Showing posts with label french. Show all posts
Showing posts with label french. Show all posts
Friday, April 16, 2010
French letter arrives 220 years late
A letter mistakenly sent in 1790 to the French village of Saix instead of another town called Seix will soon be delivered to its proper destination, officials said. The letter was discovered 10 years...---...More
Monday, February 16, 2009
British, French nuclear subs collide in Atlantic
LONDON – Nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, authorities acknowledged Monday — touching off new concerns about the safety of the world's deep sea missile fleets.
The HMS Vanguard, the oldest vessel in Britain's nuclear-armed submarine fleet, and the French Le Triomphant submarine, which was also carrying nuclear missiles, both suffered minor damage in the collision. No crew members were reported injured.
Britain's most senior sailor, First Sea Lord, Adm. Jonathon Band, said the underwater crash posed no risk to the safety of the submarines' nuclear reactors and nuclear missiles. But he offered no explanation of how the rare incident might have occurred.
"The two submarines came into contact at very low speed," Band said in a statement. "Both submarines remained safe."
France's defense ministry said the ballistic missile submarines had been carrying out routine patrols when they collided.
"They briefly came into contact at a very low speed while submerged. There were no injuries. Neither their ...More
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Thursday, January 29, 2009
French crowds march for job security, pay rises
PARIS (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of teachers, nurses, factory workers and plumbers marched through French cities on Thursday to demand pay rises and protection for jobs.
The demonstrations were the high point of a nationwide one-day strike called by France's eight main trade unions to try to persuade President Nicolas Sarkozy and business leaders to do more to help ordinary people overcome the economic crisis.
But the stoppage, billed as a "Black Thursday," did not bring France to a halt as previous strikes have done. Public transport continued to run, albeit on a reduced and erratic schedule.
"The government has taken measures for banks but today it is the workers who are suffering," said Charles Foulard, a technician at a refinery run by energy giant Total.
"This crisis comes from the United States, it's the financial bubble that is bursting. It's not for the workers to pay for that," he said as crowds gathered at the Place de la Bastille in Paris, birthplace of the French Revolution.
In a rare show of unity, the unions drew up a joint list of demands for the government and companies, demanding that Sarkozy drop reforms that they see as a threat to public services and aim stimulus measures....More
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Stupid News - Skydiver's helium balloon takes off without him
Stupid News - Skydiver's helium balloon takes off without him
NORTH BATTLEFORD, Saskatchewan - A French skydiver's latest attempt to set a new free-fall record ended when his ride to the sky left without him.
The helium balloon Michel Fournier was going to use Tuesday to soar to the stratosphere detached from the capsule he was going to use to jump from 130,000 feet.
It happened after the balloon was inflated on the ground at the airport in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. The balloon drifted away into the sky without the capsule.
A disappointed Fournier left the capsule and walked to the hanger. He was hugged by members of his supporters.
"It was like having a hammer over my head," he said later. "When it doesn't work like that you just cannot think of anything. You just say, `How come it didn't work?' "
The launch team members said static electricity may have caused a small shock which set off one of five charges designed to release the capsule from the balloon after the jump.
Fournier isn't giving up, saying he'll try again in August.
The balloon cost almost $400,000 and Fournier was said to have already exhausted his finances. But he said he'll bring two balloons next time.
Fournier, 64, had planned to make the attempt Monday, but had to postpone his plans because of weather conditions.
Attempts in 2002 and 2003 ended when wind gusts shredded his balloon before it even became airborne.
Fournier hoped to break the record for the fastest and longest free fall, the highest parachute jump and the highest balloon flight. He also hoped to bring back data that will help astronauts and others survive in the highest of altitudes.
An army of technicians, data crunchers, balloon and weather specialists arrived recently in North Battleford, a city of 14,000 near the Saskatchewan-Alberta line, for the attempt.
Fournier had planned to make the jump in his native France, but the government denied him permission because it believed the project was too dangerous. He then came to North Battleford, an agricultural and transportation hub northwest of Saskatoon.
Spokeswoman Francine Lecompte-Gittins said Monday's postponement was due to unfavorable weather.
Fournier, a former army paratrooper with more than 8,000 jumps under his belt, planned to be three-times higher than a commercial jetliner. A mountain climber would have to ascend the equivalent of four Mount Everests stacked one on top of the other.
On the Net:
http://www.legrandsaut.org
NORTH BATTLEFORD, Saskatchewan - A French skydiver's latest attempt to set a new free-fall record ended when his ride to the sky left without him.
The helium balloon Michel Fournier was going to use Tuesday to soar to the stratosphere detached from the capsule he was going to use to jump from 130,000 feet.
It happened after the balloon was inflated on the ground at the airport in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. The balloon drifted away into the sky without the capsule.
A disappointed Fournier left the capsule and walked to the hanger. He was hugged by members of his supporters.
"It was like having a hammer over my head," he said later. "When it doesn't work like that you just cannot think of anything. You just say, `How come it didn't work?' "
The launch team members said static electricity may have caused a small shock which set off one of five charges designed to release the capsule from the balloon after the jump.
Fournier isn't giving up, saying he'll try again in August.
The balloon cost almost $400,000 and Fournier was said to have already exhausted his finances. But he said he'll bring two balloons next time.
Fournier, 64, had planned to make the attempt Monday, but had to postpone his plans because of weather conditions.
Attempts in 2002 and 2003 ended when wind gusts shredded his balloon before it even became airborne.
Fournier hoped to break the record for the fastest and longest free fall, the highest parachute jump and the highest balloon flight. He also hoped to bring back data that will help astronauts and others survive in the highest of altitudes.
An army of technicians, data crunchers, balloon and weather specialists arrived recently in North Battleford, a city of 14,000 near the Saskatchewan-Alberta line, for the attempt.
Fournier had planned to make the jump in his native France, but the government denied him permission because it believed the project was too dangerous. He then came to North Battleford, an agricultural and transportation hub northwest of Saskatoon.
Spokeswoman Francine Lecompte-Gittins said Monday's postponement was due to unfavorable weather.
Fournier, a former army paratrooper with more than 8,000 jumps under his belt, planned to be three-times higher than a commercial jetliner. A mountain climber would have to ascend the equivalent of four Mount Everests stacked one on top of the other.
On the Net:
http://www.legrandsaut.org
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