Up To Date france

France revealed Tuesday that it had convinced former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to cancel a speech in Paris regarding the political crisis in Thailand. However, the organisers of the event insisted that it would not abandon the event.

“Thaksin Shinawatra assured us he would do what was asked”, said French Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bernard Valero to reporters. He was referring to demands made by French authorities last week about not speaking in Paris on 31 May.

Valero mentioned that the address to journalists, which was set up by an unpopular think-tank called the Centre of Political and Foreign Affairs, “was no longer planned”, and that Thaksin “told us he would not come back” to France.

However, Fabien Baussart–the leader of the group that organised the speech, told AFP: “This event is still scheduled and it will take place whether the foreign ministry wants it to or not”.

“It is an invitation to a private place which the foreign ministry is not in charge of”, he continued. “The ministry is going after him and I’d really like to know why”.

France said Thursday it had advised the deposed Thai prime minister to refrain from making public speeches during his private travel to France in consideration of the political situation in Thailand.

A court in Thailand issued on Tuesday a warrant of arrest for Thaksin. The former Thai minister faces terrorism charges, which is punishable by death. Thaksin allegedly bankrolled the protests and incited unrest in Thailand.

Valero mentioned that France wasn’t bound by the warrant as of the present. After the statements on Thursday, the organisers behind the event said Thaksin temporarily went to London.

The son of a popular right-wing French member of the EU parliament has been required to attend a court hearing on rape charges filed by his brother, according to judicial sources on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Guillaume de Villiers is charged of raping Laurent, his younger brother who is now 25 years old. The rape allegedly occurred sometime between January 1995 and December 1996 when both men were just minors.

Guillaume and Laurent are sons of 61-year-old Viscount Philippe Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, who is a known eurosceptic leading the Movement for France. He is also the Euro-MP of western France’s Vendee region.

Working as a global development consultant, the now-married and father of three children Guillaume has long since denied the accusations made by his brother. The issue first became known to the public after the filing of a formal complaint back in 2006.

He is now facing trial on the allegations before an Yvelines criminal court. On Friday, a probing magistrate in Versailles decided that the case needed answers.

The senior De Villiers, who fathered a total of seven children, has stood twice for France’s president riding on a conservative-nationalist ticket. However, he was also dropped twice on the first round.

Outside the French nation, he is popularly know for his connection to the Libertas movement, which is against further European integration.

Established by Irish businessman Declan Ganley, Libertas started a campaign for a no-vote back in the Lisbon Treaty’s 2008 Irish referendum. It also backed a network of known eurosceptic candidates in the European election in 2009.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was embarrassed yesterday over an online film that features some vulgar comments she said about love and sex during her years as a young model.

Running for 27 minutes, the film has been uploaded to the popular video-sharing internet site YouTube. It contains interview excerpts of the young First Lady that pits her outgoing past with her refined present – as the First Lady of France.

In one segment, the Italian-born First Lady grabs a book entitled, “Hot International Love and Sex Guides,” from her handbag. The guide translates erotic key phrases into a total of seven languages.

“We need these kind of books because we’re travelling all around the world, we’re meeting new people and we want to know what to tell them in case we get into bed with them”, she said to interviewers on Channel 4’s Eurotrash show.

The then-28 Ms. Bruni in 1996 went on to cite four different translations of the statement “You get me very hot”. She ended with the Italian translation “Mi eccite tanto”. She also cited other explicit phrases, soliciting an “oh no!” from one of the interviewers. Producer Thomas Cazals, who gathered the portrait entitled “In the Tube with Carla Bruni,” mentioned he did it “starting with the naive idea of better getting to know this character”.

Swift action was taken by The Elysee Palace regarding the film, which was removed last night from the blog of Mr. Cazal.

Even though the film pays tributes from fashion personalities who have high regard for the beauty, intelligence, and wit of Ms. Bruni-Sarkozy, it won’t receive a warm welcome. The former model has been making efforts to keep her brazen past in the past after tying the knot with Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. The couple were seen yesterday at a farming event in Paris

French coach Raymond Domenech on Monday opted to stick to his squad of 23 players for the World Cup in South Africa next month and not to get a replacement for Lassana Diarra after the star midfielder pulled out because of illness.

Domenech stated on the website of the French Football Federation (FFF) that he is confident that his 23-man squad will perform well in the month-long tournament, scheduled on 11 June-11 July.

