arablaws.org is a article and directory site. http://www.arablaws.org/article HUA HIN, Thailand (AFP) - – Thailand and the Philippines held talks Saturday aimed at ending a row over rice tariffs which threatens to delay a trade agreement seen as key to regional integration, a Thai minister said. Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, has said it will delay the "trade in goods" agreement between members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) if the Philippines fails to agree on a proposed deal. But the Philippines, the world's biggest rice buyer, says it cannot afford Thailand's demands. Ministers from the two nations met at the Thai resort of Hua Hin during the ASEAN summit and tried "to find a win-win solution over rice," Thai commerce minister Porntiva Nakasai said. Both countries of ASEAN members. "The atmosphere at the talks went well today and it is likely to end well," she said, although she told reporters that "we did not discuss numbers". Porntiva said they would arrange further talks with related organisations. "We hope we can find a solution in the time we have left," she said, adding that they had until the end of the year to agree on terms. In a statement released Saturday, ASEAN leaders said they "looked forward" to implementing the trade agreement, which forms a crucial part of plans to establish an EU-style economic community by the year 2015. The leaders' statement also "urged member states to resolve the differences at the earliest opportunity". Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila said after the talks that both countries were "committed to work towards an acceptable formula". "We dont want the member states to think that the Philippines is the one throwing in the monkey wrench," he added. He explained that they had offered a 35 percent tariff on rice imports from Thailand, and could not afford Thailand's request of just 20 percent tariffs. Thailand said Manila could keep tariffs at 35 percent if it committed to buying a certain volume of rice imports. But Favila said they can only commit to buying 50,000 tonnes from Thailand, lower than the request. http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Thailand_Philippines_seek_rice_row_solution_minister.htm 26th Oct,2009 BURBANK, Calif. – What's President Barack Obama's most annoying habit? Practicing his speeches for hours in front of the bathroom mirror? Talking too much foreign policy at the dinner table? No _ first lady Michelle Obama said Friday it's his tennis game. When they play, the president usually wins. "He beats me quite often," she said on NBC's "The Jay Leno Show," appearing via satellite hookup from the White House. "That gets to be pretty annoying." The show was taped for airing later Friday evening. In a brief skit, Leno pushed her to talk about her husband's flaws. At first, she sarcastically said he has none. "He's perfect," she quipped. Then she let it out: It's their battles on the tennis court that get her peeved. It also looks like Bo _ the Obamas' dog _ is living like a king. The first lady said the presidential pooch celebrated his first birthday earlier this month with a Rose Garden party. Bo, a Portuguese water dog, feasted on a cake shaped like a dog house that was made out of veal. "We had a really sweet celebration," the first lady told Leno. "We had party hats." The first lady told Leno there are White House secrets she will never reveal _ she refused to divulge what daughters Malia and Sasha are wearing for Halloween. "You need security clearance for that," she said. Leno also wanted to know what she whispers to her husband after his speeches. "I usually ask him did he take out the garbage," she said. http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Michelle_Obama_s_gripe_President_s_tennis_game.htm 26th Oct,2009 WASHINGTON (AFP) - – The US economy is poised to show growth in the third quarter, rebounding from its worst slump in decades, but whether the recession is over is a more complex question. The first official estimate due Thursday on gross domestic product (GDP), or output of goods and services, is expected to show expansion of between 3.0 and 4.0 percent in the July-September period after four negative quarters in a row. Yet the economy may linger for months in a "no-man's land" in which GDP is expanding but no one is sure if the recession is "officially" ended, because of the way business cycles are defined in the United States. For decades, the US government and economic community have recognized a panel of academicians with the private National Bureau of Economic Research as the official arbiter of business cycles. The NBER panel does not use the definition employed in many countries of recession as two consecutive quarters of declining GDP. NBER says a recession is "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales." Moreover, the NBER generally waits months before its pronouncement, leaving the question of recession or not in limbo. Complicating the issue is the sharp rise in unemployment, which has hit a 26-year high of 9.8 percent, making it still feel like recession for many. "The average American doesn't think you have recovery until the unemployment rate comes down, and it won't come down until you have a sustained rate of 3.0 percent," says Cary Leahey, senior economist at Decision Economics, a research firm. "This is not really a meaningful recovery." Leahey expects the economy to show growth of roughly 3.9 percent in the third quarter, but sees a slowdown to around 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter as the expansion stalls. Moreover, analysts point out that much of the growth will be the result of businesses rebuilding inventories following sharp production cuts, and from government stimulus efforts that may not be sustained. Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at the research and consulting firm IHS Global Insight, said he believes the recession ended in June or July and that NBER should provide at least a preliminary pronouncement of the fact. "I'm sure the recession is over, the only question is the strength of the recovery," he said. "NBER could provide a preliminary reading, they could say, 'This is our best estimate,' instead of leaving everybody guessing." Behravesh said it may be as long as a year before NBER decides and that the state of uncertainty "is not helpful for businesses." Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said last month the recession is likely over "from a technical perspective" but that the economy will struggle due to difficult credit conditions and high unemployment. "It's still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time as many people will still find that their job security and their employment status is not what they wish it was," the Fed chief said. The NBER declared the current recession on December 1, 2008, a full year after the downturn began. That was made despite data showing modest growth in the fourth quarter of 2007 and second quarter of 2008. NBER declared an end to the 2001 recession only in July 2003, even though revised data showed there were not two consecutive negative quarters for GDP. Roger Farmer, chairman of the economics department at the University of California at Los Angeles, said he believes NBER will eventually declare the recession ended in May 2009. But Farmer said many Americans still will be feeling economic pain and that the NBER should consider other factors such as long-term unemployment. "I think the economy is fragile, and the recovery could easily fizzle out," he said. Even if the recession were declared over, "until the unemployment rate comes down, the US economy is going to be in trouble," he said. "Only when we start spending again, and confidence returns to the private economy will the recession be over." http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Recession_or_not_US_economy_likely_to_be_in_limbo.htm 26th Oct,2009 WASHINGTON – The White House scored a stroke for gender equality in sports on Sunday. President Barack Obama's chief domestic policy adviser, Melody Barnes, became the first woman to play in the president's golf foursome. She joined the president, Marvin Nicholson, the White House trip director, and Dr. Eric Whitaker, the executive vice president at the University of Chicago Medical Center, for a round on the Army's Fort Belvoir golf course. Obama has been criticized for playing basketball with men and no women, most recently in Sunday's New York Times. White House deputy press secretary William Burton confirmed the first. "He golfed with women on the campaign trail but not until Melody this year," Burton said. http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Yes_she_can_Obama_s_golfers_a_men_s_club_no_more.htm 25th Oct,2009 On Sunday night, it was a jubilant Nicolas Sarkozy who performed France's traditional presidential victory parade - around the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysees, to popping champagne corks and the raucous cheers of his staunch supporters. There is a feeling in Paris tonight that France, as Mr Sarkozy said in his victory speech, has turned "a new page of our history". "In the republic that I want to serve," he said, "there cannot be rights without obligations. All must have their opportunity, but they must earn it by work, by personal commitment, by belief." No-one is quite sure what will come next, but there is a sense of relief at a decision finally made, even if it is mingled with a fear of the future under its new leader, who has promised change and reform. France's new president is a man best known for his energy and his will to power: a human dynamo, who left his opponents trailing and exhausted in his wake. The Socialist Segolene Royal worked hard to beat him, but without the real backing of her own party and without a clear manifesto for France, she failed. The 52-year-old Nicolas Sarkozy scandalised the Paris elite a few years ago when he admitted to constantly thinking about becoming French president, "not only when I am shaving in the morning". 'American neo-con' Yet he was never part of that elite. He is the son of a Hungarian immigrant, who abandoned the young Sarkozy and his two brothers when they were young. According to several biographers, this left him with a burning desire to prove himself through sheer hard work and merit. Nor did Mr Sarkozy attend the traditional elite school, ENA, but studied instead as a lawyer. He went almost immediately into politics at the age of 22, becoming mayor of the upmarket Paris suburb of Neuilly at just 28 with the aid of the UMP's predecessor, the RPR - the party of President Jacques Chirac, who took the young Nicolas under his wing. Today, Mr Sarkozy's enemies on the left mockingly call him an American neo-con, who just happens to have a French passport, or deride him as a short, power-hungry man with a Napoleon complex. His supporters, however, claim with fervour that he is the only man who can save France from its economic and social ills. What is clear is that the former interior minister - known for his tough stance on crime and illegal immigration - is a deeply divisive figure for the French, thanks partly to his un-ministerial language in 2005. At the time, he re-assured a woman on one housing estate that he would hose the "scum" or "racaille" from the streets, and helped set France alight during the riots. 'Danger to democracy' But French voters have decided that his brand of tough leadership is exactly what France needs to reform this ailing nation after 12 long years under Jacques Chirac, who later became Mr Sarkozy's implacable enemy. In the long battle between the two, Mr Sarkozy finally won his gamble, taking both Mr Chirac's UMP party and now the presidency from his former backer. During the campaign, the Socialists tried to scare the French planning to vote for Mr Sarkozy, by warning that he was a danger to democracy and an aggressive politician who could not be trusted to keep his cool as president. It was a tactic that clearly backfired. Christine Lagarde, France's imperturbable and elegant trade minister, insists that image is a political fabrication. "He's a man of action, who wants to get things done, who is driven," she says. "France has many politicians with a lot of good ideas, but very few with the passion to act on them. He has real passion. It's what some people refer to as brutality, but he's a very passionate individual who is engaged in finding better solutions for this country." Mr Sarkozy's former campaign manager, Franck Tapiro has known him for 22 years and says the new president's talents will change the face of France. "He's a courageous man who has the guts to act and fulfil his promises. He believes that politics can change lives," he enthuses. "He is very dynamic, and for him life is about movement. He's the locomotive and always one step ahead - you just have to follow him." However, Mr Tapiro acknowledges: "You either love him or you hate him. There is nothing in between." Merit In his recent head-to-head debate against Ms Royal, Mr Sarkozy very clearly set out his priorities and vision for France. "France's moral crisis has a name. It is a crisis of work," he told the 20 million French voters watching. "I want the workers to be respected. I want to protect the French from seeing their jobs going abroad. I don't believe in living on social welfare. I don't believe everyone is the same. I believe in merit, I believe in effort and reward for that effort and I believe in social mobility. But above all, I believe in hard work." With that almost Thatcherite rhetoric, Mr Sarkozy has made putting France back to work top of his agenda. The 74-year-old President Chirac leaves behind him a stagnating economy, unemployment at 9%, and even higher among the young, with some 25% of the under-24s out of work. So Mr Sarkozy has promised to make the 35-hour working week a minimum rather than a maximum, calling it one of France's most poisonous legacies. He also wants to encourage wealth creation and bring down the number of French bureaucrats. Foreign policy He is a clear admirer of the Anglo-Saxon work ethic and of the US. On Europe, Mr Sarkozy is in favour of a