Madonna says she has had COVID-19

Madonna said Thursday she has recovered from the coronavirus which forced her to pull out of a string of concerts in Paris in February and March.

The "Queen of Pop" said she had tested positive for antibodies which may mean she had COVID-19 -- though at the time she said she didn't realise she had it.

"I am not currently sick," she told her 15 million followers on Instagram.

"When you test positive for anti-bodies it means you had the virus, which I clearly did as I was sick at the end of my tour in Paris over seven weeks ago along with many other artists in my show," she said.

The 61-year-old star only played a single night in Paris on February 22 before calling off the next show, citing "ongoing injuries".

She later called off two further Paris concerts -- the last in her Madame X world tour -- after French authorities banned large gatherings in a bid to stem the spread of the virus in early March.

"At the time we all thought we had a bad flu," Madonna wrote in her post.

"Thank God we are all healthy and well now."

- 'Cursed' -

The Paris dates on Madonna's tour seem to have been cursed, with her opening night concert not starting till after midnight, three and a half hours late.

Scientists are sceptical about the accuracy of many antibody tests which claim to show a person has had the virus.

Some warned that even those tests that meet the US government's informal standards may produce false positives.

The singer revealed she had the virus after sharing an article about her donating $1.1 million (one million euros) towards research to find a vaccine for the coronavirus.

Madonna was among 200 artists and scientists who signed an open letter Wednesday calling for radical change across the world rather than "a return to normal" after the coronavirus lockdowns.

Alongside Hollywood stars Cate Blanchett, Jane Fonda and Marion Cotillard and a clutch of Nobel Prize winners, she pleaded for an end to unbridled consumerism and a "radical transformation" of economies to help save the planet.

"The ongoing ecological catastrophe is a meta-crisis," the open letter said.

"Unlike a pandemic... a global ecological collapse will have immeasurable consequences," it added.

Madonna made a large donation to a fund organised by the EU to find a vaccine for COVID-19, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen revealed last week.

Agence France-Presse

Banker, economic adviser and now youngest French president

PARIS — Emmanuel Macron has been a star student, a champion of France's tech startup movement, an investment banker and economy minister.

But the man who will become France's youngest president has never held elected office. After a campaign based on promises to revive the country through pro-business and pro-European policies, the 39-year-old centrist independent defeated far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen and her protectionist, anti-immigration party.

In his victory speech, Macron vowed to "rebuild the relationship between Europe and the peoples that make it." He pledged to open a new page for France based on hope and "restored confidence."

It won't be his first experience in the challenge of reforming France.

He quit his job as a banker at Rothschild to become Socialist President Francois Hollande's economic adviser, working for two years by Hollande's side at the presidential palace.

Then as economy minister in Hollande's government from 2014 to 2016, he promoted a package of measures, notably allowing more stores to open on Sundays and evenings and opening up regulated sectors of the economy.


Opponents on the left accused him of destroying workers' protections. Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets for months of protests, and the government had to force the law through parliament under special powers.

Last year, Macron launched his own political movement, En Marche, or In Motion, and quit the Socialist government. He promised to shake up the political landscape by appointing a government that includes new figures from business and civil society.

His next challenge will be to get a parliamentary majority in an election next month to make major changes — with no mainstream party to support him.

The strong advocate of a free market and entrepreneurial spirit has called for France to focus on getting benefits from globalization rather than the protectionist policies advocated by the far right.

In his political rallies, he encouraged supporters to wave both the French tricolor and the European Union flags.

Le Pen, who has tapped into working-class anger at the loss of jobs and once-secure futures, called him the face of "the world of finance," the candidate of "the caviar left."

"I'm not under control of the banks. If that was the case, I would have kept working for them," Macron answered.

Macron had an unexpected test of his political skills following the first round of the vote during what became known as "the battle of Whirlpool," when Le Pen upstaged him at a Whirlpool factory in Amiens that is threatened with closure.

Le Pen's surprise appearance put him on the defensive and prompted him to meet with angry Whirlpool workers later the same day. He was whistled and booed when he first arrived. But he stood his ground, patiently debating workers in often heated exchanges about how to stop French jobs from moving abroad.

In a country shaken by recent terror attacks, he pledged to boost the police and military as well as the intelligence services and to put pressure on internet giants to better monitor extremism online.

To improve Europe's security, he wants the EU to deploy some 5,000 European border guards to the external borders of the bloc's passport-free travel zone.

Macron did not campaign alone: His wife was never far away. Brigitte Macron, 24 years his senior, is his closest adviser, supporting him and helping prepare his speeches.

Macron and his wife have publicly described how their unusual romance started — when he was a student at the high school where she was teaching in Amiens in northern France. A married mother of three at the time, she was supervising the drama club. Macron, a literature lover, was a member.

Macron moved to Paris for his last year of high school.

"We called each other all the time. We spent hours on the phone, hours and hours," Brigitte Macron recalled in a televised documentary. "Little by little, he overcame all my resistances in an unbelievable way, with patience."

