Paris

EU foreign ministers to discuss Ossetia crisis

EU foreign ministers to discuss Ossetia crisis Paris  - European Union foreign ministers are to meet early next week to discuss the crisis in South Ossetia, with the possible option of calling an emergency summit of the 27-member bloc, officials said Saturday.

A statement released by the French EU presidency said French President Nicolas Sarkozy had set as priorities the immediate cessation of hostilities, the observation of the territorial integrity of Georgia and the withdrawal of Georgian and Russian troops.

Algerian security personnel kill 12 suspected Islamist extremists

Algerian security personnel kill 12 suspected Islamist extremists

Police defuse three bombs in Basque region in France

Paris - French bomb experts on Thursday night found and defused three bombs in the country's south-western Basque region, reports said Friday.

About 1,000 people were evacuated, France Info radio reported.

The bombs were discovered in the wake of repeated bomb threats by an unknown group.

One of the explosive devices was found on a high-speed train rail line near Bayonne.

The other two were found at the tourist resort of Arcangues, south of Bayonne.

Authorities had also received threats of bombs at a casino in Biarritz, a luxury hotel and holiday resort.

No explosives were found there, however.

EU Green leader: Sarkozy China trip like a handshake with Hitler

Paris  - Top Greens politician in the European Parliament Daniel Cohn-Bendit Friday compared French President Nicolas Sarkozy's journey to the China Olympics to a handshake with dictator Adolf Hitler during the 1936 Olympics in then Nazi Germany.

He had hoped Sarkozy had refrained from travelling to the opening of the Olympic Games, Cohn-Bendit said in an interview with the French broadcaster France Inter, adding: "Was it right to shake Hitler's hand in Berlin in 1936?"

China was a totalitarian regime, said Cohn-Bendit, who is co- president of the Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA) Group in the European parliament.

Jean Sarkozy son files complaint over anti-Semitic grafitti

Jean Sarkozy, the 21-year-old son of French President Nicolas SarkozyParis - Jean Sarkozy, the 21-year-old son of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has filed a complaint against unknown persons over anti-Semitic grafitti, the daily Le Figaro reported Friday.

The paper said a suspect, 63, had been arrested by police, a man with a previous record of known anti-Semitic comments.

The younger Sarkozy's complaint followed a number of grafitti messages smeared on buildings in an up-scale suburb of Paris, with the message "Sarkozy, thieving Jew," the paper said.

Sarkozy will not meet Dalai Lama during French visit

Sarkozy will not meet Dalai Lama during French visit Paris  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy will not meet the Dalai Lama during the latter's upcoming visit to France, the Elysee Palace said Wednesday.

The Tibetan religious leader had given current circumstances not requested a meeting with the French president, a palace statement said.

According to Le Figaro however Sarkozy's wife Carla Bruni will attend a religious ceremony led by the Dalai Lama for the opening of a Buddhist temple in Roqueredonde in southern France.

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