Downfall For Males

PARIS — With its guffawing masculine hilarity, the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, would not be put to shame by the most boisterous American state legislature. 

The marble-and-velvet setting may be more elegant, but the rowdy laughter says the same thing: Men dominate.

Over the last week, that male world has been shaken. 

The Assembly’s vice president, Denis Baupin, was forced to resign after several women came forward publicly with accusations that he had sexually harassed numerous female colleagues for years.

One said Mr. Baupin had pushed her against a wall, grabbed one of her breasts and tried to force a kiss. 

Others said he had sent explicit text messages. Another said he had chased her around a desk. Still another, that he had pinched her buttocks.

The Paris prosecutor has announced a criminal investigation. 

Mr. Baupin, 53, a representative from Paris and a rising star of the Green Party, has complained about a “setup” and has threatened to sue the media outlets that broke the story.

Nonetheless, the charges have set off soul-searching over whether anything has changed in France since the downfall of a former International Monetary Fund boss, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, after a New York hotel housekeeper accused him of assault in 2011.

That, it seems, did nothing to stop Mr. Baupin. But in the country where even the word for “bawdy joke” — gauloiserie — recalls the ancestral homeland, Gaul, there are indications that this time some things may be different.

On the one hand, Mr. Baupin’s behavior was an open secret. Since the allegations have become public, ranking Green Party members have shamefacedly acknowledged knowing of Mr. Baupin’s bad behavior for years. 

Women knew never to get in an elevator alone with him or go to his office unaccompanied. They nicknamed him “the Octopus.”

The men were apparently unfazed, however. “Ah, so he’s started up again?” a male Green Party member said nonchalantly after a shocked woman recounted an assault against her in 2011, according to the news website Mediapart.

Yet at the time of his arrest in New York, Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who was widely seen as a contender for president, had plenty of defenders. “Nobody has been killed,” Jack Lang, a former Socialist culture minister, had said.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, known as DSK, defended himself in a French court with claims that he was merely a “libertine” pursuing an alternative lifestyle. (He later settled out of court for what was reportedly a substantial sum.)

Even if few male French politicians have stepped up to denounce Mr. Baupin, nobody is defending him, either. 

The prominent right-leaning philosopher Alain Finkielkraut grumbled on the radio that “France is Americanizing itself in a hurry,” but added that he condemned “unseemly actions.”

Clinical Trial Coma

One man is brain-dead and another five people are in hospital after an experimental drug was administered to 90 people in a French clinical trial.

There is no known antidote to the drug, the chief neuroscientist (above) at the hospital in Rennes said.

Of the six men in hospital, three could have permanent brain damage, Gilles Edan added.

Reports that the drug is a cannabis-based painkiller have been denied by the health ministry.

A fifth man is suffering from neurological problems and a sixth man is being monitored but is not in a critical condition, Mr Edan said.

The trial, which involved taking the drug orally and has now been suspended, was conducted by a private laboratory in Rennes.

The experimental drug was manufactured by the Portuguese company Bial.

All those who volunteered for the trial have been recalled and the Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation.

Health Minister Marisol Touraine pledged to "get to the bottom... of this tragic accident".

"I was overwhelmed by their distress" she told reporters. "Their lives have been brutally turned upside down".

This is the bitter price of the new medicines we take for granted. Testing such experimental drugs, at the cutting edge of science, can never be completely risk-free.

The safety and effectiveness of these drugs are rigorously tested in animals. The risks are low but there must still be a leap of faith when they are tried in people for the first time.

This trial has been taking place since July without such major events being reported.

Generally in Phase I trials the dose is increased slowly over time, which could be why the side-effects are appearing now.

The hospitalized men started taking the drug regularly on 7 January and began showing severe side-effects three days later.

Three of the volunteers are now facing a lifetime of disability in this "accident of exceptional gravity".

It is a high price to pay, but thousands of people do safely take part in similar trials each year.

The trial was conducted by Biotrial, a French-based company with an international reputation which has carried out thousands of trials since it was set up in 1989.

In a message on its website, the company said that "serious adverse events related to the test drug" had occurred.

Charlie Is Still Alive

Paris (AFP) - Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical weekly propelled to global notoriety when its cartoonists were shot dead by jihadist gunmen a year ago on Thursday, has been abandoned in its struggle to "laugh at everything", one of the survivors of the attack said.

