
Remember that classic "Everybody thought-even-France and Germany" song about W.M.D.'s.
The Memory-Hole pieces together the events of the past six years but can never illuminate fully how one of the most brilliant countries in history could now be cowardly defending war atrocities and blaming, as Mr. Blankley said that very same week about the incident at Haditha: "Over reporting by a gleeful media is more damaging than any single fact"
Come to think of it-maybe that gleeful, fluffy, Politico piece that completely failed to mention the publication's Reagan connection was responsible for that gut bomb the other night.
Either way, I'm still sick as a dog.
JT
Paris, France
On a Plane Ride Home From Paris Sitting Next to a Douchebag With an Ed Hardy Shirt Reading Glenn Beck's Book
John Tully
August 5, 2009
"1441!!"
Whether it was Michael Wolff's "piece" in Vanity Fair on Politico or the Paris tap water that produced the explosive diarrhea on a hot sweaty July night in the City of Lights, we'll never know...
Time moves both slow and fast in these Dog Days of Summer and the memory hole of the past eight bloody years is fading and digging deeper.
I take you back to the city of D.C.
A few years ago...
A quaint city, soon to written about like Rome, gilded on their own lily and pathetic to boot.
Sucked in to television, watching the camera moves, editing, and heavy music to a story about a mom and a dad and a wife who lose their little/big man to a fiery explosion in Iraq. The soldier leaves a "just in case" final video for his bride, tells her of his deep love, and urges her to go on with life: "get married, have kids" It's a noble gesture from a brave young man and the camera cuts to the weeping widow watching the tape.
The evening news comes on and the 80 year-old man who marched against Iraq in a February freeze watches a report on two dead Marines and 17 Iraqi dead civilians . Remember seeing that look on the face of the Marines' mother or the site of yet another widow with two babies that finally punches the gut.
At this point in the war, President Bush hadn't been to one funeral service for them.
Remember.
Remember banned television cameras at the arrival of the bodies from Germany, at the base in Delaware .
The cowering, obedient press corpse giving the President a free pass after 9/11 and the Administration using it to make the United States less safe, less secure, and spoil environmental and geopolitical progress for years to come.
Remembering Television and Freedom Fries and Terror Alerts here in Paris 6 years later, the mind once again boggles and crunches the serious, sad, mistaken war of choice that ignored all plans and warnings of consequences.
Powered by arrogance and breathtaking hubris and television's Meet The Press and This Week With Will for the latest talking points of the day.
MR. RUSSERT: All right, this way: Should the blogs, talk radio, cable TV--should people lower their voices, and, and, and control their rhetoric?
Remember that very same week when the Vice-President poked a fat finger in the eye of Russia while the Bush Administration reflexively rejected the first written communication from Iran in seventeen years. Neither Vice President Cheney's speech or the letter was ever mentioned on either program.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney had blown the cover of longtime C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame who it turns out was working on nuclear proliferation. Her contacts through front company Brewster Jennings were actively working the underground nukes world. That intel might have been helpful that very same week in dealing with Iran.
Instead, the latest Cool-Kids Media Club Memes emerged: "Anger on the Blogs"
That's right. Three different allusions to blogs and anger on both Meet The Press and This Week complete with an obligatory question from Tim Russert to new/old ham Newt Gingrich.
Schmuck David Brooks, perpetual mealy-mouthed defender of the Bush administration throwing out his shoulder shrugging off the incident at Haditha in front of two shocked Marines: Mark Shields and Jim Lehrer.
Remember when columnist Tony Blankley said the war protests were organized by the communist party and the Press corps labeled Al Gore as Crazy for his pre-war criticism about invading Iraq.
How about when war hero Max Cleland was derisively compared to both Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in a television advertisement by his republican opponent, Saxby Chambliss during their Senate race? Mr. Cleland lost his legs and an arm during Vietnam but the republican claimed the democrat was soft on National Security. Mr. Chambliss sat out the war with a bad knee.
Go back in time and recall when Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz had no idea how many Americans had been killed in Iraq and called the idea of two hundred thousand troops needed in Iraq as "wildly off the mark"
It's apparent that there Was Not a massive intelligence failure and the administration indeed was warned about the vagueness of the information about Iraq.
Remember that classic "Everybody thought-even-France and Germany" song about W.M.D.'s.
The Memory-Hole pieces together the events of the past six years but can never illuminate fully how one of the most brilliant countries in history could now be cowardly defending war atrocities and blaming, as Mr. Blankley said that very same week about the incident at Haditha: "Over reporting by a gleeful media is more damaging than any single fact"
Come to think of it-maybe that gleeful, fluffy, Politico piece that completely failed to mention the publication's Reagan connection was responsible for that gut bomb the other night.
Either way, I'm still sick as a dog.
JT
Paris, France
Friday, May 22, 2009
'Angels & Demons' tour illuminates Rome
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-05-14-rome-angels-and-demons-tour_N.htm
'Angels & Demons' tour illuminates the charms of RomeBy Chris Gray Faust, USA TODAY
5-14-9
VATICAN CITY — The faithful stream into St. Peter's Square on Christianity's holiest day, engulfing the Egyptian obelisk that centers the piazza so carefully planned by 17th-century sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Stern despite their colorful striped uniforms, members of the Swiss Guards direct those in the Easter crowd fortunate enough to procure free tickets to chairs, while others stand, waiting for a glimpse of papal pomp.
It's a scene that could be taken straight out of Angels & Demons, author Dan Brown's best-selling prequel to the hugely successful — and highly controversial — novel The Da Vinci Code. Just like that book, Angels & Demons has been made into a movie starring Tom Hanks as symbologist Robert Langdon, which opens today around the world.
Set in Vatican City and Rome, Angels & Demons pits Langdon (paired with an intelligent and attractive female sidekick, Vittoria Vetra) against a modern incarnation of an ancient foe of the Roman Catholic Church, the Illuminati. In the book, Catholics fill St. Peter's Square, awaiting the announcement of Il Conclave, the assembly of cardinals charged with selecting a new pope. Little do they know they are sitting atop a time bomb — and that four cardinals in line for the job are being murdered at sites around Rome.
It's not a tale you'd expect the Catholic Church to embrace. And indeed, several prominent religious leaders — including Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights president Bill Donohue— have come out against the film (although the church itself has not issued a boycott call).
No matter. Catholic indignation did nothing to stop The Da Vinci Code movie from grossing more than $758 million in 2006.
And it did nothing to stop Sony Pictures from shooting key scenes of the movie in Rome, which will only enhance the city's allure for Angels & Demons fans. Among the sites from the book that will be seen on film: the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Castel Sant'Angelo and its Pasetto di Borga, the secret passageway that connects the fortress with the Vatican.
The Vatican itself is not on film, nor are the interiors of two churches prominently featured in the book, Santa Maria del Popolo or Santa Maria della Vittoria; the Rome diocese said last summer that it had banned filming there because of the movie's themes. Reggia di Caserta, an 18th-century royal palace outside Naples and south of Rome, stood in for the Vatican in some scenes (and an elaborate replica was built on a Los Angeles studio lot).
Executive producer Todd Hallowell says the production didn't bother asking permission to film at the Vatican, as the church never grants it. He promises that viewers will feel as if they are within the Vatican, even if the church itself wasn't crazy about the filming.
Says Hallowell: "Given the fact that The Da Vinci Code was perhaps not their favorite movie, the concept of a sequel being shot in their backyard was not the best news they had all week."
Mapping out the book
On the steps outside Santa Maria del Popolo — the site of the book's first element-themed murder, Earth— about 30 people gather for Angels & Demons guided tours. While the operating company, Angelsanddemons.it, bills it as "the official Angels & Demons tour," several tour operators in Rome offer a similar version.
The group is split, and guide Graham Hannaford, 26, passes out a map of Rome, a replica of the one from Angels & Demons. Fewer than half the people on Hannaford's tour have read the book, but he carries it with him for reference (and occasionally, to debunk the poetic license that Brown sometimes took with Roman geography).
The first stop on the "Path of Illumination" that Brown has devised through Rome is the Chigi Chapel inside the church. Designed by Renaissance master Raphael and filled with sculptures by Bernini — the baroque wunderkind whom Brown cheekily portrays as a secret Illuminati mastermind — the Chapel is an artistic masterpiece, albeit one that might fall lower on a typical tourist itinerary.
Subsequent stops in the four-hour tour call at Roman sites both familiar and off-the-beaten-track: St. Peter's Square, the gloriously elaborate Santa Maria della Vittoria and the always-hopping Piazza Navona, sites of the book's Air, Fire and Water murders, respectively. It concludes at the imposing Castel Sant'Angelo, where the Hassassin in Brown's book keeps Vittoria captive in an alleged ancient Illuminati lair.
