Two a penny

.Arsene Wenger has become the longest-serving manager in Arsenal’s history but neither that milestone nor the fact that he turns 60 next month have triggered any thoughts of retirement.
Wenger, whose arrival at Highbury in the autumn of 1996 was famously greeted with an “Arsene Who?” headline, eclipsed the reign of George Allison in the 1930s and 1940s by spending 4,749 days at the helm.
The Frenchman can look back with pride on 13 years which have transformed the ‘boring, boring Arsenal’ of old into a club synonymous with his own unique brand of pass-and-move football. .
Along the way, Wenger has delivered three Premier League titles, including the unbeaten campaign of his 2003/2004 Invincibles, four FA Cups and a place in the 2006 Champions League final.
But he readily admits that setbacks such as the defeat by Barcelona in Paris three years ago and lasts season’s Champions League semi-final loss to Manchester United still rankle and provide him with all the motivation he needs to carry on.
The Frenchman takes pride in those achievements, as he does in the fostering of young talents such as Cesc Fabregas and in the astute transfer market judgement that have helped put the club on such a sound financial footing.
“Losing the semi-final of the Champions League to Manchester United last year was the lowest point, because we did not play at our level,” he recalled.
“I have never had a day when I think I could live without football,” he said.
Asked if thoughts of retirement had entered his head, Wenger responded with a dismissive snort.
“You will know if you are not hungry enough any more, but other people will tell you if you are not good enough any more.
“I know one day it will happen, but you should not live every day knowing you are going to die - you live knowing that you want to live.
But none of them will dispute that he has earned the right to have a bronze statue of himself standing outside the Emirates, alongside one of Herbert Chapman, one of his legendary predecessors.”
Wenger is not without his critics among Arsenal fans, many of whom see his apparent reluctance to spend more freely as the reason why the club have not claimed any significant silverware since the 2005 FA Cup.
For Wenger himself, the achievement that gives the most satisfaction is the 2003/04 season, when Arsenal went through the entire Premier League campaign unbeaten.
For Wenger himself, the achievement that gives the most satisfaction is the 2003/04 season, when Arsenal went through the entire Premier League campaign unbeaten.
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&raquo Special Report on France&#039s trial of the decade
&raquo Who&#039s who in the trial
&raquo How a finance trial turned into a major political scandal
&raquo A glossary of terms in the Clearstream saga
&raquo From Ben Barka to Elf, justice turns a blind eye to political elites
Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin appeared in court on Wednesday to testify on his role in the Clearstream scandal. He told judges that he had never heard of the Clearstream affair until a meeting on January 9, 2004, at the Foreign Ministry, of which he was head at the time. He added that Nicolas Sarkozy name never came up in the context of that discussion. .
He told the judge, I have been steadfast in difficult moments.

General Philippe Rondot, who was working at the ministry of defence at the time, was also present at this meeting, which de Villepin described to the court as a non work-oriented meeting.

January 9, 2004

According to de Villepin testimony, the January 9 meeting was when former EADS president Jean-Louis Gergorin informed Villepin of the existence of the lists. De Villepin said he did not see the files at the meeting.

But, he said firmly, Chirac never gave specific presidential instructions.

De Villepin said he later instructed Rondot to investigate the Clearstream client list, saying that he was acting on the general instructions of the President of the Republic (Jacques Chirac, at the time) to raise the moral standards of international business. At no time was Nicolas Sarkozy mentioned in connection with these lists, he said, adding that Sarkozy was only mentioned in passing, as someone who should not be informed about the list.

Bythem Top Story aired on 30 September 2009
De Villepin was equally adamant about the matter of Nicolas Sarkozy name. They are widely thought to be damning and include the brief note Political stakes, Sarkozy.

The notes Rondot took at the meeting became material evidence in the case.

Jean-Louis Gergorin, former executive VP of French corporation EADS, gave a different version of events from that of his former associate de Villepin.

Jean-Louis Gergorin, former executive VP of French corporation EADS, gave a different version of events from that of his former associate de Villepin.

Gergorin testified that, contrary to de Villepin claim of innocence, the two in fact had a number of clandestine meetings in 2004. Gergorin has already admitted to leaking the false Clearstream list.

Lahoud also took to the stand, confirming his previous statements that Gergorin told him that he had received orders from de Villepin to throw Sarkozy to a judge.

