Nicolas Sarkozy

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Striking French Workers Defy Sarkozy

Nationwide strike cripples transport, shuts schools

(Newser) - France is in the grip of the second nationwide strike in 2 months today as unions protest the Sarkozy administration's economic policies, reports AFP. Air and rail transport has been disrupted, and half of primary school teachers have not come into work. The strikers are demanding a higher minimum wage,...

Sarkozy Faces Confidence Vote Over Rejoining NATO

But French opposition unlikely to best president's party

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy’s government must submit to a vote of confidence after the president announced his intention to have France rejoin NATO’s integrated military command, the BBC reports. Opposition politicians and some in Sarkozy’s UMP party say tightening NATO ties will threaten France’s independence. But Sarkozy says...

Architects Plan Brave New Paris
 Architects Plan Brave New Paris 

Architects Plan Brave New Paris

Sarkozy proposes futuristic sustainable city

(Newser) - Paris may be getting a facelift, the Telegraph reports. Nicolas Sarkozy invited 10 leading architects to cook up Grand Paris 2030, giving them "the absolute freedom to dream." Sarkozy aims to open up the city to its suburbs, shorten intra-city commutes, and create vast green spaces. The architects...

France to Rejoin NATO
 France to Rejoin NATO 

France to Rejoin NATO

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy intends to bring France back into the NATO fold, ending 40 years of self-imposed exile, the BBC reports. But the decision, which the French president is expected to confirm tomorrow, may not go over well. The French treasure their “independence” from NATO, and critics say the move...

In Bruni, French See Marie Antoinette

First lady gets flak as she and Sarko hit the beach

(Newser) - Like most of Europe, France is slogging through a recession and facing climbing unemployment. But president Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, are in Mexico, staying at a $5,500-a-night beachfront villa. The honeymoon's over, reports the New York Daily News, and Bruni is suffering comparisons to another foreigner...

Bruni Hopes to Expand French First Family

Carla will look into adoption if she and Sarko can't conceive

(Newser) - France's first lady wants to bring a Bruni-Sarkozy into the world and she's willing to adopt if necessary, the Daily Telegraph reports. "I would love to have another child, but I'm not going to fight against nature," said the 41-year-old former supermodel, who has a son from a...

French Pols Receive Death Threats—Along With Bullets

(Newser) - Seven French politicians, including President Nicolas Sarkozy, have received death threats accompanied by live ammunition, the Independent reports. The letters, which included 9mm rounds, were signed by an unknown group called Solidarity Earth. Though the name perhaps suggests an environmental group, and anti-terrorism officials are investigating, those in the know...

EU Meets Over Economic Crisis

Protectionism concerns weigh on leaders

(Newser) - European Union leaders have begun an emergency meeting about the economic crisis amid fears of protectionism among nations, the BBC reports. The Brussels summit comes after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would bail out France’s auto industry if it didn’t send jobs out of the country. “...

Bruni: Michelle Could Give Me Pointers

France's first lady brings rare mix to Elysée Palace

(Newser) - Michelle Obama just moved into the White House, but America’s first lady could teach a few things to her more veteran French counterpart, confesses Carla Bruni in Vogue. “I fell into my husband’s life from another world,” explains the model-turned-singer, who's been the French first lady...

Be My Marilyn Monroe: Sarkozy on First Date

French prez proposed first time he met Carla: friend

(Newser) - Undeterred by his recent divorce, French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed the night he met Carla Bruni and promised that she would be his Marilyn Monroe, according to a new tell-all book. Author Jacques Seguela is the same pal who introduced the couple at Sarko's request, the Times of London reports....

Iraq PM Shrugs Off US as Sarko Cozies Up

In his first visit to Baghdad, French prez seeks oil, influence

(Newser) - French prez Nicolas Sarkozy, whose predecessor led international opposition to the Iraq war, paid a surprise visit to Baghdad yesterday in an attempt to raise his country's profile in the region. Sarkozy met with PM Nouri al-Maliki, who used a joint news conference to slap at recent US pressure to...

Sarkozy Disses Brown, Vows to Avoid British 'Mistakes'

Paris tries to smooth over diplomatic rift after president's interview

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy used a 90-minute TV interview last night to defend his handling of the global economic downturn—and swore to avoid the "mistakes" of his frequent ally, Gordon Brown. The French president claimed the Brit's decision to cut sales tax had "absolutely not worked." This morning...

Rowling Assures French: 'Voldemort' Not a Slight

(Newser) - JK Rowling cleared up any fuss about her Harry Potter villain’s French name today, as she accepted that country’s Legion d’honneur for her contribution to the arts, Reuters reports. “I can assure you that the decision did not come from any anti-French sentiment,” Rowling said...

'Black Thursday' Strike Staggers France

Biggest action in decades tests President Sarkozy

(Newser) - More than a million protesters in France are taking to the streets today in the country's biggest general strike in decades, reports the Times of London. The so-called "Black Thursday" job action is bringing together public and private sector workers, along with students, who are angered by President...

Sarkozy Trainer Focuses on 'Sex Muscles'

He's 'always ready and motivated,' says 26-year-old coach

(Newser) - French President Nicholas Sarkozy has shaved nine pounds off his already-trimish frame and strengthened his "sex muscles," his personal trainer boasts to the Times of London. Sarkozy sweats each day for his 26-year-old female trainer, who focuses on beefing up the perineal muscles at the bottom of the...

French Pol's Baby Daddy May Be Gucci Heir

Justice minister linked to on-again-off-again Salma Hayek paramour

(Newser) - When France's glamorous justice minister, Rachida Dati, gave birth to a baby girl this month, gossipmongers returned to a burning question: Who's the father? Speculation has centered on everyone from Spain's prime minister to Dati's boss, Nicolas Sarkozy. All wrong, reports the Post's Page Six, which fingers Gucci heir Francois-Henri...

Olmert Says He Favors Ceasefire

Israel PM will send delegate to Egypt, but stops short of acceptance

(Newser) - The Israeli prime minister's office said today that it "views positively" efforts by the Egyptians to broker a ceasefire, and that it would send a delegation to a meeting there. But Ehud Olmert stopped short of fully accepting the French-Egyptian plan, which proposes an immediate ceasefire for Gaza, followed...

French Public TV Goes Ad Free; Not All Are Pleased

Critics say Sarkozy plan is gift to corporate competitors

(Newser) - In France last night, television viewers were treated to something they'd never seen before: prime time programming without commercials on the country's five state-run public networks. It's the first reform in Nicolas Sarkozy's proposed "big bang" transformation of France Télévisions, and eventually all advertising will be...

Israeli Army Moves Into Gaza City

Soldiers exchange gunfire with Hamas fighters on capital's streets

(Newser) - The Israeli army moved into Gaza City for the first time this morning, fighting gun battles in the streets with Hamas militants. The Guardian reports that Israeli soldiers were making house-by-house sweeps for fighters associated with Hamas. This morning Ehud Barak, the defense minister, said that Israel would continue to...

I'm No Longer a Man-Eater: Bruni

France's first lady says she won't cheat on the president

(Newser) - She’s dated everyone from Mick Jagger to Donald Trump, but ex-supermodel Carla Bruni wants the world to know that the first lady of France is not a tramp—she’s Mrs Sarkozy now. “I can no longer seduce because I love my husband,” Bruni told a Brazilian...

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