Jennifer Carroll, 32, of French Settlement, La., takes pictures at nearly every stop.
"My book club will kill me if I don't," she says.
Carroll and her husband, Basil, attended the papal Easter Mass and bought rosaries for family at the Vatican, including one for their daughter to use at her First Communion. Carroll had some friends who felt The Da Vinci Code was anti-Catholic and others who felt the murders in Angels & Demons were too violent. But the controversy has been overblown, she says.
"It's fiction, it's OK," she says. "You could get offended by just about anything if you wanted to."
Hannaford calls for a coffee break next to the Pantheon. With Roman tourism down, the Napa, Calif., native had questioned returning after Christmas, but he figured the release of Angels & Demons could trigger the same bump in visitors that Paris received from The Da Vinci Code.
The tour is not the company's best seller — visitors tend to hire guides to the immense Vatican Museum more often, Hannaford says. But he thinks that Angels & Demons provides a good road map to Rome's charms.
"The book does capture the spirit of Rome," he says. "There are a lot of chaotic things going on, but it all pulls together."
Seeing the story
Of course, visitors don't have to take a guided tour to see the parts of Rome explored in Angels & Demons. But some sites do require planning ahead.
Such is the case with the Vatican Scavi, the necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica said to contain the grave of Peter, the founder of the Christian church. In the book, Langdon chases the camerlengo (played by Ewan McGregor in the film) through the subterranean passages to find the hidden canister of dangerous antimatter.
In real life, the Vatican Excavations Office carefully controls the number of people allowed to walk through the Scavi. Only 12 people are allowed through at a time, with a limit of 250 visitors a day. Travel agents and tour guides are not allowed to buy tickets; visitors must petition through e-mail or fax months ahead of time to secure a spot.
The machinations are well worth it. Undertaken in 1939 through 1950, the excavations unearthed pagan and early Christian tombs from a cemetery that existed on the site before Constantine built the original St. Peter's Basilica around 322. The corridors between the tombs are narrow and uneven, and the air is slightly dank. But what you'll see are remarkably well-preserved frescoes and mosaics that provide a glimpse into the time when Christianity was a religious newcomer.
Back above ground, a Vatican trip is not complete without visiting the Sistine Chapel, although doing so requires negotiating the crowded Vatican Museums. With the masses of people snapping photos of Michelangelo's famed ceiling, it's hard to imagine the Sistine Chapel as a quiet place of deliberation. But this is where Il Conclave chooses papal succession, broadcasting their results through smoke from a chimney brought in for the occasion.
A better job of crowd control takes place at the Galleria Borghese, where visitors are limited to two-hour time blocks. While the museum — set amid leafy Villa Borghese, Rome's version of Central Park— is not referenced in Angels & Demons, it's a must-stop for readers who are curious about Bernini's other works. Some of his most famous pieces are here, including The Rape of Proserpina, his determined David and Truth Unveiled by Time, created for himself.
The latter sculpture was composed when Bernini — a papal darling who not only designed the colonnades of St. Peter's Square but also came up with the idea for the 10 angels guarding Ponte Sant'Angelo, the bridge between Rome and Vatican City — was out of favor. Could it be that during this time, as Brown suggests, Bernini joined disgruntled intellectuals such as Galileo in the Illuminati ranks?
Vatican tour guide Joseph Mancinelli dismisses such speculation. "It is just a story, it has nothing to do with Christianity," he says of Angels & Demons. "You must believe what is true, not what people say in a story."
Follow Chris Gray Faust at twitter.com/CAroundTheWorld.
IF YOU GO
Getting there: Rome's main airport, Leonardo da Vinci, is known by its old name, Fiumicino. The Leonardo Express runs shuttles to Rome's Termini rail station every 30 minutes ($15, trenitalia.com). Taxis or car service to and from the airport costs about $60.
Lodging: The Westin Excelsior Rome is offering a two-night Angels & Demons package that includes a private or group movie tour, as well as 20% off at the hotel's restaurants and bars. The promotion starts at $444 a night and runs through 2010 (westin.com/angelsanddemons.com). The venerable Hotel Hassler at the top of the Spanish Steps also has a three-night package that includes a tour starting at $2,323 (hotelhassler.com). Or live like the fictional Robert Langdon, who stayed at Hotel Bernini on Plaza Barberini (Bernini's Triton fountain is right in front). Rates start at $395 (berninibristol.com).
Generally, a cheaper way to stay in Rome is to rent an apartment through a service such as venere.com. The Beehive, with dorm beds starting at $34 and private rooms at $109, is the No. 1-ranked budget hotel on Trip Advisor (the-beehive.com).
Dining: Rome's better restaurants are in alleys away from main tourist streets. Near the Pantheon, try the pasta at Osteria del Sostegno (primi, $8-$11, secondi, $12-$20). Osteria dell'Angelo, about 10 minutes from the Vatican on Via G. Bettolo, has an outstanding version of the Roman classic spaghetti carbonara at similar prices. Do as the Romans do and enjoy an evening gelato; Gelataria della Palma, also near the Pantheon, has 100-plus flavors.
Tours: The "Official Angels & Demons Tour" is four hours and includes some bus transport, $76 (angelsanddemons.it). To book tickets to the Vatican Scavi, e-mail the Excavations Office several months in advance; the visit costs $14 (scavi@fsp.va). Advance tickets to Vatican Museums can be purchased online for $19 (mv.vatican.va); private companies such as Context Rome also have tours with art historians (contexttravel.com/rome). The Galleria Borghese requires advance reservations for its two-hour blocks for $12 (ticketeria.it).
Information: en.turismoroma.it
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Almost half of French approve of locking up bosses
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5362ME20090407?feedType=RSS&feedName=lifestyleMolt&rpc=22&sp=true
Almost half of French approve of locking up bosses
Tue Apr 7, 2009
PARIS (Reuters) - Almost half of French people believe it is acceptable for workers facing layoffs to lock up their bosses, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday.
Staff at French plants run by Sony, 3M and Caterpillar have held managers inside the factories overnight, in three separate incidents, to demand better layoff terms -- a new form of labor action dubbed "bossnapping" by the media.
A poll by the CSA institute for Le Parisien newspaper found 50 percent of French people surveyed disapproved of such acts, but 45 percent thought they were acceptable.
"They are not in the majority ... but 45 percent is an enormous percentage and it demonstrates the extent of exasperation among the public at this time of economic crisis," Le Parisien said.
On March 31, billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault was trapped in a taxi in Paris for an hour by staff from his PPR luxury and retail group who were angry about layoffs. Riot police intervened to free him.
Le Parisien found that 56 percent of blue-collar workers polled approved of bossnappings while 41 percent disapproved. Among white-collar workers, 59 percent were against the practice while 40 percent thought it was acceptable.
"These hostage takings, we know how it starts but no one knows how far it can go," said Xavier Bertrand, a former labor minister now secretary-general of the ruling UMP party.
"Our country must avoid entering a spiral of violence," he said in reaction to the opinion poll, adding that bossnappings "cannot be tolerated."
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Farah Master)
Almost half of French approve of locking up bosses
Tue Apr 7, 2009
PARIS (Reuters) - Almost half of French people believe it is acceptable for workers facing layoffs to lock up their bosses, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday.
Staff at French plants run by Sony, 3M and Caterpillar have held managers inside the factories overnight, in three separate incidents, to demand better layoff terms -- a new form of labor action dubbed "bossnapping" by the media.
A poll by the CSA institute for Le Parisien newspaper found 50 percent of French people surveyed disapproved of such acts, but 45 percent thought they were acceptable.
"They are not in the majority ... but 45 percent is an enormous percentage and it demonstrates the extent of exasperation among the public at this time of economic crisis," Le Parisien said.
On March 31, billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault was trapped in a taxi in Paris for an hour by staff from his PPR luxury and retail group who were angry about layoffs. Riot police intervened to free him.
Le Parisien found that 56 percent of blue-collar workers polled approved of bossnappings while 41 percent disapproved. Among white-collar workers, 59 percent were against the practice while 40 percent thought it was acceptable.
"These hostage takings, we know how it starts but no one knows how far it can go," said Xavier Bertrand, a former labor minister now secretary-general of the ruling UMP party.
"Our country must avoid entering a spiral of violence," he said in reaction to the opinion poll, adding that bossnappings "cannot be tolerated."