She eventually moved to the French capital to join him and divorced. They married in 2007. Emmanuel Macron says he wants to formalize the job of first lady, adding "she has her word to say in this."

Following his victory speech in the courtyard of the Louvre, his wife appeared on stage by his side, with tears in her eyes.

___

AP video journalist David Keyton contributed to the story.

source: philstar.com

Scarlett Johansson turns popcorn girl in Paris

PARIS | Hollywood superstar Scarlett Johansson swapped the red carpet for a turn behind the counter at her new popcorn shop in Paris on Saturday.

The “Lost in Translation” actress — decked out in a classic French blue and white striped top — dished out the crunchy treat to punters at the launch of the Yummy Pop store she and husband Romain Dauriac have opened in the city’s trendy Marais district.

The couple hope their unusual twists on the classic cinema snack — including the 31-year-old “Avengers” star’s favorite truffle, parmesan and sage flavour — will wow customers in the gastronomic capital of the world.

Ahead of the launch, Johansson’s spokesman in Los Angeles said the she was passionate about popcorn, adding that it was cooked and mixed fresh on the spot with seasonal ingredients.

After Saturday’s soft launch, an official grand opening is planned for a later date.

source: interaksyon.com

Security tight as Kim Kardashian leaves New York after robbery

NEW YORK | Flanked by multiple security guards, Kim Kardashian and her family on Thursday left the Manhattan apartment where they have been closeted since she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris, amid reports that the reality star was planning to take some time off.

News video and photos showed Kardashian, her face partly hidden by a hoodie and baseball cap, getting into a car with her two young children and rapper husband Kanye West.

It was the first time she had been seen since returning to New York after masked robbers held a gun to her head and stole some $10 million worth of jewelry in Paris early on Monday morning.

Kardashian’s personal bodyguard, Pascal Duvier, who was protecting Kardashian’s sisters at a nightclub at the time of the robbery, was among a handful of security staff keeping media at bay and helping stash suitcases into waiting cars. The family were thought to be heading to their southern California home.

The celebrity family, whose lives are chronicled in the TV show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and on their busy social media accounts, has been uncharacteristically quiet since the robbery. No arrests have been made.

Celebrity website TMZ and magazine Us Weekly reported on Thursday that a badly shaken Kardashian was taking about a month’s break from work.

“She has canceled everything for the next several weeks and will not be working,” Us Weekly quoted a source close to the star as saying.

TMZ, quoting an unidentified source close to Kardashian, said that when she does return she will cut down on her use of social media and displays of her wealthy lifestyle.

Kardashian’s representatives declined comment on the reports.

Kardashian, 35, has come in for criticism that she made herself vulnerable by posting photos of her $4 million dollar engagement ring and other jewelry, in the days before the attack.

“If you are that famous and you put all your jewelry on the net, you go to hotels where nobody can come near to the room,” fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld told reporters in Paris this week. “You cannot display your wealth and then be surprised that some people want to share it with you.”

The Kardashian family was not filming for their reality show at the time of the robbery, a spokeswoman for the show said on Thursday.

“Our focus right now is entirely on Kim’s well-being,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

source: interaksyon.com

Stars at American Music Awards have Paris on their minds

LOS ANGELES — It's the American Music Awards, but guests had Paris on their minds.

Celine Dion performed the French classic made famous by Edith Piaf, "L'Hymne a L'Amour," in front of a string section and a montage of images of famous Paris sites. She raised her hand triumphantly in the air at the song's conclusion, a photo of the Eiffel Tower behind her.

In introducing the songstress, Jared Leto said the terrorist attacks in Paris and Mali this month have "changed the world forever" and scarred its population.

"Tonight we honor the victims of the unimaginable violence that has taken place in Paris and around the world," Leto said. "The entire world matters, and peace is possible."

Charlie Puth, who locked lips with Meghan Trainor for an extended kiss onstage, said he happened to be near the site of the Paris attacks a few weeks before they happened and felt his heart break at the news.

"I want to write a song for Paris," said the 23-year-old entertainer, whose song "See You Again" was nominated twice at the AMAs. "I don't want to write another 'See You Again' for Paris, but I want to write a song specifically for Paris."


The lead singer of 5 Seconds of Summer, which performed during the show, said the band wants to help its fans make sense of the most recent terrorist attacks.

"This is the first time any of them have experienced a tragedy like this, so it's important for a band like us to articulate ourselves properly so they understand what's happening," singer Luke Hemmings said. "What we sing about is important, and it will change what we write about in the future. We have a young fan base, and were almost the communicators of what's going on in the world."