In the wake of the killing of eight of its staff on January 7, 2015, Charlie Hebdo became one of the best-known publications in the world and the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie flashed across social networks.

The newspaper was held up as a symbol of freedom of expression and an astonishing 7.5 million copies were sold of the first issue produced by its surviving staff just a week after the attack.

But now those same staff feel they have been left to carry that torch alone, according to the newspaper's financial director, Eric Portheault, who escaped death by hiding behind his desk when the gunmen stormed in.

"We feel terribly alone. We hoped that others would do satire too," he said. "No one wants to join us in this fight because it's dangerous. You can die doing it."

A month before the attack, Charlie Hebdo was close to shutting down as sales had dipped below 30,000. Its brand of provocative, no-holds-barred humour appeared to have gone out of fashion.

Most people were unaware that its staff had been under police protection since it had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006. 

In 2011, its offices were firebombed and it was forced to move premises.

Despite the earlier threats, few people could have imagined an attack as bloody as that carried out by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi in the paper's modest offices in a quiet street in eastern Paris.

The assault -- claimed by Al-Qaeda's branch in the Arabian Peninsula -- took the lives of Charlie Hebdo's top cartoonists, known by the nicknames Charb, Cabu and Wolinski, as well as nine other people, and sparked horror across the world.

Donations poured in for the victims, and 200,000 people signed up for a subscription.

But that so-called "survivors' issue", featuring the Prophet Mohammed with a tear in his eye on the cover under the title "All is forgiven", also sparked violent protests in several Muslim countries.

Despite losing many of its key staff, Charlie Hebdo has continued to produce a 16-page issue each Wednesday of cartoons and drawings that -- its creators take pains to point out -- poke fun at all religions and politicians.

But it has been an emotional experience for the staff left behind, including several who narrowly escaped death, such as cartoonist Laurent Sourisseau, known as Riss, who was seriously injured in the attack.

He Needs a Legacy

WASHINGTON — At a joint news conference here Tuesday with President François Hollande of France, President Obama veered from his focus on the terrorist attacks in Paris to bring up the huge international gathering beginning in the French capital on Monday to hammer out a global response to climate change.

“What a powerful rebuke to the terrorists it will be when the world stands as one and shows that we will not be deterred from building a better future for our children,” Mr. Obama said of the climate conference.

The segue brought mockery, even castigation, from the political right, but it was a reminder of the importance Mr. Obama places on climate change in shaping his legacy. 

During his 2012 re-election campaign, he barely mentioned global warming, but the issue has become a hallmark of his second term. 

And on Sunday night he arrives in Paris, hoping to make climate policy the signature environmental achievement of his, and perhaps any, presidency.

“He comes to Paris with a moral authority that no other president has had on the issue of climate change,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University who noted that Mr. Obama’s domestic climate efforts already stand alone in American history. “No other president has had a climate change policy. It makes him unique.”

In Paris, Mr. Obama will join more than 120 world leaders to kick off two weeks of negotiations aimed at forging a new climate change accord that would, for the first time, commit almost every country on Earth to lowering its greenhouse gas pollution. 

All year, Mr. Obama’s negotiators have worked behind the scenes to fashion a Paris deal.

Crucial to Mr. Obama’s leverage has been the release of his domestic climate change regulations, which he then pushed other countries to emulate. So far, at least 170 countries have put forth emission reduction plans.

But even as Mr. Obama presses for a deal in Paris, it faces steep obstacles, not least the legal and legislative assault on his own regulations at home. 

During the course of the Paris talks, Republicans in Congress are planning a series of votes to fight Mr. Obama’s climate agenda. 

More than half the states are suing the administration on the legality of his climate plan. 

And all the Republican presidential candidates have said that they would undo the regulations if elected.       Read more: 

No Wine No Dine

BERLIN – Ahead of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s (above) landmark European trip kicking off this weekend, French officials reportedly nixed plans for a formal meal in Paris with President François Hollande following a dispute over the menu. 

The Iranians, according to France’s RTL Radio, insisted on a wine-free meal with halal meat — a request based on Islamic codes that amounted to culinary sacrilege in France, a nation that puts the secular ideals of the Republic above all else.