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Farah Master)
Friday, March 28, 2008
E.U. weighs Olympic boycott over Tibet
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0327/p04s01-woeu.html
from the March 27, 2008 edition
E.U. weighs Olympic boycott over Tibet
The European Union meets Friday to discuss ties to China after the unrest in Tibet.
By Robert Marquand Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Paris
If the government of China hopes the world will go for its line on Tibet and the nefarious Dalai Lama and his purported "clique" – Europe isn't buying it.
The response to the Tibetan crisis in London, Paris, and Berlin, rather, is a call for "dialogue" between China and the exiled Tibetan leader, and"restraint" by Beijing.
A boycott of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games is being discussed as a leverage point in Austria, Belgium, Britain, and France – to be determined by how China handles the frustrations of its Tibetan minority.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has "left open the option" of boycotting the ceremony, Germany has blocked talks with China on economic development, and Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, says that Tibet demonstrations will be authorized as the Olympic torch is carried through London on April 6.
Prince Charles, a friend of the Dalai Lama, had already decided in January not to attend the opening ceremony, he said, in a letter to a human rights group.
Europeans have long had a fascination with and sympathy for the Himalayan region and its Buddhist spiritual traditions – and the Dalai Lama is a frequent visitor to the Continent.
This Friday, Europe's foreign ministers meet in Slovenia, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, to adopt a common position on relations with Beijing and "the suffering of Tibet," as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner describes it.
The question in Slovenia is how to balance appreciation for the progress China has made with concern about the heavy handed tactics of an unelected government that has long eschewed any dialogue with those disagreeing with it. Most European states also have significant business interests in China.
While no European Union state is preparing to boycott the 2008 Games – "Let's not be more Tibetan than the Dalai Lama," who did not advocate boycott, says Mr. Kouchner – there is a general revulsion at the scenes out of Tibet, and at what is seen as an overheated Chinese propaganda effort to demonize the Dalai Lama and hold him responsible for violence.
In a clear rebuke to the Chinese position on Dalai Lama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to meet the spiritual leader in May, and the Dalai Lama was invited to speak at a conference in Nantes, France, during the games in August.
As the British Foreign Office issued a human rights report critical of China this week, Mr. Miliband said, "There needs to be mutual respect between all communities and sustained dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities."
On May 22, the Dalai Lama will give a speech at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
On Wednesday Robert Menard, general secretary of Reporters Sans Frontières in Paris, the journalistic watchdog group, stated that Mr. Sarkozy should boycott the opening if China does not release 30 political prisoners who are on the lists of nearly every human rights group, and if foreign correspondents are continued to be banned from working in Tibet.
Mr. Menard's group raced to unfurl a Tibetan flag at the opening ceremony of the games in Athens this week while a Chinese official was speaking – an act widely criticized in the journalistic community, which has depended on RSF to report on press violations.
Prior to the China-Tibet dissatisfaction in Europe, many protest groups here demanded that China stop its support of the Sudanese government, widely regarded as a main culprit in the starvation and chaos in Darfur. The phrase "Genocide Olympics" has been used in Europe among human rights groups to describe the twinning of the Games with China's policy toward Sudan.
from the March 27, 2008 edition
E.U. weighs Olympic boycott over Tibet
The European Union meets Friday to discuss ties to China after the unrest in Tibet.
By Robert Marquand Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Paris
If the government of China hopes the world will go for its line on Tibet and the nefarious Dalai Lama and his purported "clique" – Europe isn't buying it.
The response to the Tibetan crisis in London, Paris, and Berlin, rather, is a call for "dialogue" between China and the exiled Tibetan leader, and"restraint" by Beijing.
A boycott of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games is being discussed as a leverage point in Austria, Belgium, Britain, and France – to be determined by how China handles the frustrations of its Tibetan minority.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has "left open the option" of boycotting the ceremony, Germany has blocked talks with China on economic development, and Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, says that Tibet demonstrations will be authorized as the Olympic torch is carried through London on April 6.
Prince Charles, a friend of the Dalai Lama, had already decided in January not to attend the opening ceremony, he said, in a letter to a human rights group.
Europeans have long had a fascination with and sympathy for the Himalayan region and its Buddhist spiritual traditions – and the Dalai Lama is a frequent visitor to the Continent.
This Friday, Europe's foreign ministers meet in Slovenia, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, to adopt a common position on relations with Beijing and "the suffering of Tibet," as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner describes it.
The question in Slovenia is how to balance appreciation for the progress China has made with concern about the heavy handed tactics of an unelected government that has long eschewed any dialogue with those disagreeing with it. Most European states also have significant business interests in China.
While no European Union state is preparing to boycott the 2008 Games – "Let's not be more Tibetan than the Dalai Lama," who did not advocate boycott, says Mr. Kouchner – there is a general revulsion at the scenes out of Tibet, and at what is seen as an overheated Chinese propaganda effort to demonize the Dalai Lama and hold him responsible for violence.
In a clear rebuke to the Chinese position on Dalai Lama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to meet the spiritual leader in May, and the Dalai Lama was invited to speak at a conference in Nantes, France, during the games in August.
As the British Foreign Office issued a human rights report critical of China this week, Mr. Miliband said, "There needs to be mutual respect between all communities and sustained dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities."
On May 22, the Dalai Lama will give a speech at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
On Wednesday Robert Menard, general secretary of Reporters Sans Frontières in Paris, the journalistic watchdog group, stated that Mr. Sarkozy should boycott the opening if China does not release 30 political prisoners who are on the lists of nearly every human rights group, and if foreign correspondents are continued to be banned from working in Tibet.
Mr. Menard's group raced to unfurl a Tibetan flag at the opening ceremony of the games in Athens this week while a Chinese official was speaking – an act widely criticized in the journalistic community, which has depended on RSF to report on press violations.
Prior to the China-Tibet dissatisfaction in Europe, many protest groups here demanded that China stop its support of the Sudanese government, widely regarded as a main culprit in the starvation and chaos in Darfur. The phrase "Genocide Olympics" has been used in Europe among human rights groups to describe the twinning of the Games with China's policy toward Sudan.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
'9/11 attacks made up,' says French Oscar-winner
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html
'9/11 attacks made up,' says French best actress Oscar-winner
By PETER ALLEN
2nd March 2008
Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard has accused America of fabricating the 9/11 attacks
Actress Marion Cotillard sparked a political row yesterday after accusing America of fabricating the 9/11 attacks.
The 32-year-old French actress, who received an Oscar last month for her performance as singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose, openly questioned the truth behind the terrorist atrocity in an interview broadcast on a French website.
"I think we're lied to about a number of things," Cotillard said, singling out the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center as an example of the US making up horror stories for political ends.
Referring to the two passenger jets being flown into the Twin Towers, Cotillard said:
"We see other towers of the same kind being hit by planes. Are they burned? They [sic] was a tower, I believe it was in Spain, which burnt for 24 hours. It never collapsed. None of these towers collapsed. And there [in New York], in a few minutes, the whole thing collapsed."
She added that the towers, planned in the early Sixties, were an outdated "money-sucker" that would have cost more to modernise than to rebuild altogether, which is why they were destroyed.
She said: "It was a money-sucker because they were finished, it seems to me, by 1973, and to re-cable all that, to bring up-to-date all the technology and everything, it was a lot more expensive, that work, than destroying them."
Cotillard's stardom and increased earning power looked assured following her Oscar win.
But after her outburst, in which she also queried the 1969 Moon landings, a successful future in Hollywood appears to be in jeopardy.
She said: "Did a man really walk on the Moon? I saw plenty of documentaries on it, and I really wondered. And in any case I don't believe all they tell me, that's for sure."
Cotillard, who was born and brought up in Paris, made the comments on Paris Première - Paris Dernière, a programme broadcast a year ago.
At the time her remarks were largely ignored, but their appearance yesterday on the French magazine website Marianne2 comes at a time when Cotillard's profile is sky-high.
She is shortly due to fly to Chicago to star alongside Johnny Depp in Public Enemies, a gangster movie expected to be her first big money-spinner.
Cotillard's film career began in Luc Besson's 1998 film Taxi - a huge hit in France but less so around the world.
She is slowly becoming a household name in France, in a list most recently topped by her close friend Audrey Tautou and previously by women such as Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot.
But Cotillard, who lives with actor and director Guillaume Canet, frequently tells interviewers she has no interest in money or prestige.
Denying that she had any kind of "Anglo-Saxon ambition", she said she prefers to "choose roles which suit me".
Despite her low-key image, Cotillard is an environmental activist who once worked as a spokesman for Greenpeace.