mini-Constitutional Treaty to be ratified by the French Parliament, rather than risk another referendum. And like most French, he doesn't want Turkey in the EU. As for key alliances, he said in an interview with Paris Match that his first visit would be to Berlin, then Brussels, America and Africa. He didn't mention Britain. Mr Sarkozy was, though, the only candidate to campaign for the French vote in London, seeking to woo the young back to France, and winning 40% of the vote there in the first round. So would his foreign policy differ all that much from Jacques Chirac's? Government spokesman and minister Jean-Francois Cope believes not. "There will be a large continuity on many questions, such as Iraq," he says. "And that is true for other big issues where France is involved. Then I would say it's a question of generation, of sensibility. Of course they will be different - Mr Sarkozy is 52, part of a younger generation of politicians." Change Yet, as leader of one of Europe's most stubborn and unpredictable nations, will Mr Sarkozy really be able to institute the reforms he has promised if the trade unions and others take to the streets in protest? Political analyst Gerard Grunberg of Sciences-Po University in Paris wonders if he will be able to fulfil the promises made during the election campaign. "He's a very good politician on TV - part of a new generation of media leaders, like Tony Blair was 10 years ago," he says. "He was able to convince the French that he incarnated movement and change. At the same time, he promised he would protect people, so they felt secure. "The French people are contradictory about that - we don't want change because we are really frightened by the future. But another part of us acknowledges that maybe we will have to change." Nicolas Sarkozy will certainly need to try to unite this fractious, divided and uncertain nation, which fears it has lost its dominant role on the world stage. However, the new French president remains a divisive figure. As interior minister, he took a hard line on uncontrolled immigration and talked frequently during the campaign of the need to instil French values via a Ministry of National Identity. This made some in the multi-ethnic French suburbs feel uncomfortable and excluded - although many of immigrant origin agree vehemently with his idea of advancement on merit, rather than family ties or the elite background demanded by many leading French employers. Unlike many French politicians, Mr Sarkozy has long been a straight-talker, even if it did get him into trouble during the riots - and may again in the future. However, as president, he is well aware that his job is to unite the nation and act as the almost regal head of state the French expect from their leadership in the Elysee Palace, as well as kick-starting the reforms he has long promised. Above all, Mr Sarkozy is determined to lead a nation that is able to entice back and put to use all the talent and the energy that France has lost over the past 12 years of stagnation.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/The_new_face_of_France_under_Sarkozy.htm 22nd Nov,2008 The winning candidate in the French presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy, gave a victory speech in a Paris concert hall shortly after the first results were announced. My dear compatriots, as I speak to you this evening, at this time which, as everyone understands, is exceptional in a man's life, I feel enormous, sincere, deep emotion. From a very young age I have felt incredible pride at belonging to a great, an old, a beautiful nation, that of France. I love France as you love someone dear, someone that has given me everything. Now it is my turn to give back to France what France has given me... My thoughts are with Ms Royal... I want to tell her that I have respect for her and for her ideas in which so many French people saw their own ideas reflected. Respecting Ms Royal is respecting the millions of French who voted for her. A president of the Republic must love all the French whatever their opinions. National pride My thoughts therefore go to all of the French who did not vote for me. I want to tell them that beyond the political battle, beyond the differences of opinion, for me there is only one France. I want to tell them that I will be the president of all the French people, that I will speak for each one of them. I want to tell them that this evening it is not the victory of one kind of France against another... The French people have spoken and have chosen to make a break with the ideas, the customs and the behaviour of the past. I am thus going to restore the status of work, authority, standards, respect, merit. I am going to give the place of honour back to the nation and national identity. I am going to give back to the French people pride in France... Getting France moving The French people have opted for change. I shall be implementing this change because this is the mandate I have received from the people and because France needs it - but I shall do this with all of the French people. I shall do it in a spirit of unity and in a spirit of fraternity. I shall do it in such a way that no one is left with the feeling of being excluded, of being left to one side. I call on all the French, irrespective of their party, their beliefs, their origins, to join with me to ensure that France gets moving again. I call on each person not to allow himself or herself to be enveloped in intolerance and sectarianism, but to open up to others, to those who have different ideas, to those who hold other beliefs. 'Back in Europe' I want to issue an appeal to our European partners, to whom our destiny is profoundly linked, to tell them that my whole life I have been a European, that I believe deeply, that I believe sincerely in European construction, and that tonight France is back in Europe. But I entreat our European partners to hear the voice of the people who want to be protected. I entreat our European partners not to remain deaf to the anger of people who perceive the European Union not as a source of protection but as the Trojan horse of all the threats that come with the changes in the world. America and climate change I want to issue an appeal to our American friends, to tell them that they can count on our friendship, which has been forged in the tragedies of history which we have faced together. I want to tell them that France will always be by their side when they need it, but I also want to tell them that friendship means accepting that your friends may think differently and that a great nation such as the United States has a duty not to put obstacles in the way of the fight against global warming, but on the contrary to take the lead in this fight, because what is at stake is the fate of humanity as a whole. France will make this battle its primary battle. The Mediterranean and Africa I want to issue a call to all the people of the Mediterranean to tell them that it is in the Mediterranean that everything is going to be played out, that we have to overcome all kinds of hatred to pave the way for a great dream of