Sarkozy hails Mexico’s fight against organised crime

September 8th, 2009 France's Sarkozy hails Bongo in Gabon electionPARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office says he has sent a letter of congratulations to Gabon's newly elected president, Ali Bongo — in a vote contested by the opposition in the African country. A Sarkozy spokesman says the presidential palace sent the letter but that the receiving country usually announces such correspondence.

August 16th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - At least 19 inmates of a prison have been killed in a clash in the northwestern Mexican state of Durango, officials have said. More than 26 were also injured in the brawl that broke out Friday night between rival groups in the jail in the city of Gomez Palacio, Jorge Torres, Durango's public safety secretary, told the press Saturday.

July 27th, 2009 LONDON - French President Nicolas Sarkozy was rushed to hospital after he collapsed while jogging. The 54-year-old politician was taken to Val-de-Grace Military Hospital in Paris through air ambulance, where he was joined by his wife Carla Bruni, 41.

June 23rd, 2009 Mexico refuses to send French kidnap convict homeMEXICO CITY — Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Monday that a Frenchwoman convicted of kidnapping will have to serve her 60-year sentence in Mexico, rejecting appeals by France to send her home. Calderon said his government decided against returning Florence Cassez because France wouldn't guarantee that she would serve the full sentence.

April 29th, 2009 Sarkozy unveils sweeping new vision for ParisPARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy has unveiled an ambitious, costly new plan to rethink the structure of Paris and its troubled suburbs. Sarkozy says a key focus of the plan should be expanding the French capital's links to the English Channel via more trade along the Seine River and a new high-speed rail line to Le Havre.

April 16th, 2009 PARIS - While US President Barack Obama is very intelligent and charismatic, he is 'not always at his best when it comes to decisions and efficiency', French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted Thursday as saying. 'He has only been elected for two months and has never managed a ministry in his life,' Sarkozy was quoted as saying by Liberation newspaper.

March 26th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - More than five million women have become victims of people trafficking networks in Latin America and 10 million more are at risk of falling prey, activist Teresa Ulloa has said. The director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Latin America and the Caribbean (CATW-LAC), also said that the traders 'are more and more linked with organised crime', and added that poverty had made the phenomenon 'skyrocket in recent years'.

March 12th, 2009 JERUSALEM - French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has joined the efforts of the Hadassah Medical Organization and Hadassah-France to help raise money for AIDS research. The fund will also be in aid of treatment of HIV/AIDS patients at Jerusalem's Hadassah-University Medical Centre, and an outreach program in African countries.

February 21st, 2009 PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, angered by protest incidents in the past, is now paying visits to local communities with protection provided by hundreds of police and gendarmes, officials confirmed Thursday. A visit to the Loire valley town of Daumeray with a population of 1,600, took place with 700 police providing security, the gendarme office in Angers said.

February 19th, 2009 PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, angered by protest incidents in the past, is now paying visits to local communities with protection provided by hundreds of police and gendarmes, officials confirmed Thursday. A visit to the Loire valley town of Daumeray with a population of 1,600, took place with 700 police providing security, the gendarme office in Angers said.

February 19th, 2009 PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, angered by protest incidents in the past, is now paying visits to local communities with protection provided by hundreds of police and gendarmes, officials confirmed Thursday. A visit to the Loire valley town of Daumeray with a population of 1,600, took place with 700 police providing security, the gendarme office in Angers said.

January 20th, 2009 CIUDAD JUAREZ - Two severed heads were found inside a cooler in front of the city hall here, EFE reported Wednesday. Along with the two heads was a card with a message from the killers to a rival criminal outfit, but the authorities did not reveal the contents of the note.

January 11th, 2009 PATNA - In the drive to make Bihar a crime-free state, the police have sought divine intervention by performing special prayers at the railway stations to prevent any wrongdoing in trains. Special prayers were organised by the Government Railway Police (GRP) at the Ara railway station in Bhojpur district, about 60 km from here.

January 5th, 2009 DAMASCUS - France's President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday asked Syria to pressure Hamas to return to a ceasefire and help achieve a solution to the escalation in the Gaza Strip. 'Syria can offer a solution in Gaza.

December 23rd, 2008 LONDON - France's first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, a pop singer and former model, says she is 'no longer a man-eater.' Speaking to Marie-Claire magazine on her 41st birthday during a trip to Brazil, Bruni-Sarkozy, whose boyfriends have included Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and American hotelier Donald Trump, said she loves her husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy. 'I can no longer seduce because I love my husband,' she told the Brazilian edition of Marie-Claire.