French bowling? Yes, petanque's got swank

PARIS -- French elegance it isn't, but this summer French boules are cool.

More specifically petanque, a particularly un-athletic form of bowling usually associated with pastis-sozzled, flat-capped old men of Provence, is now the height of hipster fashion.

From the cool canal quays of Paris to the heart of celebrity-strewn Saint-Tropez, bright young things are whiling away long summer evenings lobbing large metal balls at a small wooden one.

Men have been testing their dexterity and skill with similar games for as long as time itself: the International Petanque Federation's website suggests that Adam and Eve could have played a version with apples.

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Big Bang investigators want new atom smasher

PARIS (AP) - Scientists behind the European particle collider aimed at uncovering the secrets of the universe pushed Monday to build an even bigger machine - with money and partners from around the world.

Instead of whirling atoms in giant rings, as existing colliders in Switzerland and the United States do, scientists want a new-generation machine that will shoot them straight.

Particle physicists gathering in Paris on Monday for the most important conference in their field say a linear atom blaster is needed to complement what existing colliders are telling scientists about the universe, inching them closer to understanding why we are here.

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Farnborough Airshow orders top $25 billion

FARNBOROUGH, England — Plane makers notched up more orders on the third day of the Farnborough International Airshow on Wednesday - bringing the tally past $25 billion - as a resurgence in commercial aviation offset the gloom from governments' sharp cuts to defense programs.

EADS-owned Airbus took the limelight early Wednesday, booking orders from Germania, an airline based in Berlin, and Indonesian national carrier Garuda. Thai Airways also made a commitment to buy seven A330-300s worth $1.48 billion at catalog prices, which Airbus expects to be firmed up by the end of the summer.

Analysts don't expect anything close to the record-breaking $88.7 billion worth of deals announced at Farnborough in 2008, but the gathering has already exceeded the slow orders for commercial planes of around $7 billion at sister show Le Bourget near Paris last year.

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EADS chief 'enormously frustrated' over WTO delays

The head of Airbus parent EADS said he is "enormously frustrated" with the World Trade Organization, which he claims is being "unfair" by delaying its report on complaints against arch-rival Boeing.

Both companies have been reported to the WTO, which has struggled for years to rule over whether they benefited from unfair subsidies.

"We are in an abnormal and increasingly unfair situation," EADS chief Louis Gallois said at media day in London. His comments were held for release.

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EADS sees Airbus-Boeing duopoly ending

For years, the Farnborough airshow was a bitter dogfight between Boeing and Airbus.

That may soon be over.

The head of Airbus parent EADS said Saturday that the duopoly is being challenged by new entrants from Canada, China, Brazil and Russia who are eyeing the lucrative single-aisle market.

"We have new competitors now," said Louis Gallois at a media day in London before the airshow, which starts Monday.

Canadian and Chinese competitors are the closest _ although they are still years from making a dent in the markets for the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, he said.

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SUMMIT NOTEBOOK: Sarkozy left in the dark

TORONTO -- Was it a nefarious Canadian plot that left French President Nicolas Sarkozy standing silently at a microphone in the dark?

At the end of two back-to-back summits hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the French leader ignored protocol, which dictates that meeting hosts get to hold their press conference before other leaders.

But when he took to the stage in a small tented room at a summit site, Sarkozy's microphone didn't work and the lights were turned off.

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World leaders slam North Korea, Iran

The leaders of the world's eight top industrial democracies on Saturday condemned the alleged sinking by North Korea of a South Korean warship and called on Iran to halt its suspect nuclear program and do more to respect human rights.

The countries -- the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia -- also called current restrictions on the flow of goods to Gaza "unsustainable." And they sketched out a five-year exit strategy on Afghanistan.

But the joint statement by the so-called Group of Eight powers did not go as far as some nations, including the United States and Japan, wanted.

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EADS vows to keep self financing drone project

VILLEPINTE, France – The CEO of EADS' defense and security division said Wednesday that the European company will keep financing its drone project until cash-strapped governments are able to commit.

EADS will keep ploughing its own funds into the project because to fall behind in this technology would mean being excluded from large parts of the defense industry, Stefan Zoller told The Associated Press.

The unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV business is currently dominated by the U.S. and Israel.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy to press China's Hu Jintao on sanctions for Iran

PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy is heading to Beijing Wednesday with hopes of getting Chinese backing for further sanctions against Iran — but President Hu Jintao may have different ideas.

The leaders, whose countries hold two of the five permanent U.N. Security Council seats, are due to discuss Iran, among other issues, at the start of Sarkozy's three-day state visit to China.

Three permanent council members — France, Britain and the U.S. — have been pressing for a fourth round of U.N. penalties on Iran for its refusal to halt a key part of its nuclear program that could be used to make weapons. Iran says it only wants the technology for producing nuclear power.

