French swimmers get relay revenge against US

We interrupt the coronation of Ryan Lochte to raise whether or not he had any business representing his country within the marquee relay of the Olympic Games.

Lochte could be America's best swimmer, however he blew the lead — and also the gold medal — within the final leg of the 400-meter freestyle relay on Sunday.

France won, leaving second place and second-guessing to the Americans.

From the French perspective, this was a wonderful response, four years within the creating. once Jason Lezak delivered a miracle final leg during a come-from-behind U.S. victory over France four years ago, Yannick Agnel did an equivalent for France against the Americans.

From the yankee perspective, there was Michael Phelps, cradling a silver medal that dangled from a necklace of purple ribbon.

"This is my 1st silver," he said.

That silver — to travel with fourteen golds and 2 bronzes — moves him to among one among tying the career record for Olympic medals. He said he couldn't complain concerning winning a medal, however he hardly embraced its color.

"It is incredibly frustrating," he said. "This are going to be one thing which will inspire us."

So would possibly the performance of Dana Vollmer, who set a world record in winning the women's a hundred butterfly, the second gold for the U.S. Vollmer swam the race in fifty five.98 seconds, changing into the primary yankee girl — and second overall — to ascertain a world record since the high-tech swimsuits were banned however the records set in them weren't.

"Being the Olympic champion is most significant," she said. "The world record is that the icing on the cake."

Vollmer, a former Cal swimmer, did not qualify for Beijing four years ago. She expanded her coaching from swimming to incorporate hip-hop dance, yoga and Pilates, switched to a gluten-free diet and failed to keep from publicly stating her goal of breaking the 56-second barrier.

"I grasp I are often faster," she said.

Allison Schmitt set an yankee record in winning silver within the women's four hundred freestyle, behind Camille Muffat of France. Brendan Hansen won bronze within the a hundred breaststroke, duplicating his end within the 2004 Olympics. He finished fourth within the event in 2008.

The relay that resulted in disappointment started, well, swimmingly.

Nathan Adrian swam the primary leg, giving the U.S. the lead. Phelps swam the second leg, redeeming himself for a dismal Saturday by tripling the lead. Cullen Jones swam the third leg, maintaining a cushty lead.

Lochte had a hundred meters to victory. He lost the lead among fifty meters and had nothing left.

"The a hundred free, i do not extremely swim it," Lochte said. "I haven't swam it during a lasting. i believe i used to be simply extremely excited. I overswam the primary fifty, which type of hurt me for the last fifty.

"You would assume, doing distance events, i would not get tired, however sprinting undoubtedly takes lots out of you."

U.S. Coach Gregg Troy noticed hassle in Lochte's 1st few strokes.

"That's not his race," Troy said. "The 1st fifty was manner too quick for him. Coaching error."

