BETANCOURT FREE

According to Colombian authorities the Ingrid Betancourt has been rescued.

The French-Colombian, former senator has been held prisoner by the Colombian rebel movement, FARC, since February 2002 when she was kidnapped while campaigning for the Colombian presidency.

According to Colombian authorities, Betancourt was rescued on Wednesday, along with three Americans held by the rebels,

Several appeals had been made by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, over the past year for her release.

Sarkozy is reportedly gathering Betancourt's family together at the Elysée Palace and is expected to make an announcement broadcast on television and radio within the next few hours.

Let's hope the story is confirmed.

Previous posts for background

http://www.persiflagefrance.com/2008/04/last-chance.html

http://www.persiflagefrance.com/2008/04/frances-renewed-bid-to-free-farc.html

Get on your bike - and we'll help

A company in north western France is doing its bit for the environment, encouraging fitness among its workers and getting some good PR into the bargain.

In a move to boost its green credentials the company, Salmson, is offering more than just empty rhetoric to persuade its employees to switch from four wheels to two, and to cycle to and from work rather than take the car. It's actually providing them with pedal power in the shape of course of a bike.

The scheme is a simple one. Salmson, based in the town of Laval on the border between the two departments of Brittany and Normandy and one of the country's leading suppliers of pumping systems for water, heating and industry, has offered its 700 employees the use of the bicycles - free of charge.

In exchange for sticking to the terms of a "moral contract" by agreeing to use the bike every other day and making sure they abide by the rules of the highway code, employees will basically be able to use the bikes as and when they like, as though they were their own - during work and leisure time.

They'll also be provided with a padlock and a fluorescent yellow jacket.

So far just 50 people have taken the company up on its offer - mainly those who live within easy travelling distance. But Salmson is looking to extend the project in its effort to get people peddling.

For those who don't sign up, the company says it also wants to put in place an official system of car-pooling - not exactly de rigueur for either employer or employee here in France.

The timing probably couldn't have been better. Summer has finally arrived, the days are longer and the price hike at the petrol pumps has left many people counting the centimes in their pockets just a little more closely than before.

Of course the initiative won't do Salmson's image as a responsible and aware employer any harm either. And it'll get a spot of advertising too as the red bikes are clearly marked with the company's logo.

It might just be a small gesture on the part of one firm's efforts to reduce global warming and go green, but there again from little acorns grow......

Sarkozy minds his manners - and other's

A video of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, gently reprimanding a technician for his poor manners just before an interview on public television has become an instant Internet hit.

The recording took place on Monday evening just as Sarkozy was preparing for a live 90-minute interview with journalists on public television to discuss his plans for the next six months as France takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Somehow the footage - of course never meant for broadcast - made it out of the studios of France 3 television and almost inevitably on to the Net, appearing on Dailymotion's website and drawing around half a million hits in the first day.



Perhaps the whole incident shouldn't be taken too seriously, after all it is said with a wink. But at the same time Sarkozy does seem to make rather a meal of the issue commenting that such behaviour is a "question of upbringing" and "when you've been invited, the least you can expect is that people will say hello."

Of course it's not the first time the normally media-savvy Sarkozy has been caught on camera being slightly less than presidential.

Few will forget the incident earlier this year at the annual agricultural fair in Paris when he insulted a visitor who refused to shake his hand with the infamous phrase "Casse toi pauvre con" or (polite version) "Get lost then you bloody idiot."

Clearly Sarkozy - not exactly the model of appropriate etiquette himself some might say - has a problem with what he perceives as other people's bad manners.

France 3 has launched an inquiry into how the footage was recorded.

Not surprising Sarkozy's office has refused to comment on the incident.