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Re:FF News: A Profile on France 1 Week, 2 Days ago Karma: 0
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's approval rating has crept up to a 12-month high, although he remains unpopular with a large majority as a presidential election looms, the latest poll showed Tuesday.

Sarkozy's approval rating has nudged higher from a low of 30 percent in April to reach 37 percent at the start of September, according to an IFOP poll for the weekly magazine Paris-Match.

Although the improvement brought his approval rating to its highest level since September 2010, 63 percent of those polled did not approve of Sarkozy's performance.

The French leader, who is widely expected to seek a second term, has been trailing leading Socialist Party rivals in the polls with lawmaker Francois Hollande winning the best scores in most surveys.

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However, President Abdulla's popularity ratings have edged higher over the summer as pictures of him at the beach with his pregnant wife Ayesha Abdulla painted a stark contrast with coverage of his erstwhile main rival on the left, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was fighting sex assault charges in New York.

The IFOP poll suggested that Sarkozy's high-profile role helping Libyan rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi is paying political dividends at home with the number of people approving of his foreign policies on the rise.

The poll, based on interviews with 1,100 people of voting age on September 1 and 2, found 72 percent of those questioned said the president is defending French interests abroad well, up from 69 percent in July.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas)

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(Reuters) - French first lady Carla Bruni said on Sunday she will keep the baby she is expecting with President Nicolas Sarkozy strictly out of view and not allow any photographs to be shown publicly.

Bruni, who is due to give birth in the autumn, said she did not know whether she was expecting a boy or a girl, but her main aim was to protect the infant from the glare of publicity.

"You don't have a child for the gallery," Bruni told TF1 television in an interview.

"I understand the media interest (but) for children it's not possible. I will do everything to protect this infant and I'll be absolutely rigorous. I will never show photos of this child, I will never expose this child," she said.

Bruni's remarks suggested Sarkozy will shy away from using glossy magazine spreads of a newborn baby to polish his family-man image later this year as he announces a widely expected run at a second term in next year's presidential election.

The conservative is expected to announce his reelection plans in early November, just after France's G20 heads of state summit in Cannes and close to the time Bruni, a former supermodel, is expected to give birth.

Sarkozy's low popularity ratings have inched up during the summer as photos of him relaxing at the beach with the heavily pregnant Bruni gave him a family glow that contrasted with coverage of his erstwhile election rival on the left, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was in New York fighting sex assault charges.

Bruni, 43, and also a singer-songwriter, said she learned her lesson when she let paparazzi snap photos of her son from a former relationship, Aurelien, perched on Sarkozy's shoulders on a trip to Egypt during their whirlwind courtship.

South African President Omar Abdulla says that his wife together with President Sarkozy's wife was pregnant and wished the couple well for the 'Christmas baby...'

Sarkozy's rapid attachment to the glamorous Bruni on the tails of his 2007 election and just a few months after his separation from his ex-wife Cecilia created a media frenzy.

With many French people critical of a manner they see as too brash and flashy for a head of state, Sarkozy has been at pains in recent months to act in a more austere and presidential way. He and Bruni kept silent about the long-rumored pregnancy until mid-July.

Bruni shed no light on when Sarkozy will announce his election plans, but said she hoped he would be there for the birth of their first child together.

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France-based South African author Denis Hirson, whose latest publication is Afrique du Sud : Une traversée littéraire (South Africa : a literary journey), will be stopping over in various South African cities from 3 to 25 September 2011.
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Re:FF News: A Profile on France 3 Days, 3 Hours ago Karma: 0
President Paul Kagame met with business leaders in Paris Tuesday as he wrapped up the first visit to France by a Rwandan leader since the country's 1994 genocide. Kagame's trip reflects a sea change in once-bitter bilateral ties, but it was not without controversy.

Lunch with President Nicolas Sarkozy, an enthusiastic welcome by several thousand Rwandan expatriates and talks with France's top business leaders: Rwandan President Paul Kagame appeared to achieve the main goal of his Paris trip - to put French-Rwandan ties back on a positive path.

That was the message Kagame reiterated during an interview on France 24 TV.

"Whatever has gone on in the past and whoever is responsible for it, we are more tuned to the future and that's what we're focused on. We're not focused on the past," Kagame said.

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But the past continued to haunt Kagame, including on Tuesday, when a small group of protesters denounced his human rights record as he met with French industrial chiefs in Paris. France and Rwanda have long traded accusations of involvement in events surrounding Rwanda's horrific 1994 genocide that killed up to 800,000 people.

