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Posts Tagged ‘France’

Biometric ID Systems Grew Internationally… And So Did Concerns About Privacy

August 7, 2013 Comments off

eff.org

Around the world, systems of identification that employ automatic recognition of individuals’ faces, fingerprints, or irises are gaining ground. Biometric ID systems are increasingly being deployed at international border checkpoints, by governments seeking to implement national ID schemes, and by private-sector actors. Yet as biometric data is collected from more and more individuals, privacy concerns about the use of this technology are also attracting attention. Below are several examples of the year’s most prominent debates around biometrics.

  • FRANCE: In early March, the French National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) passed a law proposing the creation of a Read more…
Categories: Biometrics Tags: , , ,

France Plans To Prohibit Cash Payments Over €1,000

February 15, 2013 Comments off

forbes.com

This photo taken on January 5, 2013 shows Fren...French actor Gérard Depardieu gesturing to Vladimir Putin after receiving a Russian passport.

One of the best things about covering payments news is that you never run out of stories where various myopic governments attempt to restrict the flow of cash in a squeeze for revenue.

France becomes the latest as Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault plans to erect new controls on cash transactions in order to tighten up tax collection and meet the country’s optimistic budget deficit target of 3% of GDP. The government needs euros and they need some fast.

In the government plan labeled “Fight against fraud,” France’s fiscal residents would see the cash transaction limit decrease from €3,000 to €1,000 per purchase. However, in a nod to the exiled wealthy and what Wolf Richter calls the “Depardieu exception,” those fiscal residents of a country other than France would have their cash transaction limits reduced from €15,000 to €10,000 per purchase. Legislative measures could be Read more…

Categories: France Tags: , ,

France hit by third earthquake in two days

February 28, 2012 Comments off

For the third time in 48 hours, the south of France was hit by an earthquake.

The latest measured 4.0 on the Richter scale and hit the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence area late on Monday afternoon.

Like the earthquake which hit late on Sunday evening measuring 4.9, the epicentre was just north east of the small town of Barcelonnette.

The latest earthquake was weaker and “felt slightly by locals” according to the French centre for seismology.

A third earthquake hit the western Charente-Maritime region on Sunday morning with a magnitude of 3.8.

Earthquakes are fairly rare in France and tend Read more…

Categories: Earthquake, France Tags: ,

Iran cuts oil exports to France, Britain

February 20, 2012 Comments off

thenelsondaily.com

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . . . fights back with oil embargo

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . . . fights back with oil embargo

The Huffington Post

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, the Oil Ministry said Sunday, in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union after the bloc imposed sanctions on Iran’s crucial fuel exports.

The EU imposed tough sanctions against Iran last month, which included a freeze of the country’s central bank assets and an oil embargo set to begin in July. Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had warned earlier this month that Tehran could cut off oil exports to “hostile” European nations. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

However, the Iranian action was not likely to have any significant direct impact on European supplies because both Britain and France had already moved last year to sharply curtail Read more…

Categories: Britain, France, Iran Tags: , , , , ,

Religious violence, abuse growing: world study

August 10, 2011 Comments off

afp

WASHINGTON — Religious-linked violence and abuse rose around the world between 2006 and 2009, with Christians and Muslims the most common targets, according to a private US study released Tuesday.

“Over the three-year period studied, incidents of either government or social harassment were reported against Christians in 130 countries (66 percent) and against Muslims in 117 countries (59 percent),” said the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life study.

In 2009, governments in 101 nations, more than half the globe, used at least some measure of force against religious groups. A year earlier only 91 nations had done so, the report said.

As of 2009, more than 2.2 billion people, or nearly a third of the world’s population of 6.9 billion, lived in countries where religious restrictions had risen substantially since Read more…

Categories: Religon, World Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The World Says China Will Overtake America

July 16, 2011 Comments off

peopleforum               wsj.com

In the past decade, anti-Americanism grew around the world. This was in response to concerns about the unchecked global power of the U.S., when it invaded Iraq in the face of very wide international opposition. In sharp contrast, today America is seen as on its way to losing its status as the dominant global superpower.
A new Pew Global Attitudes survey released today finds that while the U.S. is better regarded around the world now than it was in the Bush years, in 15 of 22 nations surveyed most say that China either will replace or already has replaced America as the world’s “leading superpower.” This view is especially widespread in Western Europe, where at least six in 10 respondents in Britain, France, Germany and Spain see China eventually overtaking the U.S.The emerging perception of China’s superpower status no doubt reflects global recognition of its growing economic might, and the fact that the U.S. is increasingly seen as trailing China economically. Nowhere is this more evident than in Read more…
Categories: China, Coming Events, United States Tags: , , , , , , ,

Report: Ground Invasion of Libya Within Two Weeks

July 5, 2011 Comments off

infowars

US TroopsA hawkish Jerusalem-based news outlet with reported links to Israeli intelligence that has proven accurate in its forecast of future geopolitical events claims that the war in Libya is approaching a “coup de grace” and that French, British and American troops will land on Libyan soil within the next two weeks to spearhead a full ground invasion.

