French News

French News, Tues 21 April 2009:

The visit of the French President today is expected to disrupt traffic and parking around Nice. Nicolas Sarkozy will visit the police facility at des Moulins, before a round-table discussion with law enforcement officials and victims groups at the Acropolis. The President will be accompanied by Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, Justice Minister Rachida Dati and Finance Minister Eric Woerth. Parking and circulation will be affected in Saint Augustin, and around the Acropolis and Palais des expositions until 3pm.

Monaco budget shortfall

The Monaco Government yesterday reported a 14%, or 23-million euro, shortfall in receipts for the first three months of 2009.

Circus tickets on sale

Tickets for the 2010 International Circus Festival have gone on sale on-line. The 34th edition of the event will take place under the big top in Fontvieille between January 14 and 24 next year. Ticket prices range from €25 - €95, up to €170 for the gala performance. Children’s tickets begin at €10. The website for reservations is www.montecarlofestivals.mc

Protest violence

Police last night arrested 210 people after a demonstration in central Paris by Tamils angry at the situation in Sri Lanka turned violent. Several hundred demonstrators gathered near the Gare du Nord train station for the protest, which had not been declared to the authorities, and began turning over bins and throwing bottles at the police. One policeman was among four people injured, said the police, who held 164 of those initially detained for further questioning.

Tax time

French taxpayers should keep an eye on their letterboxes this week, with their 2009 tax returns expected to start arriving from Friday. As many as 6-million taxpayers are expected to benefit from a change in the two tiers of the tax structure. The first level is now 5.5% and the second 14%.

SPORT

Football - Liverpool can go back to the top of the English Premier League tonight if they beat Arsenal at Anfield. In the Championship in England last night Burnley beat Sheffield United by a goal to nil at Turf Moor. The result improves Burnley’s chances of making the play off’s but dents United’s hopes of automatic promotion.Tonight in the Championship Charlton play Cardiff, Coventry play Barnsley and it’s Derby against Reading.

Cricket - Andrew Flintoff came out on top as his Chennai Super Kings thrashed Kevin Pietersen’s Bangalore Royal Chargers in the IPL on Monday. The Super Kings won by 92 runs in Port Elizabeth to go top of the IPL table. Pietersen was out for a golden duck.

Rugby Union - Lions coach Ian McGeechan will name his squad for the tour of South Africa later today with Paul O’Connell expected to be named captain. The squad will leave for the 10 match tour which includes Tests against the Springboks in Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg on May the 24th. Sale have been deducted one league point from the Guinness Premiership and fined 5 thousand pounds for fielding an unregistered player in a recent match against Harlequins. The penalty was handed down after Sale included hooker David Ward in the squad for the match.The decision has dented Sale’s chances of making the play offs. They now need a bonus point against Northampton in their final game and hope other results go their way.
Boxing - Wladimir Klitschko has branded David Haye an embarrassment to the sport ahead of their World Heavyweight title fight in Germany on June the 20th. At a news conference on Monday,Haye sported a T shirt portraying him holding the severed heads of the Klitschko brothers. His opponent says that that’s taking it too far and he’ll make Haye pay in the ring.

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And finally, move over Miss Piggy, show business has found its new pink-snouted celebrities - meet Piggy, Lilly, Pauli and Fredi, the stars of Austria's latest reality show, Pig Brother. For the next six weeks, the four little piglets will be followed by live cameras and their private lives splashed across the Internet, all part of a marketing ploy by a local food fair. The goal is to be named "Super Pig". The town of Helfenberg in northern Austria is organising its third annual Speck (German for bacon) Spectacle in early June and Pig Brother is just the appetiser. Each week, viewers will get to vote for the "Favourite pig of the week" and each Sunday, the little porkers will have to take part in Pig Olympics to gather the points needed to win. True to reality-show format, the piglets - philosopher Pauli, diva Piggy, friendly Lilly and courageous Fredi - will be filmed non-stop for a month and a half as they eat, sleep and roll themselves in the mud.