Dominique de Villepin, the former French PM charged with plotting to discredit Nicolas Sarkozy in the build-up to the 2007 presidential poll, has filed suit against the French president for violating his right to the presumption of innocence. AFP - Former prime minister Dominique de Villepin filed suit Monday against Nicolas Sarkozy after the French president called him and other defendants in a smear trial "guilty", a judicial official said.
AFP - Former prime minister Dominique de Villepin filed suit Monday against Nicolas Sarkozy after the French president called him and other defendants in a smear trial "guilty", a judicial official said.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told a gathering of civil society representatives on Monday (28 September) that the European Union needed to do more to tackle social issues such as poverty. He said member state governments had repeatedly blocked greater European action in this area in the past, choosing instead to look after their own poor. "I think now in the face of this economic crisis we should consider doing something at the European level for the poorest," he told delegates of the Spring Alliance, a group of civil society organisations seeking to influence the next commission's work programme. "My position is yes [to greater European action]. So far the position of the council [representing member states] has been no. That is the reality," said Mr Barroso, who earlier this month won the backing of the European parliament to carry on for another five years at the helm of the EU executive.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told a gathering of civil society representatives on Monday (28 September) that the European Union needed to do more to tackle social issues such as poverty.
He said member state governments had repeatedly blocked greater European action in this area in the past, choosing instead to look after their own poor.
"I think now in the face of this economic crisis we should consider doing something at the European level for the poorest," he told delegates of the Spring Alliance, a group of civil society organisations seeking to influence the next commission's work programme.
"My position is yes [to greater European action]. So far the position of the council [representing member states] has been no. That is the reality," said Mr Barroso, who earlier this month won the backing of the European parliament to carry on for another five years at the helm of the EU executive.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Romania's most powerful judges on Monday (28 September) decided to suspend a strike over salary cuts, after weeks of blocking trials and threatening to boycott the presidential election due on 22 November. The judges of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (HCCJ), Romania's court of last resort, put their protest on hold until 31 October when they will "re-evaluate the situation and decide accordingly." Romania's judges are wrestling with the government over benefits which they granted themselves The power tussle started during the summer when the coalition government, led by the centre-right Democratic-Liberal Party (PDL), trimmed salaries for all state employees and cut judges' bonuses - extra pay they had granted themselves despite a ruling by the country's Constitutional Court. The country's public finances, severely affected by the crisis, are under scrutiny by the EU and International Monetary Fund, which lent Romania an aid package of €20 billion.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Romania's most powerful judges on Monday (28 September) decided to suspend a strike over salary cuts, after weeks of blocking trials and threatening to boycott the presidential election due on 22 November.
The judges of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (HCCJ), Romania's court of last resort, put their protest on hold until 31 October when they will "re-evaluate the situation and decide accordingly."
Romania's judges are wrestling with the government over benefits which they granted themselves
The power tussle started during the summer when the coalition government, led by the centre-right Democratic-Liberal Party (PDL), trimmed salaries for all state employees and cut judges' bonuses - extra pay they had granted themselves despite a ruling by the country's Constitutional Court.
The country's public finances, severely affected by the crisis, are under scrutiny by the EU and International Monetary Fund, which lent Romania an aid package of €20 billion.
The European Commission is to draft new technical standards to limit the volume of mobile music players following concerns the popular gadgets could cause hearing loss, particularly among young people. The EU's Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said on Monday that the proposed standards would aim to cap the maximum volume output on MP3 players from 100 decibels down to 80. Kuneva said scientific research had shown that the quality of music reproduction at high levels on small players is now so superior that more and more people are turning up the volume, risking permanent damage.
The EU's Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said on Monday that the proposed standards would aim to cap the maximum volume output on MP3 players from 100 decibels down to 80.
Kuneva said scientific research had shown that the quality of music reproduction at high levels on small players is now so superior that more and more people are turning up the volume, risking permanent damage.
The foreign ministers of France and Poland plan to ask the US to help free the Franco-Polish film director, Roman Polanski, after his arrest in Switzerland. Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Sunday (27 September) told the Polish Press Agency that he and his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, aim to submit a joint appeal to US secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Mr Polanski picking up an award earlier in his career "[We are] considering approaching the American authorities over the possibility of the US president proclaiming an act of clemency which would settle the matter once and for all," he said. The French foreign ministry issued a statement saying that "Bernard Kouchner has contacted [Swiss foreign minister] Micheline Calmy-Rey to express the French authorities' wishes that Mr Polanski's rights be fully respected and that the matter quickly finds a favourable outcome."