In a piece entitled, US and NATO prepare final assault on Qaddafi, DebkaFile cites military sources for its contention that NATO powers are finalizing plans for a “large-scale, all-out military bid to kill or oust” Colonel Gaddafi.

“The coming coup de grace, expected in the next couple of weeks, is the hottest topic of discussion in the corridors of power and high-level military and intelligence get-togethers in London, Paris, Brussels, Moscow, Oslo, The Hague and Rome. It is expected to start in a couple of weeks with French and British troop landings on Libyan soil, to be followed in its last stages of by Read more…

Categories: Libya, NATO Tags: , , , , ,

European Union growing more divided

June 26, 2011 1 comment

freep.com

IN GREECE: About 3,000 police officers, coast guard workers and firefighters protest salary and budget cuts on Thursday in Athens. Austerity measures in Greece have fueled disenchantment with the European Union.

 IN GREECE: About 3,000 police officers, coast guard workers and firefighters protest salary and budget cuts on Thursday in Athens. Austerity measures in Greece have fueled disenchantment with the European Union. / DIMITRI MESSINIS/Associated Press

FLENSBURG, Germany — Erik Holm Jensen slips between countries without a thought or a passport.

The 60-year-old business consultant drives from Denmark into northern Germany as smoothly as an American going from Delaware to New Jersey. There’s no hassle at the border, no guards to stop him. If he blinks, he misses the modest sign indicating he’s crossed from one country into another.

Such seamless travel is one of the European Union’s greatest achievements in its pursuit of a stable, prosperous continent built in the lingering aftermath of World War II. The other is the euro, like the wad in Jensen’s wallet that he can use in 17 nations.

But the twin pillars of Europe’s grand project are now Read more…

Categories: EU Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

France transfers sensitive warship technology to Russia

June 20, 2011 1 comment

rian.ru

French-built Mistral class amphibious assault ship

© AFP/ Eric Feferberg

France has transferred to Russia all the technology it asked for under a $1.7-billion deal for two French-built Mistral class amphibious assault ships for the Russian Navy, a Russian arms exporter said on Monday.

Under the deal signed on Friday, the first warship will be delivered in 2014 and the second in 2015.

“The French side has transferred all technologies, including the Zenit-9 [command and control] system, as well as two other systems,” said Anatoly Isaikin, head of the Rosoboronexport state-controlled arms exporter.

A formal contract for the construction of the two Mistral class ships will be Read more…

Categories: France, Russia, Technology Tags: , , , , ,

Nations to Spend $1 Trillion on Nukes, Group Says

June 20, 2011 Comments off

globalsecuritynewswire

The planet’s nine nuclear weapons states are anticipated in the next 10 years to expend $1 trillion on acquiring and updating their systems, a prominent nuclear disarmament organization said (see GSN, June 7).

The group Global Zero — whose goal is total nuclear disarmament no later than 2030 — calculated the nuclear weapons expenditure figures for China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, the Financial Times reported. The organization is seeking to bring attention to the high price countries pay for their nuclear arsenals in a time of increasing government budget restraints.

Nuclear costs among the nine nations this year are estimated at $100 billion, with similar annual numbers anticipated throughout the decade, according to Global Zero.

The organization determined that nuclear arsenal expenditures take up roughly 9 percent of the countries’ total military spending; that percentage is anticipated to increase as traditional defense programs are curtailed in a number of the nations. Nuclear weapons spending encompasses research, development, weapons assessments and acquisitions.

“Spending will increase because of decisions by both nations to upgrade and replace,” Global Zero founder Bruce Blair said. “Modernization is progressing at such a pace we are seeing more spending on nuclear weapons than at any time since the Cold War.”

The group is to convene a two-day forum in London this week with participants including Russian Federation Council international affairs committee Chairman Mikhail Margelov, ex-Indian defense chief Jaswant Singh, ex-CIA intelligence agent Valerie Plame and multiple senior Chinese officials.

Global Zero wants to see other nuclear nations besides the United States and Russia take part in formal discussions on nuclear arms control.

The two former Cold War rivals together hold 95 percent of the planet’s nuclear weapons. They recently implemented a bilateral treaty that requires both sides to reduce their deployed stockpiles of strategic warheads to 1,550. U.S. President Obama has said he would like to see negotiations with Moscow for a treaty on tactical weapons begin in 2012 (see GSN, June 2; James Blitz, Financial Times, June 19).

Categories: WMD, World Powers Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,