Hello and welcome. You're watching France 24. Coming up, more patrols on the street
and tighter bag checks at the door. One day after dynamite sticks are found inside a major
department store. President Nicolas Sarkozy makes a pitch for French style affirmative
action with plans for a diversity czar. But a commission rules out tinkering the constitution
to include the notion. And oil prices continue their plunge despite a record cut in production
announced by OPEC ministers. An added 700 police and army patrols on the beat, no parking around
train stations and big stores. The French interior minister announcing a host of measures following
a crisis meeting over the sticks of dynamite found in the men's toilet of a major Paris
department store. No detonator, instead a warning letter calling for the withdrawal of French
troops from Afghanistan. The defense minister says the tip off letter signed by the totally
unknown Afghan Revolutionary Front does not bear the hallmark of Islamist radicals, what with its
references to capitalism and the total absence of jihadist rhetoric in the letter. For her part,
the interior minister says investigators are keeping all options open. As for the department
stores, well seven shopping days left before Christmas, they too are on the lookout.
The dazzling window displays and decorations at one of Paris' largest department stores shine
just as brightly as they did yesterday. But despite the glittering façade, staff arriving
for work this morning were visibly tense. Security was noticeably tight. As far as we're concerned,
we're always vigilant in our own sectors. I'm on the ground floor and we have to be even more
vigilant than our colleagues on other floors. We've just been told to pay attention but we're
always watching out for suspect packages and things like that. It is a little frightening though.
The store director arrived to congratulate staff on their efforts.
Meanwhile, the number of security guards posted outside the store's 25 entrances has been trebled.
Obviously, we have increased security operations. We have stepped up surveillance and other areas
have also been reinforced, although I can't go into details for security reasons.
Bags are now being systematically searched. The bomb scare couldn't have come at a worse
time for shoppers with Christmas just around the corner.
Some 150,000 people are expected to pass through the store's doors during the festive season.
Coincidence has it on the same day that France's president unveiled a plan to make sure the nation's
elite fairly reflect all of its citizens, including minorities. A commission set up
by Nicolas Sarkozy has rejected including the notion of cultural diversity in the constitution.
The president unveiling the creation of a diversity czar in a speech at one of France's
most elite institutions of higher learning, the École Polytechnique.
What is the goal? There will be a lot of buzz but the end goal will be to take up the challenge of
diversity. The 21st century will be one of diversity and the blending of populations.
France has always been faced with the challenges of diversity and by taking up the challenge of
diversity, France is keeping in line with its history. We must say things as they are,
inbreeding has always been blamed for the fall of civilizations and societies,
but diversity never has.
France's president in the waning days of his country's rotating presidency of the EU,
getting the European Parliament's stamp of approval on one of the major measures of Paris's tenure.
MEPs in Strasbourg overwhelmingly approving measures that obliged the 27 member states
to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent come the year 2020. A day after the Iraqi government
drafted a law that sets the end of May as the pullout date for the last British troops from
its soil, the visit of the UK prime minister Gordon Brown in the same vein as the incoming
US administration pulling out the last of his forces from Iraq to focus on Afghanistan.
The end is finally in sight for the 4,100 British troops still serving in Iraq.
During an unannounced visit to Baghdad, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said UK forces would
have completed all combat missions by the end of May 2009 and would leave by July.
Up to 300 military advisors are likely to remain to help the Iraqi government.
We have agreed today that the mission will end no later than 31st May next year.
We will of course continue to work in the best possible way with Iraq in the future.
We will offer help with training wherever that is necessary.
Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, British troops were given responsibility
for Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, as well as the country's main oil fields and ports.
At the height of the conflict, the southern Iraqi city was the setting of some of the
bloodiest battles and attacks against allied forces.
The British came under fire in more ways than one, with several servicemen court-martialed
over the alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians.
British forces eventually withdrew from Basra in September 2007 to an air base outside the
southern Iraqi city.
Three months later, Britain officially handed over control of Basra province to Iraqi authorities.
Since military operations began in Iraq, 178 British soldiers have lost their lives.
Britain now plans to transfer its military resources to Afghanistan to strengthen operations
there.
The UK's relatively small army has been stretched to its limit by fighting on two separate fronts.