peace and a great dream of civilization. I want to tell them that the time has come to build together a Mediterranean union that will form a link between Europe and Africa. What was done for the union of Europe 60 years ago, we are going to do today for the union of the Mediterranean. I want to issue a call to all Africans, a brotherly call, to tell Africa that we want to help it, to help Africa to vanquish illness, to vanquish famine, to vanquish poverty, to live in peace. I want to tell them that we are going to work together on decisions concerning a policy of controlled immigration and a policy of ambitious development. Tolerance and tyranny I want to issue a call to everyone in the world who believes in the values of tolerance, freedom, democracy, humanism, to all those who are persecuted by tyranny, by dictatorships. I want to tell all of the children throughout the world, all of the ill-treated women throughout the world - I want to tell them that it will be France's pride and its duty to be at their side. France will be at the side of the Libyan nurses [Bulgarian nurses imprisoned in Libya], imprisoned for eight years. France will not abandon Ingrid Betancourt [held by Farc rebels in Colombia]. France will not abandon the women condemned to wear the burqa. France will not abandon the women who do not have freedom. France will be on the side of the oppressed of the world. This is France's message, it is France's identity, it is France's history.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Nicolas_Sarkozy_Victory_speech_excerpts.htm 22nd Nov,2008 Lawyer Rachida Dati, named as French justice minister by President Sarkozy, is the first person of North African origin to hold a top government post in Paris. She was born in 1965 to an Moroccan mason father and an Algerian mother, one of 12 children raised in humble circumstances. At the age of 16, she started working as a carer in a private clinic. The premature death of her mother forced her to look after her younger sisters and brothers. "My mother was the light of my life. When I lost her, I thought I had been punished," she says. Working by day, learning by night, she gained degrees in both economics and law, and went on to work for various public and private companies - including a spell working as an accountant for French oil giant Elf. In 1997, Rachida Dati enrolled in the prestigious National College of Magistrates, where she studied for two years. The ties with Nicolas Sarkozy that would eventually take her to the cabinet began in 2002. She wrote to the then freshly-appointed interior minister, expressing her desire to advise him on immigration - Mr Sarkozy accepted. She went on to become a constant figure at his side, taking on the tough job of spokeswoman during his presidential campaign. As his adviser, she played an important role in dealing with the delicate issue of integration. After the 2005 riots in the French suburbs, when Nicolas Sarkozy called the rioters - some of whom were of North African origin - "scum", Rachida Dati worked behind the scenes to limit the damage, as her boss stood accused of racism. Now, Rachida Dati is the highest-ranking person of North African descent in France.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Profile_Rachida_Dati.htm 22nd Nov,2008 The humanitarian activist and former Health Minister Bernard Kouchner is widely admired in France, not least for his passionate, often outspoken declarations on human rights and the need to intervene to protect them. A doctor by training, he co-founded the Nobel prize-winning Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in 1971 to put his beliefs into action, after working as a young doctor for the Red Cross in Biafra in 1968 during Nigeria's civil war. Seeing children there starve to death fired in him a lifetime's commitment to the cause of preventing humanitarian crises and bearing witness. By creating MSF, "we were establishing the moral right to interfere inside someone else's country", he once told an interviewer. Controversy Bernard Kouchner came to prominence in France in 1979 when he chartered a cargo ship and took it to the South China Sea with a group of doctors to rescue Vietnamese boat people trying desperately to make it to Hong Kong. However, his high-profile place in that project led to a falling-out between him and the organisation he helped to create. So in 1980, he set up the rival organisation, Medecins du Monde, to continue his work. Mr Kouchner remains a popular public figure in France, though not necessarily with his socialist colleagues, many of whom see his acceptance of the foreign minister's job under the right-wing government of Nicolas Sarkozy as a betrayal. He has long had a complex relationship with the party, taking a more pro-American line than many French socialists and often calling for renewal and reform on the left. His last cabinet post was as a socialist health minister, in the government of the late President Francois Mitterrand, appointed in 1992. Since then, Mr Kouchner, 67, has served as UN special representative to Kosovo from 1999-2001, where colleagues praised his "can-do" attitude - though some criticised what they saw as his impulsiveness and refusal to take advice. In favour of Iraq war In 2003, he was one of the very few French politicians to come out in favour of the US-led military intervention in Iraq, saying that he was against war but also against Saddam Hussein's regime, and that the US offensive had the merit of over-throwing "an evil dictator". Mr Kouchner had seen for himself the suffering of the Kurdish population under Saddam Hussein when he travelled there in the early 1990s with Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the late president, on a humanitarian mission. More recently, he has criticised Russia for human rights abuses in Chechnya, and spoken out on the atrocities against civilians in Darfur. The outspoken Mr Kouchner knows how to use the media to best effect to make his point or back a cause, though he was criticised by some in France in 1992 for images of him wading ashore alone in Somalia during the famine, carrying a sack of rice on his back. His partner, Christine Ockrent, is a top French TV presenter and political journalist. Washington-friendly France's new foreign minister is expected to implement Mr Sarkozy's promise to give high priority to human rights and fight global warming, and also to help repair relations with the US after their chill in 2003. This will very clearly be a much more Washington-friendly French government than the previous one. However, how much freedom the country's new foreign minister will have to decide foreign policy is open to debate. The French president has traditionally been deeply involved in shaping foreign affairs, and Mr Sarkozy has pledged to be a more hands-on president than most. Mr Kouchner also has to share the task of advising on foreign policy with a new French national security adviser, a post Mr Sarkozy has modelled on the White House's National Security Council. He gave the job to Jean-David Levitte, an expert on international affairs and experienced diplomat, and most recently the French ambassador in the US.