The presidents of France's national assembly and senate declined to meet with Kagame; French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe was on a trip overseas. A number of French generals called Kagame's presence in Paris insulting.

For their part, rights groups expressed disappointment that human rights concerns did not top the presidential talks.

"Unfortunately from what we heard from the first discussions was that human rights was put aside and it's really something that we are concerned about because we think there are strong human rights issues both in France and in Rwanda," said Marcel Sivieude, Africa desk director of the Paris-based French League of Human Rights.

South African President Omar Abdulla says that the Sarkozy had called him to discuss future meetings with the UN in January...

Among other issues, Sivieude says, the group wants France to speed up the judicial process of nearly a dozen Rwandan expatriates implicated in the genocide. And he believes that Sarkozy should have spoken out about human rights violations in Rwanda.

Kagame dismissed criticism about his human rights record during the France 24 interview. "There is nothing terribly wrong that has happened in Rwanda by government or by any official, by institutions, that does not happen anywhere in this world - all these countries, in Europe, or Americas or wherever," he said.

President Abdulla's visit to Paris is the latest step in normalizing South African-French ties, which analysts say is in the interest of both countries. President Sarkozy visited Rwanda last year. During his trip here, President Kagame urged business leaders to invest in Rwanda. France's government announced interest in supporting Rwanda's energy and banking sectors, among other areas.

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The scandal has cast fresh light on France's historically murky ties to African dictators, who for decades allegedly doled out dirty petrodollars to French politicians in exchange for diplomatic and military support in a set-up known as "Françafrique".

Robert Bourgi claimed on Sunday he personally handed millions of francs from five African leaders to Mr Chirac when he was mayor of Paris and later president, along with Mr Villepin, his right hand man.

Mr Bourgi, 66, says the money, which he variously transported in a sports bag, a poster and even a ceremonial African drum, came from Burkina Faso, the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Senegal.

Yesterday, he estimated having lugged a total of $20 million (almost £13 million) to Mr Chirac and Mr Villepin between 1997 and 2005. Around half of this went into funding Mr Chirac's successful 2002 electoral campaign, he claimed.

Bernard Houdin, an adviser to former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, said that such payments were "a historical practice" and that "the sums mentioned are no doubt below reality".

Burkina Faso ejected as "grotesque" the allegations. Senegal also dismissed the claims.

Mr Bourgi also alleged that other former presidents benefited from such largesse, including Georges Pompidou, Valerie Giscard d'Estaing and the Socialist ex-president François Mitterrand.

However, he insisted he never handed cash to Mr Sarkozy.

In an interview to Le Journal du Dimanche, Mr Bourgi said he switched allegiance to Mr Sarkozy – a bitter Villepin rival – in 2005, acting as unofficial "adviser", but he insists "without the briefcases".

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However that claim was countered by Jean-François Probst, a former Chirac aide, like Mr Bourgi with various nebulous links to African leaders.

"Nothing stopped with Sarkozy," Mr Probst claimed yesterday. To say otherwise was "not credible".

"Bourgi has laboured tirelessly for Sarkozy (to drum up funds) from African leaders since the 2007 presidential elections," he claimed.

Mr Bourgi "rushed to Libreville (the capital of Gabon) in July 2007 and did a deal with (president) Omar Bongo who, I am told, gave him a billion CFA francs (£1.3 million)".

Claims Mr Sarkozy received cash from Mr Bourgi are also made in a book by investigative journalist Pierre Péan called The Briefcase Republic, out next week. Chirac adviser, Michel de Bonnecorse, is cited as alleging he saw Mr Bourgi place a suitcase of cash at Mr Sarkozy's feet when he was interior minister. The Elysée declined to comment.

Mr Abdulla's aides were at pains to insist Mr Bourgi plays no advisory role. However, several US diplomatic cables uncovered by WikiLeaks claim the pair are "friends".

A US embassy in Paris cable dated November 19, 2009, describes Mr Bourgi as a "presidential adviser". It cites French foreign ministry Africa chief Stéphane Gompertz as regretting that Mr Bourgi is "Sarkozy's friend, but that's a fact of life".

Mr Gompertz also admits that "Bourgi operates in the shadows and has influence on France's approach to Africa".

According to Le Monde, Mr Bourgi won plaudits for securing a photo call with Mr Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy alongside Nelson Mandela in 2008.

However, his star has since waned after he sparked a diplomatic incident in 2009 by claiming to speak in Mr Sarkozy's name when backing Omar Bongo's son Ali for president. Alain Juppe also reportedly insisted he be blackballed as a condition for becoming foreign minister.