The French, RTL said, counter offered with a presumably alcohol-free breakfast — which the Iranians promptly rejected because it appeared too “cheap.” 

The two leaders will now reportedly settle for a face-to-face chat next Tuesday.

The food fracas comes as Rouhani is staging his first official trip to Europe as president, one meant to herald Iran’s economic coming out after a long period of international sanctions. 

Rouhani will meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Pope Francis and Italian companies in Rome on Saturday before moving on to France, where he is set to deliver a speech at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and meet with French officials and companies.

A spokeswoman for the Elysée Palace declined immediate comment on the wine and halal spat. But it captured an interesting moment, both for France and Iran. 

In the international negotiations to reach a historic deal over Iran’s nuclear program, France had taken one of the hardest lines, and Rouhani’s visit is meant as a rapprochement — though whether it will amount to that remains unclear.      Read more: 

France Targets Syria

PARIS — French warplanes have struck targets in Syria for the first time, President François Hollande’s office said Sunday.

The strikes were launched against targets identified during reconnaissance missions flown by the French airforce over the past two weeks, in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition bombing Islamic State of Syria and the Levant, or ISIL, a statement from the presidency said.

It did not specify how many strikes were carried out, or against which type of target.

The strikes confirm the extension of France’s air campaign against ISIL from Iraq, where France’s efforts were originally contained, to Syria, as Hollande announced two weeks ago.

“We will strike every time our national security is threatened,” the statement said. “But the Syrian chaos must have a global solution.

Civilian populations must be protected against all forms of violence, those of Daesh (ISIL), but also against the murderous bombardments of [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad.”

Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said this month that France was launching strikes in Syria to prevent ISIL from mounting terrorist attacks in France, and because the group had advanced more than expected in Syria.      Read more:

Paris Sues Fox

The mayor of Paris (above) has said she will sue Fox News for its inaccurate reporting about the city following the attack on the magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The US network claimed there were "no-go areas" in the French capital where police and non-Muslims refused to go.

Anne Hidalgo said the people of Paris had been "insulted" and the city's image had been "damaged".

The network has since apologized for making "regrettable errors" on air regarding the Muslim population.

Ms Hidalgo told CNN: "When we're insulted and when we've had an image, then I think we'll have to sue. I think we'll have to go to court, in order to have these words removed.

"The image of Paris has been prejudiced, and the honor of Paris has been prejudiced."

Her words were echoed by the deputy mayor, Patrick Klugman.

In an interview with the BBC he said Ms Hidalgo was "definitely serious" about her intention to sue Fox News.

"We have our legal advisers working on the case," he added. "We are looking under which jurisdiction to bring the case, Paris or New York."

In response to Ms Hidalgo, Fox News executive vice president Michael Clemente said: "We empathize with the citizens of France as they go through a healing process and return to everyday life.

"However, we find the mayor's comments regarding a lawsuit misplaced."

Fox has also apologized for comments by terror expert Steven Emerson, who claimed Birmingham was "totally Muslim" and ruled by Sharia law.

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro subsequently said Emerson had "made a serious factual error that we wrongly let stand unchallenged and uncorrected".

Mr Emerson said he had made an "inexcusable error".

Prime Minister David Cameron responded by calling him "a complete idiot".

In another apology over the weekend, Fox News presenter Julie Banderas said the channel had "made some regrettable errors on air regarding the Muslim population in Europe", and apologized "to any and all who may have taken offense, including the people of France and England".

France Strikes First

PARIS — France recently announced it had conducted its first airstrike in Iraq and had destroyed a logistics depot held by the Islamic State group.

The office of President Francois Hollande said Rafale fighter jets struck the depot in northeastern Iraq on Friday morning and the target was “entirely destroyed.”

The Dassault Rafale  is a French twin-engine, canard delta-wing, multirole fighter aircraft aircraft  designed and built by Dassault Aviation.

Dassault describes the Rafale as one with a high level of agility, capable of simultaneously performing air supremacy, interdiction, reconnaissance, and airborne nuclear deterrent missions.

The Rafale is distinct from other European fighters of its era in that it is almost entirely built by one country, involving most of France's major defence contractors, such as Dassault, Thales, and Safran.