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Profile_Bernard_Kou.htm 22nd Nov,2008 Following his comfortable victory at the polls, Nicolas Sarkozy took a few days' holiday to recover from an intense, two-round campaign. But what will the new French president do now he has been inaugurated as President? His first priority will be to form a new cabinet - which is expected to include not just members of his centre-right UMP party, but also centrists and left-wing defectors. He will then have two main tasks - preparing for parliamentary elections on 10 and 17 June, and kick-starting what he calls his plan for "rupture". "We must act - that's what the French expect," Mr Sarkozy's campaign director, Claude Gueant, told France's RTL radio. "The operational team must be ready very soon," he added. 'Absolute power' How soon, however, is still unclear. The UMP already has an overwhelming majority in the outgoing assembly, and nothing can stop the president pushing through some of his programme before the June polls. On the other hand, Mr Sarkozy may decide to wait until a new assembly is in place. Traditionally French voters have given newly elected presidents a strong parliamentary majority, boosting their legitimacy further. Either way, the opposition is worried about being crushed into irrelevance. "The victors want to decide everything," Socialist party chairman Francois Hollande said. "We need countervailing powers." But the strongest warning came from centrist leader Francois Bayrou. "Absolute power can be a comfort," he said. "You can decide what you like, and no one is there to oppose you." But at the same time, Mr Bayrou added: "No one is there to stop you making mistakes - when absolute power is mistaken, it is absolutely mistaken." Battles Mr Sarkozy's plans are sweeping indeed. He wants to drive growth by rewarding effort and spurring competition - the kind of market reform undertaken in most EU countries in the 1990s, but which have repeatedly failed in France. His economic programme includes incentives to encourage overtime - summed up by his slogan "work more to earn more" - as well as deep tax cuts. The president-elect wants to reform the benefits system by forcing the unemployed to accept work, and by scrapping the pensions privileges enjoyed in the public sector. He has also pledged to take on restive state workers by instituting a "minimum service" for transport during strikes, and by not replacing half the workers retiring from public service. Mr Sarkozy is tough on crime and illegal immigration, and has promised to create a controversial new "ministry for immigration and national identity". His clear victory has given the lie to those - both on the traditional right and left - who had argued that the French are not ready for root-and-branch reform. Nevertheless, the contentious nature of his programme suggests bitter battles ahead. The new president's opponents are mobilising for the legislative polls. Opposition moves For the Socialists, the challenge is to avoid recriminations following their third consecutive defeat in a French presidential election. Dominique Strauss-Kahn - a former finance minister who wants to take the Socialist Party closer to centre - has already begun challenging both Mr Hollande and presidential candidate Segolene Royal (who happen to live together as partners). A change of leadership among the Socialists, however, is unlikely until after the legislative elections - when the real battle for the soul of the party begins in earnest. The most noticeable realignment will take place in the centre of French politics. Mr Bayrou is hoping to capitalise on his relative success in the first presidential round to create a new party in the centre. His Democratic Movement will be launched later this week, and is expected to field candidates in all constituencies. Unlike the old UDF it is replacing, the new group will not be allied to the right - reflecting an influx of new sympathisers from the centre-left. But it is unclear whether the Socialists, who are licking their wounds, or an untried centrist movement can stop a UMP landslide.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/What_now_for_Nicolas_Sarkozy.htm 22nd Nov,2008 Will she or won't she? Paris is abuzz with the question, as voters wonder whether Cecilia Sarkozy will be a full-time First Lady or not, as her husband Nicolas assumes power at the Elysee Palace on Wednesday. Other nations have soap operas to keep them entertained. France has its own real-life political drama, which has so far kept millions tuned in - from the gripping episodes during the long-term feud between Nicolas Sarkozy, 52, and his former mentor, the outgoing President Jacques Chirac, to the recent cliff-hanger of the sporadic absences of Cecilia from her ambitious husband's side. The 49-year-old former model and mother of his youngest son, Louis, 10, was with Mr Sarkozy as he claimed victory in his speech to cheering supporters on Place de la Concorde on the evening of 6 May. But she was not with him earlier on Sunday afternoon when he went to vote, even though both of her stunning blonde daughters were at his side. Cecilia was also noticeably absent for most of the final weeks of his winning campaign, even as President Chirac's wife Bernadette turned up to give her support at Mr Sarkozy's final rally in Montpellier. Marital 'furniture' Cecilia's recent absences have puzzled and intrigued the French, not least because for a long time she was one of her husband's closest political advisers. When he was minister of the interior from 2003, her office was next to his and she was known as a decisive and calming influence on Mr Sarkozy behind the scenes. However, the couple had a well-publicised split when Cecilia left Mr Sarkozy in May 2005 for several months for the international communications consultant, Richard Attias, confiding to friends that she had had enough of being treated like "part of the furniture". The rumours flew on the internet, and among Paris-based journalists. But when Paris Match published a series of photos of Cecilia with her lover in New York, it was a step too far. The editor of the magazine, Alain Genestar, lost his job - the result, most believe, of severe pressure from above. France's new president has been known to ring editors personally in fury when upset by coverage, and is said to have a long memory for journalistic slights. Happily for relations between the French media and their new president, Cecilia returned to Mr Sarkozy's side a few months after the split, in January 2006. Only a few newspapers had reported his affair - during her absence - with a French political journalist. Over the past month, there has been little coverage in the French media of Cecilia's on-off presence. Mr Sarkozy is a close friend of many of France's media barons. In fact, this week Paris Match boasts a picture of the couple kissing on its front cover. "Cecilia shares in his victory," reads a sub-heading, followed by several pages of photographs of the presidential pair together on the night of his victory, along with Cecilia's two daughters from her previous marriage and Nicolas Sarkozy's two sons from his first marriage. Cecilia was also back at his side, along with their youngest son, as the new president sunned himself on a billionaire's yacht off Malta for a few days after the election. 