French

Christine Lagarde can count on at least one thing Wednesday during her first news conference as chief of the International Monetary Fund: few softball questions. The former French finance minister is under pressure on many fronts. Lagarde must convince the developing world that her IMF will be a more open place for non-Western nations. At [...]

When Britain lost control of Egypt in 1956, Prime Minister Anthony Eden said he wanted the nationalist president Gamal Abdel Nasser “destroyed … murdered … I don’t give a damn if there’s anarchy and chaos in Egypt”. Those insolent Arabs, Winston Churchill had urged in 1951, should be driven “into the gutter from which they [...]

On April 5 the chairman of the African Union, Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, condemned French military operations in fellow West African nation Ivory Coast and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s war against Libya, stating: “Africa does not need any external influence. Africa must manage its own affairs.” Though hardly a model of a [...]

[vodpod id=Video.5929380&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] Army General Carter Ham told Congress today that while sending a globalist ground invasion force including American troops into Libya may not be “ideal,” it is probably the only way to make sure the CIA organized rebels and al-Qaeda defeat Gaddafi and his troops. The use of an international ground force is a [...]

Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film is a film that tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, and his obsession with street art. The film charts Guetta’s constant documenting of his every waking moment on film, from a chance encounter with his cousin, the artist Invader, to his [...]

WikiLeaks appears to be quickly taking steps to reduce its reliance on Internet infrastructure in the U.S. as it battles to keep secret diplomatic cables online while its new French hosting provider is seeking court protection. Early on Friday, WikiLeaks began using a new domain name, WikiLeaks.ch, which is owned by The Pirate Party Switzerland, [...]

Sarah Baartman (1789-1815), also known as Saartjie Baartman or the Hottentot Venus, was an African woman who became a sideshow in London and Paris. She was almost completely naked and had a very large behind, even for the part of Africa she came from – near Cape Town in South Africa. Those who paid more were allowed to [...]

Finally someone speaks the truth. In an interview with Spiegel Magazine, former Bundesbank chief Karl Otto Pohl, says it how it is: “Without a “haircut,” a partial debt waiver, [Greece] cannot and will not ever [repay its debt]. So why not immediately? That would have been one alternative. The European Union should have declared half [...]

The French music business has launched the umbrella organization Tous Pour la Musique (All for Music), designed to lobby for the sector and to help educate the public on online legal offers. Similar in the concept to British organization U.K. Music, Tous Pour la Musique has a wider reach as it regroups labels’ trade bodies [...]

After a tough 2009, the head of French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent thinks it is too early to be optimistic despite growing signs consumer spending is on the rise.  Having just watched a presentation of the maison’s austere collection for next autumn and winter, YSL Chief Executive Valerie Hermann was in sync with the [...]

(Fortune) — On November 19, 2009 Jeffrey Gundlach was named a finalist for Morningstar’s award for bond fund manager of the decade. For Gundlach, the nomination recognized 10 years of stellar results, exceeding even the returns of the legendary king of bonds, Bill Gross. Two weeks later Gundlach was confronted, fired, and then pursued on [...]

PARIS (AFP) – A French software engineer said on Friday he was claiming a world record for calculating Pi, the constant that has fascinated mathematicians for millennia. Fabrice Bellard told AFP he used an inexpensive desktop computer — and not a supercomputer used in past records — to calculate Pi to nearly 2.7 trillion decimal [...]