The foreign ministers of France and Poland plan to ask the US to help free the Franco-Polish film director, Roman Polanski, after his arrest in Switzerland.
Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Sunday (27 September) told the Polish Press Agency that he and his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, aim to submit a joint appeal to US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Mr Polanski picking up an award earlier in his career
"[We are] considering approaching the American authorities over the possibility of the US president proclaiming an act of clemency which would settle the matter once and for all," he said.
The French foreign ministry issued a statement saying that "Bernard Kouchner has contacted [Swiss foreign minister] Micheline Calmy-Rey to express the French authorities' wishes that Mr Polanski's rights be fully respected and that the matter quickly finds a favourable outcome."
Diplomatic war brewing as politicians and filmmakers lobby for release of Oscar-winning director after arrest on 1978 US warrantA diplomatic war was brewing today over the arrest of the filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was detained in Switzerland on a decades-old warrant relating to the rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977.France and Poland urged Switzerland to free the 76-year-old director on bail and said they would be lobbying the US government all the way up to the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.Frédéric Mitterrand, the French culture minister, said the arrest was proof of the "frightening" side of America."In the same way as there is a generous America which we love, there is also a certain kind of America which is frightening, and it is this America which has now shown us its face," he said.
A diplomatic war was brewing today over the arrest of the filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was detained in Switzerland on a decades-old warrant relating to the rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
France and Poland urged Switzerland to free the 76-year-old director on bail and said they would be lobbying the US government all the way up to the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.
Frédéric Mitterrand, the French culture minister, said the arrest was proof of the "frightening" side of America.
"In the same way as there is a generous America which we love, there is also a certain kind of America which is frightening, and it is this America which has now shown us its face," he said.
Mr. Polanski pleaded guilty in 1978 to unlawful sex with the girl whom he had lured to the home of Jack Nicholson on the pretext of a photo shoot and plied with Quaaludes and Champagne.
= Polanski is lucky because that girl could very well have aspirated her own vomit and died. This could well have been a fatal rape.
Polanski is without doubt a great director. But Ezra Pound was a great poet, and talent was a poor moral compass in his case as well. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
The fact that the victim says she wants him freed is irrelevant. After all, she has been outed as a rape victim, no anonimity for her. Everytime it's been in the news she's had her humiliation rubbed in her face. She wants it to be over. I imagine she wants it gone from her life, she wants to be who she is, not Roman Polanski's victim. and nobody will let that happen. keep to the Fen Causeway
It would be easy to file them under conspiracy-theory paranoia if it weren't for the way that the stories and reports keep surfacing, and the apparently inconsistent standards that apply to famous people.
This whole campaign against Polanski must have something else behind it.
Why would he be singled out when, during the 1960s-80s Los Angeles 'free love' movement, any number of prominent movie and music stars - Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Denis Hopper, Jim Morrison, to name only a few - were engaged in luxury home, pool-side, drugged out orgies? Virtually all of this took place in notorious Laurel Canyon where, for several decades, underage girls were consumed like hors d'oeuvres.
How many parents are on record as having objected?
This is not to condone Polanski's act, by any means, but the LA police department might have done better to do a thorough investigation of the murder of Polanski's pregnant wife, which was studiously thwarted, than to have pursued Polanski for what was known to authorities to be common Laurel Canyon practice.
One might wonder even whether Polanski knows a thing or two about the Laurel Valley drug / sex / murder racket that authorities would prefer to ensure were kept under wraps. .
I'm quite sure Samantha regrets the mistake of coming out in 1997 but her present notoriety is largely her own undoing. She relinquished her "right to be forgotten."
For a thorough treatment of the case I suggest reading Gerald Posner's Polanski's Next Escape and related articles linked on the dailybeast site.
In the end, this is not something that Hillary or Barry can touch. In addition to lock-stepping seniors into happy euthanasia camps, they can't take on a label of letting old geezers get away with raping teenagers.