'Struck by lightning' France has long been fascinated by one of its most glamorous power couples and their fiery personalities and continuing marital dramas - including the story of how they first met. Cecilia Maria Sara Isabel Ciganer-Albeniz was born in Paris to a pianist father of Russian origins and a Spanish mother. A law student and parliamentary aide as well as a model, she was first married at the age of 27 to the 51-year old children's TV presenter Jacques Martin at the town hall of the chic Paris suburb of Neuilly in 1984. The man who performed their marriage ceremony was a certain Nicolas Sarkozy, then the 29-year old mayor of the suburb. Three years later, Mr Sarkozy and Cecilia met again and he was apparently "struck by lightning" as he fell in love with her and she with him. The two left their respective spouses for each other, finally marrying in 1996 and playing out much of their subsequent relationship in the media spotlight. Since then, Cecilia and the children have often appeared in magazine photo-shoots with Nicolas Sarkozy portraying their happy family life, with Paris Match showing the couple holding hands and enjoying a walk in the park on a recent weekend trip to London. So what will happen next? Will Cecilia be a First Lady in the Bernadette Chirac mould, keeping her counsel and rarely speaking to the media except to promote her charitable interests? Cecilia Sarkozy herself has gone on the record as saying she has always been keen to preserve her independence. "I don't see myself as First Lady - the whole idea bores me," she said in an interview in March 2005. "I am not politically correct." 'Many but discreetly' But does it matter whether there is a full-time First Lady in the Elysee Palace? The French are, after all, famously tolerant of what their presidents get up to in their private lives. The late Francois Mitterrand managed to keep a mistress and an illegitimate child secret for most of his presidency. Even though the chattering classes in Paris knew, nobody thought it necessary to inform the French public. The outgoing President Jacques Chirac has also admitted to having loved many women "as discreetly as possible" though it is not clear if his wife Bernadette agrees with his assessment. "The French are very tolerant. They will brush off affairs, they will disregard financial scandals by French presidents," says one man who should know, Jean-Francois Probst, a long-time adviser and former chef-de-cabinet of Mr Chirac. "But in some ways the French are also very conservative, and I think if there is no traditional First Lady to represent them, many would be upset." In his book Testimony, Mr Sarkozy himself wrote last year: "Today, Cecilia and I are reunited for good, for real, doubtless for ever... We are not able and do not know how to separate from each other." He recently explained Cecilia's absence on the campaign trail as a deliberate strategy to take his family out of the relentless glare of the media, when the far-right leader Jean-Marie le Pen tried - but failed - to make political capital out of Cecilia's temporary absence. All the signs point towards Cecilia Sarkozy remaining at Nicolas Sarkozy's side and becoming France's First Lady as he takes office this week. However, in this age of les pipol (people), as celebrities are dubbed here, the French will doubtless be tuning in enthusiastically for the next episode of the gripping real-life drama that is Elysee Palace.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Sarkozy_soap_opera_grips_Paris.htm 22nd Nov,2008 Francois Fillon, a key ally of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has been appointed the country's new prime minister in a ceremony in Paris. Mr Fillon, 53, a moderate conservative senator, helped direct Mr Sarkozy's successful election campaign. He is expected to play a leading role in the president's plans to reform France's employment and welfare laws. Mr Sarkozy, who succeeded Jacques Chirac on Wednesday, is due to name the rest of his government on Friday. He has promised to halve the number of government ministers to 15, and has said about half will be women. The outgoing prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, who resigned from the post on Tuesday, received his successor and formally handed over power in a ceremony on Thursday morning. In line with tradition, the Republican Guard was deployed in ceremonial uniform and Mr Fillon arrived via a red carpet laid out across the courtyard at the prime minister's official residence, the Matignon. During the ceremony the new prime minister said: "I will listen to everyone because a France in motion needs everyone." Afterwards Mr de Villepin emerged from the Matignon, wished Mr Fillon good luck and said: "He has all the necessary qualities to succeed in the service of our country." Mr Fillon served as social affairs minister between 2002 to 2004, pushing through a major overhaul of the country's pension system in the midst of large street protests. He has also served in several other government posts for the UMP party, but lost his place in Mr Chirac's administration in 2005 and pledged his loyalty to Mr Sarkozy. Reform agenda The new president said on his first day in office that France needed to bring in more reforms quickly. "There is a demand for change. Never have the risks of inertia been so great for France as they are now in this world in flux where everyone across the world is trying to change quicker than the others, where any delay can be fatal," he said. Shortly afterwards, the pair put on their jogging kits and went for a brisk run around the Bois de Boulogne. The BBC's Caroline Wyatt, in Paris, says all this is a new and very different style for France, whose heads of state here have traditionally been patrician, somewhat remote figures. It is clear that Mr Sarkozy and Mr Fillon are serious about getting this nation moving again, she says, beginning by setting their own personal example. Mr Fillon's renowned conciliatory skills will be much needed as prime minister if he is to succeed in a post often described as a poisoned chalice, says the BBC's Alasdair Sandford in Paris. Mr Fillon will lead the UMP party into parliamentary elections in June. Opinion polls suggest the party will gain a majority, giving Mr Sarkozy and Mr Fillon the scope to push ahead with reforms.