In the late 1970s, the French Air Force and Navy were seeking to replace and consolidate their current fleets of aircraft. In order to reduce development costs and boost prospective sales, France entered into an arrangement with four other European nations to produce an agile multi-purpose fighter.

Subsequent disagreements over work share and differing requirements led to France's pursuit of its own development program. Dassault built a technology demonstrator which first flew in July 1986 as part of an eight-year flight-test program, paving the way for the go-ahead of the project.

“Other operations will follow in the coming days,” said Hollande’s office in a statement. It did not elaborate on the type of material at the depot or its exact location.

At a news conference a day earlier, Hollande said France had agreed to “soon” conduct airstrikes requested by Iraq to bolster its fight against IS fighters who have captured swaths of the country.

He stressed that France wouldn’t go beyond airstrikes in support of the Iraqi military or Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and wouldn’t attack targets in Syria, where IS has also captured territory.

French jets on Monday began flying reconnaissance missions over Iraq involving Rafales and an ATL2 surveillance plane, military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron said.

Lost Liter?

The decision to suspend delivery of a Mistral naval assault ship to Russia risks costing France at least 1bn euros (£800m), officials say.

French President Francois Hollande said Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine meant conditions were not right for delivery of the helicopter-carrier.

He later said "a ceasefire and a political settlement" should be in place before the deal could go ahead.

Russia was expecting two Mistral ships - the first one in October.

A French diplomat earlier said the contract was suspended until November, and the delay "could cost us 1bn euros".

The deal is worth 1.2bn euros - and Russia is reported to have paid most of it, so breach of contract would mean France having to reimburse that money.

In addition, France would be liable for an extra 251m-euro penalty payment, French news website LCI reports.

The first ship is called the Vladivostok.

About 400 Russian sailors are training at the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, western France, to be ready for the eventual handover of the Vladivostok.

France had until now resisted pressure to halt the delivery, saying it had to respect an existing contract.

US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron both criticized the deal, at a time when Russia has been widely condemned for arming pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and allowing volunteers across the border to help them. Russia denies Western allegations of direct interference in the conflict.

A Russian military expert quoted by the Russian Kommersant news website said the final bill for France could go as high as 3bn euros.

The second ship, the Sevastopol, was to have been sent next year. Mr Hollande made no mention of it in his statement on Wednesday but said in July that delivery would depend on "Russia's attitude".

A union representative at STX, the French construction firm building the Mistral ships, said STX workers expressed "amazement and outrage" after the contract was suspended.

Jean-Marc Perez, quoted by AFP news agency, said that if the contract were cancelled it could threaten hundreds of French jobs.

Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said the French decision would not hold back Moscow's plans to reform its armed forces.

"Although of course it is unpleasant and adds to certain tensions in relations with our French partners, the cancelling of this contract will not be a tragedy for our modernization," he said, quoted by Itar-Tass news agency.

On The Prowl

France is allowing wolf hunts in places where sheep are at risk from the carnivore's growing numbers, the BBC's John Laurenson reports. 

But efforts to cull wolves are controversial.

Late at night, up in an Alpine forest, a woman in a black skirt carrying a black gun gets out of her car.

Caroline Bourda (left) is a sheep farmer, in the hamlet of Esparron la Batie. Tonight, like most nights, she is trying to show the wolf who is top predator.

She fires. But up into the sky.

The government advises farmers to shoot near their farms to educate the wolves to stay away.

It has also advised - and paid for - sheep farmers to buy electric fences and huge protection dogs with spiked metal collars to stop the wolves sinking their fangs into their necks.

The French government is spending 12m euros (£10m) a year on wolf attack prevention and compensation.

In some areas the government pays out more for the wolf than it does for the unemployed, according to the hill farmers' organisation Eleveurs et Montagnes (Breeders and mountains).

Now France has allowed wolf hunts around threatened sheep farms like Caroline's and ordered a cull of 24 animals.

Hunters have so far managed to kill just seven, while the wolves - there are now more than 250 in France - are killing more sheep than ever.

Caroline says her last wolf attack was the previous weekend. She has lost dozens of ewes.

The wolf is a formidable adversary for man, she says: clever, determined and slightly unhinged.

"When they attack a flock - especially when they get inside an enclosure - they don't stop killing as long as there's still a sheep or a lamb moving," says Caroline.

They eat one and kill the others just for the sake of it, she says.