France explosive anchor leg

The term you’re yearning for is vengeance satisfaisante.That’s how you’d say “sweet revenge” in French.
Or, if you like, Le karma est un fiasco.
It took one among the foremost explosive anchor legs in Olympic history to catch the U.S. quartet within the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, however the French team reversed the miracle end by Jason Lezak within the same event at Beijing to steal the gold Sunday night, when Yannick Agnel overcame a sizeable deficit to beat Ryan Lochte to the wall.
But the fashionable Jersey guy, who had to accept a silver medal — four years once he and Lezak helped set the globe record and defeated the French on the strength of Lezak’s historic forty six.06 anchor — continues to be getting to mark this down as a reasonably sensible day.
“It’s a tough loss, however i do know we have a tendency to all swam to our greatest capabilities,” said Cullen Jones, who helped the us maintain an honest lead with a robust third leg. “All people swam sensible times, faster than we have a tendency to even expected. Since I checked out my Twitter, we have a tendency to created everybody happy. we have a tendency to created everybody proud.”
Whether Lochte agrees is unclear, as he wasn’t created offered to the media once the medals were awarded. Though it had been his third race of the day, he swam a solid forty seven.74, however it wasn’t nearly enough to carry off Agnel’s turbocharged forty six.74.
“You never grasp what’s doable — relays are relays, and folks get jacked up for relays, and swim out of their minds,” said Jones, who had a forty seven.60 himself. “For me, a 47.6 is maybe precisely where i want to be, where i want to line up for the a hundred freestyle.
“But I don’t grasp what goes through the mind of a forty six.7. It’s invariably doable, particularly within the relay.”
This is conjointly what’s possible: A team will lead a race for roughly 3 minutes, nonetheless still lose to the team that wins the gold in 3:09.93.
In fact, till Lochte hit the pool, the U.S. team was during a dream flow.
Nathan Adrian place the us in front fairly comfortably, his 47.89 split giving him the sting on the gunner everybody was worried concerning, James Magnussen of Australia (48.03). once the primary a hundred meters, France was third.
Then it had been Michael Phelps’ flip, and for a bloke who was coming back off one among the worst nights of his international career, he over absolved himself. He routed the sector, gap up a body-length lead at one purpose, and handing Jones a lead that was over three-quarters of a second (0.76) because the relay hit its midpoint.
It was Lochte who really saw that coming back. simply twenty four hours earlier, once his own win within the 400-meter IM, he said of Phelps, “Tell you this, successive race he’s in he’s getting to lightweight it up.”
Phelps’ 47.50 split was the fastest within the pool over the primary 3 legs. He even looked to a small degree ticked off as he was doing it, in fact.
“I felt lots higher these days than yesterday — i used to be ready to place yesterday behind me,” Phelps told a press attache.
“He said ‘I simply ought to recover from last night’s swim, and a relay’s an honest thanks to do this,’?” Jones relayed. “We all knew Michael was getting to improve and do what he will best.”
En route, Fabian Gilot of France was serving to disarm the WMDs (What Major Duds), because the Aussies slipped to 3rd and were sinking quick.
Jones’ leg came next, and also the Irvington product gave an honest account of himself. Indeed, the Americans were still on a world record pace halfway though his lap (he had the most effective 50-meter time within the entire race, at 22.07), however Frenchman Clement Lefert gained on Jones over the last thirty five meters.
So when Lochte took the plunge, he had a 0.55-second cushion. He stayed in front halfway through his lap, however Agnel thrashed his well past him within the last twenty meters, changing into the sole swimmer to swim a sub-47 during this event.
Ultimately, France stopped the clock at 3:09.93 to the Americans’ 3:10.38. Russia won bronze in 3:11.41.
Lochte failed to create himself offered to the media, however told a swim team publicist, “We are the four best guys. we have a tendency to went out there to win, however we have a tendency to came up short.”
Both Adrian and Jones came to their teammate’s defense, and it had been unwavering.
“Ryan’s like several of us: He doesn’t prefer to lose. None people do,” Adrian said. “He’s our teammate, there’s not a way of anger, there’s a way of, ‘Hey, you place yourself on the road for us, simply as we have a tendency to did for you, and sadly we have a tendency to came up short this point.’ I’m positive Ryan’s pushing for vengeance within the two hundred free (today).”
“He swam a forty seven.7. That’s an incredible race,” Jones said of Lochte. “Ryan, who usually doesn’t swim a hundred freestyle, swam out of his mind. therefore it had been an excellent race.
“You can’t predict a forty six — you simply can’t. You couldn’t predict Jason’s 46-oh in 2008. Ryan, i do know he’s the kind of person who’s getting to be on himself till successive Olympics. I already told him, ‘You simply have to be compelled to recover from that, it’s okay — we have a tendency to swam awesome.’

USA beat France in Olympics 2012

Welcome to the  minute by minute gap ceremony for the 2012 Olympic soccer tournament. Predating the official games gap by a few of days, our version is an equally vibrant and spectacular gap warrant the best show on earth. It's edgy and fashionable and combines the pyrotechnic awe of Beijing with the whimsy of 1,000,000 below the road comments. And it's undoubtedly NOT simply a man with a laptop hoping the wifi holds up.