“We though about it (calling up a replacement for Diarra) for a long time”, explained the French coach, who initially had 24 players in the camp until the midfielder fell ill. “However, we are placing our confidence in the 23 players here at Tignes, who are really hungry to go to the World Cup finals, and show us that every day”.

Diarra was ruled out from the finals last Saturday after he was diagnosed to have an intestinal disease. The midfielder left Portsmouth for Real Madrid in January last year, having played previously for Arsenal and Chelsea.

With Jeremy Toulalan of Lyon, he formed Domenech’s first choice defensive midfield pair. Diarra played in 10 of the 12 matches of France during their qualification campaign for the 2010 World Cup.

Abou Diaby of Arsenal played in his position during the squad’s training session last Saturday afternoon.

France’s Les Bleus will begin their campaign in the World Cup against Uruguay on 11 June in Cape Town.

A Mauritanian prosecutor asked Monday the Nouakchott criminal court to give the three young males suspected of killing four French nationals in 2007 a death sentence.

Defendants Sidi Ould Sidna (22), Maarouf Ould Haiba (28), and Mohamed Ould Chabarnou (29), are the primary suspects in the shooting of five French nationals in Aleg. Four of the five victims died on 24 December 2007.

During the trial’s opening last Sunday, the three suspects claimed to be “soldiers of Al-Qaeda” and admitted receiving training in the organisation’s camps. However, they deny shooting the French tourists.

“I am a soldier of Al-Qaeda, I say it with pride. I have been trained in their camps”, said Ould Sidna, one of the three suspects, during the trial at the capital of Mauritania.

The three suspects are charged with criminal association, belonging to an armed gang that performed terrorist attacks against foreign nationals and murders.

The court is doing the trial of 12 Mauritanian men connected to the murders. Two are tried despite remaining at large.

Since the French tourists’ murders, the usually peaceful Mauritania has been the subject of several attacks, kidnappings, and murders acknowledged by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Ould Chabarnou and Ould Sidna were both taken into custody in January 2008. They were captured in Guinea-Bissau, a west African nation, through the assistance of French intelligence.

Ould Haiba was captured later in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. Early on Sunday, the same court also sentenced a male suspect to 10 years in jail for links to the north African wing of Al-Qaeda.

The alleged military commander of the ETA, a Basque militant group, is due to make an appearance before a magistrate in France on Monday to face charges of terrorism, according to prosecutors.

Portrayed by Spain’s government as the military chief and supreme leader of the ETA, Mikel Karrera Sarobe was taken into custody by French police last Thursday in a raid in Bayonne, southwest France.

Sarobe, 37-years-old, was arrested together with a pair of suspected accomplices. One of the alleged accomplices, Arkaitz Aguirregabiria del Barrio, was believed to be Sarobe’s right-hand man. The other was a female militant.

Sarobe would be the fifth military chief of the ETA to be arrested in a span of two years, as the Spanish and French governments have beefed up joint operations to arrest the Basque separatist group. Prosecutors in Paris mentioned that a formal inquiry had been started targeting the three suspects as well as a fourth individual, who was arrested in Urugne, also in southwest France.

Samples of Sarobe’s DNA matched those gathered from the crime scene of the December 2007 murder of two Spanish police personnel in Capbreton, according to prosecutors.

The ETA chief could have charges filed against him in connection to the murder, the prosecutors added.

For the last 40 years, ETA has been fighting an armed campaign for the independence of Basque, carved out from southwest France and northern Spain.

The ETA is listed as a terrorist group by the EU, and has been considered accountable for the killings of 829 people in the duration of its on-again-off-again campaign of bomb and gun attacks against Spanish targets.

France’s Aravane Rezai was on form on the French Open’s first day, making a solid show for her country after beating Heidi El Tabakh of Canada in two sets. While Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had a more difficult task, trouncing Daniel Brands of Germany in five sets.

The hopes of France in the two-week Roland Garros tournament had better news after Rezai defeated Tabakh 6-1 6-1 to highlight her credentials. The 15th-seeded Rezai, who learned playing tennis in St. Etienne’s dimly-lit park courts, recently beat Venus Williams to grab the Madrid title and is on the way to meet her again in the fourth round.