World oil prices continue to drop despite producers' pledge to slash production by
record 2 million barrels a day effective January 1st.
OPEC ministers concluding their meeting in the Algerian city of Iran as crude prices
have plummeted by 70 percent from July from its high of $147 a barrel, reporting earlier
Business Editor Raphael Kahn.
OPEC had already reduced the production, oil production by 2 million barrels a day.
Now it's getting ready to reduce by another 2 million barrels, bringing the total reduction
this year by 4 million barrels a day.
So total production will fall from 27 million barrels to 25 million barrels.
Will that be enough?
Well, judging by the impact of the previous production cuts, probably not actually.
It's more than balanced by the reduction in global economic growth that is actually affecting
demand in all consuming countries.
Raphael Kahn.
For US investors, it's the day after.
The day after the Federal Reserve's historic cut in interest rates and, well, Wall Street
has a hangover.
More from Elisa Lagos.
Markets opened lower today with the Dow down about 100 points just after the opening bell.
The markets are really giving back much of yesterday's gains that they actually gained
following the Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates.
The financial stocks which led the gains yesterday today is leading the decline.
Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley announced fiscal fourth quarter results and they were
much lower than most analysts were expecting.
The bank had a loss of $2.37 billion in the last two weeks.
That's a loss of nearly $2.34 a share.
Most analysts were expecting a much smaller loss of only $0.34 a share.
The list comes amid further write downs for the bank and Morgan Stanley shares trading
heavily to the downside.
Other financial stocks are also under the same selling pressure and those include Citigroup
and also Goldman Sachs.
The dollar, meanwhile, continues to weaken.
It fell sharply, gets other currencies including the British pound, the yen, and especially
the euro following the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates.
Thanks Alisa.
Over in Europe, trading's mixed although the banking sector is taking a bath across the
continent.
Hardest hit, French bank BNP Paribas down some 16% on poor earnings and exposure to
the Bernie Madoff scandal.
The New York financier who's due in court later for a bail hearing over charges, he
ran Wall Street's largest ever pyramid scheme.
The UN's authorization to pursue Somali pirates Tuesday on land as well as sea didn't stop
armed bandits from attacking four more ships.
But in one case, a new European naval task force has actually rescued a Chinese vessel
whose crew locked themselves in their cabin long enough to radio for help.
All those in favor, raise your hands.
For the fourth time in six months, the Security Council of the United Nations unanimously
adopted a resolution on piracy in Somalia.
From now on, the pirates will be chased by international forces on land as well as by
sea.
The Somali transition government approved the measure.
The Security Council's authorization today that states may pursue pirates into their
places of operation on land will have a significant impact.
This is not the first time that lawless pirates will be tracked down on Somali soil.
In April, French forces pursued and arrested a group of men for holding a luxury yacht
and its 32 passengers hostage.
That operation was given the green light by Somali authorities.
Of course we have the permission of the Somali governments to pursue the pirates on Somali
territory if necessary.
Despite international cooperation, pirates continued to wreak havoc in the Gulf of Aden.
In 24 hours, four boats were targeted.
In a rare feat, a Chinese vessel was able to outsmart its attackers with the help of
international coalition forces that were patrolling the area.
That's it for this edition.
We're back in 20 minutes.
Stay with us.
Hello and welcome to Global Weather.
A depression concentrated over Serbia negatively influences conditions from Germany to Greece
and Sardinia to the Ukraine, bringing precipitation and snow at low altitudes in certain alpine
regions.
Rome is inclement at 10 degrees.
Across most of central Europe, temperatures range between 4 and 8 precipitous degrees.
The sun bursts through over Moscow at a nippy minus 8, and Athens hosts lightning at 17.
A cold front brings moderate rains and snowfall at low altitudes to northern Japan.
Cloud banks have reserved snow for Kazakhstan with some spillage over the Kara Sea also.
The remainder of Typhoon Dolphin is responsible for the showers over the Philippines' eastern
flank and tropical showers rain on Sri Lanka.
Plum Pen is currently bright at 29, while Beijing is sunny at only 1 degree.
Taipei, 18.
Heavy showers or tropical storms hit Australia's northern fringe, as well as a zone running
from Indonesia and Malaysia to the territory of Wallis and Fortuna Islands.