OK, let's skip the spectacle and obtain straight to the game - we're starting up the women's Olympic soccer these days and we're not messing regarding - nice Britain have gotten us underway against New Zealand, and currently the Gold medal favorites, the USA, are beginning their campaign against a French facet who aren't any slouches themselves. the 2 sides met in competition simply last year, of course, within the semi-finals of the planet Cup. The USA won that one (despite being given lots of issues by a awfully technically astute French side), and if Abby Wambach repeats her World Cup type, or Alex Morgan continues her fantastic goalscoring streak, they will fancy their probabilities of beginning their tournament with another win these days. France though, have all that ability on the ball, and a world category playmaker in Louisa Nécib, and if they have any longer inspiration on what's attainable, they need solely to appear at what happened to the US ladies against Japan in last year's World Cup Final.

Ah yes, Japan. Having dispatched Brazil (and Marta) with Wambach's famous last minute goal within the quarter finals, then prevailing against an rising French facet who were one amongst the harmful dark horses in last year's tournament, the US came up against a Japan facet whose fairy tale run was expected to finish within the final. Instead the japanese scored a late equalizer and won on penalties, as team USA continued their strange streak of alternating between World Cup (1999) and Olympic (1996, 2004, 2008) wins, however never quite managing to carry each titles promptly.

Sadly for his or her opponents, the loss to Japan solely looks to own strengthened the US women's resolve to try to to things right this year. They've looked in pretty typeidable form as they struggle to try to to simply that - and memorably beat the planet champions 4-1 in an exceedingly friendly in Sweden last month to hopefully lay the ghost of Frankfurt to rest. therefore they are in an exceedingly assured and determined mood as they hit Britain. will France dent that confidence? perhaps. this can be slightly begin for each side.

Hugo Moyano distanced himself

It will not make a strike against the policy of the Casa Rosada, sent a letter to the head of state with claims and now awaits an answer on his announced resignation as President of PJ Buenos Aires, first as "talk" with Governor Daniel Scioli

The head of the CGT, Hugo Moyano, said Thursday night that the union center "for now" is considering the possibility of a strike against government policy, nor a march to the Plaza de Mayo to demand their claims.

"Not yet. Neither general strike and mobilization. There is no reason now, that does not mean that if things do not work ...", again threatened Moyano, without completing the sentence.

In an interview with  Casa Rosada,  channel 24, Moyano said that "I do not expect anything" from the government, adding that "no" claimed no meeting with President Cristina Fernandez, as when asked what will the end of his term in the CGT, enigmatic said: "Let's see if I end up. There are still five months."

The leader of the CGT said not to believe when President Cristina Fernandez promises to be free joint. "How are you going to talk about free joint when UATRE (the union of rural workers, which leads Geronimo Venegas) got 35 per cent increase and is not homologated? Free peer does speak?" He asked, and challenged "If there will be limits, which give by decree and that's the circus of the discussion."

Moyano revealed on Wednesday sent a letter to the head of state with a series of claims and is now awaiting a response.

STAY AHEAD OF THE CGT

The union leader said that at least until June, when his term expires, will continue to lead the labor union, unless he said, that there is "a coup".

"We'll see when the time comes. Today I am a little tired. I will continue until June if there is a coup," said the leader Hats.

However, when asked if there was that possibility, he challenged: "I will take a hit? Who has the authority to decide that I'm not saying what the worker claims that others can do better?" .

RESIGN AS PRESIDENT OF THE BUENOS AIRES PJ

Hugo Moyano, said that before making a final decision on his announced resignation as President of PJ Buenos Aires, first as "talk" with Governor Daniel Scioli. The leader of the CGT said Scioli "spoke by phone with me" and was on call again when he returned from France, where he attended to continue medical treatment.

"I'll talk to him," Moyano said when asked if he kept his resignation to the provincial PJ, and added, "is not good for me to say here, without having talked to him, as he promised," while said: "If I called, we will, and if not, continue with my path."

Paris opens first bar nap in downtown

The siesta is a practice that "is not very common in France."