Eighth-seed Tsonga, the highest-ranked male player of France, nearly ruined a pleasant day for the home fans after he was forced to play five sets against 89th-ranked Brands. After losing the first set, he appeared to have the game in his hands when he took the next two sets; however, a poor tiebreak in the fourth set took the match to a decider. With the crowd supporting him, Tsonga survived the fifth set and won 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-7 7-5.

In the other games, women’s defending champ Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia beat Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3 6-1. Seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams, whose best effort in the tournament was her loss to sister Serena during the finals in 2002, seemed to be in fine form after defeating Patty Schnyder 6-3 6-3.

Meanwhile, 23rd-seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia injured a hamstring while playing against Julien Benneteau of France and retired after two sets. Croatian Marin Cilic, seeded 10th, beat Ricardo Mello of Brazil 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-1.

The foreign ministers of France, Egypt, and Spain stated Sunday that a Mediterranean Union summit was cancelled later in 2010 to make sure that it won’t be affected by the turmoil in the Middle East.

According to Miguel Angel Moratinos of Spain, the decision to move the summit of the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM) from June to November was intended to “guarantee the full success of the UPM summit”.

The Spanish diplomat, who mentioned in the past week that the cancellation was aimed to allocate sufficient time for development in the indirect talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, further mentioned that the setback wasn’t an indication that the Union was “working to reduce ambitions”.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit spoke to reporters and said that the summit’s cancellation would “allow the three parties to get enhanced support”.

Visiting French minister Bernard Kouchner stated that “no crisis” exists and that “we are working for success in November”.

France and Egypt are co-chairs of the Mediterranean Union. Spain, meanwhile, is hosting the headquarters of the group. It is also the holder of the European Union presidency at the present.

The ministry of Moratinos said on Thursday that the three nations have all agreed to cancel the summit. They also decided that Barcelona would now be hosting it later on November.

On Sunday, Moratinos said: “We’ve been through some difficulties” since the launch of the group. He added: “There is a very difficult situation in the Middle East”.

Three individuals who allegedly murdered four French tourists in 2007 in Mauritania said during the beginning of their trial Sunday that they see themselves as warriors of Al-Qaeda.

“I am a soldier of Al-Qaeda, I say it with pride. I have been trained in their camps”, said Sidi Ould Sidna, one of the defendants, during the trial held in the capital of Mauritania.

“I did not kill them but I confess that it would have been a great honour if I had carried it out”, stated Ould Maarouf Ould Haiba, another defendant.

Nouakchott was enveloped with tight security as the trial court started with its proceedings. The streets in the centre of the city were blocked by police.

The trio of suspect are being tried for the shooting of five French nationals on 24 December 2007 near Aleg City, south of Mauritania. Four of the tourists died, while the fifth sustained serious wounds.

Ould Chabarnou and Sidi Ould Sidna were taken into custody in January of 2008. They were captured in Guinea-Bissau, a country in West Africa, through the help of French intelligence.

Maarouf Ould Haiba, the third suspect, was captured later in Nouakchott.

All of the three Mauritania nationals are suspected of being part of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The group has taken responsibility for a number of abductions in North Africa.

Nine more people are being tried for their involvement in the murders. Two of the 12 suspects are still at large and being tried in absentia.

The court started studying the cases of the nine alleged accomplices. On the morning of Sunday, the same trial court handed a man connected to the North African wing of Al-Qaeda a 10-year sentence.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and newly elected British Prime Minister David Cameron started their so-called new partnership on Thursday, as both heads of state vowed to cooperated to implement a new international banking regulation.

Europe had some concerns regarding Cameron’s initial trip as prime minster due to the Conservative leader’s eurosceptic reputation. However, Sarkozy was smiling as he received the British prime minister at the Elysee.

After a brief working dinner, the two leaders attend a press conference to put emphasis on the several ways they could cooperate amidst the financial crisis currently affecting Europe.

“One of the areas in which the president and me have very much a shared agenda is making sure that at the forthcoming G8 and G20 we really look at reform of our banking system”, Cameron said to reporters.

Britain and France will be attending the G20 summit at Toronto together with the most powerful economies in the world in June. The French president wants to utilise his group presidency in 2011 to reform the global financial system.

Cameron stated that his country and France would support “banking levy” to get back funds given to banks that have already made profit after the bail-outs.

He also added that both he and Sarkozy supported American President Barack Obama’s view that high street retail banks must not be involved with very risky trades, which he refers to as “casino banking”.