Today’s Top Eurotastic Song By Amina

Le Dernier qui a parlé… (English translation: The last one who spoke…) was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1991, performed in French by Amina as C’est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison.

The song – the full title of which is one of the longest in Contest history – was written by Amina herself (of North African ancestry) and composed by Wasis Diop, resulting in an African feel to the music.

Lyrically, Amina sings about the truth of the saying referenced in the title. She also extends it to It’s the loudest one who spoke who is right.

At the close of voting, the song had received 146 points, placing 2nd in a field of 22 (she tied with Carola for the win, but the tie-break rules gave the crown to Sweden).

In 1991 Amina won Le prix Piaf as Best Female Singer of the Year, then she went on to get involved in Peter Gabriel’s peace project during the Gulf War. Joining a host of international stars in the studio, Amina took part in the recording of an EP which featured a new version of Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance”.

Today’s Top Eurotastic Song By Gérard Lenorman

Chanteur de charme (English translation: “Crooner”) was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988, performed in French by Gérard Lenorman.

At the close of voting, it had received 64 points, placing 10th in a field of 21.

As befits the title, the song is a ballad, with Lenorman singing about the subject matter that crooners traditionally sing about. That is to say, he sings about the subject matter itself, rather than singing the type of song usually associated with the style. Indeed, he likens the songs themselves to “these stories of three times nothing, which rhyme badly, which do good” and later adds that “Nothing has ever prevented us from setting to music, those endlessly repeated clichés, romantic feelings” and remarks that his heart “stupidly proposes on the first page of a paper”.

Belgium Looking To Ban The Burqa

A parliamentary committee unanimously voted Wednesday to ban the wearing of face-covering veils in public, a major step in the legislative process that could make Belgium the first European country to impose such a religious prohibition.

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote on the issue late April.

The Interior Affairs Committee representing all major parties was unanimous Wednesday in backing the bill. The six parliamentarians from the MR french-speaking liberal party said the principle of “recognize to know” trumped other considerations in the issue.

“We cannot allow someone to claim the right to look at others without being seen,” said Daniel Bacquelaine, who proposed the bill. “It is necessary that the law forbids the wearing of clothes that totally mask and encloses an individual,” he said, adding he was not targeting the classic headscarf worn by many Muslim women.

Pickpocket Works Air France Flight From Tokyo To Paris

French police are investigating whether a pickpocket stole thousands of euros from passengers as they slept on an Air France flight from Tokyo to Paris.

“There is an investigation under way,” a spokesman for the border police at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris said when asked to confirm a report on the website of the Le Figaro.

The paper said around 4,000 euros ($5,744) appeared to have been stolen from five business class passengers as they slept on the overnight flight.

“On this flight, which takes off from Tokyo Narita at 10 p.m., passengers often sleep deeply before waking up shortly before arriving in Paris at around 4 a.m.,” Le Figaro quoted one of the alleged victims as saying.

A woman alerted the cabin crew when she woke to find a large sum missing, the passenger said.

“This lady called staff to say that all the cash in her handbag had been stolen. Counting Swiss francs, euros and yen, there was apparently about 3,000 euros,” the passenger said.

A spokeswoman for Air France said the pilot had alerted police who were waiting when the flight touched down.

“I would say that it is really extremely rare to have several passengers at once reporting thefts on board,” she said.

She said that while the company was responsible for baggage carried in the hold, passengers had responsibility for possessions they had with them in the cabin.

Nude Photo Of Carla Bruni Up For Auction

A nude portrait of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife Carla Bruni will go under the hammer in New York next month, according to auctioneers Christie’s.

The 13 x 10 1/8 inch gelatin silver black and white photograph was taken in 1993, when Bruni was one of the world’s top fashion models, and is being sold by art collector Gert Elfering.

It is expected to fetch $3,000 to $4,000 when it is sold in New York on April 10, according to the Christie’s web site.

Sarkozy married Bruni, 40, in February after a whirlwind romance that began shortly after his divorce from his second wife Cecilia.

Their relationship has coincided with a sharp fall in Sarkozy’s approval ratings which have tumbled as voters judged that the president’s glitzy lifestyle jarred with his responsibilities and status as head of state.

Sarkozy and his new wife are due to pay a state visit to Britain this week during which they will be hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle.

Today’s Top Eurotastic Song By Les Fatals Picards

Here’s Les Fatals Picards singing 2007′s L’amour A la Française which translates to Love – The French Way:

Don’t miss the back-up singers.

French Losing Their Taste For Horse Meat

Many people love horses and traditionally, many French people have loved them even more with a side of salad.

That passion, however, has slowed to a trickle in the last couple of years as crisis-hit French consumers buy less meat and years of campaigning by animal rights groups take effect.

