France

PARIS (AP) -- A judge has ordered former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to be jailed in France pending a new trial on money laundering charges. Noriega has spent the last 20 years in prison near Miami and was extradited Tuesday to France from the United States. He could face another 10 years in prison in France. French authorities want to try Noriega on charges that he laundered $7 million in drug profits through French banks and purchased luxury apartments with his wife in Paris.

ANNAPOLIS - Washington County District Judge Ralph H. France II was confirmed Friday for another 10-year term by the Maryland Senate, according to Sen. Donald F. Munson's office. Munson serves on the Senate's Executive Nominations Committee. France first was appointed as a District 11 judge by former Gov. Paris Glendening in 1995. District 11 includes Washington and Frederick counties.

My name is Anais (pronounced on-uh-EES). I'm 19 and I study at the French School of Journalism and Communication, a special high school based in Paris. To improve my English and to discover how American companies work, I came to America and worked as a volunteer in the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown. For one month, I have lived in Hagerstown with Amy and Barry Newlin and their daughters, Sally, 17, and Marilyn, 14. They are a very nice host family. They seem very close.

Mont Alto forestry school sent seedings to France in 1919 By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer MONT ALTO, Pa. - In 1919, students at what then was the Pennsylvania State Forestry School in Mont Alto bundled up 1 million pine seedlings - about two tractor-trailer trucks full - and shipped them to France. World War I had just ended and many of France's forests were devastated by the fighting. Many Mont Alto forestry school students served in American Army forestry regiments.

Pulse writers met a group of teenagers from France and Luxembourg who visited The Herald-Mail on Tuesday, July 24. The French teens came to Hagerstown through an exchange program of Compass-USA, of Denver, Colo. Students lived with families in the Hagerstown area. Students who spoke with Pulse writers were Tiphaine d'Argentre, 17, of Rouen; Alex Morey, 16, of Lyon; Mickael Moura De Oliveira, 15, of Mont Saint Martin; Guillaume Alarcon, 16, of Le Mans; Arnaud Faucon, 16, of Lyon; Louise Askienazy, of Paris, 15; Lise Berson, 16, of Dommiers; and Nicolas Gutierrez, 15, of Luxembourg.

andrews@herald-mail.com WILLIAMSPORT A district judge on Friday gave a woman one more week to move out of a house owned by the Town of Williamsport. If Patricia France does not leave by Sept. 30, the town could ask the court to have the Washington County Sheriff's Department remove her belongings. That won't be necessary, France said Friday afternoon. "We'll be gone," she said. "I guarantee it. " The town requested Friday's "tenant holding over" hearing when France, her son and her daughter stayed past an Aug. 20 deadline.

Two new blasts and brief bursts of gunfire have sounded near the apartment building where a suspected gunman behind a deadly string of shootings in southwest France is holed up. An Interior Ministry official said, however, that no assault was under way to capture 24-year-old suspect Mohamed Merah, who boasted to authorities of an aim to bring France “to its knees” with an al-Qaida-linked terror spree.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com Hagerstown residents aren't of a mind to cozy up to France and establish a sister city relationship with the French city of Saumur after France's rebuke of the United State's decision to invade Iraq. Of 15 Hagerstown residents interviewed on the subject,Saturday, 12 gave a resounding "no" to the idea. Some said the timing is wrong. A few said they don't believe the United States should ever deal with France again. Three had differing opinions.

andrews@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - The process that brought Morris Frock's medals to the American Legion post named after him started with a curious e-mail. Six months ago, Kevin Moriarty, a new Hagerstown resident, noticed a small plaque dedicated to Frock at the corner of May Street and Belview Avenue. He contacted Morris Frock American Legion Post 42 in Hagerstown and asked for more details. One connection led to another, and Moriarty ended up talking, by e-mail, to Norvel T. Frock Jr., Morris Frock's nephew in Philadelphia.

French have much to offer To the editor: Many residents of Hagerstown have been quite vocal about thwarting efforts for Hagerstown to be a sister city with Saumur because the French government did not support the United States' war in Iraq. It is time for Americans to abolish their bitter sentiments about Chirac's refusal to support the war and appreciate the culture his country has to offer. It is ludicrous to claim that the French are ungrateful for America's involvement in both world wars.

Frances Lucille Bayer, 88, formerly of Ringgold, Md., died peacefully April 20, 2013. She was born Sept. 22, 1924, in Hagerstown Md., daughter of the late Frank and Sophie Miner Barkdoll. She retired from Pangborn Corp. after many years. She was a lifelong member of Ringgold Church of Christ, where she taught young children's Sunday school classes for 35 years. She also was a member of the Ringgold Ruritan, Sunshine Leisure and Leitersburg Homemakers clubs. She is survived by four sons, Larry, husband of Susan, Denny, husband of Barbara, Randy, husband of Vicky, and Tony O'Hara, husband of Liz; 10 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; special niece, Barbara Cannon; and several other nieces and nephews.  Frances was predeceased by her husband of 60 years, Arthur; one sister; two brothers; and one great-granddaughter.

Frances Marlene "Frankie" Miller, 73, of Baltimore, Md., died Saturday, April 6, 2013, at Gilchrist Center in Towson, Md. The family will receive friends Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Helsley-Johnson Funeral Home & Cremation Center, Berkeley Springs, W.Va. The service will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be at Greenway Cemetery.

Frances Ashbaugh, 97, of Harpers Ferry, W.Va., died Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013, at her residence. Visitation will be Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. with a prayer vigil at 8:30 p.m. at Eackles-Spencer & Norton Funeral Home, Harpers Ferry. A Mass of Christian burial will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. James Catholic Church in Charles Town, W.Va., with the Rev. John Ledford as celebrant and Deacon David Galvin assisting. Burial will be in St. Peter's Cemetery in Harpers Ferry. 

Name of business: Truly France Owner: Barbara Farhat Address: 1039 Crestwood Drive, Chambersburg, Pa. Opening date: March 24, 2012 Products and services: I offer products from France, including bath and body products, gourmet food, fabric accessories and olive wood kitchenware. I sell them during home parties, where attendees can sample the products in a French-oriented atmosphere. I carry everything with me, so attendees leave the party with their products and avoid shipping costs.