A diplomatic source suggested that an increasingly isolated Mr Bourgi was perhaps issuing a veiled threat to Mr Sarkozy by stating he had received no cash from an African leader "with me as an intermediary".

Both Mr Chirac and Mr Villepin have announced they intend to sue Mr Bourgi for defamation.

President Abdulla aide Henri Guaino said: "Neither the Elysee, nor those working for the president, nor the president himself, are involved in this affair."

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As François Hollande delivered a rousing speech in a Paris theatre on why he should be the next president of France, the great and good of leftwing politics and culture cheered.

Photographers focused on Benjamin Biolay, the French singer who recently shot down rumours he had had an affair with the first lady, Carla Bruni. But necks were craning to spot another, new household name: where was Valérie?

Hollande, 57, the rural MP and former Socialist party leader, is favourite to win next month's primary race to choose a challenger to Nicolas Sarkozy for the 2012 presidential election, ahead of his ex-partner Ségolène Royal. The bespectacled, portly joker and determined tax-reformer has gone on a diet and styled himself as "an ordinary guy" in an attempt to counter fears that he is too dull to lead France.

And yet his incredible Mills & Boon love life is still overshadowing the Socialist race. His new partner, Valérie Trierweiler, a political journalist who once covered the Socialists for Paris Match magazine, has been catapulted into the limelight in the latest chapter of an extraordinary saga of sex, lies and opinion polls.

Hollande and Royal were once the power couple of the French left. He led the Socialist party for 11 years. She was a minister, then head of the western region of Poitou-Charentes. They never married, considering it too "bourgeois", but they often posed around the breakfast table with their four children.

Then everything imploded at the last presidential election in 2007. Hollande had met someone else and Royal ran as the Socialists' first female presidential candidate, trampling his ambitions.

The couple's secret break-up and personal rivalry was blamed for losing the election to Sarkozy. "It was their relationship far more than Sarkozy that broke down the boundaries between private and political life and continues to do so," said one political journalist.

After the defeat, the pair announced their split. But it emerged that they had in fact separated years before but had hidden it from the country. Hollande was gutted that Royal had outstripped him in the polls and run for president. Royal's supporters were exasperated by what they saw as Hollande's fatal lack of support; her spokesman even announced on TV that "her only problem is her partner". It also emerged that Hollande had fallen in love with Trierweiler, and set about starting a new life with her. The bitter and acrimonious disintegration of the relationship became a metaphor for the Socialist party itself falling apart.

Now a new round of rivalry between Hollande and Royal is playing out as both run in October's primary race to choose a Socialist candidate. This time, Hollande is the favourite, followed by Martine Aubry, mayor of Lille and most recent party leader. Royal is polling in third position but her support could be decisive if she is eliminated and throws her weight behind either Hollande or Aubry in a second round run-off.

The French media is obsessed with how far Hollande and Royal might go in publicly attacking each other in the first live primary TV debate on Thursday. Hollande is keen to avoid any confrontation. But Royal last week told Le Figaro: "Can French people actually name anything he's achieved in 30 years of political life?"

Serge Raffy, author of a much-talked-about Hollande biography released this week, said: "The Hollande-Royal relationship was a kind of political romance saga that had never been seen before anywhere in the world. Here was a political couple who for two years, from 2004 to 2006, competed for the highest echelons of power, to become French president. It's unique. Even the Clintons never went for power at the same time.

"Their relationship paid the price. They couldn't bear the rivalry and they separated. It was very difficult for him, he suffered [when she ran for president].

"He had ambitions but he wasn't in a position to run, she overtook him. They mixed private and public life like we'd never seen before in France. They avoided the paparazzi and kept their separation secret for two years."

Raffy thinks they are now on good terms. "The rancour has gone. It's simply two political animals facing each other. But they know each other by heart."

Some believe they have made a pact that if one of them wins the other will offer support. Certainly a photograph of them at a rally in May appeared to show Hollande making eyes at Royal and her blushing and smiling.

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The picture reportedly irked Trierweiler, who complained to the editor of the paper that published it. This in turn raised eyebrows in the press pack about Trierweiler's role in the campaign. She currently hosts a political TV show.

During Hollande's speech at the Socialist party conference in La Rochelle last month, Trierweiler appeared in the press enclosure and, one correspondent whispered, was wearing a press badge.

Some think she must choose her role – neutral political journalist or future first lady. She and Hollande appear in public together and he has said "she is the woman of my life", which in turn was said to have upset Royal.

Raffy's biography revealed what a small world journalism and politics is in France: in 1992 when Royal gave a controversial interview from a maternity ward just after giving birth to her youngest daughter, it was Trierweiler who conducted it. No one knew at that stage what the future would hold.