The court read aloud from May 2004 entries in Rondot notebook, wherein Rondot wrote that Gergorin had informed him of these meetings. During a brief interrogation in the court Tuesday he repeated that he never had any idea of, nor held in [his] hands, any falsified lists.

He may already be finished

The crux of de Villepin innocence or guilt depends on whether he knew about the forgery, and whether he in fact gave the order to commit the forgery.

According to them Catherine Norris-Trent, who is covering the trial, No one believes de Villepin will be sentenced to prison. If found guilty, he faces up to 5 years in prison and a ban from holding political office.

But even if the court did not sentence him at all, says Norris-Trent, the maximum damage has already been done to de Villepin. He will most likely get a ban on holding office, which would be a major blow since he still had political ambitions. People are saying that is what the prosecution is going for, she said. People are saying that is what the prosecution is going for, she said.

Clearstream trial - Nicolas Sarkozy

.The French government has dropped its public support for Roman Polanski, saying the Oscar-winning director held in Switzerland over a three-decade-old child sex case is not “above the law.”
“Roman Polanski is neither above nor beneath the law,” government spokesperson Luc Chatel said.
“We have a judicial procedure under way for a serious affair - the rape of a minor - on which the American and Swiss legal systems are doing their job,” he said, adding: “One can understand the emotion that this belated arrest, more than 30 years after the incident, and the method of the arrest have caused.
He was arrested at the weekend as he arrived in Zurich to collect a film festival award. .
Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand called the arrest of the Franco-Polish filmmaker, who lives in Paris, “absolutely horrifying” and said it showed “a side of America which is frightening.
The French government had earlier this week expressed outrage over the arrest, with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner calling on US authorities to allow Polanski to be freed.”
Mr Chatel, asked by reporters to comment on the Culture Minister’s reaction, said: “Frederic Mitterrand was speaking from the heart.
Polanski can launch several appeals, so a final extradition decision could take weeks or months.”
Switzerland says Polanski is being held under an international alert issued by the United States in 2005.
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Reuters - France’s government changed its tone on Wednesday on the arrest of Roman Polanski for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, describing the charges as serious after initially rushing to the film director’s defence.

France and Poland, where the 76-year-old Oscar-winning director spent his childhood, at first loudly protested against Polanski’s arrest last weekend.S.

But U.

After French politicians across the spectrum initially voiced strong unease over the arrest, a government spokesperson modified the official line on Wednesday, saying that Polanski was neither above nor below the law. .S.

A judicial procedure is under way concerning a serious case, the rape of a minor, and the U.

On the other hand, there’s emotion, and we can understand the emotion stirred up by this belated arrest, more than 30 years after the events, and the method of the arrest, he said. and Swiss justice systems are doing their work, spokesperson Luc Chatel told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

France’s political and artistic elite defended him, with Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand accusing the United States of showing a frightening face by seeking his extradition.

Polanski, who holds dual French and Polish citizenship, was arrested at the request of the United States when he flew into Switzerland on Saturday to receive a lifetime achievement prize. But this is a matter that is not before me, this is a matter that is in the justice system of our government, she said.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he had written to Clinton, who told reporters at the United Nations on Wednesday that she had not yet seen the letter.

Several French politicians, including members of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s own UMP party, have accused the government of elitism and acting in haste.

Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 to having sex with the girl in actor Jack Nicholson’s home, skipped bail and fled to France.

Extreme right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen denounced a political-artistic caste claiming special privileges. Green Member of the European Parliament Daniel Cohn-Bendit said Mitterrand should have waited before more details of the case were known.

Poland has also changed its tone, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk urging moderation.

Charges of raping a 13-year-old child, that’s not something trivial, UMP parliamentarian Marc Laffineur said. On Sunday, the culture ministry said Sarkozy wanted Polanski’s swift release.

Sarkozy himself has refrained from speaking out.

arrests - cinema - France - Roman Polanski - Switzerland
. But on Wednesday, Chatel said Sarkozy was feeling the same range of emotions that I and all French people share

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&raquo Special Report on France&#039s trial of the decade
&raquo Who&#039s who in the trial
&raquo How a finance trial turned into a major political scandal
&raquo A glossary of terms in the Clearstream saga
&raquo From Ben Barka to Elf, justice turns a blind eye to political elites
Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin appears in court on Wednesday to testify on his role in the Clearstream scandal.