Skrillex, who won collaboration of the year for "Where Are U Now" with Diplo and Justin Bieber, didn't mention Paris specifically, but said, "There's so much negative stuff in the world right now that it's up to us to be positive right now."

source: philstar.com

Scenes of horror as a Paris night becomes a bloodbath

PARIS — The assailants' weapons were those of war: automatic rifles and suicide belts of explosives. The killing was indiscriminate, spread across a swath of the city, in at least six different sites. An ordinary Friday night in Paris transformed into a bloodbath. The word Parisians used over and over as they tried to make sense of the horror was "carnage."

At the packed Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris, the attackers opened fire on a crowd waiting to hear American rock band Eagles of Death Metal perform. One witness told France Info radio he heard them yell "Allahu Akbar" — God is great in Arabic — as they started their killing spree and took hostages. The city's police chief, Michel Cadot, said the assailants also wore explosive belts, which they detonated.

About a mile (1.5 kilometers) from there, attackers sprayed gunfire at the Belle Equipe bar, busy as ever on a Friday night with patrons unwinding from their week. One witness, also speaking to French radio, said the dead and wounded dropped "like flies" and that "there was blood everywhere. You feel very alone in moments like that."

The preliminary death toll there appeared to be 18 dead, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said. White sheets were laid over bodies.

To the north, loud explosions reverberated around the national stadium, packed with some 80,000 fans watching France beat Germany in a soccer exhibition match. One of the loud detonations in the chill air so startled French player Patrice Evra that he paused in mid-run, seemingly lost, and kicked away the ball.

A police union official, Gregory Goupil, said the two explosions were suicide attacks and a bombing that killed at least three people — near two of the entrances to the stadium and a McDonalds. The stadium was the first site targeted.


From there, the wave of killings quickly spread.

There were 14 dead on one street, five on another, Molins said. The spread of the killings added to the confusion and made a coherent picture slow to form. But the shock was instantaneous, as was the understanding that this was terror and killing on a scale unseen in Paris since World War II.

"The terrorists, the assassins, sprayed the outsides of several cafes with machine guns and went inside," Cadot, the police chief, said. "So there were victims in terrible and atrocious states in numerous places."

Pierre-Henri Lombard was dining in a restaurant in the trendy neighborhood when he heard sounds like the fireworks for France's Bastille Day national holiday.

Then the panic began.

"Waiters went outside and said it was a shooting. We saw dozens of people rundown the street, a couple were bleeding," he said.

As police, soldiers and the emergency services sprang into action, sirens wailing, helicopters whirring overhead, medical personnel started reporting for work of their own accord to help treat the injured. Five subway lines were shut down entirely, and Paris police told people to stay at home and avoid going out unless absolutely necessary.

At the Bataclan, police launched an assault to free hostages. Haggard-looking survivors were bused away.

At the stadium, fans streamed onto the pitch after the match, preferring the relative safety of inside of the stadium to the chaos outside. Police forensic officers dressed in white scoured the blast sites for evidence.

French President Francois Hollande was quickly evacuated from the stadium and soon after declared a state of emergency.

___

Greg Keller, Samuel Petrequin and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.

source: philstar.com

Sound of silence as French sports mourns Charlie Hebdo victims

PARIS - Many stood in somber, respectful silence, some proudly waved French flags, others dreamed up original slants on the "Je Suis Charlie" rallying calls of global defiance.

Across the football and rugby grounds of France, in the English Premier League and even thousands of meters high up in the Swiss Alps, emotional tributes continued to be paid to the 17 victims of this week's Paris massacres.


In the Top 14 rugby championship, European and French champions Toulon set the tone.

For colorful Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal, it was a particularly poignant afternoon.

Comic book magnate Boudjellal had edited the early works of Stephane Charbonnier and Bernard Verlhac, two of the cartoonists slain by Islamist militants at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris.

Spectators had greeted Toulon and Castres by holding up pieces of paper with 'Nous Sommes Tous Charlie' ('We Are All Charlie') printed on them.

The players lined up wearing shirts also with the words 'Nous Sommes Tous Charlie', 'Je Suis Charlie', and 'Je Suis Policier' (three police officers were also killed in the bloody spree).

Photos of four of the dead cartoonists then appeared on the big screen at the Stade Mayol.

"We are all beginning to realize the seriousness of what took place," said Racing-Metro's French international fullback Brice Dulin. "It is important that we show our support."

Toulon fans also adapted their club song, 'Pilou-Pilou' for the occasion with the final line of 'Because Toulon' amended to 'Because Charlie.'

However, not all sports arenas in France were in the mood for respectful contemplation.

At Bastia's Stade Furiani in Corsica, where the home team was playing Paris Saint Germain, the minute's silence was perfectly observed.

But some fans then unfurled a banner bearing the words 'Qatar finances PSG and terrorism' in a crude reference to the Paris club which is financed by the Gulf state.

French international footballer Bafetimbi Gomis had a hand in Swansea's goal in the 1-1 English Premier League draw against West Ham and marked his assist by running down the pitch waving a French flag.

The 29-year-old previously played in France with Saint-Etienne, Troyes, and Lyon.

"I thought that was a really nice touch," said Swansea coach Garry Monk.

