Dubai, Nov. 27th, 2008 --H. E. France's President Nicolas Sarkozy praised the publication issued by the Centre of Information Affairs in Abu Dhabi on the occasion of his visit to the United Arab Emirates in January this year.

The publication of the book reflects close relations and constructive cooperation between the two friendly countries in political, economic, scientific, and cultural fields. The book tackles Sarkozy's political march, highlighting the offices and posts he assumed and his political interests as well.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy is drawing up a plan to relaunch the country's economy that will cost about 20 billion euros (25.9 billion dollars), the online edition of the daily Le Monde reported on Wednesday.

Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told Europe 1 radio that Sarkozy was thinking of a plan that would require funding worth about 1 per cent of France's GDP.

"That would mean about 19 billion euros," she said. "I know the president has in mind 1 per cent (of GDP), perhaps a little more."

Paris - Despite a bitter defeat in the vote to head the French Socialist Party, former presidential candidate Segolene Royal is apparently preparing to stand for the
2012 presidential election.

In a video available on Wednesday on the internet, Royal tells her supporters, "I need you, I need your ideas, because we are continuing - 2012 is soon, 2012 is tomorrow,
2012 is in three years."

On Tuesday, after four days of bitter infighting, the Socialist Party declared that Royal lost last Friday's party leadership election to Lille Mayor Martine Aubry by only 102 votes out of 135,000 cast.

Paris - If nothing else, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's tenure as head of the European Union has done wonders for his popularity, according to a poll made public on Wednesday.

In the survey by the BVA institute, 48 per cent of respondents said they had a favourable opinion of Sarkozy while 47 per cent said they did not.

This was the first time since at least the beginning of the year that those having a good opinion of Sarkozy outnumbered those who did not.

This impressive rebound can be attributed almost exclusively to Sarkozy's handling of the economic crisis as EU head.

Paris  - Lille Mayor Martine Aubry was on Tuesday officially named the new head of the French Socialist Party after a bitter election that badly split the party.

The party's national council officially named the 58-year-old Aubry the first-ever female party head after a party commission investigating claims of election irregularities had determined that she won Friday's election over former presidential candidate Segolene Royal by 102 votes out of nearly 135,000 cast.

Originally Aubry had been credited with a winning margin of only 42 votes, or 0.04 per cent. The closeness of the contest and reports of irregularities in several voting districts, including in Lille, had moved Royal supporters to charge that the election had been stolen.