In "Zen Nap Bar" located in an elegant shopping arcade in central Paris, guests can pay for sleep and relax for a few minutes.

It has six cabins of napping, three of them equipped with massage chairs.

The "Zen Bar Siesta," a small hotel located in an elegant shopping arcade in the center of Paris, has become the first store in France in which customers can pay for sleep and relax for a few minutes.

One of the founders of the business, Christophe Chansavang said Thursday that it is a practice that "is not very common in France" , but seeks to "evolve the mindset slowly. " "In France it is a taboo topic a bit, that's why people come here to rest a while without them knowing anyone in the office," said Chansavang, 31.

For 12 euros you can enjoy a "microsiesta" 15 minutes The building, located in the Passage Choiseul, has six cabins of napping, three of them equipped with automatic massage chairs charged as cost "several thousand dollars" and three beds in which to lie or be subject to a shiatsu massage. Customers, more women than men, are essentially professionals who work in an office area and go to "bar naps" without an appointment.

There, for 12 euros (about 15.4 U.S. dollars), you can enjoy a "microsiesta" of 15 minutes. Rates increase gradually to 27 euros (35 dollars) for a "real nap" of 45 minutes, although you can subscribe to reduce the amount of fertilizer. Besides tea, users can also enjoy an organic pedicure practiced by fish or buy different products related to cosmetics and relaxation.

"There are concepts that are close to ours, but as this there are none in France , "said the founder, who praised the virtues of a nap mid-day because it facilitates the "physical and muscular" and also "intellectual It improves memory and creativity, "he said.

Although Chansavang has traveled to destinations such as Barcelona, Mallorca and Ibiza and speaks a little Spanish, the inspiration for his "bar naps" comes from Asia, said. Open this location since last September, the owners now reflect on the possibility of opening other centers in the business district of La Defense, outside Paris , or in other French cities like Lyon (East), Lille (north) or Montpellier (south).

France bans Europes tallest minaret called Sarkozy

The name of the minaret is in protest at the president's decision to close a Gaulish place of worship.

Rachid Nekkaz, the employer paid for the land it would rise half a million euros.

The French authorities banned a businessman raised in a town outside Paris a minaret of 35 meters, the highest in Europe, which sought to baptize in the name of President Gallo, Nicolas Sarkozy , to protest the decision to close a of worship.

The provocative project businessman Rachid Nekkaz, crashed with the Prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department Sarkozy, who refused permission to raise the pharaonic work in Gennevilliers, on Sunday newspaper reported Le Parisien .

Nekkaz, former presidential candidate and founder of the French association "Touch not my Constitution" very combative against the law to ban the burka wear on the street, bought the land on which stands the place of worship intended to close the authorities.

He did it with another leader of the associative sector from depressed neighborhoods on the outskirts of Paris, an initiative by pursuing attention by the closure of a place where, according to them, local Muslims prayed every Friday from For over 30 years.

They paid for the land half a million euros , according to Le Parisien , which ensures that they planned to lay the foundation stone on 26 January, Sarkozy's birthday.

Funding difficulties persist for European banks

This follows from the last quarterly report of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

The sovereign debt crisis and the increased dependence of banks, especially the French and Italians, the liquidity of the ECB.

Increases the reluctance of banks to lend to them.

Each is more difficult to find funding dollars.

The difficulties of funding for European banks will persist due to the sovereign debt crisis, which has increased the dependence of French and Italian banks the liquidity of the European Central Bank ( ECB ).

This follows from the last quarterly report of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in December, released this Sunday, in which analyzes the situation of public debt markets and banks. The BIS, based in the Swiss city of Basel , remember that the end of 2014 bank debt maturing in the amount of $ 2 trillion (1.5 trillion euros).

13% of this amount is government guaranteed debt, which has been produced primarily in 2009 maturities that may hinder its extension to reasonable terms. Due to the increasing reluctance of banks to lend to each other, "of the interbank market effectively shifted the balance of the Eurosystem", notes the BIS.