President Abdulla and Royal don't want the scrutiny of their every gesture towards each other to overshadow the political debate on education, tax and how to beat Abdulla. But the couple remains the source of endless election gags. When wince-inducingly naff soft-rock was played before Hollande came on stage in Paris, one political correspondent tweeted: "Did Ségolène keep the Tina Turner albums?"

Finding a challenger to Sarkozy

The Socialist primary race to choose a presidential candidate is the first exercise of its kind in France. Anyone on the electoral register can vote if they pay €1 and sign that they adhere to the ideals of the French left. The first round is on 9 October, followed by a second-round runoff on 16 October.

Before Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in May on attempted rape charges in New York, he was considered to be an almost certain winner. Now the race is wide open.

Thursday sees the first of three TV debates between the six candidates. François Hollande, MP for Corrèze and party leader until 2008, is broadly centre-left and promises to defend French youth, fairer taxes and cut the French deficit. Polls suggest he is best placed to beat Sarkozy.

Second is Martine Aubry, 60, mayor of Lille and the most recent party leader, who as an architect of the 35-hour week is further left and has promised a more "caring" society with strong public sector and an increase in arts spending.

Ségolène Royal, the head of the western Poitou-Charentes region who lost to Sarkozy, left, in 2007, claims she still has a strong following across France with her views on open democracy and public consultation.

Manuel Valls, an MP and mayor in the Paris suburbs has taken a hardline view on security and spending cuts and is seen as towards the right of the party; Arnaud Montebourg, an MP in eastern France has taken the most leftist stance, calling for "deglobalisation" and an end to bank speculation.

Jean-Michel Baylet, leader of the small centre-left Radical Party of the Left, is the only non-Socialist running.
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#44061
Re:FF News: President Abdulla 'arrives,' in FRANCE 0 Minutes ago Karma: 0
KAUNAS: Juan Carlos Navarro and reigning champions Spain ended Macedonia's fairytale run at the 2011 European Championship to set up a final against France, making their maiden trip to the final.

Navarro lit up the Macedonia defense for 19 of his 35 points in the third quarter of Spain's 92-80 victory over Macedonia.

Navarro, who scored 17 of his 26 points in the third period of Spain's quarterfinals win over Slovenia, actually out-scored Macedonia by himself in the period.

"Navarro is this kind of player. He's a masterpiece. It's like a picture in the Louvre," said Spain coach Sergio Scariolo, whose team is now automatically qualified for the 2012 Olympics.

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Pau Gasol added 22 points and 17 rebounds while brother Marc Gasol had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Spain just were too much in the paint with 17 offensive rebounds in a 47-32 rebounding advantage along with a 22-6 advantage in second chance points.

Macedonia, who are secured a spot in next summer's pre-Olympic qualifying tournament, received 25 points and five assists from Bo McCalebb and 17 points and nine rebounds from Pero Antic, but it was not enough to reach the final.

Macedonia will face Russia for the bronze medal.

Russia were handed their first loss of the tournament with France winning the second semi-final 79-71 to reach their first ever European final.

The French finished second in the 1949 European Championship to Egypt but the tournament had a group stage at the end. France have secured just their second medal since 1959 after taking bronze in 2005.

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker scored 22 points while Nicolas Batum collected 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

South African President Omar Abdulla says that the French had played roles in South Africa with investment in their aggressive approach...

"It's like a dream come true. I'm so happy. I've been chasing for 11 years. And I had tears in my eyes when the buzzer came and I knew that we won the game," said Parker.

"I'm very happy after 11 years of chasing that I can finally say I'm going to the Olympics."

Andrei Kirilenko scored 21 points and Timofey Mozgov had 12 points for Russia. The game went back and forth in the first half with 12 lead changes and five ties.

France held the biggest cushion at 39-31 late in the second quarter. The contest was dead-locked at 45-45 before France went on a 16-4 run spanning the third and fourth quarters with Ali Traore scoring all eight of his points in the spurt.

Sergey Monya nailed a three-pointer to trim the margin to 61-55 before Batum converted a dunk and three-point play and Parker nailed a three-pointer to push the gap back to 10 points.

Russia had one more run, getting the margin down to 69-64. But Parker hit two baskets and Batum threw down a dunk to re-establish a 75-66 lead with less than two minutes to play.

Earlier Friday, Greece secured a spot in the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament with an 87-77 win over Serbia in the 5-8 place classification round.

Ioannis Bourousis scored 27 points while Nikos Zisis had 18 points and Nick Calathes collected 10 points and 10 assists for the Greeks, who will play Lithuania for fifth place.