News of her anti-Americanism comes as Franco-American relations appear to be thawing, following Paris's refusal to show support for the invasion of Iraq.
President Nicolas Sarkozy insists he is pro-American, even supporting so-called "Anglo-Saxon" economic reforms.
'9/11 attacks made up,' says French best actress Oscar-winner
By PETER ALLEN
2nd March 2008
Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard has accused America of fabricating the 9/11 attacks
Actress Marion Cotillard sparked a political row yesterday after accusing America of fabricating the 9/11 attacks.
The 32-year-old French actress, who received an Oscar last month for her performance as singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose, openly questioned the truth behind the terrorist atrocity in an interview broadcast on a French website.
"I think we're lied to about a number of things," Cotillard said, singling out the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center as an example of the US making up horror stories for political ends.
Referring to the two passenger jets being flown into the Twin Towers, Cotillard said:
"We see other towers of the same kind being hit by planes. Are they burned? They [sic] was a tower, I believe it was in Spain, which burnt for 24 hours. It never collapsed. None of these towers collapsed. And there [in New York], in a few minutes, the whole thing collapsed."
She added that the towers, planned in the early Sixties, were an outdated "money-sucker" that would have cost more to modernise than to rebuild altogether, which is why they were destroyed.
She said: "It was a money-sucker because they were finished, it seems to me, by 1973, and to re-cable all that, to bring up-to-date all the technology and everything, it was a lot more expensive, that work, than destroying them."
Cotillard's stardom and increased earning power looked assured following her Oscar win.
But after her outburst, in which she also queried the 1969 Moon landings, a successful future in Hollywood appears to be in jeopardy.
She said: "Did a man really walk on the Moon? I saw plenty of documentaries on it, and I really wondered. And in any case I don't believe all they tell me, that's for sure."
Cotillard, who was born and brought up in Paris, made the comments on Paris Première - Paris Dernière, a programme broadcast a year ago.
At the time her remarks were largely ignored, but their appearance yesterday on the French magazine website Marianne2 comes at a time when Cotillard's profile is sky-high.
She is shortly due to fly to Chicago to star alongside Johnny Depp in Public Enemies, a gangster movie expected to be her first big money-spinner.
Cotillard's film career began in Luc Besson's 1998 film Taxi - a huge hit in France but less so around the world.
She is slowly becoming a household name in France, in a list most recently topped by her close friend Audrey Tautou and previously by women such as Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot.
But Cotillard, who lives with actor and director Guillaume Canet, frequently tells interviewers she has no interest in money or prestige.
Denying that she had any kind of "Anglo-Saxon ambition", she said she prefers to "choose roles which suit me".
Despite her low-key image, Cotillard is an environmental activist who once worked as a spokesman for Greenpeace.
News of her anti-Americanism comes as Franco-American relations appear to be thawing, following Paris's refusal to show support for the invasion of Iraq.
President Nicolas Sarkozy insists he is pro-American, even supporting so-called "Anglo-Saxon" economic reforms.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
We could learn from leisurely ride in Paris
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/transportation/chi-schmich_04nov14,1,635052.column?ctrack=3&cset=true
We could learn from leisurely ride in Paris
Mary Schmich
November 14, 2007
Those new bikes in Paris are totally cool.
I wanted to write a more artful opening to this column. Maybe I should have started with something breathlessly poetic about pedaling along the banks of the Seine one day last week while the autumn sun glinted off the Eiffel Tower and I heard the crunch of fallen leaves beneath my bicycle wheels?
Or something about whizzing past Notre Dame in the rosy glow of a November dusk, listening to the bells toll?
Or something about the guilty, risky pleasure of doing these things without a helmet, an accessory I saw only once, on a guy I figured had to be American?
All of the above are true. But they can all be boiled down to the simple fact that Paris' new bikes are, in the words of various French people I quizzed at the new bike stations, "genial," "formidable" and "fantastique," which is to say, totally cool.
Mayor Daley was mocked a few weeks ago when he flitted through Paris to check out the latest in Paris public-transit options, a fleet of tawny-gray two-wheelers. But if he manages to bring a program like this to Chicago, that photo of him straddling a French velo won't look so goofy.
Paris' bicycle program is called "velib'" a mix of the word "velo," which means bicycle, and "liberte," which means what it sounds like. They offer the freedom of moving easily around the city and the ability to take a bike at no cost for 30 minutes at a time once you've paid a small subscription fee.
(I didn't understand that "30 minutes at a time" part, which is why I spent a whole afternoon and more money than I'd planned gliding through the Paris streets on my velib'. But that's beside today's point.)
The Paris program started in July, and by December, there should be more than 20,000 bikes at more than 1,400 docking stations. The stations are everywhere, outside cafes and shops and metro stops, in the heart of town and in the far-flung neighborhoods.
People ride from home to work, from work to lunch. They pedal to the dentist or to a movie. They may bike one way and take a cab, bus or train the other.
Here's roughly how the program works:
Either online or at a curbside kiosk, you pay a fee that entitles you to ride for a day (1 euro), a week (5 euros) or a year (29 euros, about $42).
You pick a bike out of a row of identical bicycles, each attached to a short pole. To release the bike, just punch in a code on the pole, or, better yet, swipe the same fare card you use for the bus and metro.
Adjust the seat height, throw your stuff in the front basket and pedal off, often along wide bus lanes also designated for bicycles, ringing your handlebar bell at least once just for fun.
When you've gotten where you're going, roll your bike into the nearest curbside station and plug it back into a pole. Feel free to take another bike later.
Needless to say, Chicago is not Paris.
In the United States, Chicago included, city biking tends to be sport, bicyclists whizzing along busy streets as if they were in the Tour de France. In the land of the Tour de France, city biking isn't so aggressively athletic. People are more likely to pedal around in their fashionable clothes, and at less than gold-medal speeds.
If Chicago were to adopt a velib'-style program -- the city is looking at two proposals, for far fewer bikes -- we'd need more than bicycles.
The culture and the roads would have to change. For all of Chicago's pro-bike efforts, motorists still treat bikes as intruders and too many bicyclists don't know or don't observe road rules.
We also have a thing called snow. But then, so does Lyon, France's second-largest city, which has a very successful bike program.
Seeing how well the Paris bikes are working and the excitement they've stirred in Parisians made me believe that some version of velib' could and should happen here.
With helmets. Better safe than chic.
----------
mschmich@tribune.com
We could learn from leisurely ride in Paris
Mary Schmich
November 14, 2007
Those new bikes in Paris are totally cool.
I wanted to write a more artful opening to this column. Maybe I should have started with something breathlessly poetic about pedaling along the banks of the Seine one day last week while the autumn sun glinted off the Eiffel Tower and I heard the crunch of fallen leaves beneath my bicycle wheels?
Or something about whizzing past Notre Dame in the rosy glow of a November dusk, listening to the bells toll?
Or something about the guilty, risky pleasure of doing these things without a helmet, an accessory I saw only once, on a guy I figured had to be American?
All of the above are true. But they can all be boiled down to the simple fact that Paris' new bikes are, in the words of various French people I quizzed at the new bike stations, "genial," "formidable" and "fantastique," which is to say, totally cool.
Mayor Daley was mocked a few weeks ago when he flitted through Paris to check out the latest in Paris public-transit options, a fleet of tawny-gray two-wheelers. But if he manages to bring a program like this to Chicago, that photo of him straddling a French velo won't look so goofy.
Paris' bicycle program is called "velib'" a mix of the word "velo," which means bicycle, and "liberte," which means what it sounds like. They offer the freedom of moving easily around the city and the ability to take a bike at no cost for 30 minutes at a time once you've paid a small subscription fee.
(I didn't understand that "30 minutes at a time" part, which is why I spent a whole afternoon and more money than I'd planned gliding through the Paris streets on my velib'. But that's beside today's point.)
The Paris program started in July, and by December, there should be more than 20,000 bikes at more than 1,400 docking stations. The stations are everywhere, outside cafes and shops and metro stops, in the heart of town and in the far-flung neighborhoods.
People ride from home to work, from work to lunch. They pedal to the dentist or to a movie. They may bike one way and take a cab, bus or train the other.
Here's roughly how the program works:
Either online or at a curbside kiosk, you pay a fee that entitles you to ride for a day (1 euro), a week (5 euros) or a year (29 euros, about $42).
You pick a bike out of a row of identical bicycles, each attached to a short pole. To release the bike, just punch in a code on the pole, or, better yet, swipe the same fare card you use for the bus and metro.