Despite lightly overcast skies, Papua remains dry, but New Caledonia expects raindrops.
Sydney 28 degrees, Darwin drips at 31, and Alice Springs is cloudy but dry at 36.
The rains are relentless over Kuala Lumpur.
Thank you for listening.
Join us again in half an hour.
One Russian not worried by the crisis is this young entrepreneur who runs a small fast food
empire.
This is modern Russian cuisine, and the dishes we serve are all my mother's recipes, says
the young 38-year-old businessman.
They look like pancakes, but in Russia they're called blinny and sell like hotcakes.
Six tons of blini mix is sold every day at 164 outlets owned by the young millionaire.
Some others may be about to close down, but we are going to open 15 restaurants in Moscow
and three in St. Petersburg.
In contrast, the mood is sombre at luxury restaurants which these days are semi-deserted.
Since the start of the financial crisis, this very trendy Georgian restaurant in the centre
of Moscow has lost a fifth of its customers, and those that are still coming are spending
less than before.
Our customers used to spend between 80 and 150 euros a person, but now they're spending
less than that, not 80, but 60, 40 or even 30 euros.
But at least they're still coming.
Today the restaurant is nearly empty.
The kitchen just ticking over by preparing Georgian food for the employees.
January will be harder still, but we'll survive and things will return to normal, predicts
the restaurant's owner, but analysts tell a totally different story.
It's only the beginning.
The ruble will further weaken, consumers will cut very significantly.
The discretionary spending and dining out is definitely one of the discretionary items.
To keep their clients, some fashionable restaurants have introduced anti-crisis menus, where the
depressed regulars can drink to forget their woes at half the price.
But it's a futile gesture.
During a crisis it's difficult to compete with fast food joints.
This is a soviet-style eatery which has replaced an Italian restaurant.
I think that in a crisis period the restaurant sector is going to have to reorientate itself
more towards the average consumer.
Mikhail Goncharov is catering precisely for those Muscovites who can't afford to spend
much at a restaurant.
We're going to start selling crisis blini, he explains.
Goncharov launched his fast food restaurant back in 1998 when the ruble had collapsed.
Ten years on and with a new crisis he is now planning to launch a new fast food chain.
Bonjour, hello and welcome to The Week in France, coming up in this week's programme.
Back behind bars for 17 years, the man dubbed France's jailbreak king, Antonio Ferrara,
heads back to jail.
It's known as revolving credit and as the economic crisis worsens, more and more French
people are having trouble dealing with their debts.
Amélie Lévo is France's new swimming hero, the golds and world records galore for him
in the European Short Course Championships.
And a new exhibition celebrates Sonia Ricquiel's 40 years in the fashion industry.
But first, heavy snow caused havoc across France this week, storms started on Saturday
and several days later some 90,000 homes were still without electricity.
Central France and the Alpine regions were particularly badly affected.
Meanwhile southern France was hit by heavy flooding as extreme weather took its toll.
Now he's nicknamed the jailbreak king, but Antonio Ferrara's escape from a maximum security
jail in 2003 has landed him with 17 years behind bars.
He was serving time for bank robberies, murder and a previous prison escape in 1998.
18 others were convicted of helping him escape this time.
Seven o'clock in the morning the verdict has just been delivered.
In and outside of the court scenes of anger from those convicted and their families.
Heavy sentences were given to those involved.
Absent from the stand, bank robber Antonio Ferrara was condemned to 17 years in jail for
his escape from the maximum security prison near Paris in 2003.
What did he do?
He tried to find freedom.
He tried to escape.
Now he's being eliminated from society and thrown into the slammer for 60 years.
It's unacceptable.
18 others including Ferrara's then lawyer Karim Achoui were convicted of helping him
escape.
Achoui got seven years and was locked up immediately prompting protests from his lawyers.
In the end there are serious failures in the French justice system.
I guess it's better not to be a lawyer or an Arab.
You manage a lot better.
The lawyers of those accused claim the trial was marked by numerous incidents and that
the rights of the defendants weren't guaranteed.
Quite frankly it was a shameful trial.
It was played out from the very beginning.
Ferrara and those linked to him had to be condemned.
A former Fresn prison guard was sentenced to 12 years in jail for his role in the plot.