Looking to ram home their advantage, campaigners have launched a pre-Christmas blitz in Paris featuring posters of riding school ponies and graceful yearlings aimed at rending the hardest of hearts.

“Every year in France, riding school horses like Caramel are sent to the abattoir,” says one poster by the Fondation Brigitte Bardot, featuring a photo of a perky grey pony reflected in a knife blade.

“It disturbs us that people continue to eat horses at all and we are going to go on campaigning until people stop eating it altogether,” said Constance Cluset, a spokeswoman for the animal welfare group created by the former actress.

Last year, 15,820 horses were killed for their meat in France, of which over 7,000 were imported from abroad.

The group, whose campaign was timed to coincide with a horse fair, is pushing for a legislative bill to modify horses’ legal status to companion from production-type animals such as sheep.

While horse meat is traditionally cheaper than other animals, the financial crisis has only pushed consumers to buy more chicken, according to French agriculture ministry figures.

Consumption of horse meat has fallen 12 percent in the last two years and currently makes up less than 1 percent of all meat consumed in France, the ministry said in a report.

And while only a few years ago horse meat was relatively easy to find, now it takes more time to track it down.

“Horse is indeed a French dish, but you’d be very hard-pressed to find it in any restaurants now,” said the chef at restaurant Le Central in Paris, adding: “There’s so much publicity against it.”

Accounts vary on how France first took to eating equines.

Some historians say the country’s appetite for horse meat dates from the Battle of Eylau in 1807, when the chief surgeon of Napoleon’s army advised famished soldiers to feast on fallen horses on the battlefield.

The story adds that the cavalry cooked the trusted steeds using their breastplates as cooking pans.

French Beach Bans Elephants

A French town has banned circus elephants from bathing at its beaches over concerns the animals’ excrement could pollute the water and pose a health hazard to other swimmers.

Last year, elephants from one of the circuses that tour many French towns in the summer months were allowed on to the beach at Granville, in Normandy, to exercise and paddle in the waves.

But inspectors checking water quality found traces of their droppings in the sea and issued a warning over health standards at the beach, which is popular with French and foreign holidaymakers.

“Circuses are more than welcome,” said Roland Huet, an official at Granville’s town hall. “But this year the rules governing their stay clearly specify they cannot allow any animals, including elephants, to bathe on our beaches because of the risk of pollution,” he added.

Granville is particularly susceptible to this type of contamination due to its sheltered location in the bay of Mont Saint Michel, according to Huet.

A repeat of last year’s incident would prompt the closure of the beach and could seriously damage Granville’s reputation as a seaside resort.

“Imagine having to explain to thousands of holidaymakers that the beach has been closed due to animal droppings,” he said.

Battles Rage On Bastille Day

French youths set 317 cars on fire and wounded 13 police officers overnight during a series of riots on the eve of the Bastille Day holiday, police say.

Paris police said 240 people had been arrested, almost double the number held after unrest on the same day last year.

The injured officers are suffering from hearing difficulties caused by home-made explosives blowing up beside them.

Last week, the death of a young man in police custody caused three nights of riots in the southern town of Firminy.

Police said Mohamed Benmouna, a 21-year-old of Algerian origin, had died after trying to hang himself in a cell earlier in the week.

But his family refused to accept the explanation and subsequently filed a complaint to ask for a full investigation. On Friday, prosecutors ordered a second autopsy to “remove all doubt” in the case.

In 2005, rioting erupted across France after two teenagers died in a Paris suburb. Residents said they had been trying to flee from police.

Riots have become a regular occurrence at the start of Bastille Day, which commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris in 1789, the event regarded as the start of the French Revolution.

The French Rank As The World’s Worst Tourists

French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant, according to a survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world.

They finish in last place in the survey carried out for internet travel agency Expedia by polling company TNS Infratest, which said French holidaymakers don’t speak local languages and are seen as impolite.

“It’s mainly the fact that they speak little or no English when they’re abroad, and they don’t speak much of the local language,” Expedia Marketing Director Timothee de Roux told radio station France Info.

“The French don’t go abroad very much. We’re lucky enough to have a country which is magnificent in terms of its landscape and culture,” he said, adding that 90 per cent of French people did their traveling at home.

“So when they’re on holiday they can be a bit stressed, they’re not used to things, and this can lead them to be demanding in a way which could be seen as a certain arrogance.”

French tourists are also accused of generally spending less than other nationalities when abroad.

De Roux said the French, not accustomed to leaving large tips at home where a service charge is automatically levied on restaurant bills, can seem “tight-fisted” compared with other nationalities.

The Japanese ranked top of the Best Tourist survey, with the British and the Germans judged the best of the Europeans.

But French tourists received some consolation for their poor performance, finishing third after the Italians and British for dress sense while on holiday.