Adjust the seat height, throw your stuff in the front basket and pedal off, often along wide bus lanes also designated for bicycles, ringing your handlebar bell at least once just for fun.
When you've gotten where you're going, roll your bike into the nearest curbside station and plug it back into a pole. Feel free to take another bike later.
Needless to say, Chicago is not Paris.
In the United States, Chicago included, city biking tends to be sport, bicyclists whizzing along busy streets as if they were in the Tour de France. In the land of the Tour de France, city biking isn't so aggressively athletic. People are more likely to pedal around in their fashionable clothes, and at less than gold-medal speeds.
If Chicago were to adopt a velib'-style program -- the city is looking at two proposals, for far fewer bikes -- we'd need more than bicycles.
The culture and the roads would have to change. For all of Chicago's pro-bike efforts, motorists still treat bikes as intruders and too many bicyclists don't know or don't observe road rules.
We also have a thing called snow. But then, so does Lyon, France's second-largest city, which has a very successful bike program.
Seeing how well the Paris bikes are working and the excitement they've stirred in Parisians made me believe that some version of velib' could and should happen here.
With helmets. Better safe than chic.
----------
mschmich@tribune.com
Friday, November 16, 2007
The Smart car is coming
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/12/smart_car/
The Smart car is coming
Sure, the tiny autos are perfectly suited for the narrow lanes of Paris and Rome. But here in the land of freeways and monster SUVs, are we ready to downsize so far?
By Katharine Mieszkowski
Nov. 12, 2007 Everything's bigger in Texas, including, surprisingly, the interest in the itsy-bitsy car known as the Smart. In January, the miniature two-seat cars that dot the narrow lanes of Europe will make their way across the Atlantic and go on sale at 70 dealerships across America. For the past seven months, the Smart, which is made by Mercedes, has been embarked on a 50-city road show, offering test drives, photo ops and hype worthy of a monster-truck rally.
On a bright Saturday morning, a fleet of the tiny cars is on display at Mockingbird Station, one of Dallas' prefab entertainment and lifestyle complexes, thick with restaurants, movie theaters, stores and lofts. More than 100 Texans are waiting to test-drive the Smart model called Fortwo, whose price starts at $11,600. Many wannabe drivers are armed with cameras, as if they're here hoping to catch a glimpse of an exotic animal at the zoo.
Charlie Barnhardt, a big, bald man in snakeskin cowboy boots and a hunting cameo shirt with birds on it, drove an hour and a half from Greenville in his Jeep Grand Cherokee to see the Smart. Barnhardt, who runs a welding shop and hopes soon to retire, gives this verdict. "They're cute," he chuckles with a sweet smile. "I think it would go over good" in Texas.
Here in the land of the big pickup, the cuteness factor is turning a lot of heads for the smallest-horsepower vehicle offered by a major automaker. Irene Zeilan, a 40-something redhead, commutes five miles to her job at Texas Instruments in a 1988 Ford Bronco. But she recently bought a house in the burbs and will soon be making a 25-mile slog to work. So she's planning to shrink her ride and is thrilled by the microcars. "The time is right for this kind of car here," she says.
That's Mercedes' thinking, too. For years, the Smart car has roamed the roads of France, Italy and Germany, as well as Malaysia, South Africa and Canada -- 36 countries in all. Now the German automaker believes rising gas prices have propelled American drivers into recovery from their SUV binge. It believes we're finally ready to downsize -- way, way down.
But still there's something about the Smart car that seems to contradict the American way of life. We are a frontier country of wide-open spaces and eight-lane freeways. Want to go green? Sure, as long as it's with a 6,000-square-foot mansion with solar panels and a hybrid SUV. Besides, we're not Europeans. We don't drive cars that resemble toy poodles. We know all about the geopolitical crises of oil and the environmental fallout of all those carbon-dioxide emissions and exhaust fumes, but we demand a lot of metal and horsepower to keep us feeling safe and secure.
After all, the SUV craze was fueled in large part by the feeling that big cars were safer, and despite being mightly debunked, those sentiments die hard. An early Car and Driver review of the Smart Fortwo pronounced it "scary," while suggesting that only coastal snobs trying to navigate the narrow streets and limited parking of cities like Boston and San Francisco would settle for something this small. "Just how many urban fashionistas are there?" the reviewer sniffed.
"Cars have gotten incrementally smaller, but this is a quantum leap smaller," says Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com. The two-seater measures just 8.8 feet long -- a whopping total of 106 inches. It's 5.1 feet tall and wide. The Smart's often compared to a golf cart, except with heated leather seats, a sunroof and a nice stereo. Yet it's truly diminutive size has inspired other admirers to liken it to a roller skate or a bowling shoe. "For two people there's room," says Brandon Dye, executive editor of AutomotiveTrends.com. "It's not a torture cell by a long shot. But Americans are used to our big cars."
Fears about the Smart's being like a cue ball in an accident on a typical American freeway are its biggest drawback. Because it weighs a mere 1,800 pounds, some drivers will never overcome the horrific vision of a collision between a Smart and, say, a Toyota Land Cruiser, which clocks in at 5,700 pounds. "I like big trucks," says Pedro Caballero, checking out the Smarts in Dallas. Caballero owns a P.T. Cruiser, the smallest thing he has ever driven. "You're up so high. You feel safe."
"Many consumers equate size with safety," says Sean Comey, spokesman for the American Automobile Association. "And ultimately, the most important job that any vehicle will ever be called upon to perform is to save your life, and prevent you from being injured." However, he adds, "some smaller cars are engineered in such a way that they are in fact safer than big ones in many respects." In recent decades, auto experts have shown that it's not how much a car weighs that keeps its passengers safe. More important are a car's design and inclusion of safety features like air bags and anti-lock brakes, not to mention driver responsibility and skill.
The Smart Fortwo meets all American safety standards. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not yet crash-tested it, but plans to do so in the first quarter of 2008. In the European Union, the crash testing body Euro NCAP gave the 2007 Smart Fortwo a four out of five stars safety rating. In fact, at 1,650 pounds, the European Smart Fortwo is somewhat lighter than the U.S. model.
Reed argues that the Smart's as safe as a small car can be. "The seats rise completely above your head, and they're made of extra-hard plastic," he says. "There are air bags everywhere." Passengers are also surrounded by what the company calls the "tridion safety cell," a kind of egg-shaped steel cage, designed to absorb the impact of bigger vehicles, which means practically every other car on the road.
Denise McCluggage, a columnist for AutoWeek magazine, who is a former race-car driver, says that size is also the car's advantage when you're behind the wheel. Not only does it slip into parking spaces that midsize sedans can only dream of, it allows you to maneuver through cars in clogged traffic. "It's almost like a motorcycle in that way," says McCluggage, who drove the Smart at the Frankfurt Auto Show this year. "You can really find places that no one else can go. It makes you feel so smug because that can mean the difference of half a block, so that means you make a light or don't. Over time, you just get through traffic faster." She hopes that crowded cities will designate places for Smart car parking, the way that they do bicycle parking, to encourage the cars' use to save space, money and fuel.
Throughout the U.S., small cars are indeed making a comeback, thanks to oil topping $96 a barrel and gas prices staying high, at least by American standards. In 2006, small cars made up about 15 percent of new cars sold, while in 2002 that figure was just 13.8 percent, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. As of September 2007, 16 percent of cars sold were small, including the likes of the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, Chevrolet Aveo and Mini Cooper.
For some, the appeal of the Smart is owning a vehicle that doesn't seem wasteful. In Dallas, Sondra Dickson, taking photos of the Smart Fortwo using a huge black camera with a zoom lens, says: "They say Texas isn't going to like little cars, but we have a Mini and it's too big for us!" Although the Smart's official gas mileage hasn't been published, the company says the two-seater is designed to achieve an average of 40 miles per gallon. That's not so great for such a tiny car, but it's more than 10 miles per gallon better than the average American car.
Many auto industry observers expect the Smart to sell well in the U.S., especially at first when it has newness going for it. Over time, whether it's built well, reliable and performs consistently over time will make the difference in ongoing sales. In any case, environmentalists and patriots who want to break Americans' dependence on foreign oil shouldn't get too excited about the nation's fleet of mammoth gas guzzlers being replaced in a wave of zippy, little, fuel-efficient cuteness.
The typical American household simply owns more vehicles now, with drivers holding on to old vehicles instead of trading them in when they get new ones. "The trend is toward more vehicles per household, and has been for more than a decade," says Paul Taylor, chief economist for the NADA. The average is currently more than two cars per household, even though more and more households are headed by a single person.