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EU keeps eye on US financial regulation bill

LONDON—The European Union is hoping the financial overhaul moving through Congress will converge with EU calls for more regulation to fix the failures that led to the 2008 banking and credit crisis.

The U.S. overhaul is being welcomed by EU leaders from French President Nicolas Sarkozy to British Prime Gordon Brown, who have long argued for the need to reign in the financial system -- but trans-Atlantic accord starts to falter however when leaders move from broad goal-setting to implementation and details.

In particular, European officials are skeptical of proposals to ban banks from risky trading on their own behalf. They fear it would handicap global European financial players such as Deutsche Bank AG and France's BNP Paribas SA.

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Greece Gets Some Relief on Credit Rating

Greece won some respite from financial market pressure Tuesday as ratings agency Standard & Poor's took the country off credit watch for a possible downgrade — a day after eurozone governments laid out a vague blueprint for possible loans to help the indebted country.

S&P's announcement that it was no longer considering a downgrade of Greece's credit rating after it made bigger budget cuts is the strongest sign yet that markets may see less chance of the country failing to repay its debts.

A Greek default would be a serious blow for Europe's currency union, showing that eurozone countries are unable or unwilling to lend their own money to one of their members. That's why markets and many economists expect that European government would step in and stop it with a financial backstop of some sort.

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Britain rules out stronger deficit cuts

BRUSSELS -- British Treasury chief Alistair Darling on Tuesday hit back at European Union calls for more aggressive deficit cuts, saying such moves would risk tipping Britain back into recession.

Responding to reports that the European Commission will tomorrow recommend that Britain move more quickly to reduce its ballooning budget deficit, he said the EU's recommendation would take 25 billion pounds out of the British economy.

It would also risk "seriously derailing the economy and tipping our economy back into recession," Darling said after a meeting of European finance ministers.

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Warning: Ancient sex on show in Paris

The latest show at Paris' Quai Branly museum comes with a warning for visitors: "This exhibition of Moche ceramics shows sexual acts of an explicit nature."

But the extraordinary and graphic testimonial of the ancient Moche civilization of Peru isn't about physical pleasure or procreation, according to the curator.

He says the sexual acts evoke the rituals that accompanied the death of dignitaries, and the human sacrifices that went with them. They tell a story about the power of the elite that he says has parallels with modern life.

"Sex, death and sacrifice in the Moche religion," which opened this week and runs until May 23, brings to Europe for the first time 134 erotic Moche ceramics on loan from the Larco Museum in Lima, Peru.

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Russia helps Europe's space business

KOUROU, French Guiana -- Joel Barre, the head of Europe's tropical spaceport in French Guiana, is relaxed about letting a former Cold War rival into the very heart of the Guiana Space Center's control center.
Unthinkable twenty years ago, Europe is letting Russians into its space program because they have something Europe needs: a tried and tested mid-range rocket launcher that just happens to be a veteran of the space race.
The Soyuz rocket is expected to make its debut at the Guiana launch site in the second half of the year.
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PPR to continue Alexander McQueen label

PARIS – The French owners of the late designer Alexander McQueen's label promise to continue his legacy, saying that would be the best tribute to a man they called a genius, a poet and a friend.

Francois-Henri Pinault, head of the French luxury group PPR which controls McQueen's companies through its Gucci Group, said the company will ensure McQueen's label continues and will build on the brand.

Pinault called McQueen, who killed himself last week, a "genius," a "friend" and a "poet" who was "hurt and lost in a world whose superficiality and lack of ideals he couldn't accept."

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Europe's new financial markets chief signals differences with US over financial regulation

BRUSSELS (AP) - Europe's new financial services chief signaled differences with the U.S. over how to overhaul banking regulations, saying he wants binding rules on pay and rejecting as wrong for Europe President Barack Obama's plans to limit banks' size and risky trading.

In his first press conference since taking office, Frenchman Michel Barnier said he wants "binding rules on remuneration throughout the financial sector."

He didn't give a time frame for making detailed proposals, which would have to be approved by EU governments and the European parliament.

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Airbus leads Boeing but problems linger

SEVILLE, Spain — Airbus on Tuesday said it beat rival Boeing in aircraft production in 2009, maintaining its place as the world's largest planemaker, but warned that a troubled military transport program is endangering the rest of the company.

CEO Tom Enders said Airbus should cancel the delayed and over-budget A400M project if customer governments fail to commit more funds soon because it is swallowing money and valuable resources.

The issue overshadowed the news that Airbus delivered a record 498 aircraft in 2009, above its 2008 tally of 483 and Boeing's score of 481.

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