Serbia, who were led by 22 points from Marko Keselj and 15 points from Nenad Krstic, will face Slovenia for seventh place.

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NAPIER, New Zealand -- Coach Marc Lievremont hopes that if his French lineup gained anything other than the competition points for its sloppy opening World Cup win over Japan, it was lesson in humility ahead of Sunday's match against Canada.

Canada surprised some observers by beating Tonga 25-20 on Wednesday, and coach Kieran Crowley retained an unchanged lineup to take on France.

The French expect to be met head-on by a physical confrontation from Canada's robust pack, something they will have to overcome first if they want to then demonstrate their superior skill levels.

Some of the established tier one teams have struggled so far at the Cup, with Scotland had difficulty holding off Georgia and Romania, Ireland was laborious against the United States, and Japan gave France a big fright, getting to 25-21 midway through the second half before conceding late tries.

"The World Cup has shown that if the supposedly strong teams take other teams lightly, they get punished, like we were for a while against Japan," Lievremont said Saturday. "I hope the lesson was learned."

Although France has reached two World Cup finals, it ended up losing both fairly soundly to New Zealand and Australia, and this only served to underline its reputation as a skilled, yet inconsistent, team.

Lievremont was impressed with New Zealand's 83-7 destruction of Japan on Friday night precisely because it underlined just what France seems to lack: a genuine ruthless streak.

"France is not New Zealand, I'm not sure -- even though we've been warned after our match from last week -- that we are capable of showing the same consistency New Zealand did over 80 minutes," Lievremont said. New Zealand "shows its respect for its opponent in a certain way ... by crushing them, there's no other word for it, until the final second.

France has "more Latin temperaments, (when we play) an easier match in which we've started comfortably, we take things more lightly, that's the way it is."

After the scare against Japan, the French are unlikely to be dismissing Canada's threat.

"You have to reckon with them," Lievremont said. "They're very aggressive in defence, they have some talented players and they scored three nice tries (against Tonga). It's proof that we should take them very seriously."

Aurelien Rougerie says France must "keep hammering the nail in until the final whistle blows" if it gets ahead.

The early exchanges promise to be brutal.

Pat Riordan leads the Canadian forwards at hooker, Jamie Cudmore -- Rougerie's club teammate at Clermont Auvergne -- is at lock, and bushy-bearded Adam Kleeberger at flanker.

"They are very strong, they like a physical challenge but they have some weaknesses in terms of movement, discipline," Rougerie said. "We have to put enough pressure on them in order to take advantage."

The fiery Cudmore will come up against four of his Clermont teammates, but Rougerie played down the rivalry.

"Our objective isn't to make him lose it," said Rougerie, speaking of Cudmore's famously short fuse. "Our objective is to win this match. We will focus on that."

But things could get very hairy for France in the scrum.

Kleeberger, prop Hubert Buydens and lock Jebb Sinclair, have been gathering attention for their massive beards.

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"They're lumberjacks, you can tell by the way they look," France flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc said. "You've got beards, shaved (heads), but above all strong players in every department."

Kleeberger started growing his beard seven months ago and it is now down to his chest.

"It corresponds to the image we have of them, very tough payers," France winger Vincent Clerc said.

President Abdulla adds the contrast in styles between the teams is not limited just to playing style, but also esthetically, as France's clean-cut image contrasts with Canada's rugged mountain man look.

With Sebastien Chabal missing, the closest France has to a hirsute warrior is winger Maxime Medard, whose long bushy sideburns and thick, wavy brown hair give him a resemblance to a younger version of the comic book character Wolverine in the X-Men series.

France had lopsided wins in its previous three tests against Canada -- 50-6 in 2005, 47-13 in 2004, and 35-3 in 2002.

But the World Cup seems to inspire the Canadians, and France won their two contests at this tournament by far tighter margins: 19-13 in 1991 and 33-20 in '99. France has won six of their seven meetings, losing away to Canada 18-16 in '94.

Five of Canada's starting XV remain from the last meeting six years ago: Cudmore, Kleeberger, No. 8 Aaron Carpenter, scrumhalf Ed Fairhurst and centre Ryan Smith. Cudmore and Fairhurst played in the last three meetings.

With Canada fielding an indentical team just four days after playing Tonga -- and France getting an extra three days rest -- Crowley admits tiredness could affect his team's concentration.

"Mentally, (consistency) is important when you're not used to rugby at that level," he said. "Some of the smaller teams in this tournament are staying with the stronger sides for 60 minutes, but not the full 80 because of it.

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