Most of those convicted will appeal the sentence.
The trial could take place in a year.
Education Minister Xavier Darkos has announced that reforms to the lice system will be delayed
for a year.
This in the face of a number of demonstrations across the country.
French youngsters are angry at reforms which would mean fewer teachers in classrooms.
President Sarkissi for his part says the reforms will happen, they've just been delayed.
But that's not enough for student leaders who continue to take to the streets even after
news of the postponement.
There will be no adverts after 8pm on French public TV channels from January 5th.
The move was voted through the National Assembly despite delaying tactics from the left.
It will blow a 450 million euro hole in France television's budget, a sum that will be guaranteed
by the French state in 2009.
Now onto news of a rare electoral success for Marie-George Buffet.
Ok all the communists managed was to be re-elected as party leader despite some vocal opposition.
All the same though it will lift Buffet's morale after polling under 2% in last year's
presidential election.
Nevertheless despite Buffet's promise to transform the party, the communists remain on the critical
list.
Back in the 1970s they were France's biggest party.
Now they are marginal at best.
The phenomenon of revolving credit has been making headlines.
Some French households have got themselves ever deeper in debt, taking out loans with
exceptionally high interest rates to pay off other loans that they've already taken out.
It's estimated that the French took out some 136.4 billion euros of such loans in 2007.
Christmas is around the corner and it's a worrying time for some with presents to buy
and increased spending.
This man who used to have a well paid job has now been unemployed for 8 years.
Like many others he has been caught up in a spiral of revolving credit.
Little by little I didn't have enough to pay back the first loan so I took out a second
one.
I was using this to pay off the first, in particular the interest, but not the actual
loan itself.
Bit by bit it accumulated and it now stands at 25,000 euros.
A classic case of debts accumulating.
His file is now being examined by the French Commission for Excessive Debt.
In France the phenomenon of revolving credit is more and more common.
Many large stores offer their own credit cards to cash strapped customers.
But as always there are pitfalls that many don't see in advance.
The monthly repayments are relatively low with this type of credit so often it will
take a customer 5 to 10 years to pay off the principal at perhaps 20% interest, which in
the end is very expensive.
This situation usually affects households with the lowest incomes and this is the result.
180,000 cases are examined every year by France's Commission for Excessive Debt.
In just 20 years this number has doubled.
Obviously the Finance Ministry examines this area.
We wanted to come to these hearings at the Commission to see how people get into excessive
debt, how their files land on the Commission's desk.
We want to see why there are more and more people getting into this situation in order
to warn the public about the risks.
A bill has been prepared by the Finance Ministry to tackle the problem.
It intends to punish abuses by companies who offer credit.
It also wishes to ensure that advertising is more transparent.
If it's more, shops would be banned from offering credit at checkout counters.
Now to the Wall Street scandal and its impact on France.
Bernard Madoff made off with money from French banks in the pyramid selling scandal.
BNP Paribas could lose 350 million euros while Natixis, an offshoot of the Crédit Agricole
and Banque Populaire, says its exposure is up to 450 million euros.
But Societe Generale, who lost 5 billion euros in the Jerome Curviel scandal earlier this
year, say their potential losses are negligible, estimating them at under 10 million euros.
France has a new swimming star.
His name is Amélie Laveau.
At the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Croatia, Laveau won four gold medals and
set five world records.
Now the comparisons may be premature given that events in the 25-meter pool aren't contested
in the Olympics, but his achievements have led some to compare him with the sport's
greatest names.
Supersonic, phenomenal, the French Phelps.
After his performance at this weekend's European Short Course Championship, Amélie Laveau
has a slew of new nicknames.
And it's underwater that the new star French Swimming made his mark, leading the pack and
gaining precious seconds at every lap.
It was enough to win the 100-meter freestyle and clinch a world record at 44 seconds, 94.
Yeah, we broke a lot of world records in just one day.
And this morning I wasn't feeling well.
I almost had a nervous breakdown.
A nervousness that Laveau quickly reigned in.
Two meters tall, the towering Laveau grew up in a tough neighborhood in the eastern
city of Belfort, and it shows.
The 23-year-old keeps his relationship with journalists very down to earth.
Close your eyes.
Close your eyes.