"We're seeing an increasing tendency for families to have more cars than drivers," says Comey of the AAA. He believes that this phenomenon may skew some of the stats about the increase in smaller vehicle ownership, because buying a smaller car doesn't necessarily equal taking a bigger car off the road. As cars and trucks have gotten more reliable, their dependable life span has increased. Even paint has gotten tougher. So whether it's out of dismay for how little that old beater is worth when you try to trade it in or emotional attachment to a faithful four wheels, Americans are keeping their older cars around longer. "It's like having your own family fleet. You might have one car that gets better gas mileage," says Comey.
While observers expect the Smart to sell to empty-nesters who don't need a back seat, and recent grads, who don't have kids and really can't afford a bigger car, they also imagine that many initial buyers will get a Smart as a little something extra. Some suggest that with its relatively low prices, the Smart Fortwo will be a convenient addition to the family fleet -- the third car, the weekend car, the fun car rather than a true substitute for another vehicle.
"It's priced low enough that it can be a novelty," says Reed from Edmunds. "You could already own two cars, and buy it as a novelty to run around town in, which is perhaps one of the best uses for it, in addition to -- I hate to say it -- a real car." After all, driving a big SUV or a minivan to the store for a gallon of milk can be frustrating, especially when you pull into a parking lot that is crowded with a lot of other big cars and trucks smooshed into conventional-size spaces. Why not just solve the problem the conventional American way by buying something new -- in this case another car for those trips around town?
At least one American automotive legend is sold on the Smart. That's Roger Penske, the famed race-car driver turned billionaire businessman, whose Penske Automotive Group will be distributing the cars in the United States. They'll be sold mainly at Mercedes dealerships, as well as at free-standing Smart USA dealerships. So far it appears America is ready to get Smart. More than 35,000 people have paid $99 for a refundable "reservation" to buy a Smart Fortwo.
With reporting by Andrea Grimes in Texas.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
French fans want Diana memorial in Paris
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070828/ap_on_re_eu/france_diana_monument
French fans want Diana memorial in Paris
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 28, 2007
At a golden statue of a flickering flame, fans of Princess Diana pay homage to her in Paris, leaving behind poems and prayers even now, 10 years after she died nearby.
A French child's collage proclaims her "unforgettable." An Italian fan scrawls, "I still love you."
But contrary to popular belief, the statue wasn't built for Diana; it was merely appropriated by her fans.
With the 10th anniversary of her death on Friday, a few fans say it's time she had a Paris monument in her honor — something permanent, unlike the memorabilia swept away regularly by trash collectors — and they have begun a fundraising drive.
Dominique de Fontenay says he thinks about Diana every day as he passes through the Pont d'Alma traffic tunnel where she died in a car crash, and he is always struck by the lack of a monument.
"That seems shocking and flagrant, given Diana's notoriety and the love that most people all over the world felt for her," said de Fontenay, a 34-year-old event planner who conceived the project.
De Fontenay teamed up with a jeweler and sculptor, Xavier de Fraissinette, who sketched out ideas for a bronze statue of a suit-clad Diana reaching out to a small child holding a bouquet.
"The hardest thing will be getting her expression, her smile, her face right," said de Fraissinette, who designed a sculpture for the Lyon, France, meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in 1996. "It must not be a mortuary monument, she must be natural."
After a few mentions in the local press, about 150 people have donated a total of $9,500, the two said. Building the statue will require $240,000, said de Fontenay, a Diana fan who remembers joining up with crowds to mourn the princess after the Aug. 31, 1997, crash that killed her, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and their chauffeur, Henri Paul.
"I think everyone on the planet who had a heart was depressed that day, or at least filled with a great sadness," said de Fontenay, who named his cat "Princess" in Diana's honor.
The plans by de Fontenay and de Fraissinette are in the early stages and do not have approval from Paris City Hall, where the press office said officials were not aware of their campaign. The process could be long, and they will need approval from the city council.
For now, the torch statue near the traffic tunnel remains the de facto memorial. A replica of the Statue of Liberty's torch, it was donated in 1987 by the International Herald Tribune newspaper as a symbol of French-American friendship.
Ten years later, mourners turned the torch into a Diana shrine, which seemed fitting because Elton John sang "Candle in the Wind" at her funeral in London's Westminster Abbey.
On any given afternoon, dozens of tourists crowd around the torch, snapping pictures and leaving behind cellophane-wrapped roses. After posing for a snapshot, 29-year-old Arijit Ray of London said he wished de Fontenay and de Fraissinette luck.
"There should be a statue," he said.
De Fontenay already has a spot picked out — a grassy garden right above the tunnel where the crash took place.
"It's all ready. There are flowers. All that's missing is Diana," he said.
___
On the Net:
http://www.myspace.com/amemorialfordiana
http://www.xavierdefraissinette.fr/
French fans want Diana memorial in Paris
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 28, 2007
At a golden statue of a flickering flame, fans of Princess Diana pay homage to her in Paris, leaving behind poems and prayers even now, 10 years after she died nearby.
A French child's collage proclaims her "unforgettable." An Italian fan scrawls, "I still love you."
But contrary to popular belief, the statue wasn't built for Diana; it was merely appropriated by her fans.
With the 10th anniversary of her death on Friday, a few fans say it's time she had a Paris monument in her honor — something permanent, unlike the memorabilia swept away regularly by trash collectors — and they have begun a fundraising drive.
Dominique de Fontenay says he thinks about Diana every day as he passes through the Pont d'Alma traffic tunnel where she died in a car crash, and he is always struck by the lack of a monument.
"That seems shocking and flagrant, given Diana's notoriety and the love that most people all over the world felt for her," said de Fontenay, a 34-year-old event planner who conceived the project.
De Fontenay teamed up with a jeweler and sculptor, Xavier de Fraissinette, who sketched out ideas for a bronze statue of a suit-clad Diana reaching out to a small child holding a bouquet.
"The hardest thing will be getting her expression, her smile, her face right," said de Fraissinette, who designed a sculpture for the Lyon, France, meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in 1996. "It must not be a mortuary monument, she must be natural."
After a few mentions in the local press, about 150 people have donated a total of $9,500, the two said. Building the statue will require $240,000, said de Fontenay, a Diana fan who remembers joining up with crowds to mourn the princess after the Aug. 31, 1997, crash that killed her, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and their chauffeur, Henri Paul.
"I think everyone on the planet who had a heart was depressed that day, or at least filled with a great sadness," said de Fontenay, who named his cat "Princess" in Diana's honor.
The plans by de Fontenay and de Fraissinette are in the early stages and do not have approval from Paris City Hall, where the press office said officials were not aware of their campaign. The process could be long, and they will need approval from the city council.
For now, the torch statue near the traffic tunnel remains the de facto memorial. A replica of the Statue of Liberty's torch, it was donated in 1987 by the International Herald Tribune newspaper as a symbol of French-American friendship.
Ten years later, mourners turned the torch into a Diana shrine, which seemed fitting because Elton John sang "Candle in the Wind" at her funeral in London's Westminster Abbey.
On any given afternoon, dozens of tourists crowd around the torch, snapping pictures and leaving behind cellophane-wrapped roses. After posing for a snapshot, 29-year-old Arijit Ray of London said he wished de Fontenay and de Fraissinette luck.
"There should be a statue," he said.
De Fontenay already has a spot picked out — a grassy garden right above the tunnel where the crash took place.
"It's all ready. There are flowers. All that's missing is Diana," he said.
___
On the Net:
http://www.myspace.com/amemorialfordiana
http://www.xavierdefraissinette.fr/
Saturday, July 14, 2007
New questions about Jim Morrison's death
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070711/ap_en_ot/books_jim_morrison
New questions about Jim Morrison's death
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
7-11-7
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 the age of 27.
But rumors have always swirled around the death of The Doors frontman and, 36 years later, a former Paris nightclub manager is telling a different story. In a new book, Sam Bernett says that Morrison died in a toilet stall of his club after what he believes was a heroin overdose.
He writes of his shock on finding Morrison's body: "The flamboyant singer of 'The Doors,' the beautiful California boy, had become an inert lump crumpled in the toilet of a nightclub." Bernett, whose French-language book is called "The End: Jim Morrison," says he believes two drug dealers brought Morrison's body back to his apartment.
Bernett, who was in his early 20s when Morrison died in 1971, went on to become a prominent radio personality, rock biographer and a vice president of Disneyland Paris. Though he was pestered for years by reporters investigating Morrison's death, he kept his story quiet until his wife suggested writing a book last year.
"For me it's a very bad (memory)," Bernett told The Associated Press.
