France Travel News 10/29/2010

This ultra-chic town in southern France is the playground of the world's rich and famous. But very few, even in Saint Tropez, know about its centuries-old romance with India that began with a Himalayan princess and is now scripting a new tale for golf lovers.

Tour de France organizers say the 2012 cycling showcase will start from the Belgian city of Liege. Can we get through 2011 first?

As if France didn't have enough problems at the moment with mass protests against pension reforms, now it stands accused of causing The Great Depression. An academic paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests it may have been gold hoarding by France in the late 1920s that tipped the world into the economic abyss and not the oft-blamed tightening of U.S. monetary policy.

Drug testing ran smoothly at this year's Tour de France but the International Cycling Union should consider introducing night checks, the World Anti-Doping Agency said.

Almost 60 years ago, General Charles de Gaulle loftily dismissed his fellow Frenchmen in the following withering terms: "The French will only be united under the threat of danger. Nobody can simply bring together a country that has 265 kinds of cheese."

"It goes without saying that France does not let its politics be dictated by anyone, and certainly not by terrorists," Sarkozy said while attending the European Union summit in Brussels Friday.

Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes following the discovery of a series of bombs from the Second World War in the French city centre of Rennes. All of the work was being coordinated by France's Département du Déminage (Department of Mine Clearance), which recovers around 1,000 tons of unexploded munitions every year. Since 1945, around 650 of its staff have died handling unexploded munitions, two as recently as 1998 in the former First World War battlefield of Vimy Ridge. Their work is concentrated on the so-called 'Iron Harvest' of unexploded ordnance which is littered around the battlefields and bombing targets of northern France.

Luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has built up a 17.1% stake in rival French firm Hermès International. The company announced this weekend (23 October) that it currently holds a 14.2% stake in Hermès, and intends to convert a further 2.9% shareholding. The total cost of the stake would be EUR1.45bn (US$2.04bn). LVMH said the share purchase was a long-term investment and ruled out the possibility of a takeover.

A French member of the aristocracy who is a descendent of Louis XIV is attempting to discontinue a Japanese artist from presenting his composition at the Palace of Versailles. Artist Takashi Murakami, very well recognized for the multihued monogrammed bags he crafted for Louis Vuitton, is exhibiting his manga-approach artwork in Versailles until December.

An average of 25,000 warning letters a day are being sent to suspected illegal filesharers in France by Hadopi, as part of the country's 'three strikes' legislation. In the first wave of warning letters at the start of the month, an average of 10,000 letters were being sent. Hadopi is planning to increase this to 150,000 letters a day in the coming weeks.

Yeah, yeah. OK. Whatever. Seriously, it's not that bad over here. The overwhelming majority of protests look like a charity walk – people chatting, walking, chanting slogans every once in a while. Others do get crazy, but you just walk away and leave them be. It's not the 1968 student riots. The French simply don't have it in them anymore.

The French Senate Friday defied tens of thousands of protesters and approved its version of a controversial pension reform measure with a vote of 177-153, bringing the package one step closer to implementation.