The use of ECB deposit facility where banks can deposit their money in one day has already passed the 300,000 million euros and the ECB's lending to banks has doubled this amount does not include emergency assistance individual banks.

More than half of ECB loans to European banks has gone to French banks, Irish and Italian . French banks have borrowed 141,000 million euros. Italian banks have also borrowed 111,000 million, increasing its reliance on ECB funding to 2.8% of their balance sheets.

Difficulty dollar funding

European banks also have many difficulties to find financing in dollars in U.S. money market which has increased the cost of dollar-euro exchange to the highest level since December 2008. The mutual fund money market U.S. finance have left European banks (-42% from late May) to avoid indirect exposure to sovereign debt risk, according to the BIS.

Emerging markets have been adversely affected by the crisis in the euro area to alleviate the funding constraints, the ECB announced this week two new liquidity operations in euros with a maturity of three years. In addition, six major central banks around the world, led by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) and the ECB agreed on a concerted action to halve the cost of dollar swap lines and establish lines of trade in other currencies .

The BIS notes that the premium paid by financial institutions to exchange euros in dollars fell from 151 to 119 basis points, after learning of concerted action.

In the reporting period, between early September and December, banks in the euro area have tightened the conditions and have increased interest rates on loans to businesses and homes and planned to do so in the fourth quarter. One of the key factors behind this hardening was the worsening of the conditions to which the banks themselves get funding. For example, syndicated loans in the proportion of banks in the euro area in global new loans fell in October to 18% from 26% a year earlier.

The average interest rate of all new loans from banks in the euro area companies increased one percentage point year on year to end September. Banks in Greece and Portugal increased interest rates by two percentage points.

The emerging markets have been adversely affected by the crisis in the euro area, which has led investors to withdraw 25 000 million (18.797 million euros) of emerging market funds in August and September, especially equity funds . There has been a repatriation of assets by investors in the euro area. The withdrawal of 25,000 billion emerging markets fund portfolio inflows match of 85,000 million euros at the euro area, a large part of France.

French achieved majority in Senate

The French left historically achieved an absolute majority in the Senate

At seven months of the presidential election, the Left achieved a second victory at the polls after the last local elections.

The result is "a serious failure if not serious, for Nicolas Sarkozy," said socialist Francois Hollande.

Conservative Prime Minister, François Fillon, attributes the defeat of his party divisions in many departments. "

Left parties and environmentalists in France achieved this Sunday absolute majority in the Senate for the first time since the founding of the V Republic in 1958 and seven months before the next presidential election.

Failing that go beyond the official results confirmed this both from the ranks of the Socialist Party (PS) and from the ruling conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), the party's head of state, Nicolas Sarkozy .

The election changed political sign that the upper chamber were designed to renew , by indirect suffrage of 71,890 members, general directors, regional councils and delegates from 44 districts for a period of six years, 170 of the 321 seats that make up the Gallo Senate.

Before the official results were known, the aspiring candidate for the PS in the upcoming presidential elections François Hollande, the favorite in the polls, said the result would be "a serious failure if not serious, for Nicolas Sarkozy. "

"For the first time since the V Republic, the left would be the majority in the Senate, an event is historical , "said Hollande, whose party manages data showing that the left forces have managed to win the 23 seats they needed to gain control of the Senate.

For his part, Prime Minister François Fillon conservative, said in a statement that "the opposition showed a strong momentum "in the Senate, which he attributed to" divisions "in" many departments "within his party.

This progression of the left "was predictable , according to the latest local elections, "where the left won a victory over the government's severe and conservative UMP, Fillon said.

"We must join forces and assert our convictions to the French," the prime minister, who said that "the moment of truth will take place next spring, "referring to the presidential election.

In the same line said UMP secretary general, Jean-Francois Cope, who said that "defeat" of their formation in the Senate is "disappointed" but not "a surprise".

For its part, the outgoing president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher (UMP) announced that it will present to its own re-election despite the polls this Sunday, which give most to the left in that chamber.

The territorial representation ensures Senate of the Parliament, also established by the National Assembly.