Rumors have long suggested that Morrison died of an overdose and that he had fallen ill at the nightclub, but witnesses did not come forward.
Patrick Chauvel, a noted war photographer and writer, sometimes helped run the bar at the club. He recalls giving a hand to men who were carrying Morrison in a staircase there.
"I think he was already dead," said Chauvel, who considered putting the episode in a 2005 book before his publisher cautioned against it. Chauvel said he thought an ambulance would have been called if Morrison were still alive.
"I don't know," he said. "It was a long time ago, and we weren't drinking only water."
An official at the Paris prosecutor's office said it was very unlikely the case on Morrison's death would be reopened or that anybody could be prosecuted in the affair, because the statute of limitations — the time limit on legal proceedings — had run out.
Stephen Davis, the author of "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend," says he would not rewrite history because of the new book. Based on his reporting, he believes Morrison did overdose at the club, but that it was shortly before his death — not the same night — and that he survived the experience.
"It just seems likely that if he died in the toilet of a nightclub, it would have come out before now," Davis said.
Morrison came to Paris in March 1971 at a troubled time in his life. At a 1969 concert in Florida, he was accused of exposing his genitals to the audience. He was convicted of indecent exposure and profanity, and the episode led to promoters canceling concerts and earned the band a stream of negative publicity.
Morrison left for Paris with his appeal pending. There, he lived in a Right Bank apartment with his girlfriend, Pamela Courson, and he wandered the streets, sightseeing and toting around a plastic bag containing his writings. In Paris, he gained so much weight as to become almost unrecognizable, and his health suffered.
He also partied. Morrison spent "practically every night" at the Rock and Roll Circus, the hip Left Bank nightclub that Bernett managed, where stars like Roman Polanski and Marianne Faithfull were regulars, Bernett said.
At around 1 a.m. on July 3, 1971, Morrison went to the club and was joined by two men — drug dealers who sold him heroin for Courson, Bernett said. At one point, Bernett noticed that Morrison had disappeared. Later, the bouncer broke down the door of a locked toilet stall, and they discovered Morrison unresponsive, Bernett said.
Bernett says he asked a doctor, a club customer, to examine the singer.
"When we found him dead, he had a little foam on his nose, and some blood too, and the doctor said, 'That must be an overdose of heroin,'" Bernett said. Bernett added that he did not see Morrison take any heroin that night but said the singer was known to sniff the drug because he was afraid of needles.
Bernett says the two drug dealers insisted Morrison was just unconscious and carried him out of the club. Though Bernett says he wanted to call the paramedics and authorities, the club's owner ordered him to keep quiet to avert a scandal.
Bernett believes the dealers brought Morrison's body home and dropped it into the bathtub, a last attempt to revive him.
Morrison's girlfriend, who died three years later of an overdose, told police an entirely different story.
Courson said the couple went to the movies and out for dinner that night, listened to records and fell asleep. According to her testimony in police records, Morrison awoke in the night feeling ill and took a hot bath. Courson said she found him dead in the tub.
Morrison was buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery, in a small ceremony without fanfare, on July 7, 1971. No autopsy was ever performed.
__
Associated Press Writer Verena von Derschau in Paris contributed to this report.
New questions about Jim Morrison's death
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
7-11-7
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 the age of 27.
But rumors have always swirled around the death of The Doors frontman and, 36 years later, a former Paris nightclub manager is telling a different story. In a new book, Sam Bernett says that Morrison died in a toilet stall of his club after what he believes was a heroin overdose.
He writes of his shock on finding Morrison's body: "The flamboyant singer of 'The Doors,' the beautiful California boy, had become an inert lump crumpled in the toilet of a nightclub." Bernett, whose French-language book is called "The End: Jim Morrison," says he believes two drug dealers brought Morrison's body back to his apartment.
Bernett, who was in his early 20s when Morrison died in 1971, went on to become a prominent radio personality, rock biographer and a vice president of Disneyland Paris. Though he was pestered for years by reporters investigating Morrison's death, he kept his story quiet until his wife suggested writing a book last year.
"For me it's a very bad (memory)," Bernett told The Associated Press.
Rumors have long suggested that Morrison died of an overdose and that he had fallen ill at the nightclub, but witnesses did not come forward.
Patrick Chauvel, a noted war photographer and writer, sometimes helped run the bar at the club. He recalls giving a hand to men who were carrying Morrison in a staircase there.
"I think he was already dead," said Chauvel, who considered putting the episode in a 2005 book before his publisher cautioned against it. Chauvel said he thought an ambulance would have been called if Morrison were still alive.
"I don't know," he said. "It was a long time ago, and we weren't drinking only water."
An official at the Paris prosecutor's office said it was very unlikely the case on Morrison's death would be reopened or that anybody could be prosecuted in the affair, because the statute of limitations — the time limit on legal proceedings — had run out.
Stephen Davis, the author of "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend," says he would not rewrite history because of the new book. Based on his reporting, he believes Morrison did overdose at the club, but that it was shortly before his death — not the same night — and that he survived the experience.
"It just seems likely that if he died in the toilet of a nightclub, it would have come out before now," Davis said.
Morrison came to Paris in March 1971 at a troubled time in his life. At a 1969 concert in Florida, he was accused of exposing his genitals to the audience. He was convicted of indecent exposure and profanity, and the episode led to promoters canceling concerts and earned the band a stream of negative publicity.
Morrison left for Paris with his appeal pending. There, he lived in a Right Bank apartment with his girlfriend, Pamela Courson, and he wandered the streets, sightseeing and toting around a plastic bag containing his writings. In Paris, he gained so much weight as to become almost unrecognizable, and his health suffered.
He also partied. Morrison spent "practically every night" at the Rock and Roll Circus, the hip Left Bank nightclub that Bernett managed, where stars like Roman Polanski and Marianne Faithfull were regulars, Bernett said.
At around 1 a.m. on July 3, 1971, Morrison went to the club and was joined by two men — drug dealers who sold him heroin for Courson, Bernett said. At one point, Bernett noticed that Morrison had disappeared. Later, the bouncer broke down the door of a locked toilet stall, and they discovered Morrison unresponsive, Bernett said.
Bernett says he asked a doctor, a club customer, to examine the singer.
"When we found him dead, he had a little foam on his nose, and some blood too, and the doctor said, 'That must be an overdose of heroin,'" Bernett said. Bernett added that he did not see Morrison take any heroin that night but said the singer was known to sniff the drug because he was afraid of needles.
Bernett says the two drug dealers insisted Morrison was just unconscious and carried him out of the club. Though Bernett says he wanted to call the paramedics and authorities, the club's owner ordered him to keep quiet to avert a scandal.
Bernett believes the dealers brought Morrison's body home and dropped it into the bathtub, a last attempt to revive him.
Morrison's girlfriend, who died three years later of an overdose, told police an entirely different story.
Courson said the couple went to the movies and out for dinner that night, listened to records and fell asleep. According to her testimony in police records, Morrison awoke in the night feeling ill and took a hot bath. Courson said she found him dead in the tub.
Morrison was buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery, in a small ceremony without fanfare, on July 7, 1971. No autopsy was ever performed.
__
Associated Press Writer Verena von Derschau in Paris contributed to this report.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
French revolution: Rentable bikes every 900 feet
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070706/wl_csm/obicyclette_1
French revolution: Rentable bikes every 900 feet
By Robert Marquand, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Fri Jul 6, 2007
The socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, has seen the future and it's got two wheels, three speeds, an adjustable seat, indestructible tires, a basket, and a bell. It's 50 pounds of ecofriendly handlebars, comin' at ya.
The French are turning Paris into a bicycle zone, pretty much overnight. Even now, astride small alleys and behind boulangeries, paving stones are being ripped to fit 750 bicycle rent "stations."
On July 15, a day after the French Revolution anniversary, the city of lights will kick off a "vélorution" with 10,648 rentable bikes, or vélos. By January, some 1,400 rent stations and 20,600 bikes are scheduled to be in place. In Paris proper, one will never be more than 900 feet from a set of cheap wheels. At least theoretically.
Similar programs have been launched elsewhere with varying success. But Paris officials say their city is the first world capital to adopt a major green biking initiative, and they are doing it in a way that may be too big to fail. The ambitious Paris project is titled Vélib' – wordplay for bicycle freedom. Read: freedom from too many cars and carbon fumes.
"When I first got involved with Vélib, I was amazed at the number of stations, 750 to start with, and the enthusiasm of everyone for reducing auto traffic," says Jonathan Pierson, a Paris native who's part of a team of young Parisians hosting questions at Vélib stations during the day.