This will run its course. The Superior Court in California will have to drop the case for lack of something, and that will be that. Unfortunately for Polanski, since he has run from sentencing before, he probably won't be allowed free on bond. So he will do some time until it all winds through the system...starting now, I presume. Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
Smoking Gun has put up the minutes of Gailey's grand jury testimony detailing the sexual assault.
Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen says women who fail to find a job because they wear a burqa should not receive unemployment benefit. If you are not prepared to compromise, he adds, you cannot expect to receive benefits intended for those genuinely trying to find employment. Speaking in an interview in the daily newspaper Trouw, Mayor Cohen emphasized that he is opposed to a general ban on the burqa, since it is an expression of religious belief. However, in situations in which contact with other people is necessary, such as at school or in the workplace, he argues that women should choose a less restrictive head covering. In 2007 an Amsterdam court stopped the council in nearby Diemen from cutting a woman's benefit for wearing a burqa. The Lower House of parliament then introduced a motion to allow councils to reduce benefits for burqa-wearers. A motion to halt benefits altogether was supported only by Geert Wilders' right-wing Freedom Party.
Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen says women who fail to find a job because they wear a burqa should not receive unemployment benefit. If you are not prepared to compromise, he adds, you cannot expect to receive benefits intended for those genuinely trying to find employment.
Speaking in an interview in the daily newspaper Trouw, Mayor Cohen emphasized that he is opposed to a general ban on the burqa, since it is an expression of religious belief. However, in situations in which contact with other people is necessary, such as at school or in the workplace, he argues that women should choose a less restrictive head covering. In 2007 an Amsterdam court stopped the council in nearby Diemen from cutting a woman's benefit for wearing a burqa. The Lower House of parliament then introduced a motion to allow councils to reduce benefits for burqa-wearers. A motion to halt benefits altogether was supported only by Geert Wilders' right-wing Freedom Party.
Ferrán Adrià is many things -- visionary, chemist, artist, magician -- but the man widely regarded as the world's best chef may be about to add another adjective to his astonishing CV, that of saviour. The culinary genius behind El Bulli, the tiny restaurant that draws gastronomes from around the world to an otherwise unassuming corner of the Costa Brava, is to apply his skills to the task of luring tourists back to Spain. It is a huge challenge. Tourism accounts for about 11 per cent of Spain's GDP, but it took a battering this year as the global economic downturn led foreigners to seek cheaper beach destinations elsewhere. Overnight stays fell by 5 per cent in August year-on-year, after a 5.5 per cent decrease in July, according to the National Statistics Institute. As the value of sterling fell against the euro, the number of Britons hitting Spanish beaches fell by 10.4 per cent.
Ferrán Adrià is many things -- visionary, chemist, artist, magician -- but the man widely regarded as the world's best chef may be about to add another adjective to his astonishing CV, that of saviour.
The culinary genius behind El Bulli, the tiny restaurant that draws gastronomes from around the world to an otherwise unassuming corner of the Costa Brava, is to apply his skills to the task of luring tourists back to Spain.
It is a huge challenge. Tourism accounts for about 11 per cent of Spain's GDP, but it took a battering this year as the global economic downturn led foreigners to seek cheaper beach destinations elsewhere.
Overnight stays fell by 5 per cent in August year-on-year, after a 5.5 per cent decrease in July, according to the National Statistics Institute. As the value of sterling fell against the euro, the number of Britons hitting Spanish beaches fell by 10.4 per cent.
Lord Mandelson has warned that Labour would be "underdogs" at the next election but said that they will win thanks to Gordon Brown's experienced leadership. In a keynote conference speech, the Business Secretary acknowledged the election was not "cut and dried" and still "up for grabs". "We may be the underdogs," he told conference delegates. "But if we show the British people that we have not lost the fighting spirit and appetite for change ... then we can win and will win."
In a keynote conference speech, the Business Secretary acknowledged the election was not "cut and dried" and still "up for grabs".
"We may be the underdogs," he told conference delegates. "But if we show the British people that we have not lost the fighting spirit and appetite for change ... then we can win and will win."
