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/ 15 October 2007
French tourism is enjoying a boom thanks to the Rugby World Cup, with hundreds of thousands of rugby fans filling top-end hotels and proving wealthier and better behaved than the average soccer supporter. France Tourism Minister Luc Chatel said an estimated 350 000 foreign fans and their families would be drawn to France during the six-week tournament, which ends on October 20.
World Bank presidential nominee Robert Zoellick said on Tuesday he believed a deal could be clinched in the Doha round world trade talks and that such an accord would give a big boost to development and growth. ”I believe that a deal can be done. I believe a deal should be done,” he told reporters.
New boys, lame ducks and a problem child head to Germany on Wednesday for a Group of Eight (G8) summit that will address the world’s most pressing concerns. The annual major power jamboree is meant to focus on policies, but personalities might steal the limelight this year thanks to significant changes to the longstanding cast list.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a broad-based Cabinet on Friday, naming popular leftist Bernard Kouchner as foreign minister in a slimline government that radically reshaped the economic ministries. Maintaining an election promise, Sarkozy appointed seven women to his 15-strong team.
Nicolas Sarkozy succeeded Jacques Chirac as French president on Wednesday in a simple ceremony, promising to revitalise France and restore national pride. Sarkozy was inaugurated under the chandeliers of the Elysee Palace, which will be his home for the next five years, shortly after his predecessor drove off into retirement.
Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy won France’s presidential election on Sunday, beating his Socialist rival Ségolène Royal by a comfortable margin and extending the right’s 12-year grip on power. Within minutes of polls closing, Royal conceded defeat in a speech to party faithful in the heart of Paris.
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/ 25 January 2007
Lebanon’s political and economic crisis takes centre stage at an international aid conference on Thursday, with the country’s Western-backed leaders hoping anti-government protests don’t scare away the donors. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said Lebanon needs billions of dollars to help shore up its debt-riddled finances and to recover from last year’s war.
World powers which backed a package to defuse a dispute with Iran over its nuclear ambitions are ready to respond to Iran’s call for talks but only if it first suspends uranium enrichment, France said on Wednesday. Iran replied to the incentives package offered by six nations on Tuesday, saying it contained ideas that would allow serious talks to start immediately.