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Sarkozy_names_ally_Fillon_as_PM.htm 22nd Nov,2008 She was holding a red rose and wearing a red T-shirt with the name of her heroine. At 16, Elise Poussin is too young to vote, but she is one of thousands of young people across France who have got an early taste of politics in this election, which has gripped the French for months like a political soap opera. Elise had come to the imposing headquarters of the Socialist Party to catch a glimpse of Segolene Royal, hoping for victory but fearing defeat. Hugging a friend for comfort, she watched the socialist candidate, dressed in one of her trademark tailored white jackets, admitting defeat on television. "We're all very disappointed, but we expected it," Elise told me. "We didn't want to believe it, but now it's real." New leader An army colonel's daughter, Segolene Royal fought to the last, with a steely will that few had expected in the elegant mother of four. But it looked like mission impossible even to those who voted for her. Their vote often seemed motivated by fear of Nicolas Sarkozy, rather than confidence in the policies or competence of his socialist rival. The third consecutive defeat for the socialists in a presidential election was the story of a death foretold. The old-style French left is probably dead tonight. But a new leader of the left may have emerged. For while Nicolas Sarkozy can argue he has got a popular mandate to change France, Segolene Royal can say she has got an equally strong mandate to modernise her party. With over 47% of the vote, her score is the highest achieved by a socialist leader since 1995. To cheers from her adoring fans, she said her campaign had launched "a profound renewal of political life and of the left," which would lead to future victory. But she has got very little time to prepare for the next battle. Traditional allies Next month, France goes to the polls again for the parliamentary election. Francois Hollande, the socialist party leader who also happens to be Ms Royal's partner, admitted mistakes had been made, but called for unity. Many think the party could split, with some leaders (or "elephants," as they are called) insisting the socialists should stick to its old anti-liberal principles, a veiled rejection of capitalism as a whole. But the socialists' traditional allies on the far left have been all but wiped out in these elections. The best option, others claim, is to continue the rapprochement already started by Ms Royal to the centrist leader Francois Bayrou, who lost in the first round, but with enough votes to launch a new Democratic Movement later this week. This may be the only way to bring the French socialists into the European mainstream as a social democratic movement. But some feel that this new-found alliance has already failed, as too few of Mr Bayrou's voters backed Ms Royal in the second round. Whatever happens, the French political landscape is shifting fast. And young people like Elise Poussin will be part of it. In the end, she did not get to see Segolene Royal in the flesh. But she will continue to oppose Nicolas Sarkozy's policies - and in five years, she is certainly going to vote.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Left_hopes_for_renewal_after_Royal_loss.htm 22nd Nov,2008 France's Socialists are seeking a centrist alliance in the second round of parliamentary elections to prevent a crushing victory for the ruling UMP. The right-wing UMP, led by President Nicolas Sarkozy, is heading for an election landslide on 17 June after Sunday's first round. The UMP is on course to win between 383 and 501 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, up from 359. The Socialists' Segolene Royal said France needs to have "counterweights". Her party faces a tricky period of soul-searching after Mr Sarkozy's triumph in the presidential election and the latest blow to the Socialists' fortunes. Opposition bloc? Ms Royal, who lost to Mr Sarkozy in the presidential race, said she wanted to prevent an "excessive concentration" of power in the hands of just one party. She called for an alliance of the Socialists and the new centrist party led by Francois Bayrou - the Democratic Movement (MoDem). "It is necessary in a democracy to breathe, it is necessary in a republic to have counterweights to the government," she said on French TV. "At this point it is clear that the MoDem should join the candidates of the Socialist Party." Only one of the 110 MPs elected in the first round of voting was a Socialist. The Socialists currently have 149 seats in the assembly. Mr Bayrou's MoDem party could win some key constituencies, notably Bordeaux, where the mayor Alain Juppe is vulnerable. Last month Mr Sarkozy recalled Mr Juppe to the cabinet as environment minister, after serving a year-long ban from public office for his role in a party funding scandal. Analysts say a big majority would allow Mr Sarkozy to press ahead with sweeping economic reforms. Turnout on Sunday hit a record low, at 60.5%. That contrasted with a turnout of 84% in the presidential election a month ago. Blue wave If candidates do not win more than 50% of the vote, with at least a 25% turnout, the constituency must vote again on 17 June. Any candidate with a first-round score of 12.5% or more of the registered vote is eligible to stand. France has not given a single party a second successive parliamentary majority since 1978 - but this time the pattern looks set to change, says the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris says. France's "blue wave" means the president will get exactly what he wants - strong backing with which to implement his ambitious programme of economic reforms, our correspondent adds. The parties of the left - including the communists, who look set for their worst result in memory - have called for a big turnout next week, warning voters not to give absolute power to Mr Sarkozy. He has said he will hold a special session of parliament in July to initiate his first set of political reforms, which include tougher immigration rules and more freedom for universities. A new finance bill will mean that overtime earnings are no longer taxed, inheritance tax is abolished for most people and overall individual taxation is capped at 50%.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Bruised_Royal_seeks_poll_alliance.htm 22nd Nov,2008 Segolene Royal, the defeated Socialist in France's presidential poll, says she has split from her partner, Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande. Ms Royal announced the end of their 25-year relationship on French radio. "All couples have their difficulties, and we have had ours... And now we are moving on to a new phase," she said. Analysts say the Socialists' delight over gains in the parliamentary polls will be overshadowed by the separation of the party's "golden couple". The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says the announcement will end the speculation and rumours over the past months about the exact state of their partnership. Their relationship had clearly been put under strain by disagreements during the presidential election, with Mr Hollande occasionally quoted contradicting Ms Royal's policies, our correspondent says. 