The Kazakh prosecutor says a dissident businessman accused of embezzling billions of dollars from the country’s BTA Bank has been arrested in France. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
The Kazakh prosecutor says a dissident businessman accused of embezzling billions of dollars from the country’s BTA Bank has been arrested in France. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
The first batch of tickets for this year’s MineCon will be available online beginning today.
MineCon is the annual convention for MineCraft fans. 2,500 tickets will be put up for sale at the official website at 4PM PST for $150 each. Two additional batches of 2,500 tickets will be made available in the coming days: one on August 2 at 7AM PST, and the other on August 3 at 12PM PST.
As announced last month, this year’s event will take place in Orlando, Florida from November 2-3. Previous MineCons were located in Bellevue, Washington, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Paris, France.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games
World number eight Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France has withdrawn from next week’s ATP Rogers Cup, organizers said Wednesday, due to a left knee injury that forced him out at Wimbledon. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Filed under:
That didn’t take long. Shortly after a French administrative court gave the French government a ten-day window to reconsider its ban on registrations of Mercedes-Benz A-, B- and CLA-Class cars using the prohibited R134a refrigerant, the government cited an EU directive to formalize banning the sale of the cars. The country’s environmental ministry said that registrations “will remain forbidden in France as long as the company does not to conform to European regulations,” meaning so long as they do not use the approved R1234yf refrigerant.
Daimler had won the administrative court decision by challenging France’s application of a “safeguard” provision in which the EU allows a country to block sales of cars that would “seriously harm the environment.” In spite of Daimler’s victory, France has cited that very provision as basis for the continuation of the ban.
Daimler got permission from Germany’s KBA federal motor authority to keep selling cars with the coolant banned by EU politicians, and is using that national permission as the right to sell the cars throughout Europe. Meanwhile, above that battle, German politicians are asking the EU to let Mercedes sell the cars in France while the KBA does more testing, at the same time as the EU is threatening Germany with repercussions if it doesn’t bring the KBA and Daimler into line.
The German carmaker has said France’s “argument is absolutely incomprehensible” and has vowed more courtroom action. The three models comprise most of Mercedes’ business in France; more than 4,500 vehicles have been kept from being registered, 2,704 of which have already been sold.
France formally moves to ban Mercedes vehicles using contested refrigerant originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 31 Jul 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog
SALLELES-D’AUDE, France, July 31 (UPI) — A French mayor said he was shocked to discover an over-50s gated community he approved is aimed strictly at homosexuals. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at UPI Odd News
By Kemp Minifie Psst…Want the scoop on the next vegetable craze? It’s likely to be celtuse, (pronounced sell-TOOSE). Never heard of it? Neither had I until I stopped by Rick Bishop’s Mountain Sweet Berry Farm stand last Saturday. He pulled out a giant stalk of lettuce that was naked except for a birdlike plume of leaves at the top. “You eat the stalk,” explained Bishop, “but make sure you peel it first.” Well-known chefs Dan Barber and Wylie Dufresne were using it. Chef Barber of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York, was quick to give credit to Jack Algiere, the Stone Barns Center Four Season Farm Director, for what Barber calls the celtuse craze. Algiere remembers the day he first introduced celtuse to Barber’s kitchen staff as an almost magical moment of coincidence and synergy. It was 2005, a year after Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns had opened, and Algiere was still experimenting with different seeds. He walked into the restaurant kitchen one day with a surprise: huge stems of Laotian stalk lettuce–also known as asparagus lettuce–looking just like what I’d bought at Bishop’s stand. The stalks were definitely new and unusual to everyone, except sous chef Adam Kaye, who had literally just walked into the kitchen himself from a trip to France. “Oh, I just had that,” said Kaye, and proceeded to show the crew pictures of the very same vegetable in Parisian markets. Algiere was given the seeds by his close friend William Woys Weaver, a food historian, professor, and seed breeder/saver. Algiere describes him as “a brilliant man with a lot of history in his mind…who shared things in his seed vault that he thought would be good to keep perpetuating.” Algiere was the right man to do it. At first Algiere had a hard time sourcing more seeds. The best he’s found are from Agrohaitai, a Canadian company specializing in Asian seeds. They sell three different types that Algiere either grows outside or in a greenhouse, allowing him to supply it year round. Celtuse is unusual in that it’s eaten in the bolting stage, unlike other lettuces, which are eaten in the vegetative state. The celtuse leaves can be a bit bitter, but not nearly as much as a head of romaine that’s gone to flower. Algiere loves the leaves in a salad. Although Algiere appreciates how juicy and crisp the celtuse stem is when raw, he prefers it either roasted or grilled, which brings out its nutty flavor. He’s actually tried to increase that nutty quality by adding nut pressings—what remains after making nut oils—to the soil. Meanwhile, Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 and Jon Bignelli, executive chef of Alder, Dufresne’s new East Village restaurant, are both enthusiastic fans of celtuse. “It’s really refreshing with just a scootch of bitter flavor,” says Bignelli, who makes a purée of it with white wine, clam stock, heavy cream, potatoes, shallots, and dill to serve with fried squash blossoms that have been stuffed with…<div …read more
Source: Epicurious
By Damon Lowney
Filed under:
PSA Peugeot–Citroën has been struggling to offer low finance rates to customers since its banking arm, Banque PSA Finance, had its credit score downgraded, which in turn has made it hard for the French carmaker to compete with brands that offer lower finance rates, such as Volkswagen. The French government recognized the catch-22 and, after negotiations with PSA and European Union approval, has guaranteed the banking arm seven billion euro in bonds to secure its debt and lower borrowing costs, Automotive News reports. The infusion of bonds will be spread from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2016.