I am happy to bring my contribution to the emergence of truth in a case where lies and manipulation have clouded the truth, Villepin told reporters before entering the courtroom. Sarkozy’s name was added to a forged list of people allegedly holding secret bank accounts at Luxembourg-based clearing house, Clearstream .

De Villepin faces charges charge of trying to undermine Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign to win the presidency in 2007 by implicating him in a corruption scandal.

The crux of his innocence or guilt depends on whether he knew about the forgery, and whether he in fact gave the order to commit the forgery.

The former prime minister, whose testimony is the lynchpin in the whole case, had struck a defiant note on the first day of the trial, saying: I will emerge from this free and with my reputation cleared, in the name of the French people. . In a brief interrogation in the court Tuesday he repeated that he never had any idea of, nor held in [his] hands, any falsified lists. He will most likely get a ban on holding office, which would be a major blow since he still had political ambitions.

Bythem Top Story aired on 30 September 2009
According to them Catherine Norris-Trent, who is covering the trial, No one believes de Villepin will be sentenced to prison. Even more important than the verdict, if it can be proved he is lying, his reputation is ruined.

But even if the court did not sentence him at all, says Norris-Trent, the maximum damage has already been done to de Villepin.

The courtroom has already seen much drama . People are saying that is what the prosecution is going for, she said.

Clearstream trial - Nicolas Sarkozy
. Monday proceedings included an uncontrollable screaming match between two key players in the case, Jean-Louis Gergorin (former executive VP of French corporation EADS) and Imad Lahoud, who worked under Gergorin as a mathematician and is accused of having committed the actual forgery

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AFP - French prosecutors said Tuesday they have called for judges to drop corruption charges against former president Jacques Chirac, who is accused of misusing city funds when he was Paris mayor.

A French judge wrapped up a probe in April into allegations that municipal funds were used to give fake ghost jobs to members of Chirac’s RPR party while he was mayor of the capital from 1977 to 1995, officials said.

The now 77-year-old Chirac was charged in November 2007 in the case along with five former city hall chiefs of staff and a dozen other people, becoming the first former French president to be put under judicial investigation.

Judge Xaviere Simeoni now has until the end of October to decide whether to send the case to trial.

But the Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday it has called for the case to be thrown out, arguing there was insufficient evidence of misuse of funds after 1992, and that the statute of limitations had expired for prior events.

Chirac stood down as mayor of Paris in 1995 when he became president. . He lost his presidential immunity from prosecution after President Nicolas Sarkozy’s election in May 2007.

corruption - France - Jacques Chirac
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Former aides to Chirac have defended him against allegations that he presided over a system of illegal money-raising for his party, the Rally for the Republic (RPR)

.Fifth seed Gael Monfils and fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet have both overcome jetlag to bolt into the second round of the Malaysian Open.
Monfils, trying to back up the title he won last weekend in Metz, France before boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur, dispatched Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2).
The unseeded Gasquet was relentless against Romanian Victor Crivoi 6-1, 6-2.
Gasquet said he had to fight through his fatigue after the flight from Europe.
The number 47 moved into a struggle for the quarter-finals when he plays in the second round against Joacham Johansson after the Swede upset eighth seed Lleyton Hewitt.
“I haven’t adapted to the time change, but I hope tonight I can sleep better. “I played a good match despite waking up at 2:00 am (local time). .
Monfils, 23, fired nine aces in his victory over Istomin, breaking three times while losing his own serve in equal measure.
The French seed, ranked 13th, improved to 29-13 on the season as he next faces Argentine Martin Vassello Arguello.
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AFP - France’s public deficit will grow to a record 8.2 percent of GDP this year and 8.75 percent next year.5 in 2010, according to the government’s budget on Wednesday, based on expected growth of 0.

Under the eurozone stability pact, member states are supposed to keep their deficits under three percent, but most are far above this as public spending explodes and tax revenue falls during the crisis.

France is edging out of a recession caused by last year’s global financial collapse, but the government vowed to continue stimulus spending, and warned that deficit levels will not begin to fall until 2011.

Among the fiscal measures announced in the budget were a green carbon tax on households and businesses, and cuts in local business taxes.