"He is very passionate about his country and where he is from and that showed in his celebration and why he got the flag."

In Italy, Roma's French coach Rudi Garcia handed out crayons to journalists at a press conference so they could pen tributes to the fallen.

"I am French and I am in mourning...just like the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo, we also seek to entertain. That's why I feel as if I am one of them."

At a World Cup giant slalom skiing event at the Swiss resort of Adelboden, Frenchman Alexis Pinturault finished third before turning his attentions to the dead in Paris.

The 23-year-old Olympic bronze medalist held up a banner on the podium with the words 'Je ski Charlie' ('I ski Charlie').

"For me it was important to show solidarity with the events which happened in France. Maybe one day it will happen here in Switzerland, for one never knows when these attacks can happen and it is good to show solidarity," he said.

In Spain, there was also a minute's silence observed at all top-flight football games including a packed-out Bernabeu, the home of Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid.

source: interaksyon.com

18-year old linked to Charlie Hebdo attack hands himself in to police

PARIS -- An 18-year old man sought by police over Wednesday's shooting attack at satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo handed himself voluntarily to police in northeastern France, an official at the Paris prosecutor's office said.

Police are hunting three French nationals, including brothers Said Kouachi, born in 1980; Cherif Kouachi, born in 1982; and Hamyd Mourad born in 1996, after suspected Islamist gunmen killed 12 people.

The official, who declined to identify the man, said he had turned himself in at a police station in Charleville-Mézières, in northeastern France at around 2300 GMT.

BFM TV, citing unidentified sources, said the man had decided to go to the police after seeing his name in social media. It said other arrests had taken place in circles linked to the two brothers.

source: interaksyon.com

Paris menswear makes way for couture

PARIS - Lanvin headlined the last day of the Paris menswear shows on Sunday with a rock-and-roll inspired collection billed as anti-uniform, before Versace kicks off six days of haute couture.

"Freedom to choose" was the byword for menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver, with pants both slim and wide, waistlines high and low, and classic tailoring and streetwear paired with coloured sneakers and chunky-knit scarves.

"It's not about a single look, or a single man. It's about individuality," said Lanvin's creative director Alber Elbaz after the show, where the actor Will Smith sat front row.

Elbaz took the uniform as starting point for the line.

"It's the opposite of what makes people happy," he said. "You have to be yourself."

Shows by Paul Smith and Saint Laurent were to wrap up the Paris men's fashion, before a late evening show by Versace which opens six days of haute couture collections -- showcasing jaw-dropping creations aimed at A-list stars and the world's richest women.

More than 40 years after the death of its founder, Italy's legendary house Schiaparelli makes a much-anticipated comeback to haute couture Monday, under the Italian designer Marco Zanini.

Elsa Schiaparelli, who died in 1973, was among fashion's most prominent figures between the two world wars and became Coco Chanel's biggest rival.

Haute couture is a legally protected appellation in France subject to strict criteria such as the amount of work carried out by hand, and the size of a house's workforce.

Altogether, 15 French houses including Dior and Chanel will be showing couture collections, along with six foreign labels and 10 guests including Britain's Ralph & Russo and Belgian designer Serkan Cura.

source: interaksyon.com

7,000 same-sex couples tied the knot in France last year

PARIS  - About 7,000 same-sex couples tied the knot in France last year after gay marriage was legalised in May, the national statistics agency said Tuesday.

France legalised same-sex marriage after months of intense and sometimes violent protests, in keeping with an election pledge by Socialist President Francois Hollande, who faced a huge backlash from the opposition right and the powerful Catholic Church.




Same-sex unions made up around three percent of the total number of 238,000 marriages registered in France in 2013, the Insee statistics agency said.

Three out of every five gay marriages involved male couples, it said.

The average age at which male gay men got married was 50, while it was 43 for women. The corresponding average age for heterosexual couples was 37 and 34.

The first gay marriage in France was held on May 29 in the southern city of Montpellier, which has a gay-friendly reputation.

But many die-hard conservatives have continued to oppose the measure. Some mayors argue that the lack of an option not to perform gay marriages violates the French constitution, which stipulates that freedom of conscience is a fundamental human right.

Several have refused to conduct gay marriages on the grounds it goes against their beliefs, but the Constitutional Council, France's top court, has ruled they cannot do this.

source: interaksyon.com

3D printing ‘will change the world’

PARIS — From replacement kidneys to guns, cars, prosthetics and works of art, 3D printing is predicted to transform our lives in the coming decades as dramatically as the Internet did before it.

“I have no doubt it is going to change the world,” researcher James Craddock told AFP at the two-day 3D Printshow in Paris which wraps up later on Saturday.

A member of the 3D Printing Research Group (3DPRG) at the UK’s Nottingham University, Craddock nevertheless predicted that use of 3D printing would be limited.

“You wouldn’t want to make a cup from a 3D printer because it would probably fall apart, leak or poison you, but you would use it for high-value, beautiful items or replacement parts,” he said.

“The real revolutionary factor is industrial use,” he added.

Here is a selection of the potential future uses of 3D printing:

Arms

This is one of the more eye-catching prospects and has attracted a lot of publicity.

Californian engineering company Solid Concepts said earlier this month it had produced a metal replica of a classic 1911 shotgun.

US entrepreneur and inventor Brook Drumm, however, warned that the process of printing a gun would be slow, expensive and potentially dangerous, requiring lasers at high temperatures, lots of power and hazardous materials.

Drumm set up his firm Printrbot to produce printers costing from $400 that print plastic items.

Metal printers can cost around $250,000 (185,000 euros) and “the particulates are so fine that your skin could absorb them through the pores. The materials are not safe”, he said.

The gun itself — unless made out of metal — would also be unreliable.

“There’s a lot of moving parts in a gun and they need to be precise,” he said, adding that he tried to print a plastic gun but gave up because it took so long.

“Time-wise, if I was going to print a plastic gun and you were going to go and buy a metal one, even if it took you two weeks to get approval I probably still wouldn’t have it working first,” he said.

Art

Fancy a replica of a Viking helmet or one of the Louvre’s most famous sculptures on the mantelpiece?

American Cosmo Wenman has used thousands of photographs taken in some of the world’s biggest museums to produce exact plastic copies.

Works he has produced include the ancient Greek statue Venus de Milo which is in the Louvre.

“If you look at the small print at museums in terms of taking photographs, they say that you cannot put them to commercial use,” he said.

“But from a practical point of view that is not enforceable and for antiquities there is no intellectual property issue,” he said.

Cars

Canadian Jim Kor’s 3D Urbee car is made out of plastic and stainless steel.

The futuristic-looking three-wheeler is electric but uses petrol at higher speeds.

Production designer Kor says if a car company mass produced the vehicle it would be possible to keep the price down to around $16,000 (12,000 euros).

“We want it to be the Volkswagen Beetle for the next century, low cost and long-lasting too,” he said.

“It should last 30-plus years. Our goal is that it should be 100 percent recyclable.”

Jewellery

Jewellery can made to ensure that each piece is slightly different, known as “mass customisation”.

3D printing can also make the production process far less expensive and time consuming.

Dutch jewellery designer Yvonne van Zummeren produces a range of jewellery made out of lightweight nylon polyamide.

“All my designs are based on works of art,” she said holding a bracelet that uses a Matisse motif.

“It enables me to be a jewellery designer much more easily. Otherwise I would have needed a factory in China and a minimum order of 20,000,” she added.

“When you are producing something for the first time it means you can adapt and try again very easily until you get the result you want.”

Prosthetics

Prosthetics can be custom made to provide the perfect match.

Electronics could be built in allowing the recipient accurate control of the limb.

“It would all be printed out at the same time,” said 3DPRG’s Craddock.

Replacement parts

One-off parts are needed by everyone from NASA to the person who loses an unusual jacket button.

source: interaksyon.com

'Diana' film poster taken down from Paris crash site

PARIS—The French distributor of the film "Diana" has removed an advertising poster that sparked outrage for being placed at the site where the Princess of Wales died in 1997.

Distributor Le Pacte told AFP it had the poster for "Diana" removed from near the entrance to the Pont de l'Alma tunnel on Monday, ahead of the film's French premiere on Wednesday.

"We asked for the removal of this poster after controversy in the British media," a source at Le Pacte said, adding that the poster was only one of about 1,000 put up in Paris to promote the film.

Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and their driver were killed after their car smashed into a pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel while being pursued by photographers.

Several British newspapers criticised French promoters for putting up the poster at the site, with the Daily Mail quoting a friend of the princess, Rosa Monckton, blasting the move as "despicable and crass".

The Daily Star described the placement of the poster as "Di-abolical" and "heartless".

"Diana", starring Naomi Watts, received a critical drubbing when it premiered in London last month. The film purports to tell the story of Diana's romance with UK-based Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.

Since Diana's death, the area around the Pont de l'Alma has become an unofficial monument to the princess, with messages by her admirers scrawled on the bridge over the tunnel.

source: interaksyon.com

'Cat cafe' is purrfect spot for Paris animal lovers

PARIS - France's first "cat cafe" opens on Saturday in Paris with an in-house troupe of nine rescue cats ready and waiting to be made a fuss of by cat-loving customers.

Already popular in Tokyo where there are dozens, cat cafes allow customers who cannot have a pet at home to enjoy a cup of something hot with a purring cat perched on their knees.

Margaux Gandelon, the woman behind the new Cafe des Chats in Paris's trendy Marais district, says the cats were carefully selected for their social skills and stresses that hygiene and their welfare are her top priorities.

"My cats are free all day and all night," she said.

Cindy Engel from Strasbourg visited the cafe ahead of its opening for a preview.

The 31-year-old welcomed the concept saying it encouraged her to interact with other people rather than electronic devices.

"The cats allow us to not always be connected to our mobiles. What's more they create social connections," she said.

"Instead of typing on our computers while drinking a coffee we talk about cats to our neighbors," she added.

Not everyone, however, was convinced.

"It's a good experience but eating with cats is not my thing," said Edward Chrismars, adding that he was just there to please a friend.

"It's alright to have them sitting on the sofa, that's OK, but they can't jump on the table or eat from my plate. It's not hygienic!" he said.

source: interaksyon.com

The truth about Parisiennes

MANILA, Philippines - You have to live the true Parisienne way to understand the true nature of the Parisian love of life.’’

The Parisienne woman is renowned for her mastery of l’art de vivre (lifestyle) and for her much-envied joie de vivre (exhilaration). These women inspire countless books and films that enjoy cult status not just among Francophiles; they have also captured the heart of the general public.

As a first-hand observer of this phenomenon (I moved to France in 2006), let me help uncover the finer points of the Parisienne’s way of life.

• Because they live in a city whose beauty has been preserved through the centuries, a city with endless in-your-face cultural offers, the physical environment of Parisiennes has greatly affected their psyche. You will see this in the way they dress, their confident ability in tossing together an interesting mix of shapes, colors and textures, all worn with a calm nonchalance. You also see this in their strong sense of aesthetics because in Paris, art is everywhere — from the Métro stations to the gardens and building façades. It’s almost impossible to ignore their patrimony, their long rich history.

• When the Parisienne dresses well, in her mind, she adds to the overall beauty of her environment. It is her own small contribution to the aesthetics surrounding her. She can execute bold ideas, juxtaposing high-end with affordable — prints on stripes, florals on stripes, combining contrasting elements with a harmonious result but a strong point of view.

• Parisiennes look more natural out-of-bed than their Italian and American counterparts. They are averse to “wedding hair” — their hair is always tousled and slightly messy. They’ve mastered this look. Think of Serge Gainsbourg, Lou Doillon, Ines de la Fressange, Emmanuelle Alt — they never look too made-up, but rather, just casually pulled together.

• They are averse to plastic surgery and Botox and prefer women who age gracefully such as Catherine Deneuve and Charlotte Rampling. You’ll hardly see French women who are expressionless and Botoxed-out. They wear their wrinkles and gray hair very well. The French term is bien dans sa peau, which means the best-looking women are those who look “comfortable in their own skin.”

• It is a myth that Parisiennes are arrogant. It is not in their culture to smile. For them smiling for no reason means sarcasm, naiveté or trying to pick up a man. If you look at French advertising, no one is smiling. If you are in Paris and you see people smiling, they are probably Italian or American.

• French women are a paradox, full of complex contrasts. Many luxury brands were born in France. However, the French detest anything with too many logos. For a French woman logos are vulgar. They prefer to keep the price of their possessions discreet.

• Mealtimes are sacred in France. I could not do a piece on La Parisienne without touching on the massive influence of French gastronomy in their lives. It is the only cuisine currently protected under UNESCO World Heritage. Everyone sits down for a proper two-hour lunch and two-hour dinner and you’ll never catch a Parisienne woman eating while driving, scarfing down a quick lunch at her work desk, or eating only as an afterthought. They take their time. They use real utensils, real silver. Starbucks has been in Paris for over seven years but doesn’t enjoy the success it does in other countries because French people prefer slow food, porcelain coffee cups, and small, family-owned cafés.

• My main observation about Parisiennes is their preference for quality over quantity. They’d rather own only one Chanel jacket for 10 years than have a closetful of disposable fast fashion. This affects the way they shop.

• They choose brands with a long heritage, or with artisan/ handmade elements over more generic, factory-produced garments. This is the reason why I was happy to learn that a sneaker brand from Paris is coming to Manila. They really embody the true nature of being Parisian. I love Bensimon because the philosophy of the founders is exactly what the true Parisian is about.

Not all of us can just pack our bags and permanently relocate to Paris, but we can live in the Parisienne spirit by internalizing this same passion for the art of living, adapting it to our own lifestyle choices and to our own environment. Is Paris your spiritual home? Let’s fantasize together about the many ways we can include small elements of French life into our wardrobe and home, and enjoy the results together!

source: philstar.com

Why are these two women kissing each other in public?

Because they're attending a pro gay marriage demonstration in Paris, France, that's why.

Held last April 23, the "oui , oui, oui" (yes, yes, yes) movement gathered supporters outside the French national assembly in Paris.

France's lower house National Assembly on the same day adopted a bill legalising same-sex marriages and adoptions for gay couples, defying months of opposition protests.

source: interaksyon.com

Bank of France Points to Recession in Third-Quarter

PARIS (Reuters) - France's economy is likely to slip into recession in the third quarter, the Bank of France said on Wednesday, forecasting a contraction of 0.1 percent for the second quarter running which adds to signs Europe's economic prospects are still worsening.

The estimate, which followed the Bank's forecast last month for a similar contraction in the second quarter, suggests France's 2 trillion euro economy may struggle to meet the government's forecast for 0.3 percent growth this year.

Struggling with a debt crisis and resulting budget austerity which has devastated its southern half, Europe also faces signs of stagnation and outright recession in its biggest economies.

Britain's central bank is expected to all but back off a prediction of growth for this year in a report later on Wednesday, while the latest batch of data from Germany shows both imports and exports falling.

Figures on Wednesday also showed France's trade gap widened to 5.99 billion euros in June, defying analysts' expectations for an improvement as exports of cars and transport materials slumped.

"In July, industrial activity posted a slight contraction due mainly to lower levels of activity in the automotive and textile sectors," the Bank of France said in its monthly survey. "The outlook for the coming months suggests a slight slowdown in economic activity ... GDP is expected to decline by 0.1 percent in the third quarter."

France is due to publish official preliminary data on second quarter economic growth next Tuesday.

President Francois Hollande's Socialist government has predicted the economy, which posted zero growth in the first quarter, would return to expansion in the second half of the year.

In its monthly business survey, the Bank of France said that sentiment in both the industrial and service sectors weakened to a reading of 90 in July, from 91 in June.

Purchasing managers indexes (PMIs), which gauge business activity and have a good record of tracking economic growth, showed order books at euro zone companies shriveled last month as the downturn in Germany and France became more entrenched.

source: nytimes.com

Madonna provokes lawsuit with swastika video

PARIS – France’s far-right National Front said Sunday it plans to sue Madonna over a video at the US pop star’s concert in France showing party leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead.

“We cannot accept such an odious comparison,” National Front vice-president Florian Philippot said, adding that the legal action would be filed this week.

The video, which served as a backdrop for Madonna’s performance of the song “Nobody Knows Me”, flashed a picture of Le Pen’s forehead superimposed with a swastika, followed by an image resembling Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

There was an audible gasp from the audience at the Stade de France on Saturday when the image of Le Pen appeared briefly on a giant screen in a video clip which also showed Madonna’s face merging with a number of public figures including Pope Benedict XVI and toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

“Projecting such an image of Marine Le Pen with a swastika implies that she is a Nazi,” National Front lawyer Wallerand de Saint-Just told AFP, adding that the civil complaint for insult would be lodged with a court this week.

Tour promoter LiveNation declined to comment on the National Front action against the queen of pop, who has been no stranger to controversy during her long career.

“This is just another provocation in Madonna’s world tour so that people will talk about her,” Philippot charged, claiming that the stadium was “far from full” for Madonna’s gig and that the tour was a “fiasco”.

“Marine Le Pen will defend not only her own honor but her supporters and the millions of National Front voters.”

Le Pen, a French presidential candidate, had already warned the US superstar in June that she was mulling legal action after the video was shown at Tel Aviv gig in May when Madonna, 53, kicked off her world tour.

“(When) old singers want to get people to talk about them, it’s understandable that they do such extreme things,” the 43-year-old Le Pen said at the time.

SOS Racisme however said it supported Madonna, paying tribute to her “resolutely anti-racist” stance. “She made clear last night that the fight against discrimination is a fundamental battle.”

About 70,000 people were at the Stade de France to watch the “Material Girl” perform on Saturday night, the latest concert in her “MDNA” tour which covers about 30 countries in the Middle East, Europe and the Americas and will wrap up in Australia in 2013.

Madonna will next appear in France in Nice on August 21.

In 1987, Madonna caused a stir when she threw her panties into the crowd at a concert where then president Jacques Chirac was in attendance.

On her latest world tour, she made headlines when she flashed a nipple at a gig in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul last month.

Le Pen, the daughter of National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, won 18 percent in the first round of the presidential election in April.

But she lost her bid to win a seat in legislative elections last month although the party — which wants to ditch the euro and battles against what Le Pen calls the “Islamisation” of France — returned to parliament for the first time since 1998.

source: interaksyon.com

Justin Bieber Suffers Concussion During Paris Concert

Justin Bieber suffered a mild concussion Thursday after he ran into a glass wall backstage at a concert in Paris.

Bieber, 18, told TMZ.com that he was disoriented after hitting the glass, only to return to the stage to finish his set.

But later, as the "Boyfriend" singer was walking to his dressing room, he passed out for about 15 seconds, TMZ reports.






Immediately after the show, Bieber addressed the mishap, Tweeting: "im fine. just smacked my head and needed some water. all good."



Doctors said Bieber suffered a mild concussion, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, Tweeted: "jb is gonna be fine. things happen. he is a trooper. canadian hockey player. tough kid. no issue."

And the singer himself maintained a sense of humor about it, addressing a similar incident in 2010, where he ran into a revolving door.

