Hamburg  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to stay away from celebrations of 60 years of NATO unless he was given a choice seat at the conference table, the German news weekly Der Spiegel reported Saturday.

It said Sarkozy objected to seating in alphabetical order of the member country's names and insisted that he must sit next to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer during the meeting in early April in Strasbourg, France and in nearby German towns.

Geneva  - Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will visit AIDS programmes in Burkina Faso on Wednesday, during her first trip as Global Ambassador for the protection of mothers and children against AIDS.

She received the position from the Global Fund last December, on World AIDS Day.

Nicolas Demey, a spokesman for the organization, said it was financing almost 45 million dollars worth of projects in the African nation, where 130,000 people are living with HIV or AIDS.

The fund is a mechanism for raising money to fight HIV, tuberculosis and malaria and has close ties to the United Nations.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy has tried to ease British irritation over comments he made regarding Prime Minister Gordon Brown's strategy for fighting the economic crisis, Sarkozy's office said.

"The Elysee Palace has contacted Downing Street to assure Prime Minister Brown that President Sarkozy deplored the manner in which his comments on the British economy were reported in Britain," Sarkozy's office said in a statement.

Baghdad  - French President Nicolas Sar

Washington, Feb 06 : Screen legend-turned-animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has written an open letter to the French president Nicolas Sarkozy asking him to ban seal products.

Bardot is angry with laws that allow seal hunting, insisting the creatures are treated cruelly in the production of meat, oils and pelts.

And therefore, the French star has appealed to the president, voicing her concern, after several European states agreed to hold off on a measure to ban the practice as major seal skin exporters in Canada review their laws on seal hunting.

Paris  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy late Thursday came to the defence of Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who has been accused of conflict of interest.

"Bernard Kouchner has my total trust," Sarkozy said during an appearance on national television to discuss the economic crisis.

A book published Wednesday accused Kouchner of using his position as head of a public health organization to carry out high-paying consulting activities in Africa for private companies.