As part of the requirements for EU approval, PSA agreed to refrain from acquisitions in excess of 100 million euro per year and curb its debt levels, Automotive News reports. The EU Comission was required to approve the bond infusion before it could take place in an effort to reduce to a minimum “the damaging effects for competitors who have not received support from public funding,” said Joaquin Almunia, EU Competition Commissioner.
In addition to the bonds for Banque PSA, a diesel-hybrid program will also receive 86 million euro from the French government, which was also approved by the EU Commission.
PSA was hit hard by the European auto-market recession and posted a loss of five billion euro last year, and it still has an appetite of 100 million euro per month. We hope this is the start of a turnaround for the struggling automaker.
PSA Peugeot-Citroën gets EU approval for life-line loan from France originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 31 Jul 2013 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog
France’s state controlled nuclear power giant EDF says its net profit rose 3.5 percent in the first half as a result of a cold winter and high electricity prices. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By Anthony DeMarco, Contributor The value of the jewelry stolen Sunday at a Cannes hotel has now been valued at $136 million, according to several reports. This makes it reportedly the biggest jewelry heist ever in France. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Sunday’s theft of diamond jewelry in France — estimated at $136 million — appears to be the largest such heist in recent history. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Riots broke out over a full-face Islamic veil. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
1874 – Major Walter Copton Wingfield patents a portable tennis court
1907 – 1st helicopter ascent in Douai, France
1957 – Jack Paar’s Tonight show premieres
1972 – France performs nuclear Test at Muruora Island
1974 – St Louis Card Lou Brock steals his 700th base
1990 – South Africa Communist Party begins 1st legal conference
1872 – Eric Alfred Knudsen, American folklorist (d. 1957)
1883 – Benito Mussolini, [Il Duce], Forli Kingdom of Italy, Fascist Italian dictator (1922-43), (d. 1945)
1909 – Georgy Mushel, composer
1911 – Foster Furcolo, 60th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1995)
1957 – Nellie Kim, Shurab, Tajik SSR, Soviet gymnast (Olympic-3 golds-1976)
1968 – Kristen Babb-Sprague, California, US synchronized swimmer (Olympic-gold-92)
1030 – Olaf Haraldsson, King of Norway, dies in battle of Stiklestad
1825 – Micah Hawkins, composer, dies at 48
1922 – Edward Gailliard, Flemish language/archaeologist, dies at 81
1934 – Didier Pitre, French Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1883)
2003 – Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leonean rebel leader (b. 1937)
2007 – Tom Snyder, American television personality (b. 1936)
Source: FULL ARTICLE at HistoryOrb.Com – This Day in History
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday declared elections in Mali a “great success” for France, which sent troops to the African nation this year to dislodge Islamist groups. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
People with a family history of cancer have an increased risk of developing not only the same cancer, but also a different form of the disease, according to a study published in the journal Annals of Oncology. Researchers from Italy, Switzerland and France analyzed 12,000 cases of cancer occurring in 13 different sites of the body between 1991 and 2009… …read more
Newly-retired Australian cycling great Stuart O’Grady has admitted to using the banned blood-booster EPO before the 1998 Tour de France, reports said Thursday. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Filed under:
Vespa, Italy’s legendary scooter manufacturer, might just be the boot-shaped country’s most significant, transport-focused cultural export. With respect to Ferrari, it’s the diminutive and funky scooter manufacturer that put Italy back on wheels after World War II, with its line of user-friendly miniature motorcycles. Even today, Rome, Milan, and Turin are filled with Vespas, while the tiny scooters can be found in major cities all over the world.
Devour has posted a video that was put together by Nomoon, befitting of the brand’s off-beat heritage that recaps Vespa’s 70-year history. In a simple, animated style, Vespalogy shows a number of models that have defined the brand, from the original Paperino (shown above) to the Vespa 150 TAP, a model with an anti-tank gun used by the French military. Even the Vespa 400, a car designed by the brand’s parent company, Piaggio, and built in France by ACMA, gets a shoutout.
If you’re a fan of affordable, fun-to-ride transportation, take a look below for the full video.
Continue reading Take a visual walk through the history of Vespa
Take a visual walk through the history of Vespa originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Jul 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog
France pushed Wednesday for humanitarian corridors in Syria, with a bid that is very unlikely to win U.N. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Cats may look fluffy and cuddly, but any cat owner knows there’s mischief behind those wide eyes.
One pet owner in France learned as much, when a pack of at least six cats attacked the woman while she was walking her dog near a forested area in Belfort on Sunday evening, according to local reports.
The 31-year-old woman sustained several injuries on her legs and arms, including a nicked artery. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment, while her pet poodle, which was also wounded in the cat attack, was separately transported to a veterinarian clinic.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
Bolivian President Evo Morales says he’s returning his ambassadors to Spain, France, Italy and Portugal after the European nations apologized for refusing to let his plane fly over amid apparent suspicions U.S. leaker Edward Snowden was aboard. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By Tero Kuittinen European operator results are streaming in and the picture is bleak. Telefonica Germany: mobile service revenue down 5.2%. UK’s biggest operator, EE: service revenue down 4.4%. Telenor Denmark: mobile service revenue down 14%. In the most affluent markets of Europe, operators are delivering sales declines. These are the markets that dominate Europe’s high-end smartphone sales. And it is quite likely that carrier subsidy and marketing expenses now must come down in the core mobile markets of Europe: Germany, France, the UK and Spain. This in turn means that phone vendors must start spending more on marketing or accept softer demand. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets