Shaynal Patel stands in his shop (Laura Krantz for Blast Magazine)

RENNES, France — Finding a croissant in France isn’t difficult, but good luck if you want a bagel.

Until a few months ago, a craving for a sesame seed with cream cheese was nearly impossible to satisfy, but thanks to a New Zealander on a mission, the city of Rennes has been enlightened.

“We want to show French people we do fantastic products of the highest quality,” said Shaynal Patel, owner of Le Tiki café.

But unfortunately, says the 35-year-old entrepreneur from Auckland, the French haven’t seemed to notice.

Le Tiki also serves espresso-based drinks like macchiatos and cappuccinos that are equally uncommon in France. But his goal of serving high-quality Anglo-Saxon food and drink hasn’t captivated French taste buds and the café suffers from empty lunchtime tables.

“On the surface you’d think that cultures would be very very similar but it’s really two distinct different cultures,” he said.

Battling stereotypes of obese, hamburger-gorging Anglo-Saxons, Patel said coaxing the French into trying fare from an English-speaking café isn’t easy.

“People don’t understand the choices in coffees. There are so many options,” he said, explaining the many ways he dresses up a shot of espresso.

“There’s a beautiful café culture in New Zealand, in Australia. Throughout the entire region you’ve got really, really high standards of café culture,” he said.

Eyes gleaming, Patel described New Zealand coffee shops as burgeoning with fair trade ingredients, knowledgeable baristas and friendly atmospheres, three ideas virtually unimportant to French clientele.

The French are equally un-intrigued by take-away drinks. The point of a French coffee is to sit down and drink it.

But whereas New Zealanders might want their cappuccino wrapped in a cardboard sleeve, Patel said they still expect it to be of the highest quality.

“It’s just hard to break into the psychology of letting people know there’s more than just a little espresso out there,” Patel said.

Served in a tiny cup the size of most Americans’ first sip, the dainty shot of caffeine is virtually the same everywhere. The gourmet coffee culture that has Americans choosing their beans, roasts, grinds, flavors, temperatures and milk percentages hasn’t made it to the land of baguettes and brie.

But Patel, whose passion is coffee and customer service, is convinced they’ll like it if they have a go.

“People who tried say ‘super bon.’ They are amazed that Anglo-Saxon food can taste that good,” he said.

After operating a coffee shop in Auckland for three years, Patel, who previously worked in retail, followed his wife back to her hometown of Rennes, the capital of Brittany and home to over 60,000 students.

As a foreigner, Patel wasn’t sure to find work in France, so he transplanted his café to Rennes.

After what he describes as a nightmare of bureaucratic hurdles – including finding someone in France who knew how to make bagels –Le Tiki opened early this year.

To give coffee-drinkers the New Zealand vibe, he decorated Le Tiki in bright colors, rugby posters, a map of the islands and a clock set to Auckland time.

Patel serves carrot cake, cheese cake, pecan pie, cookies, muffins, granola and doughnuts along with bagels, wraps and salads.

He makes some of the food and the rest comes from other bakeries in France. He calls his customers by name and chats from behind the hissing espresso machine. If someone doesn’t like their drink, he’ll re-make it.

The menu includes macchiatos, cappuccinos, lattés, americanos and the flat white, a Down Under drink similar to a cappuccino but with thicker foam. He also makes frappes, milkshakes and smoothies.

But the drinks are as foreign to the French as goose liver is to Americans, and the French respond with equal hesitation.

“There is a psychological block in Rennes,” Patel said, so he has had to adapt his New Zealand habits to the Français.

He created a three-course prix fixe lunch menu because on their two-hour lunch breaks the French like full meals.

“If they do sit they are absolutely satisfied after,” he said.

Something he will never modify is his cheerful disposition. A French customer once told him he smiled too much.

“I’m just being myself,” said Patel.

Nor will Patel change the quality of his ingredients. As a result, his prices are higher than many other cafés. His drinks range from 1.90€ to 4€ whereas French cafés serve espresso starting at 1€.

“It might cost five cents extra for a sachet of [fair trade] sugar, but it changes peoples’ lives in a third world country,” he said.

Still, he said it’s discouraging to see an empty patio in a line of bustling restaurants.

Whereas Kiwi customers are willing to pay more for higher quality, in France he’s learned price is everything.

The French would rather pay less for a pain au chocolat than risk a few extra euros to try carrot cake.

“You would think a lot of young people would be willing to try but it doesn’t work like that,” he said.

As a result, most of his current customers are English speakers who find Le Tiki an escape from French life.

“We’ve kept afloat with Anglo-Saxon customers but that’s not the reason we’re here,” he said.

In the five months Le Tiki has been open for business, Patel has met American, English, Irish, Scottish and Australian customers.

“It’s like a little bit of home to come and have a chat,” said Annabelle Strang, 22, of Sydney, Australia, a Le Tiki regular who lives in Rennes.

“In Australia the take-away coffee culture is just such a big thing,” said Strang, who studies French.

And slowly, French customers are trickling in. Many are people who have traveled to New Zealand or Anglophone countries and squeal with delight upon finding foods from their travels, Patel said.

Stefania Targowski, 25, a French language teacher in Rennes, said she especially likes the café because it’s a chance to speak English.

“Each time it’s a little voyage when you enter,” said Targowski, recalling the months she lived in San Francisco.

She was drinking a milkshake on the sunny patio with her friend Salomé Duringer, 24, who is French but lives in England.

“If you don’t like espresso it’s not easy,” Duringer said, explaining the challenge of finding other types of coffee drinks in France.

This French preference for all things French is the force confronting Patel.

According to a survey cited in a May Reuters article, French diners are top among Europeans to dine in restaurants of the country’s home-cooking.

In comparison, less than 20 percent of bookings made in the United States through Livebookings.com were made for restaurants serving American cuisine.

As trying as his mission is, Patel said it has taught him a lot about French culture.

“French people are proud of their cultural heritage and their food, which is a good thing, however they’re not open to what the rest of the world has to offer. It’s very closed and very protective of French culture.”

Even more difficult than attracting French customers has been Patel’s endeavors to make friends in Rennes.

He has found many Anglo-Saxons soccer mates, but mingling with the French has proved next to impossible.

“The majority who haven’t traveled are very, very closed and that’s sad,” Patel said.

Despite his frankness, he is optimistic. He said café business increased after a recent review in the local newspaper, and word of mouth continues to be the best publicity.

Long-term, however, he sees himself returning to New Zealand.

“The world is moving forward. It’s a bit scary to see that things aren’t really moving or progressing in France as you think it would,” he said.

Based on his experience in the café, Patel said the French don’t share New Zealanders’ eagerness to experience other cultures, cuisines and people.

“We’re open to French culture but French culture is not open to us,” he said.

(Blast staff photo/Laura Krantz)

Strauss-Kahn’s situation has raised questions in France about the pertinence of public figures’ personal choices, and while the country relishes its historical disconnect between public and private life, many young French voters say this episode has changed their thoughts about the private lives of public figures.

“In general I vote for the political ideas of the man, not for his private life,” said Gaëlle Simonin, 23, a student in Rennes.

“[But] there are things that you can’t ignore.”

Most young voters said they were shocked by last Monday’s news, but not necessarily surprised.

“I never imagined that we could see DSK in handcuffs,” said Fatoumata Trahoré, 26, a student in Paris.

“But on another side, it is known that women are one of his weaknesses. He admitted it on newspaper,” she said.

Strauss-Kahn has a long history as a womanizer and is most recently known to have had an affair with a staff member in 2008.

Trahoré said she considered Strauss-Kahn the best candidate in the 2012 elections because of his social and economic experience.

Now she’s changed her mind.

“It’s sure that I’m going to vote for another candidate.”

So does a politician’s personal life matter when voting?

“Until now I didn’t think so. But today I suppose it’s vital. It’s important to know the personality of the person who is going to make decisions about our state,” Trahoré said.

Vincent Delagarde, of La Roë, France, also said the news shocked him.

“I was considering voting for DSK, because I think he has a great international experience, and you can’t be a French president without [that],” said the 27-year-old technical engineer who said he does not belong to a political party.

Delagarde said the personal lives and habits of politicians shouldn’t be important when choosing a candidate.

“I don’t know why people are so upset when they see a picture of a politician in a luxury car. You can’t judge someone on how he looks or what car he drives. The only thing that matters to me is what they do and how they do it,” he said.

Delagarde said he’d have to know whether Strauss-Kahn is guilty before he decided whether to vote for him.

“How could you vote for someone who’s a rapist?” he said.

Other young voters said they were not shocked at all.

Morgane Mercier, 24, a student in Rennes, said she believes Strauss-Kahn was set up.

PARIS — A partial Wikileaks-leaked cable written in November 2005 by the American Embassy in Paris, most likely to the Secretary of State’s office sheds light on violence in France and the government’s reaction to violence in the suburbs of Paris.

The memo recounts the analysis of the situation in the cités, or projects, by French Judge Jean-Francois Ricard, who investigates terrorism.

The residents of these areas, often immigrants, have lost respect for the French government and thus symbols of authority, such as police and firemen, have become targeted as “assassins.”

Increased unrest in the cités could also be due to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s October 2005 announcement of increased police presence in the cités, the memo says.

Gangs and radical Islamic groups have exceptional power in the cités, and have made it their goal to rid their neighborhoods of French governmental influence.

“Inhabitants developed a sense of being apart from French society, and over time, became proud of this,” the memo says.

According to the document, in a October 25, 2005 interview with the Le Monde newspaper, Sarkozy, then the Minister of the Interior of France, said 9,000 police vehicles in France had been stoned since January 2005, and “between 20 and 40” vehicles were burned every night.

Ricard, who spent time as a judge in the Parisian suburb of Bobigny, said the French government has known for 20 years that the suburbs have become dangerously anarchist and has tried and failed to integrate the suburbs into the French identity.

According to the memo, many who critique the situation blame the low socio-economic situation in the cités for the unrest, but Ricard said the real problem is not always poverty, but rather a resentment of feeling ignored by the French government.

“The combination of setting oneself apart, real and/or imagined grievances against the government of France, state inattention and the interests of gangs and other groups, including the Islamists, to accentuate this divide, has led to the current unrest,” Ricard said.

As a result, to solve the problems, the French government needs to increase its presence in these areas, Ricard says in the memo.

PARIS — A 2009 memo from the US Embassy in Paris to the Secretary of State’s office released in the latest batch of Wikileaks documents, details French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s efforts to cultivate the rapport between Brazil and France by providing political, diplomatic, economic and military support to South America’s largest country.

Wikileaks cable 09Paris1526, created November 17, 2009, refers to the relationship between Sarkozy and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, as a “love affair” between two countries both eager to improve their international prowess.

The cable details the various gestures of support Sarkozy extended to Brazil over the past three years, including the sale of French fighter jets and the construction of a vast military complex.

According to the document, as France’s leading Latin American trade partner, Brazil hosts over 420 French companies which employ over 400,000 people. French exports to Brazil totaled over $5 billion and Brazilian exports to France totaled over $6 billion in 2008.

Examples of Sarkozy’s copious efforts to solicit the world’s fifth most populous nation, include the “F-X2” project, in which Sarkozy allegedly crusaded for Brazil to purchase the French-made Rafale fighter jet, made by the French company Dassault, rather than American or Swedish options.

Shortly before Sarkozy’s visit, Brazil released a short list of its favored jets for the F-X2 project: the Swedish-made SAAB Gripen NG, Dassault’s Rafale and the American Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the staple of the US Navy.

“Politically motivated, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry decision to publicly announce their intention to go with French company Dassault, which makes the Rafale, over the Brazilian Air Force’s preferred [American-made] Super Hornet stemmed from Lula’s close relationship with Sarkozy,” the document said, a relationship believed to have been initially kindled by the previous French President Jacques Chirac.

“Sarkozy presented the myth that France is the perfect partner for the states that do not want to rely on U.S. technology,” the cable said.

The Brazilian Air Force already uses 12 French-made Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter/interceptor jets, which it received between 2006-2008 to replace the aged French-made Mirage III jets. The country also uses several homemade fighters from Embraer, the Brazilian Aeronautics Company, Inc. Brazil also has dozens of American F-5 export fighters on hand.

In addition, in September 2009 both leaders signed a $12 billion purchase of five submarines, including Latin America’s first nuclear-propelled submarine, while Brazil simultaneously announced intentions to negotiate the purchase of 36 French-made Rafale fighter jets after the French agreed to give Brazil software source codes for the aircrafts as well.

“Labeled the ‘French comparative advantage,’ the technology transfer appealed to Brazil’s desire to not only purchase the Rafale but to manufacture the aircraft in-country and possibly sell them throughout Latin America by 2030,” stated the document, attributing that information to the Brazilian political-military attache Marcus Rector Toledo Silva.

In addition, the memo outlines France’s efforts to aid Brazil in accomplishing its ambition to become a world power by helping build the largest military industrial complex in the southern hemisphere. The country seeks to protect its vast natural resources, including timber, gold and uranium, from illegal foreign exploitation..

Home to the world’s seventh largest oil reserve and the largest area of natural biodiversity in the Amazon, the cable also said Brazil has announced discovery of massive offshore oil reserves in the Atlantic ocean that, according to Lula, could finance the country’s rise to first world status.

“Brazil seeks to protects its riches and assert itself as a new military power and France is ‘ready to fully support Brazil as an emerging power,’ said MFA (?) Assistant Secretary for the Americas Beton-Delegue, according to the document.

Sarkozy has also backed efforts to give Brazil a permanent seat on the United Nation’s Security Council (sp?), and supported numerous cultural efforts including the campaigns to host the 2016 Olympics and the 2014 World Cup.

In 2009, Brazil celebrated the “Year of France,” with a series of cultural and commercial events in response to France’s “Year of Brazil” in 2005. The Brazilian embassy in Paris engaged in tri-lateral cooperation with the French on agricultural projects in Africa, and Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe was made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro after he signed an agreement to revitalize Rio’s ports.

Brazil also likes to bost that Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, often vacation in Brazil, the cable said.

According to the comment at the end of the document, the “deepening partnership with Brasilia provides France with greater entre into Latin America,” and benefits both countries.

“Lula’s decision to back the purchase of French fighter jets indicates the deepening Franco-Brazilian relationship and demonstrates the increasing political, diplomatic and specifically commercial success of Sarkozy’s courtship,” the document said.

The French president’s wooing is only expected to increase in 2011 as fuel for his 2012 re-election campaign, the cable added.

John M. Guilfoil of the Blast Staff contributed to this report.

PARIS — A 2008 cable sent from the American Embassy in Paris to the Secretary of State and other U.S. embassies around the world outlines the history of the diplomatic relationship between France and Africa, as President Nicholas Sarkozy has tried to reshape.

The memo, recently released by Wikileaks, outlines Sarkozy’s efforts to reform the relationship between France and Africa.

The policy of Sarkozy’s predecessors, termed the France-Afrique, or Françafrique model, had become “a complex web of economic, military, political, social and cultural ties that linked France with its former colonies and to a lesser extent non-francophone Africa,” the memo said.

This included the governmental, educational, legal, military, bureaucratic and administrative systems of many African countries, which were modeled on French systems. These countries, some of which have French as the lingua franca and can only be reached by airplanes connecting through Paris, have long depended on France’s aid to stay afloat.

In addition, the memo says, African leaders were often able to amass private fortunes, enjoy luxurious lifestyles in Europe, and occasionally achieve high-ranking French government positions.

African troops fought for France during the World Wars and veterans still receive pensions from the French government, the memo says.

Perhaps the most poignant signal of the special relationship between France and its former colonies is the “Mr. Africas,” a long series of advisers to French presidents beginning with de Gaulle, whose special status allowed him to reported directly to the president with advice on Africa.

But nearing the end of the 20th century, the costs of maintaining a special relationship with Africa became too costly, the memo states.

“France-Afrique provided privileges to France but carried a burden of expectation that has become harder to shoulder,” the memo says.

And although the rest of the world had come to expect that France takes care of problems in Africa, Sarkozy made it clear that this is a burden the French government no longer can, or wants to, shoulder.

In a series of three speeches in Dakar and Lisbon in 2007 and Cape Towin in 2008, Sarkozy outlined his new plan for relations with former African colonies.

“The general theme emerging from these speeches is that France will seek to modernize relations, get rid of lingering colonialist and post-colonialist baggage, engage with Africans on a more business-like and arms-length basis, no longer seek to play a paternal role and instead opt for a partnership among equals.”

Sarkozy, the first French president to have grown up without meaningful personal experience with the colonial era, the memo points out, abolished the Mr. Africa position, and adopted a favorable stance towards countries like the U.S. and China, as well as the European Union and the United Nations, who all want larger roles in African relations.

But while France has actively supported EU and UN involvement, the memo says they are concerned about Chinese activity in Africa, that it is too rapid and too effective – “too much China too fast.”

“Publically, Sarkozy’s attitude has been that France has no objection to China’s becoming more present in Africa – so long as Africans apply the same rules to the Chinese that are applied to everyone else,” the memo states.

The memo concludes by suggesting that the new Africa policy, an abrupt break with French tradition, is perhaps a reflection of Sarkozy’s own personality, as a figure who has, from the beginning, advocated for vast reform, especially in foreign relations.

“To Sarkozy, France-Afrique no longer makes sense, with France and Africa needing to modernize their ties on both sides and move on, based on a calculation of interests on both sides,” the memo says.

A third part of the memo focuses on the impact of the new Africa policy on France’s military presence in Africa.

The memo, written in September of 2008, states that the French intend to consolidate their military presence and re-group into two hubs, one in the Atlantic Ocean and one in the Indian Ocean.

In addition, they want to update France’s Defense Agreement with its former colonies, and establish a new department that will more closely correspond with Africa’s sub-regional groups rather than the European-drawn country lines.

“He sought a more modern and transparent relationship, ostensibly of ‘equals,’ that would allow both sides to conduct relations on a business-like and rational basis,” the cable says.

But the cable points out that an attempt to reform the Africa policy is a formidable task that must overcome “a certain level of comfort on both sides that has accumulated over many years.”

LAVAL, France — “When the rights of some women progress, the rights of others take on a new light and then all of humanity starts to move.”

These words hung in the center of an exhibit entitled Rendons nos droits universels, or Let’s Make Our Rights Universal, which was on display this month in Laval.

It was organized by Femmes Solidaires, a national women’s organization in France, as part of a month of human rights events organized by the many international solidarity associations in Laval.

The exhibit advocated for equal treatment of women around the world and in France, with panels detailing injustices that occur against women in many realms, including political, personal and professional life.

Femmes Solidaires, founded during the French resistance during World War II and specially recognized by the United Nations, aims to inform the public about the injustices and inequalities that women face.

Their goal is to defend “the fundamental values of secularism, diversity, equality for the rights of women, peace and liberty,” according to their annual report.

Michèle Huard, 67, an active member of Femmes Solidaires, expanded on the subject of feminism, and explained her own views on the subject.

“For me, the two most important things are secularism and equality before the law,” she said.

Huard, a retired nurse who has traveled widely, said she has experienced the condition of women in China, Turkey, Northern Africa Canada and elsewhere in Europe.

“I find that in France, even if it’s not perfect, it’s a type of model, even if it’s far from being perfect,” she said.

For her, the key to ameliorating French women’s condition is to have equal legal rights.

She said she believes fundamental differences separate men and women, thus legal equality is the sole playing field on which equality can be achieved.

“The only thing necessary to improve in France is that women have the same rights as men, which is to say, the right to vote, work, etc. After that, everything else is a nuance.”

To elaborate, Huard explained the concept of laïcité.

“It’s the separation of the intimate realm from that of the exterior, in particular for us, the religion. That is part of the intimate realm,” Huard said.

While laïcité can be strictly defined as secularism, the French employ the concept more broadly to distinguish between what they consider appropriate for public versus private life.

“A laïc person can have a religion, but that religion should not interfere with the public realm,” Huard said.

For her, problems arise when religion enters the public sphere.

Huard said religion’s interference with legal rights is what has prohibited women’s rights from advancing, in France and around the world.

“For us, the separation of church and state is what has evolved things for us as women.”

Huard said she vividly remembers participating in the feminist movement in France during the 1970’s, a movement whose roots she attributes to the more secular culture of England and the United States.

Concerning religion, Huard offered the example of Islam in France, which she said poses an imminent threat to equality.

Huard, describing herself as agnostic but from a Catholic tradition, said she believes all religions, especially Judaism, Christianity and Islam, teach that women are in need of male supervision.

“For me, all religions have commanded that women are in need of a guardian,” she said.

For this reason, Huard said she supports the recently-passed French law which bans the Islamic veil in public.

“I believe that Islam is a very strong religion, and Muslims are very religious, even those who do not practice, who call themselves laic. And I believe that if we let this continue, the more moderate Muslims will find themselves dominated by the extremists, and that becomes dangerous,” she said.

Huard said in making this decision, she was torn between a woman’s right to dress how she chooses, and what she sees as the stifling restrictions of religion on women.

At the same time, she insisted that in their private lives, women should be allowed to behave as they choose.

Huard, the mother of three children and wife of a retired postal worker, said taking care of her children or serving coffee to her husband does not belittle her stature as a woman, as long as she has the freedom to choose.

She chose to continue her career while raising her children, and though she supports working mothers, Huard said she understands mothers who put their professional lives on hold for the sake of their family.

“I always have a sense of guilt that I did not devote enough time to my children because of my education and career. I have that in the depths of me,” she said.

Huard said since women and men are created differently, they will always have separate roles.

“A man is not disrupted by his period each month. It’s not the same thing. We are more subject to our hormones,” she said.

At the same time, she said this should not inhibit men and women from having equal, albeit different, rights.

In France, women have the right to at least 14 weeks of maternity leave. In 2002, a law was passed giving men the right to time off when their child is born: 14 days.

Huard said this example is an anomaly, and most other laws favor men.

In the 1950’s, women and men did not have equal rights after a divorce, and as a result, women were often sent to jail for adultery.

Other reforms instituted in the second half of the twentieth century include shared responsibility between husband and wife as head of the household, and more equivalent salaries. Women gained the right to the same educational opportunities, and could have bank accounts and jobs without the consent of their husband.

French women gained the right to vote in 1944, and birth control and abortion was legalized in the 1970’s.

“In France, when you think just about the laws, we say to ourselves, good, we have the right to abortion, to take care of our own bodies, we say to ourselves there have been a enormous advancements. [But] in what is actually going on, it’s not necessarily true,” said Huard.

In addition to the exhibit, Femmes Solidaires participated in a silent march against domestic violence towards women.

At the march of silence, men and women of all ages protested against all types of violence against women.

Jacques Marie, 59, of Laval, said he knows both men and women who choose to ignore the topic of domestic violence.

“It’s useful to show that this exists,” he said, speaking of the march.

“I am concerned, and I am trying to plant my little seed, to try to advance things,” he said.

Claudine Roche, another member of Femmes Solidaires who attended the march, said in order for the condition of women to improve, women need to take an active role in the political arena.

“It’s necessary for women to be present in political organizations and hold political office,” she said, so they can prove their capability in the public sphere.

Julie Geslot, 22, of Laval, was one of the few young women present at the march.

She said she participated because she thinks it is important to unify with others to defend the rights of women around the world.

The goal, she said, is equality between women and men.

“The same rights and the same consideration, no matter our habits, religion or age,” she said.

Huard expressed a similar opinion, but said because of innate biological differences, women’s situation will always be more difficult.

Still, she said laïcité is the key to legal equality, and the only way to give women an equal chance in society is to separate their private lives from what they are capable of in the public sphere.

For this reason, she said, she will continue to work with Femmes Solidaires for the rights of women in France and around the world.

“I always come back to laïcité,” she said, “but maybe that’s just a utopia. But I come back to it because I say to myself, there’s not a reason to stop trying.”

LAVAL, France — Former French President Jacques Chirac now faces two sets of corruption charges after a French judge signed an ordinance Monday summoning him to appear before a criminal court in Paris.

Many French people, when asked their opinion on the matter, said they were not surprised by the charges.

“If he did something bad, it’s normal that he be punished,” said Thérèse Belloche, 73, of Laval.

Belloche, who said she follows politics only a bit, said it’s unfortunate the wealthy often get away with corruption when those with less resources are forced to pay.

“It’s a question of lots of money, it’s an injustice,” she said.

According to the French Associated Press, Chirac, 77, is charged with using public funds to pay the salaries of his political allies between 1992 and 1995, when he was mayor of Paris.

The right-wing politician was president from 1995 to 2007.

Chirac, who served as mayor from 1977 to 1995, was originally charged with corruption in 2009, but yesterday more charges were laid upon him, which he will likely answer to in April 2011, when he is already scheduled to appear in court.

Most people, when asked Tuesday afternoon what they thought about Chirac and the charges, said they were not surprised.

“They are all liars,” said one Frenchman of politicians, while he was waiting for the bus in downtown Laval Tuesday afternoon.

The man, who refused to give his name, said he has never voted and called the recent strikes useless because he said they will not change anything the government has already done.

“We talk about only the rich…The government is the mafia,” he said.

Most people interviewed said they do not follow politics and were unaware of the corruption charges. Others said they had no opinion of the situation.

But for French polticos, Chirac is remembered for his wide-reaching reforms in France. He is known as the man who defeated socialist leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2002, reduced the presidential term to five years from seven, implemented many tax reductions and argued for business privatization.

He has also been suspected of corruption for over 10 years. His luxurious habits, including frequent holidays and lavish meals, have been long suspected to have been financed with the city’s money.

“They confused their wallets with the wallet of the French people,” said Robert Mazurais, 67, of Laval.

Mazurais, who said he is a member of France’s Green Party, said he worked in the public housing sector before he retired. He acknowledged that Chirac did much to help set up the system of low-income housing in France.

“He wasn’t a bad guy,” Mazurais said, but added that at the same time, Chirac took advantage of his status of wealth and power.

“It’s not normal that it’s the French who pay,” he said, adding that it was inevitable that Chirac be brought to terms with his decisions at one point or another.

According to the French Associated Press, an agreement was signed in 2010 between the city of Paris and Chirac’s political party, the UMP, where the UMP paid the city 2.2 million euros in exchange for not bringing civil charges against Chirac.

Still, Chirac is said to have denied all corruption charges since the investigation began in 1999.

According to the French newspaper Le Progrès, Chirac could face five years in prison and 75,000 euros in fees.

LAVAL, France — On the first of November in France, florists are the only stores open for business.

The Roman Catholic holiday of Toussaint, known in the US as All Saints Day, is when the French, a country steeped in Roman Catholic tradition, remember deceased relatives by placing flowers on their graves.

Yesterday in the small town of Laval, in western France, cemeteries were vibrant with bouquets of flowers.

Before making a trip to the cemetery, many French attend the Toussaint mass.

After Christmas, Toussaint, which falls towards the end of a two-week school vacation, is the day when church pews are fullest, according to Rev. Frédérique Foucher, a priest at Saint Vénérand Catholic church in Laval.

“It’s the fear of death that makes us come to the church today. We all have within us the desire that there is something after,” Foucher said.

Xavier Chesne, 27, of nearby Gorron, who hovered in the back Saint Vénérand during the mass, said he came out of respect for his recently-deceased grandmother.

Describing himself as “believing, but not practicing,” Chesne said he, along with most young people he knows, comes to church only three or four times a year.

“It’s the evolution of the culture that has changed,” Chesne said.

“We go more easily to the cemetery than to church,” he said, adding that he would visit his grandmother’s grave after the service.

Others, however, seem to defy the stereotype of secular Europeans altogether.

Dominique and Anne Fortin, who attended the Toussaint mass with their grown daughter Claire, said they live outside Laval but make the drive to Saint Vénérand every Sunday.

“It gives the feeling of being part of a community,” said Dominique Fortin, who said they often spend Sundays with church friends.

“We really like being with others, staying after the service to discuss ideas with others and talk with people about our joys and sorrows.”

His wife Anne said for her, Toussaint is important because it commemorates not only the official saints recognized by the Catholic Church, but also individuals who try to live saintly lives.

“We are not all saints, but we try,” she said, adding that this year is particularly poignant because of her mother’s recent death.

Foucher said Toussaint is celebrated on November 1st because it is the day with the shortest amount of sunlight of the year.

“It’s not the night of death that is going to win but the light of life. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas,” Foucher said.

Christmas, the most-attended church holiday, occurs when the amount of sunlight begins to augment again.

“Toussaint, for French Catholic culture, is the day when we think about all our dead who we think are close to God, and it’s for that reason that there is always many people (in church,)” he said.

“Within man there is a desire that life never end.”

Jean Michel Emery lives in Rennes but came to Laval with his wife Isabelle, to the cemetery where both their sets of parents and grandparents are buried.

“We have them always in our hearts, but to maintain a connection with them, we come here to see them,” Jean Michel said.

Both Jean Michel and Isabelle grew up in Laval and said they make the 45 minute drive multiple times a year.

Today they put flowers by the family tombstones.

Max Dialale, who lives in Laval but is originally from the island of Reunion, said he comes to this cemetery not only to visit the grave of his brother-in-law, but to remember his mother, who is buried on Reunion.

“It’s a normal day, not always a day of sadness. I benefit a little from coming here,” Dialale said.

He said he does not need a special holiday to remember his loved ones.

“It’s a normal ritual,” said Dialale, who said he comes every other week to the cemetery.

“The people who are dead are always there. It’s a day for them.”

MARSEILLE, France — Imagine the result if Fenway Park went uncleaned for 15 Red Sox home games in a row. This might give you a faint idea of what Marseille, France’s second largest city and most important sea port, looked like this week, 15 days into a garbage workers strike.

The Mediterranean sun cooked the rotting piles of garbage heaped on the narrow downtown streets and the sea breeze swirled debris into the air until it looked and smelled like what they were turning into: a trash dump.

When the French are unhappy, it stinks.

For the past month, life in Europe’s second largest country has been interrupted by countless strikes and protests, as the French vocalize their opposition to the government’s proposed retirement reform, which was passed on Wednesday by the National Assembly and now awaits the imminent signature of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The reform raises the age to collect a minimum pension from 60 to 62, and for a full pension from 65 to 67.

During the 15 days of strikes in Marseille, approximately 9,000 tons of garbage amassed in nearly half of the city’s 16 neighborhoods.

During the strike people threw out furniture, food and other materials not regularly collected by garbage services, onto the curbside heaps.

Firefighters put out over 800 trash fires, including 160 in one day, and when debris reached an extreme, the French army intervened to remove 100 tons of rubbish.

Downtown stores and restaurants were forced to close during the fifteen days, which included one week of school vacation, due to garbage blocking their entrances.

Officials now estimate it will cost at least 500,000 euros to clean up the mess.

As another anti-retirement reform effort, French oil tankers blocked Marseille’s harbor for 31 days, cutting off the petrol supply to much of the country.

And in the end, the reform passed.

From our side of the ocean, these protests often seem futile, yet the French hold the tradition of the grève close to their bleu-blanc-et-rouge hearts, and year after year, they vacate their workplaces to pour into the streets, protesting against whatever new trick their government tries to pull.

This is especially true in Marseille, a city known to be clenched tightly in the grasp of workers unions.

But are the French really so quixotic to overlook the fact that these protest often seem fruitless? And can they overlook a rotting city in the hopes of changing a political system that is as unwavering as it is unpopular?

Conversations with locals last week on the odorous streets of Marseille suggest that while they take pride in their liberties, the French can only stand so much uncleanliness.

Ridvan Erkaya, 21, the manager of Cappadocia, a restaurant on the Canbière, the main street of old Marseille, said while he understands the reasoning behind the strike, it made business difficult.

“On the one hand they are right, but on the other, that forms bad habits,” Erkaya said.

He said he spent the past three weeks sweeping his patio each morning, only to find it covered in trash that evening.

“I have lived in Marseille for 11 years and this is the first time I’ve seen this,” said Erkaya, who is originally from Turkey.

What starts out as a little mess for a good cause quickly turns into a larger problem, he said.

“If the army collects the garbage, who is going to fight the wars?” Erkaya asked.

But, he said, “it’s a little complicated in Marseille. There is a little bit of everything.”

Depending on who you ask, Marseille is a charming port city or a dangerous town of crime and disorder.

In addition to business owners, residents of Marseille’s historic neighborhoods worried about sanitation risks.

Solange Houache who lives in the seaside arrondissement known for its stunning views of the port and rocky shoreline, expressed such inquietudes.

Houache said she did not sleep at all one rainy night because she feared trash would wash into her home or make the water undrinkable.

“The politicians should take actions to help the city before they worry about the retirement,” Houache said. “This could turn into a catastrophe.”

A violent storm named Xynthia struck Europe this weekend, according to CNN. At least 58 people have been killed and 60 have been injured.

France was affected the most, with at least 47 killed and nearly 500,000 households were without electricity Monday morning, CNN reports. The Boston Globe reports that Xynthia is the worst storm France has seen since 1999 when 90 people died. Three people in Spain were also killed, four in Germany, and Portugal and Belgium reported one death each. The storm had hurricane force winds, which reached up to 200 mph on the Atlantic coast.

The worst-affected areas of France are the Vendee and Charente-Maritime regions on the western coast of France, according to BBC. Residents went to their rooftops in the Vendee region and police helicopters were attempting to locate and rescue them. Heavy flooding occurred and many buildings were destroyed due to the strong winds and huge waves that battered coastal towns. Over 100 flights scheduled to go out of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport were cancelled due to the storm, reports CNN.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy plans on visiting the Vandee region on Monday, and offers his condolences to the relatives of victims. The French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said France would formally declare the storm a natural disaster, freeing up funds to help rebuild communities. He also said “the government will, along with the local authorities, set up without delay a special plan to rebuild and strengthen the dykes.”

Xynthia moved westward causing damage in Germany and Belgium. A man in Germany was killed by a tree that fell on his car near the Black Forest area. Also in Germany, a two year old boy drowned when he was blown into a river, according to CNN. A man in southern Belgium was killed in his garden, also by a tree that had fallen. The storm was given the name Xynthia by the Meteorology Institute at the Free University of Berlin, which names all systems that affect the weather in central Europe.

PARIS — It is known as the city of lights, but even on a more typical autumn day of drizzle and dreary weather, a one-day stopover can allow for a wonderful taste of Paris’ "je ne sais quois." Given the limit of one day in Paris, it is easy to understand why using the River Seine as your guide is an easy answer to seeing the most for the least cost on metro transit, as the walkabout is a cornucopia of history and beauty.

The sites you are able to take in will be limited; as with the Louvre, Paris offers such a rich historical and artistic story that one day is just the cherry on top. A good place to start is to follow the River Seine. Most of the postcard locations lie on the Seine: The Louvre, Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Musse d’Orsay, and a Frommer’s-book full of other photographic havens.

When starting at Bastille, the Eiffel Tower is an obvious finale, and a fairly realistic goal when spending a day on foot. Paris has an extensive metro system, but be prepared to log some serious miles in sneakers. The metro system is similar in operation to the NYC subway, or the London underground, with a variety of rainbow-inspired lines, but also with a regional train system to service the outer lying Parisian reaches, and of course the TGV high-speed trains which blast passengers to Brussels, London, Spain or the French countryside in record time.

The Bastille is the perfect place to start the walkabout, and the neighborhood during the day is a gallery of shopping and eateries. Starting with a lovely breakfast at one of the many brasseries, the French equivalent of a diner, albeit with a much different menu comprising quiche, omlette’s and other free-from-fried options, is imperative. Be warned, however, that Paris is one of the more expensive travel destinations. A jar of orange juice, roughly 6 oz. and perhaps some of the best orange juice to sample, cost just over $7.

At night, the "city of lights" effect drapes the streets of the Bastille and Dicken’s "St Antoine" with an other-worldy rhythm. The cobblestones echo the jive of the residents and the streets at once fall into a synchnopatic melody with the city. With the Bastille monument centered in a roundabout near the heart of Paris, a walk in any direction could go on for miles and not extended beyond the Parisian lines. Ominous and modern, the Bastille Opera house both contradicts and encompasses the Parisian aesthete. It is the home base of the Op©ra National de Paris , and was inaugurated in 1989 on the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille.

Near the Bastille are two of the six heaviest traveled train stations in Paris, incorporating the use of regional and high-seed transit. On the right bank of the Seine, the same as Bastille- lies the Gare du Lyon. Named after Lyon, France- a city en route, construction was initiated for the World Exposition of 1900. The train station boasts a restaurant in service since 1901-Le Train Bleu. The Gare d’Austerlitz, built in 1840 as the Gare d’Orleans and eventually re-named after the famed Battle of Austerlitz during Napoleon’s reign, is situated across the river. Just before the train station on the river is the National Library of France which contains over 20million volumes. Originally contained in the Louvre, the modernization and relocation of the library was completed late 1995.

As the Seine arcs to the west, a magnificent park, the Jardins des Plantes precedes the two Seine-islands, Žle Saint-Louis and the Žle de la Cit©, which are must-see marvels and home to magnificent monuments. The Žle Saint-Louis is an enchanting place, meticulously laid out, and the French Renaissance style is still nearly intact. The Žle de la Cit© is home to the Cathedral of Notre Dame- perhaps the most iconic of Paris’ attractions, subject of movies and novels alike. The grandiose gothic construction of any cathedral its size is awe-inspiring, and Notre Dame does not disappoint. Completed in the middle of the 13th century after nearly 100 years of construction, Notre Dame is not only a beautiful representation of an era when Gothic structures began their page in history, but also boasts use of unseen modern architectural techniques of the time, like the "flying buttresses, making it a staple in the history of religion, art and design. A smart tourist will plan to spend a couple of hours exploring the cathedral, as both the tower and crypt below are open for tours. The island was a center for French Revolutionary action, with many of the buildings stolen for use as prisons, which are now government owned buildings, focused on social welfare- the Police, Palace of Justice, and Paris’ largest hospital.

Just beyond the Žle de la Cit©, on both sides of the Seine leading to the Louvre, are strands of green metal stalls. When opened by the local booksellers in the late morning, the walk is a magical stroll through an outdoor bookstore. The sellers offer books, mostly in French, tourist curios and art. Some of the books and art are truly treasures, some are reproductions. The Parisian folk who run the booths are storybooks themselves of the city and the Parisian life.

The Louvre is a very typical hot spot in Paris, but for a one-day stop-over, it is best to take in only her exterior and lush gardens, the Tuileries. Many boast that days on end could be spent in the Louvre without seeing her in entirety. Her floor space is an expansive 123.5 square miles in total, and began life as a fort in the 12th century. Not only does the Louvre house the collection of history through art, but as a piece of art herself has many stories. Expanded successively throughout time, once the Palace of Versailles, and a place for art students, the French Revolution’s National Assembly decreed that the Louvre serve as a museum in the face of the destruction of many Parisian monuments in that frenetic time.

Near the Louvre is a trinity of vision- the Musee d’Orsay, Avenue des Champs-‰lys©es and Les Invalides. Closest to the Louvre is the Avenue des Champs-‰lys©es, which the Parisians refer to as the "most beautiful street in the world". Starting at the Place de la Concorde and ending at the Arc du Triomphe, the one and a quarter mile avenue boasts a lack of commercialization, although not entirely safe from modernization. The avenue originated as a farmer’s market, but by the 17th Century was a hotspot for living and business properties. The oldest standing committee in Paris, in fact, is the Comite Champs- ‰lys©es, who still control much of the rental market and improvement of the Avenue as well as lobby to the authorities for business practice rights.

Across the river from the Louvre complex is the Mus©e d’Orsay, originally a train station, most well known for its impressionistic and post-impressionistic collections. It, like most Parisian monuments has served the city’s officials, citizens and eventually tourists. Near Mus©e d’Orsay and across from the Champs-‰lys©es is Les Invalides. The museum and administrative facilities all relate to the military, and history thereof; the grounds include a hospital and retirement center for war veterans. A masterpiece in French Baroque designs, and inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Invalides is also the burial site of Napoleon, his family and officers, and many other military heroes. From the Invalides, presumably at this point by moonlight, the Eiffel Tower is a luminary reflecting off the day’s tour guide, the Seine. Prefaced by the Parc du Champs de Mars, the tower was built as an entry-way to the 1889 World’s Fair.

Like the Eiffel Tower to Paris, Paris herself has become a beacon in the world, a symbol of romance, and of struggle. Like the tower, Paris has had the strength to rise above all maintaining her integrity, and just a 24-hour escape into her arms will change the way anyone sees Europe, as a mecca of the collaboration between history and art.

A late update on this story and I apologize for that:

The famed Louvre museum quickly resolved its quarrel with Egypt yesterday by agreeing to return the steles Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass accused them of purchasing on the black market, the New York Times reports.

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand organized a special meeting to make a final decision on the fate of the five relics. The committee came to the conclusion that Egypt had provided sufficient evidence to prove the pieces were stolen and thus, made a unanimous decision to return them in good faith.

Mitterrand had previously told media that he was in favor of returning the pieces as long as proof that they were stolen was provided by Egypt.

Mitterrand also told media that the relics were not purchased on the black market. In fact, he said, four of the pieces were purchased from the Maspero gallery in France in 2000 and the other from an auction in Paris three years later.

The five estranged frescoes are believed to be from the tomb of Tetaki, a 3,200-year-old cleric who was laid to rest in the Valley of Kings near Luxor.

Egypt says it will resume relations with the museum after the relics are returned home. The French culture ministry is optimistic that the whole ordeal will be resolved in a matter of weeks.

Egypt has severed ties with Paris’ Louvre museum in an argument over artifacts antiquities chief Zahi Hawass claims were stolen by the world famous art museum.

“We made the decision to end any co-operation with the Louvre until they return [the works],” Hawass announced today, the CBC reports.

Hawass claims the museum has failed to return several pieces, namely steles (ancient engraved stone slabs) that were supposedly purchased on the black market after being stolen from a Valley of the Kings tomb near Luxor.

Hawass told AFP that he believes Louvre officials knew the pieces were stolen before making the secretive purchase. France’s Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand told the same news agency that they would indeed return the artifacts if proven to have been stolen, Voice of America reports.

Before returning anything however, the museum needs national approval and proof the pieces in question were smuggled out of Egypt.

In 2002, Egypt launched a sweeping campaign aimed at having countries return artifacts that had been stolen, smuggled or purchased suspiciously. Many of the objects Egypt’s Supreme Council is trying to retrieve are on display at some of the most well-known museums in the world.

A serious accusation made against one of the most famous and reputable museums in the world. Regardless of what happens with these specific artifacts, hopefully the feud between Hawass and the Louvre is resolved so the flourishing partnership between the two can live on.

It would be a real shame if there ceased to be any Egyptian artifacts and pieces at the Louvre from here on.

The four steles in question are still on display in Paris.

This page will be updated with news regarding the search for the black boxes. Last updated 1:31 p.m.

The Emeraude, a French nuclear submarine, reached the Air France Flight 447 search site Wednesday to aid in the hunt for the missing plane’s cockpit recorders.

French military officials said the sub started surveying waters near the suspected crash site of‚  Wednesday morning.

France also sent two boats towing approximately 40 tons of recovery equipment, a surveillance ship, and the Nautile, a mini sub that will be sent to the ocean’s floor in case the black boxes are retrieved, CNN reports.

Plane debris was spotted about 600 miles of the coast of Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha islands, which are in turn a 200 miles north-east of Brazil’s coast. It is here the sub will begin its search.

French military spokesman Captain Christophe Prazuck said the Emeraude will be able to cover about 13 square miles of ocean every day. While traversing tough waters, the ship will actively be searching for the downed plane using advanced radar equipment.

To help locate the emergency beacons attached to the flight’s data recorders, two French vessels will be outfitted with two high-tech U.S. acoustic search devices. The devices can detect emergency beacons emitting from up to 20,000 feet underwater. The average depth of the immensely large search area (77,220 square miles) is about 9,900 feet.

The first ship was outfitted with one device Wednesday. The second ship set to carry the other device won’t arrive until next week, CBC reports.

“There are big uncertainties about the accident site, the ocean floor is rugged… so it’s going to be very difficult”¦it’s going to be very complicated and we’re going to need a lot of luck” Prazuck told French radio, BBC reports.

The emergency beacons attached to the flight’s data recorders will only transmit a signal for about 20 more days.

If French searchers are able to locate the recorders, the Nautile, the same ship that explored the wreckage of the sunken Titanic, will be sent to down to recover them.

All wreckage will be taken back to France for investigation. All bodies found, of which there are currently 41, will be shipped back to Recife, Brazil for investigation and identification.

Click here for updates on bodies found and developments in the plane crash investigation.

Raising a child is a privilege. Most people agree with that regardless of their position on abortion. Abortion is a decision, I believe, that should be made between a mother, father if applicable and a doctor. No one else.

Anyway, this isn’t about abortion, though I think Veronique Courjault should have gotten three abortions instead of having her kids.

Courjault, the infamous Frenchwoman who confessed to killing three of her own babies and hiding two of them in the freezer of her home in South Korea, now stands trial in Tours, France.

The trial began Tuesday. The judge will have to determine whether Courjault is psychologically impaired or was aware of her actions, which took place between 1999 and 2003. She faces life imprisonment.

Strangely enough, Courjault’s husband, Jean-Louis, said he wasn’t even aware his wife was pregnant between 1999 and 2003. He also said he didn’t know she was killing the babies he didn’t know existed. Confusing. He has, however, been cleared of any involvement.

BBC reports investigators said Jean-Louis, an engineer, was often away on business, and his wife managed to hide all three pregnancies from him. Crafty.

Jean-Louis did however stand by his wife during her imprisonment. Courjault was jailed in 2006 after confessing to the murders, and Jean-Louis visited his ailing wife in prison regularly. He says she is “psychologically distressed.” Till death, they will not part.

Jean-Louis arrived in the court room Tuesday and told AFP “I am very, very tense. I am here to support the woman I love,” according to BBC.

It was however Jean-Louis who alerted the police after finding two baby corpses in the freezer in July of 2006. He and his wife had been living in Seoul, but the woman’s French heritage has made this a particularly disturbing local case of infanticide.

According to Courjault’s confession, she strangled one baby in France in 1999, later burned its body in the chimney of her house. She then gave birth to two children between 2000 and 2003, alone, and suffocated the two newborns in Seoul.

But wait, it gets worse. After Jean-Louis alerted the police, they took a sample of his DNA and allowed him to travel back to France and meet his wife, who was vacationing there with their two sons, then-aged nine and 11. Yea, she has more kids.

Courjault’s two surviving children were quite young when she was pregnant with the other three babies. Maybe they didn’t notice or were too young to remember and ask their father. Maybe they asked their mother and she lied to them. Who knows.

At first the couple protested accusations, claiming they had no idea whose babies were discarded in their freezer.

But that didn’t last for long. DNA tests confirmed the bodies belonged to the couple. Later, Courjault confessed to the crime, citing her reason for the murders as not wanting to have more children. Like it’s their fault.

Following the admission, BBC reports South Korea requested the woman and her husband return to face questioning. The couple denied and opted to be tried in France.

Despite having a legal co-operation pact with South Korea, France does not, in most cases, extradite its citizens.

How a mother, in her right mind, can kill her children is beyond my comprehension.

European game publisher Infogrames has gobbled up the last scraps of their misbehaving adopted love child, Atari.

By buying up all outstanding shares of Atari stock, Infogrames has completely absorbed a company they already controlled as their American distribution arm. The move comes in the middle of disastrous financial times for Atari, which recently stopped developing its own titles in favor of full-time distribution.

Under the terms of the agreement, Infogrames will acquire the remaining outstanding equity interests of Atari (other than shares of common stock held by Infogrames or its affiliates, which would be canceled) for $1.68 per share, equaling $11 million. Infogrames is already the majority shareholder in Atari holding over 51 percent of its shares. Atari will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infogrames.

From Infogrames:

This agreement is an essential and positive development for Infogrames and its shareholders. It brings Atari fully under the control of Infogrames, delivering a platform for future growth in the US. This step closely follows a series of recent major restructuring actions implemented in an effort to reposition Atari, streamline its corporate structure and reduce its annualized costs, including costs related to being a US public company.

“Bringing Atari US and Infogrames businesses together will enable us to create a simplified global structure for our business as we seek to re-build a well-managed, cohesive and financially disciplined company,” said David Gardner, CEO of Infogrames. “This is a key strategic event for Infogrames that will benefit all of our shareholders. I believe that this transaction will generate significant benefits for the Group.”

Jim Wilson, Atari’s CEO will transition over to Infogrames.

“By joining Infogrames, we will have the opportunity to further transform Atari. As part of this newly integrated company, we will be better able to streamline operations and have a stronger platform for growth in North America,” he said.

Under the terms of the deal, Infogrames is also lending Atari $20 million to fund operations.