Amsterdam, a city not unfamiliar with bikes, tried a similar experiment that foundered. But the French think they've conquered the kinks. A bike-rental program started in Lyon in 2005 is working.
One clincher for the Paris project: Vélib isn't costing the city anything, and should be self-supporting. The program is financed by advertising behemoth JC Decaux – in exchange for 1,600 billboards around the city.
The concept is computerized and credit card driven. Each station has a large ATM-sized panel that gives instructions in French, German, English, and Chinese. Riders buy in for a day (1 rules), a week (5 rules), or a year (29 euro). The panel issues a card that can be swiped over a small locking pod to release the bike.
It is also a concept designed mainly for commuters, not tourists seeking a languid ride along the Seine. Riders have 30 minutes to get to their destination before any charge is made. After 30 minutes, the cost is 1 euro ($1.36). The bike is 2 rules for 1.5 hours, and 4 euro for 2 hours. "We hope each bike is used 10 to 14 times a day," says Pierson, who notes that the stations are open 24/7.
A rider who arrives to find no locking pods available, checks in, and is given another free 15 minutes and directions to the closest space. Need to stop for a baguette? The bike has a lock.
Yet there's also some personal responsibility tied up with bicycle freedom. To avoid problems found in Lyon – nearly half of its 1,000 bikes disappeared or were destroyed in the first year – initial membership in the Paris program puts a 150 euros hold on the credit card. People are charged for bikes that aren't returned, placing an emphasis on rider care and oversight. Should a bike not be returned, an alarm inside the bike will go off.
Today, Lyon's program seems to have lost its training wheels; it now has 4,000 bikes that get ridden 20,000 times a day, more than 40 percent of which are used by office workers.
Paris officials hope to register 200,000 rides a day. Perhaps one can amend Ezra Pound's famous 1913 modernist reflection on the Paris metro: "...faces in the crowd/petals on a wet black bough" to "pedals on a silver-grey vélo."
Not that Parisians won't have to adjust. The French are fond of the idea of civilization and the vision of a city suffused with bike commuters is a humanist heaven. The problem is that Paris streets are Darwinist by nature. The 19th-century avenues are host to 21st-century traffic. The bulk of movement is not by vélos, but by Jurassic Park-like véloceraptors – aggressive autos and packs of even more aggressive motorscooters that tunnel through and sweep around car lanes and backed-up traffic.
City fathers and mothers argue that Parisian drivers will simply start to adjust. Such is the faith.
In the past two years, Paris has created larger zones for bikes, buses, and taxis. But there's no history of bike helmet wearing. Paris commuters in the morning and evening aren't particularly patient, and bike stations only have one sign-up panel. Some Parisians question the vélo station courtesy levels late at night, when students and partygoers want to get home.
For all the Tour de France glam and a general rise in bicycle culture in France, Paris has not been a bike town. A rising tide of bikers, though, are notorious for riding on sidewalks, ignoring traffic signals, and biking the wrong way on all those one-way streets.
Ann-Marie Fouchet of the Geppeto Vélo bike shop on the Left Bank feels the program "is good as a way to establish biking in Paris." But she says that Parisians are not used to dealing with bikes on the road. Every Friday evening about 500 bikers join for a tour of the city, during which "cars aren't always courteous and the bikers are not always knowing how to deal with them," Ms. Fouchet says.
Another niggling factor amid the revolutionary fervor: parking. Parisians may like the idea of bike heaven, but few want their already crowded parking spaces absconded. To the barricades!
Albert Asseraf, director of marketing at Decaux, says that the bike project is so broad that after July 15, 2007, Parisians will refer to "before Vélib, and after Vélib."
Ok. Vive le vélo!
French revolution: Rentable bikes every 900 feet
By Robert Marquand, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Fri Jul 6, 2007
The socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, has seen the future and it's got two wheels, three speeds, an adjustable seat, indestructible tires, a basket, and a bell. It's 50 pounds of ecofriendly handlebars, comin' at ya.
The French are turning Paris into a bicycle zone, pretty much overnight. Even now, astride small alleys and behind boulangeries, paving stones are being ripped to fit 750 bicycle rent "stations."
On July 15, a day after the French Revolution anniversary, the city of lights will kick off a "vélorution" with 10,648 rentable bikes, or vélos. By January, some 1,400 rent stations and 20,600 bikes are scheduled to be in place. In Paris proper, one will never be more than 900 feet from a set of cheap wheels. At least theoretically.
Similar programs have been launched elsewhere with varying success. But Paris officials say their city is the first world capital to adopt a major green biking initiative, and they are doing it in a way that may be too big to fail. The ambitious Paris project is titled Vélib' – wordplay for bicycle freedom. Read: freedom from too many cars and carbon fumes.
"When I first got involved with Vélib, I was amazed at the number of stations, 750 to start with, and the enthusiasm of everyone for reducing auto traffic," says Jonathan Pierson, a Paris native who's part of a team of young Parisians hosting questions at Vélib stations during the day.
Amsterdam, a city not unfamiliar with bikes, tried a similar experiment that foundered. But the French think they've conquered the kinks. A bike-rental program started in Lyon in 2005 is working.
One clincher for the Paris project: Vélib isn't costing the city anything, and should be self-supporting. The program is financed by advertising behemoth JC Decaux – in exchange for 1,600 billboards around the city.
The concept is computerized and credit card driven. Each station has a large ATM-sized panel that gives instructions in French, German, English, and Chinese. Riders buy in for a day (1 rules), a week (5 rules), or a year (29 euro). The panel issues a card that can be swiped over a small locking pod to release the bike.
It is also a concept designed mainly for commuters, not tourists seeking a languid ride along the Seine. Riders have 30 minutes to get to their destination before any charge is made. After 30 minutes, the cost is 1 euro ($1.36). The bike is 2 rules for 1.5 hours, and 4 euro for 2 hours. "We hope each bike is used 10 to 14 times a day," says Pierson, who notes that the stations are open 24/7.
A rider who arrives to find no locking pods available, checks in, and is given another free 15 minutes and directions to the closest space. Need to stop for a baguette? The bike has a lock.
Yet there's also some personal responsibility tied up with bicycle freedom. To avoid problems found in Lyon – nearly half of its 1,000 bikes disappeared or were destroyed in the first year – initial membership in the Paris program puts a 150 euros hold on the credit card. People are charged for bikes that aren't returned, placing an emphasis on rider care and oversight. Should a bike not be returned, an alarm inside the bike will go off.
Today, Lyon's program seems to have lost its training wheels; it now has 4,000 bikes that get ridden 20,000 times a day, more than 40 percent of which are used by office workers.
Paris officials hope to register 200,000 rides a day. Perhaps one can amend Ezra Pound's famous 1913 modernist reflection on the Paris metro: "...faces in the crowd/petals on a wet black bough" to "pedals on a silver-grey vélo."
Not that Parisians won't have to adjust. The French are fond of the idea of civilization and the vision of a city suffused with bike commuters is a humanist heaven. The problem is that Paris streets are Darwinist by nature. The 19th-century avenues are host to 21st-century traffic. The bulk of movement is not by vélos, but by Jurassic Park-like véloceraptors – aggressive autos and packs of even more aggressive motorscooters that tunnel through and sweep around car lanes and backed-up traffic.
City fathers and mothers argue that Parisian drivers will simply start to adjust. Such is the faith.
In the past two years, Paris has created larger zones for bikes, buses, and taxis. But there's no history of bike helmet wearing. Paris commuters in the morning and evening aren't particularly patient, and bike stations only have one sign-up panel. Some Parisians question the vélo station courtesy levels late at night, when students and partygoers want to get home.
For all the Tour de France glam and a general rise in bicycle culture in France, Paris has not been a bike town. A rising tide of bikers, though, are notorious for riding on sidewalks, ignoring traffic signals, and biking the wrong way on all those one-way streets.
Ann-Marie Fouchet of the Geppeto Vélo bike shop on the Left Bank feels the program "is good as a way to establish biking in Paris." But she says that Parisians are not used to dealing with bikes on the road. Every Friday evening about 500 bikers join for a tour of the city, during which "cars aren't always courteous and the bikers are not always knowing how to deal with them," Ms. Fouchet says.
Another niggling factor amid the revolutionary fervor: parking. Parisians may like the idea of bike heaven, but few want their already crowded parking spaces absconded. To the barricades!
Albert Asseraf, director of marketing at Decaux, says that the bike project is so broad that after July 15, 2007, Parisians will refer to "before Vélib, and after Vélib."
Ok. Vive le vélo!
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