Gordon Brown will get "little credit" if Britain's economy is clearly recovering in the run-up to the general election, an exclusive new poll for The Times reveals. But the cloud of gloom that has engulfed the Prime Minister may be lifted slightly by the response to calls from within Labour for him to resign. Almost three fifths of the party believe he should continue as leader through to polling day - and after all the recent criticism he has faced, it is a level of support for which Mr Brown may be relieved. The Populus poll, undertaken over the weekend, shows that half the public (51 per cent) and nearly two fifths of Labour voters (38 per cent) believe Labour would be better off if Mr Brown was to "quit with dignity", as Charles Clarke, the former Home Secretary, said last week. However, just over two-fifths of voters (43 per cent) and three-fifths of Labour supporters (59 per cent) want Mr Brown to continue as leader through to the general election. More worrying for Labour is that, even if the economy is coming out of recession and clearly recovering by early next year, Mr Brown is unlikely to gain much credit outside the ranks of his own party's supporters. Nearly half the public ( 47 per cent) say Mr Brown will deserve "only a little credit" for the recovery, while just over a quarter (27 per cent) say he will deserve "no credit at all".
Gordon Brown will get "little credit" if Britain's economy is clearly recovering in the run-up to the general election, an exclusive new poll for The Times reveals.
But the cloud of gloom that has engulfed the Prime Minister may be lifted slightly by the response to calls from within Labour for him to resign. Almost three fifths of the party believe he should continue as leader through to polling day - and after all the recent criticism he has faced, it is a level of support for which Mr Brown may be relieved.
The Populus poll, undertaken over the weekend, shows that half the public (51 per cent) and nearly two fifths of Labour voters (38 per cent) believe Labour would be better off if Mr Brown was to "quit with dignity", as Charles Clarke, the former Home Secretary, said last week. However, just over two-fifths of voters (43 per cent) and three-fifths of Labour supporters (59 per cent) want Mr Brown to continue as leader through to the general election.
More worrying for Labour is that, even if the economy is coming out of recession and clearly recovering by early next year, Mr Brown is unlikely to gain much credit outside the ranks of his own party's supporters. Nearly half the public ( 47 per cent) say Mr Brown will deserve "only a little credit" for the recovery, while just over a quarter (27 per cent) say he will deserve "no credit at all".
I hate the tories, but accept that labour have to lose, that all of the elitist right wing trash cluttering its benches need to be expunged before a Labour party will be electable again. keep to the Fen Causeway
On anti-social behaviour the prime minister will tell delegates: "Whenever and wherever there is anti-social behaviour, we will be there to fight it. "We will not stand by and see the lives of the lawful majority disrupted by the behaviour of the lawless minority. "Because the decent, hard working majority are getting evermore angry - rightly so - with the minority who who will talk about their rights but never accept their responsibilities."
On anti-social behaviour the prime minister will tell delegates: "Whenever and wherever there is anti-social behaviour, we will be there to fight it.
"We will not stand by and see the lives of the lawful majority disrupted by the behaviour of the lawless minority.
"Because the decent, hard working majority are getting evermore angry - rightly so - with the minority who who will talk about their rights but never accept their responsibilities."
He then clinked a glass, said 'Cheers', and passed the hat for election contributions from his banking chums, while the gods of irony thundered and cast lightning bolts in vain.
European confidence in the economic outlook increased to the highest in 12 months in September as the economy showed signs of rebounding from the worst recession in more than six decades. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16- nation euro region rose to 82.8, the highest since September 2008, from 80.8 in August, the European Commission in Brussels said today. That was the sixth straight monthly gain. Economists had projected an increase to 82.7, according to the median of 23 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.
An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16- nation euro region rose to 82.8, the highest since September 2008, from 80.8 in August, the European Commission in Brussels said today. That was the sixth straight monthly gain. Economists had projected an increase to 82.7, according to the median of 23 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.
Michael McGowan: We should be at the heart of Europe, but not with Tony Blair as President - Yorkshire Post
Tony Blair has been touting for the job for some time to add to his lucrative portfolio and has even been mentioned as favourite to get it.However, Gordon Brown should make it clear that the choice of Tony Blair for President of Europe does not have his blessing.The comment attributed to Glenys Kinnock, the new Europe Minister, speaking to journalists in Strasbourg in July that the British government is backing Tony Blair for the President of Europe appears to have been a mistake and it would be helpful for Brown to make clear that his predecessor does not have the support of the Government.Blair would see the job as a high profile grandstanding position on the world stage with plenty of air miles. And his failure to show solidarity with Europe on Iraq should eliminate him from any serious consideration for President of Europe. He was out of step with European political and public opinion apart from his friend and holiday host, Mr Berlusconi.
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