Sarkozy, Hollande Progress as Poll Shows Le Pen Wins 20% of Vote
[Newsmax.com]
Posted: April 23, 2012
Socialist Francois Hollande and President Nicolas Sarkozy progressed to the second round of France’s presidential election as a record vote for the anti- immigrant National Front left the contest open.
Hollande got 28.4 percent of the first round of voting and Sarkozy won 25.5 percent, according to polling company Ipsos. The anti-euro Marine Le Pen won 20 percent, surpassing all recent opinion polls, the company said. Communist Party-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon got 11.7 percent, and self-styled centrist Francois Bayrou got 8.5 percent, said Ipsos.
But Le Pen’s record score of 19.6 percent was the sensation of the night, beating her father’s 2002 result and outpolling hard leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon in fourth place on 11 percent. Centrist Francois Bayrou finished fifth on less than 9 percent.
It was the first time a sitting president seeking re-election had been beaten into second place in the first round. But Sarkozy backers at his campaign headquarters chanted “We are going to win”, interpreting Le Pen’s score as more significant than Hollande’s narrow lead over the incumbent.
Iran stops oil sales to British and French firms
[Reuters.com]
February 19, 2012
(Reuters) – Iran has stopped selling crude to British and French companies, the oil ministry said on Sunday, in a retaliatory measure against fresh EU sanctions on the Islamic state’s lifeblood, oil.
“Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped … we will sell our oil to new customers,” spokesman Alireza Nikzad was quoted as saying by the Ministry of Petroleum website.
The European Union in January decided to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1 over its disputed nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at building bombs. Iran denies this.
Iran’s oil minister said on February 4 that the Islamic state would cut its oil exports to “some” European countries.
Experts Say Cellphones Are Possibly Carcinogenic
FoxNews.com
Associated Press
Published May 31, 2011
Reuters – An international panel of experts says cellphones are possibly carcinogenic to humans after reviewing details from dozens of published studies.
The statement was issued in Lyon, France, on Tuesday by the International Agency for Research on Cancer after a weeklong meeting of experts. They reviewed possible links between cancer and the type of electromagnetic radiation found in cellphones, microwaves and radar.
The agency is the cancer arm of the World Health Organization and the assessment now goes to WHO and national health agencies for possible guidance on cellphone use.
The group classified cellphones in category 2B, meaning they are possibly carcinogenic to humans. Other substances in that category include the pesticide DDT and gasoline engine exhaust.
US Intelligence: ‘Desperate’ Gadhafi Could Use WMD
Newsmax.com
Monday, 21 Mar 2011 01:53 PM
By Jim Meyers
 |
| Moammar Gadhafi |
Gadhafi has extensive stockpiles of mustard gas and high explosives at his disposal that could be employed in attacks against targets in Europe or against rebels in Libya, the Wall Street Journal reports. He also has a history of ordering strikes against civilians and other world leaders.
“U.S. officials are keeping an eye on that possibility,” one U.S. official told the Journal.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy acknowledged that concern last week when he raised the prospect of a “targeted” action against Gadhafi if he tries to use his mustard gas stockpile or “other, undocumented WMDs,” The Guardian disclosed.
And in Italy, a key member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government expressed concern that Italy could face retaliation from the Gadhafi regime.
EU Approves Wide Sanctions Against Libya
FoxNews.com
Associated Press
Published February 28, 2011
GENEVA – The European Union slapped its own arms embargo, visa ban and other sanctions Monday on Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi’s regime, part of an escalating global effort to halt his bloody crackdown on critics in the North African nation.
In a series of fast-paced developments, France pledged to send two planes with humanitarian aid to Libya’s opposition stronghold of Benghazi while Germany mulled a two-month cutoff of oil payments to Qaddafi’s regime. The moves came after days of increasing protest against the hundreds, and potentially thousands, of deaths caused by Qaddafi’s military resistance against the popular uprising in his country.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the European measures, including a freeze on assets, aimed to reinforced the U.N. Security Council-mandated sanctions against Libya approved over the weekend.
Obama: ‘We Don’t Have a Stronger Friend and Stronger Ally’ Than France
TheBlaze.com
- Posted on January 11, 2011 at 12:15pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
Understandably, news of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to the United States has been overshadowed by the events in Tucson. So when during a joint press conference yesterday Barack Obama slipped into diploma-speak and said “we don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally” than France, not many people picked up on it. But some did — especially those in Britain.
“We don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicolas Sarkozy, and the French people,” Obama said while seated next to the French president:
To be fair, it could just be a case of inflated praise regularly poured on visiting dignitaries. While we may not have a “stronger” ally, maybe all our allies are equally as strong. But that’s not how some in Britain are interpreting the comment.
Headlines in some British news outlets show the president’s statement raised more than a few eyebrows. The Daily Mail put it this way:
While the Telegraph commented:
“Quite what the French have done to merit this kind of high praise from the US president is difficult to fathom, and if the White House means what it says this represents an extraordinary sea change in US foreign policy,” political analyst Nile Gardiner writes in the Telegraph. “Nicolas Sarkozy is a distinctly more pro-American president than any of his predecessors, and has been an important ally over issues such as Iran and the War on Terror. But to suggest that Paris and not London is Washington’s strongest partner is simply ludicrous.”Gardiner is especially flummoxed by the statement considering Sarkozy has previously called Obama “thin skinned and authoritarian.” He’s also puzzled considering the amount of troops Britain has committed to current American conflicts in comparison to France:
Today in the war against the Taliban there are more than 10,000 British troops fighting alongside their US allies, compared to 3,850 Frenchmen. Nearly 350 British soldiers have laid down their lives in Afghanistan in contrast to French losses of 53.
Gardiner has noticed other anti-British actions coming from the Obama administration in the past. He’s even outlined the top 10 snubs. [Video]
Obama: Odd Man Out in Economic Summit!
FloppingAces.net
Posted by: Mike’s America @ 5:53 pm, June 27, 2010
Our allies are moving to cut spending and debt at the same time Obama urges them to party on!
President Barack Obama, right, stands beside French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other G8 Leaders during a family photo with African Outreach Leaders during the G8 Summit at the Deerhurst Resort in Hunstville, Ontario, Canada, Friday, June 25, 2010.
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