'Affair' "I have asked Francois to live his life his way and he accepted. We no longer live in the same home," Ms Royal told the France Inter radio station. The revelations are expanded on in a book to be published by Ms Royal this week, in which she says Mr Hollande was having an affair and that she had asked him to leave their home. In her book, Behind The Scenes Of A Defeat, Ms Royal also says she plans to stand for the Socialist Party leadership in 2008 when Mr Hollande's mandate ends. The two have been together since they were both at the elite Ecole Nationale d'Administration, which turns out many of France's top civil servants and politicians.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/French_golden_couple_separate.htm 22nd Nov,2008 Segolene Royal was well beaten by Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential election campaign, but her political ambitions remain undimmed. Bidding for leadership of the French Socialist Party, she has inspired both a devoted following, and trenchant opposition. Even if she wins, she will struggle to unite a party dismissed in some parts of the French press as "ungovernable". She is popular among grassroots supporters, and has promised to give the party an "unshakeable future". But she still has many critics among the party grandees - the so-called elephants - who say she is too lightweight and would lead the party in the wrong direction. Damaging split And it is not only ideological opposition she faces - in one case in particular, it's personal. Ms Royal is hoping to take over the party leadership from her former partner, Francois Hollande. They were once known as the party's "golden couple", but split last year, around the time of the election itself, after spending nearly 30 years together and having four children. While they have insisted they are still friends, Mr Hollande has refused to support her politically. Despite her overtures - publicly praising Mr Hollande and his record - he threw his weight behind Bertrand Delanoe, mayor of Paris, for the party leadership. The Socialist Party itself has wrestled with bitter infighting since 1995, when France's last Socialist president, Francois Mitterrand, stepped down. Its annual convention in mid-November ended in disarray after failing to reach a consensus on the three candidates, despite Ms Royal winning a pre-convention ballot with 29%. Ms Royal has been increasingly leaning to the left, insisting that economic liberalism and socialism are incompatible, say correspondents. At the annual conference, held in Reims, Ms Royal pleaded for unity, saying the party would "have to forget all the unpleasant and at times violent words, erase them and one day forgive each other". Young ambition Born in 1953 in Senegal, in what was then French West Africa, Ms Royal grew up one of eight children of an authoritarian former artillery officer. Jacques Royal brought his family back to France in the early 1960s, and life for the Royal children near Epinal in the Vosges was largely unhappy. Segolene struggled to pursue further education, with her father believing women did not need it. However, he was proud of his daughter's accomplishments at school. She gained admission to the elite Paris Institute of Political Studies (IEP), where she graduated in economics and went on to study at the influential Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA). According to journalist Daniel Bernard's biography, Madame Royal, the future politician was rebelling against her conservative milieu from the age of 12, questioning why women should have fewer rights than men. In 1972, her rebellion took legal form when she sued her father for refusing, after his wife left him, to divorce her and provide for the family's upkeep and the education of the children. She did not win the case until 1981, just a year before her estranged father's death from cancer. Into politics At ENA, the traditional "finishing school" for France's senior officials, Ms Royal met Francois Hollande. Mr Hollande now leads the Socialists and was himself seen last year as a presidential candidate. Ms Royal graduated in 1980 and, along with Mr Hollande, became an adviser to Socialist President Francois Mitterrand. Elected an MP for the Deux-Sevres constituency in western France in 1988, she is currently president of the Poitou-Charentes regional council. She served as minister for the environment from 1992-93, and later served as junior minister for education (1997-2000) and junior minister for family and childhood (2000-01). When she declared her hand for the presidential nomination in 2007, some of the most cutting remarks were made by her own party colleagues. Laurent Fabius, who ran against her, publicly asked who would look after her children if she went for the presidency. Ms Royal was blamed for a presidential campaign that was seen as lacklustre and gaffe-strewn. However, she is a confident campaigner who can inspire genuine popularity, and few will deny she has proven herself as a fighter through her career.     http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/Profile_Segolene_Royal.htm 22nd Nov,2008 Hillary Clinton will agree to serve as secretary of state in US President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet, the New York Times has reported. The paper quotes two "confidants" as saying Mrs Clinton has decided to quit her Senate position for the job. Mrs Clinton's office says discussions are "very much on track" but says further reports are premature. But correspondents say some kind of deal between the two former political rivals seems far advanced. The latest report comes after days of speculation on Mrs Clinton's prospects. The BBC's Kim Ghattas, in Washington, says if Mr Obama did not want those stories out there - because he was not thinking of Mrs Clinton for the job - someone from his team would have already been scotching the reports. Reports also suggest Mr Obama is likely to pick former presidential candidate and New Mexico Gov Bill Richardson as commerce secretary. And Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, is expected to be nominated to the post of US Treasury secretary. American stock markets reacted positively to the reports about Mr Geithner, with the Dow Jones index rising by more than 6%. Reports 'premature' Philippe Reines, a senior advisor to Mrs Clinton, told the BBC it would be premature to say Mrs Clinton had accepted the position. "We're still in discussions, which are very much on track. Any reports beyond that are premature." But unnamed officials in the Obama and Clinton camps said they had every reason to believe Mr Obama would announce her as his choice, the Associated Press reports. Mrs Clinton, who was First Lady when her husband Bill served as president from 1993 to 2001, lost a close race against Mr Obama for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. If she is appointed secretary of state (foreign minister), she will have to step down as a senator for New York. She would succeed Condoleezza Rice, who has had the job for the past four years under President Bush. To date, the most senior appointment made by Mr Obama, who succeeds President Bush in January, is Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff. He is expected to announce a round of appointments after the Thanksgiving holiday next Thursday.   http://www.arablaws.org/article/article/bjam72gzhy.htm 22nd Nov,2008