Free Republic

PARIS – Paris Hilton was briefly detained in Corsica after sniffer dogs detected a "quite small" quantity of marijuana in her bag, a French newspaper reported Saturday. Corse Matin newspaper said officers at the airport in Figari found about one gram's worth of marijuana. Hilton, who was transiting the French Mediterranean island in a private jet on Friday, was hauled in for questioning and released about 30 minutes later, the report said. ... In a posting on the TwitLonger site Saturday, Hilton wrote, "Just to put an end to these rumors. The stories saying I have been arrested are completely...

CALVI, France, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - A US military team searching for the remains of American soldiers from World War II has discovered the wreckage of two B-17 bombers and a P-47 fighter plane off the coast of Corsica. The 13-man team led by Captain George Mitroka conducted seven days of marine searches near the French Mediterranean island, equipped with sonars, radars, cameras and video equipment. A B-17 bomber that crashed off the coast of Calvi in northern Corsica in February 1944 after a missed landing was found at a site known to local divers for decades. A second...

The USA have John Kerry (leftist)... France has now Segolène Royale (leftist) ! The presidential candidate is making at least one error per day. Visiting Canada, she said that France was supporting the independance of the French part of Canada (Quebec) ! What a jerk ! Hilarious. Now, she's going to a next level. An comic artist called her and said that he was the prime minister of Quebec. Ségolène Royale believed him and began to discuss with him. The comic artist said that asking for the independance of Quebec was like asking for the independance of Corsica, a French...

A suspected Corsican separatist has died in an apparent bombing operation. The explosion was one of six blasts across the island on Wednesday night, and came ahead of a visit by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. The other five attacks were carried out in and around the main port of Ajaccio, damaging four banks and a tax office. The body of a man in his 50s was found in the eastern town of Sollaro. He is said to be the fourth separatist killed in a bungled bomb attempt in 12 months. A suspected accomplice of the bomber was badly...

PARIS, May 28 (UPI) -- A missile, struck the home of a gendarme and his family in southern Corsica early Friday and a businessman was found slain in Bonifacio. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the missile attack, and no injuries were reported. French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin vowed to hunt down those responsible. Violence is no stranger to France's Mediterranean island, where nationalist extremists are engaged in a low-level conflict for independence, and where mafia-style politics is a rarely discussed fact of life. The body of businessman Antoine Cantara, 65, was found with a bullet in the head,...

NICE, France (Reuters) - A bomb has exploded at an air forces barracks in the French Riviera city of Nice, at a building targeted in past attacks linked to separatists from the unruly Mediterranean isle of Corsica, a local prefect says. Local government prefect Pierre Breuil confirmed that the explosion was caused by a bomb. The explosion wounded a woman guarding a school beside the barracks and shattered windows in the area around the building, witnesses on the scene said on Friday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Last July, Corsican separatists, who regularly target state buildings on their...

28 Aug 2003 11:09:35 GMT France to boost Corsica security after bombing wave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Mark John PARIS, Aug 28 (Reuters) - France pledged on Thursday to tighten security on the Mediterranean island of Corsica after an upsurge in bomb attacks raised fears of a bloody new phase in a decades-old separatist campaign. Police stations, prisons, French holiday homes and other symbols of French rule have been attacked almost daily since proposals to offer Corsica greater autonomy were narrowly rejected in a July 6 referendum. Some incidents have occurred in daylight, prompting fears that separatists were no longer favouring night...

Corsica militants 'admit' blasts A man claiming to represent Corsican separatists has admitted responsibility for two bomb attacks in Nice and another in Corsica. The Nice attacks, early on Sunday, targeted public buildings, injuring 16 people. The Corsica blast came later in the day at a warehouse near Bastia airport. The attacks appear to confirm fears that an upsurge in separatist violence might follow the rejection of limited autonomy for the Mediterranean island in a referendum held earlier this month. The caller claimed to represent the banned FLNC (Corsican National Liberation Front) which has officially been observing a truce for...

Suspicious explosions hit government buildings in France Paris-AP -- Two French government buildings have been rocked by explosions today in Nice (NEES). At least 16 people were slightly hurt, including a police officer. One person was hospitalized for observation. The explosions hit the Treasury and Customs buildings, shattering windows for 150 yards and destroying several shops and parked cars. The second one happened soon after firefighters arrived. No word yet if they were bombs, but the French finance minister seems to think so. He says the explosions resulted from "cowardly attacks." Local officials say they're not ruling out any leads,...

NICE, France (Reuters) - Two bombs have exploded at the tax and customs office in the French Riviera city of Nice, injuring 16 people and causing substantial damage, emergency services say. Police said on Sunday no group had claimed the attack on the building, which was the target of a thwarted bombing by a Corsican separatist group six months ago. Local sub-prefect Abdel Aisssou said the victims suffered from shock and glass wounds after windows were shattered for hundreds of metres for the blast site. They were taken to hospital but their wounds were described as slight. The first bomb...

<p>The French government found out the hard way that in domestic politics, as in sport, winning streaks are destined to end. While Corsica's rejection of a regional autonomy proposal on Sunday stings, we hope Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin won't abandon his courageous plans to overhaul France.</p>

The Mediterranean island of Corsica, plagued by decades of separatist violence, rejected a French Government offer of limited autonomy by a wafer-thin majority in a referendum yesterday. President Jacques Chirac said he regretted the outcome. The state would continue to combat any form of violence and offer help to the island. Commentators offered multiple suggestions for the failure of the Government's proposals, one of them being that some voters who would have said "Yes" did not want to be in the same camp as more radical nationalists. The isle, which lies 160km south of France's Riviera coast, has been plagued...

<p>Corsican separatists blew up four vacant vacation villas on Monday, a sign of ongoing defiance against mainland France after local voters rejected a government reform designed to stabilize the restive island.</p> <p>On Sunday, Corsican voters turned down a proposal that would have granted the Mediterranean island slightly more autonomy. About 51 percent voted against it, a frustrating setback for the national government that hoped the plan would ultimately ease separatist violence.</p>

The Mediterranean island of Corsica, plagued by decades of separatist violence, rejected a French government offer of limited autonomy by a wafer-thin majority in a referendum on Sunday. President Jacques Chirac said he regretted the outcome and issued a statement saying the state would continue to combat any form of violence and offer help the island. Nicolas Sarkozy, who campaigned hard for a "Yes" vote in a part of France that was supposed to be first to benefit from plans for wider decentralization, said the "No" camp won with a score of 50.98 percent, compared with 49.02 percent for the...

Corsicans will go to the polls later on Sunday to vote in a referendum offering the Mediterranean island's inhabitants greater autonomy from France. They will decide on whether to create a single regional assembly - an executive body which will have the power to levy taxes and have greater control over public services. The government in Paris has campaigned hard for a "yes" vote, arguing that the new assembly is the best way to ensure that Corsica remains French and also to put an end to separatists' violence. The vote comes a day after France arrested its most wanted men,...

Fourteen Explosions Rock Corsica One Person Injured as 14 Explosions Rock the French Island of Corsica The Associated Press BASTIA, Corsica Oct. 18 — Fourteen explosions went off on the French island of Corsica, injuring one man and damaging five banks, police said Friday. No one claimed immediate responsibility for the attacks late Thursday and early Friday, but separatists fighting for autonomy from Paris have mounted similar attacks in the past. The bombings in several cities came a week before French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy was scheduled to visit for a conference on decentralization. Bombers attacked a police station just...