French news dump

From the french press for a change :

Maybe it's just me, but i think it's a shame :

A petition demands the end to the distinction between 'Madame' and 'Mademoiselle'

Some women find it amusing, others find it annoying : On administrative forms, opening bank accounts our subscribing to internet services, tradition demands that we ask women to tick the box marked 'Madame' or 'Mademoiselle'.

Men can hide their marital status : they are all regrouped under the heading 'Monsieur'.

Weary of this distinction, one company head - who wishes to remain anonymous - has launched a petition. it has already gathered 700 signatures.

'When i was selling my appartment, the soliciter made me sign 'Madamoiselle' whilst every one else calls me 'Madame'' she says, 'for a quote, that i've just asked for, it's the same : the company asked me if i was married and indicated 'Mademoiselle'. It doesn't spoil my life, but it does irritate me. It's with these little details that we detect the spirit of a social group'.

On the home page of Les Chiennes de garde and on lapetition.com, the text demands that official forms demand only the gender and no other details.

-snip-

The petition for the supression of the distinction between 'Madame' and 'Mademoiselle' pleases Yvette Roudy, who was the minister for womens rights during the Mitterrand presidency.

'This designation is ridiculous and grotesque, it harks back to the time of patriarchal supercilliousness !' she believes. 'To indicate whether one is 'Madame' ou 'Mademoiselle', is a way of indicating if a woman is a virgin or not !'.

The current president of the delegation for womens rights at the assembly, the deputy (UMP)Marie-Jo Zimmermann, says she is , however, perplexed.

'We've called me Madame since my marriage and it doesn't bother more than that !', she says smiling, 'but i'm going to adresse a question to the undersecretry for parity, Catherine Vautrin. If this poses a real problem to numerous women, then maybe we could make a gest'.

The Anglo-Saxons have found a solution : there was Miss (mademoiselle) and Mrs (madame), they invented Ms (prononced "Miz"), which simply indicates that it's a women, whether she is married or not.

'In official UNO documents, i'm always presented as "Ms Gaspard"", said Françoise Gaspard.

Under the title civility, the Eurostar web site offers women who want to order a ticket, the choice between Miss, Mrs and ... Ms.

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Handbags at dawn :

Villiers accuses Sarkozy of copying his slogan

The MPF's slogan is : 'France, you love it or you quit it'.

Nicolas Sarkozy let rip saturday : 'If some people don't like France, then they should leave'.

Philippe de Villiers accuses Nicolas Sarkozy of plagiarisme.

In todays 'Journal du dimanche', le president of the Mouvement pour la France (MPF) reproaches the president of the UMP for having duplicated his slogan: "La France, tu l'aimes ou tu la quittes". ('France; you love it or you leave it')

Speaking saturday, in Paris, in front of new members Nicolas Sarkozy had said : "Si certains n'aiment pas la France, qu'ils ne se gênent pas pour la quitter". ('If some people don't like France, then they shouldn't be bothered about leaving')

On his side, François Hollande also added his own commentary to the prime ministers' remarks.

In Lyon, saturday, the Socialist party's leader denied that the right wing parties had "le monopole de l'amour de la France", in reply to the remarks made just before by the president of the UMP."Je dénie à la droite le monopole de l'amour de la France", retorted François Hollande, whilst closing the general debate about the Socialist party project. 'Nous aimons la France autant que les autres, mais la France généreuse, universelle, pas celle qui privilégie telle ou telle catégorie', he added, 'celle qui n'exclut personne". ( 'We love France as much as the others but the generous and universal one, not the one which privileges one category or another, one which excludes no-one')

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I wonder if the fat lady isn't going over her scales in the wings :

De Villepin's Berezina

The end of the CPE is a personal desaster for Villepin. Will he get over it ?

'Villepin wanted a conflict to show that he isn't like the others'

Hunting season is open for Villepin. The prime minister believed himself to be unique; he finds himself all alone. Above all, effectively, he is the victim of his own certitude that he is a unique politician, atypical and inomparable.

'Villepin wanted a conflict to show that he isn't like the others' confirmed one minister.

'But are you comparing me to my predecessors ?', so took offense the interested party a month ago, whilst being interrogated about his methods at Matignon.

The other Prime ministers had always had a career plan; not him.
The others had ceeded to the call from the streets; not him.
That illusion, dead on the 10th of April, has inflicted on him the worst of all insults; he is like the others...

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'Le Monde' ... scandal hits the british royal family :

The scent of a scandal around an english princess and a russian mogul.

A british princess, the cousin of queen Elisabeth II, created a scandal in Great Britain when she was seen with a russian furniture mogul 20 years her junior in a gondola at Venise.

The tabloïd, The News of the World affirms on its front page, that princess Michael, 61, wife since 1978 to prince Michael of Kent, had an affair in Venise with Mikhaïl Kravchenko, 40.

The paper published a photograph of the blonde princess, affectionately tapping the cheek of Mikhaïl, long black hair blowing in the wind, sharing a seat on a gondola with him.

'The princess even chose her boyfriends clothes, one of the most in view bachelors in Moscow, and gave him a tender kiss in public', precises the tabloïd.

Simon Astaire, spokesman for the princess, reacted rapidly, underlining that the couple were only friends and had met in Venise to talk about plans for new textile models...

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Is there a pilot on the plane ? :

Washinton invites the E.U to sanction Iran outside the framewok of the U.N.O

The chinese president hadn't even finished his visit to the U.S when the Bush administration called, friday april 22nd, on Europe and Russia to prepare to apply unilateral sanctions against Iran, as if it had already drawn its conclusions from the consequences of chinese reticence.

'If the security council doesn't manage to take action in a reasonable time frame, it would be the moment for certain groups of countries to organise themselves together with the aim of isolating the iraniens diplomatically ans economically' - declared the N°3 from the state department, Nicholas Burns, during a press conference in Washington...

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Is Du(m)bya going to like this ? Do we really care ? :

Agreement between Saudi Arabia and China on energy cooperation.

The two heads of state participated saturday in the the signature of a series of cooperation agreements, one of which ' is a framework-agreement about cooperation in the energy sector between Sinopec and SaudiAramco' - said a chinese spokesman to the AFP afterwards.

The chinese company Sinopec is already prospecting for oil in the saudien desert and is building, with Saudi Aramco, a refinery in the chinese province of Fujian.

The construction of another refinery is forseen in the city of Qingdao.

The framework agreement forsees the reinforcement of cooperation in the oil exploration sector and a possible eventual cooperation over oil exploration between the two companies, explained the chinese delegate...

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