Bieber Tweeted: "i will see u again Glass. I will have my revenge. BIEBER vs GLASS. MGM LAS VEGAS 2013. lol. #GottaLaughAtYourself."

source: people.com

Hollande elected French president

PARIS — Francois Hollande was elected France’s first Socialist president in nearly two decades on Sunday, dealing a humiliating defeat to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and vowing change in Europe.

The result will have major implications for Europe as it struggles to emerge from a financial crisis and for France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy and a nuclear-armed permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

With only votes from abroad left to count, Hollande had won with 51.67% of the vote to 48.33% for Sarkozy, becoming France’s first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995.

Greeted after his win by a huge throng of supporters in Paris’s iconic Place de la Bastille, Hollande hailed his victory as part of a movement rising in Europe against fiscal austerity.

“You are much more than a people who want change. You are already a movement that is rising across all of Europe and maybe the world,” he told the cheering masses.

He has wasted no time in pushing his agenda.

He told a crowd in his hometown of Tulle that “France chose change,” warning fellow European leaders he would move ahead with his vow to refocus EU fiscal efforts on growth.

“This is the mission that is now mine: to give the European project a dimension of growth, employment, prosperity—in short, a future,” he said.

“This is what I will say as soon as possible to our European partners and first of all to Germany… We are not just any country on the planet, just any nation in the world, we are France.”

Sarkozy conceded defeat and indicated that he intends to step back from frontline politics.

“The French people have made their choice… Francois Hollande is president of France and he must be respected,” the outgoing leader told an emotional crowd of supporters. “In this new era, I will remain one of you, but my place will no longer be the same. My engagement with the life of my country will now be different.”

Sarkozy stopped short of confirming his retirement, but leaders in his right-wing UMP party told AFP he had told them he would not lead them into June parliamentary elections.

Hollande and his team urged supporters to give the Socialists a strong mandate in the two-round parliamentary vote on June 10 and 17.

“There is still much to do in the months to come, first of all to give a majority to the president,” Hollande told the crowd in Paris.

Two polls released Sunday showed the Socialists and Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party neck-and-neck ahead of the vote, with 31% planning to vote Socialist and 30% for the UMP.

Hollande led in opinion polls throughout the campaign and won the April 22 first round with 28.6% to Sarkozy’s 27.2%—making the right-winger the first-ever incumbent to be trailing in the first round.
Gray skies and rain showers greeted voters across much of France, but turnout was high. The latest interior ministry figures said 81.03% of the 46 million eligible voters had turned out.

The election was marked by fears over European Union-imposed austerity and globalization, and Hollande has said his first foreign meeting will be with German Chancellor Angela Merkel—the key driver of EU budget policy.

The 57-year-old Socialist has vowed to renegotiate the hard-fought fiscal austerity pact signed by EU leaders in March to make it focus more on growth.

Hollande appeared to be winning over European leaders quickly on Sunday, with some capitals already echoing his call for growth measures.

Germany reached out, with Merkel inviting Hollande to Berlin and her foreign minister vowing to work with Paris on a growth pact.

“The chancellor invited the French president-elect Hollande to come to Berlin as soon as possible after his inauguration,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said after a phone call between the pair.

“We will work together on a growth pact,” Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told reporters in Berlin. “I am confident the Franco-German friendship will be further deepened.”

On the domestic front, Hollande has said he will move quickly to implement his traditionally Socialist tax-and-spend program, which includes boosting taxes on the rich, increased state spending and hiring 60,000 teachers.

Sarkozy fought a fierce campaign, saying a victory for Hollande would spark market panic and financial chaos. He called him a “liar” and “slanderer” in the final days of the race.

But he failed to overcome deep-rooted anger at meager economic growth and increasing joblessness, and disappointment after he failed to live up to the promises of his 2007 election.

Sarkozy, 57, was also deeply unpopular on a personal level, with many voters turned off by his flashy “bling bling” lifestyle—exemplified by his marriage to former supermodel Carla Bruni—and aggressive behavior.

The first round of the election last month saw a record 18% score for Marine Le Pen of the far-right, anti-immigrant and anti-Europe National Front.

Sarkozy turned increasingly to the right ahead of the run-off, vowing to restrict immigration and “defend French values.” But Le Pen refused to call on her supporters to back him and she cast a blank ballot.

Hollande is expected to be sworn in by May 15.

After seeing Merkel he will set off for a series of international meetings, including a G8 summit in the US on May 18-19 and NATO gathering in Chicago on May 20-21.

In a telephone call, U.S. President Barack Obama invited Hollande for talks before the G8 summit, expressing hope the pair would work “closely,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

source: japantoday.com

Polls open in French presidential election

PARIS -- Polling stations opened across France on Sunday for the final round of a tense presidential election battle between incumbent right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist challenger Francois Hollande.

More than 43 million French citizens in Europe were eligible to vote in the run-off, which began on Saturday in the country's overseas territories and was due to close at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), when preliminary results are announced.

source: interaksyon.com