Go on, just a little present.
I'm not going to do anything bad.
At the top of the podium during the Marseillaise, Laveau is noticeably less irreverent.
The bad boy of French swimming is known as the class clown, but proved this weekend to
be an exceptional athlete.
Laveau started off with a classic swimming career, competing against ruthless teammates
like Alain Bernard.
No one expected Laveau at this level, but being the workhorse of his club back in Mulhouse
paid off, clinching five world records in short course swimming in one week.
Many are now asking when he will be competing in long course swimming.
When?
I don't know.
Hey, let's go tomorrow.
No, I don't know.
This was just the first leg of the season, the short course part.
The second leg is long course, so we'll try to do the same thing then.
But Amaury Laveau wasn't the only star to shine this weekend.
In all, France won seven gold medals out of 20, an exceptional team effort that pushed
French swimmers to emulate each other, seemingly a winning strategy for the French team.
Sonia Ricquel's fashion label is celebrating its 40th birthday.
The revered designer is currently the subject of a retrospective exhibition of her life
and work in Paris.
The exhibition runs until April.
With her shock of red hair and sleek silhouette, Sonia Ricquel embodies the style she pioneered.
Her love affair with fashion began when she was 17, dressing shop windows.
Later, she began designing maternity sweaters while pregnant, when she couldn't find one
she liked in the shops.
Her maternity look caused a storm and not just amongst pregnant women.
In 1968, a student protest swept France.
She opened a boutique on Paris' left bank, her clothes matching the revolutionary spirit
of the times.
She may be known as the queen of knitwear, but her look extends to velvet tassels, sequins
and even fur.
Ricquel was also the first to put seams on the outside.
Putting a garment on inside out is to feel free.
Only a woman could take out a pencil and scissors and design such a fluid line, almost like
water running over a woman's body.
Only a woman can know that feeling and create it for others.
Her daughter Natalie, who once modeled her range, now manages the business.
She stays true to her style, no matter how much time goes by or fashion changes.
Once voted one of the world's 10 most glamorous women, Sonia Ricquel is celebrating 40 years
in fashion with a special retrospective exhibition of her life and work in Paris.
17th century façade.
On the inside, contemporary paintings and sculptures.
This gallery, situated right in the heart of the Solhona region, is exhibiting works
of about 10 artists.
They include Charleley Couture and his eclectic graphics and Antoine de Castellan's ecological
fantasies.
This is the story of two old trees which meet in the forest.
They're an old couple and were perhaps former lovers.
But they are still here and are touching hands.
You can see their hands touching and their animals greeting each other.
They are bulls or dogs.
So that's it.
It really is an illustration of life.
These inlaced couples and solitary figures depicted in the forests of Solhona are on
show for the first time in the region.
I've exhibited in Paris, Madrid, Mexico and Switzerland.
I've been on show everywhere except Solhona.
An exhibition in the region is a real event.
The air is pure here and there are good vibrations.
It was back at the beginning of the 1980s that Gérard Capazza decided to bring contemporary
art to Solhona, far away from the galleries of Paris.
The decision paid off and the gallery is open to all forms of art.
Over the past 30 years, I've assembled all the works which have touched me independent
of fashions and fads.
We can discover the extraordinary Gucci, who's become the reference for silversmiths, glass
workers, ceramists, painters and sculptors.
This highly personal selection has attracted collectors as well as amateur and professional
artists.
This is the first time I've organised such a personal exhibition of this importance.
More than a thousand people came to the opening.
The result is so positive it will allow me to launch my own career as a photographer.
The people on show here receive as many visitors as they would if they were on show in a Paris
gallery.
Enormous numbers of people come here from Paris and the collectors, I mean real collectors,
only come when they're interested by a painting.
It doesn't matter where it is, the most important thing is the work of the gallery owner.
And that work has offered a new lease of life to these listed former stables and brought
a breath of fresh air to the art world.
The global crisis looms large but the luxury hotel industry has never done better.
In Paris three new hotels are being planned for 2011 with indulgent spas and ever more
luxurious facilities for increasingly rich clients.
Better known establishments are threatened by this new competition but they have decided
to fight back.
Find out how.
Beyond Business, Saturday 10.15am Paris time on France 1.0.