French Assembly to adopt controversial anti-sect law

Scientology fined for defamation

June 23, 2002
Washington Times
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PARIS--

A Paris court ordered the head of France's Church of Scientology to pay $19,400 in damages Friday after the group published articles comparing the practices of an anti-sect group to those "practiced under the [Nazi] Third Reich." Daniele Gounord, president of the church, was found guilty of defamation and ordered to pay damages and court costs to the National Union of Associations for the Defense of the Family and the Individual. Belfast's prestigious Queen's University has decided to stop teaching the classics after 160 years, a measure that will mean the departure of 60 instructors. A university executive said the decision "is based on the dwindling number of students, and the strength of the department in terms of teaching and research." He said the university, instead, will invest nearly $39 million in areas such as medicine, Irish studies, management, economics and computer science.