France’s public debt will soar to 84 percent of national output in 2010, up from 68 percent at the end of 2008 and well above the theoretical 60 percent limit set when France and its partners launched the single currency.

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AFP - Guinea junta troops shot and killed at least 157 people, wounded more than 1,000, and raped women when they broke up a huge rally in a stadium, opposition leaders said Tuesday amid deadly new unrest.

Gunfire rang out across the capital Conakry and a youth was killed, witnesses said.

The United Nations, African Union and European Union all expressed alarm over the killings when tens of thousands of people Monday attended a rally against junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara, who took power in December 2008. Troops were again attacking people and raping women in their homes, rights groups said.

The Guinean Human Rights Organisation said that 157 dead were taken to two Conakry hospitals after the shootings in the stadium.

But much of Conakry remained closed Tuesday, with inhabitants stunned by the clampdown in the city’s September 28 stadium.

Up until now we have counted 157 dead and 1,253 wounded. The opposition has accused junta forces of collecting bodies in a bid to hide the scale of the massacre.

Sydia Toure, one of two former prime ministers injured at the protest, told that the shootings were a deliberate attempt to eliminate the opposition. Our people have been all around Conakry and in hospitals but they haven’t been able to see everything, rights group head Thierno Maadjou Sow said.

The military raped women at the stadium and later at army barracks, police posts and other parts of Conakry, Kaba said, adding that there were reports of new rape attacks by soldiers on Tuesday.

Mamadi Kaba, head of the Guinean branch of the African Encounter for the Defence of Human Rights (RADDHO), said the rapes of women began in the stadium. I saw this myself, he told French radio station RFI.

Opposition activist Mouctar Diallo said he saw soldiers putting their rifles into the vaginas of naked women. Soldiers were shooting everywhere and I saw people fall.

They were raping women publicly, Diallo added.

A Red Cross source said military commanders ordered all bodies at the stadium to be taken to the Alpha Yaya Diallo military camp, the junta headquarters, rather than to morgues. They were live bullets.A source at Conakry’s Ignace Deen hospital told an army truck took away dozens of bodies after the violent clampdown on the banned demonstration.

Alain Joyandet, France&#039s junior minister for overseas development The irreversible has already been done. Even if there’s nobody on the street, they shoot in the air, loot shops and beat people up, Kaba said.

The bad behaviour continues in the suburbs, carried out by the military.

The African Union said in a statement that it strongly condemns the indiscriminate firing on unarmed civilians, which left dozens dead and many others injured, while serious other violations of human rights were committed.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon slammed the excessive use of force and said he was shocked by the loss of life, the high number of people injured and the destruction of property.

Former colonial ruler France condemned the violent repression, suspended military cooperation with Guinea and urged caution on expatriates, while a senior US official in Washington said: We’re deeply concerned about the general breakdown in security in Conakry.

Former colonial ruler France condemned the violent repression, suspended military cooperation with Guinea and urged caution on expatriates, while a senior US official in Washington said: We’re deeply concerned about the general breakdown in security in Conakry. . Camara also faces strong international pressure to step down.

Camara took over the west African nation after leading a bloodless coup within hours of the death of Guinea’s strongman leader Lansana Conte, who had ruled the west African country since 1984.

It’s unfortunate, it’s dramatic, Captain Camara told RFI of the violence. Very frankly speaking, I’m very sorry, very sorry.

African politics - Guinea Conakry - presidential elections - protests - security

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AFP - Sleeping under bridges or hiding in the dunes, dozens of Afghans are back in Calais and still bent on crossing to Britain, one week after they were rounded up by French riot police.

Some 276 migrants were detained last Monday when police bulldozed the squalid Jungle migrant camp, but judges ordered half to be freed over breaches of their rights, leaving many to drift back to the northern city.

Yussuf, Asseb, and Muramad, three Afghan Pashtun teenagers picked up in the notorious Jungle, were back in Calais within a day of their release, setting up camp behind a clump of bushes on a quayside near the town hall.

Of the 138 adults shipped to detention centres across France, 95 have been released into legal limbo, the Cimade aid group said Monday, while officials said 28 of the 125 minors taken to youth detention centres had been released. We come back by train, the 14-year-old Yussuf told Monday in faltering English. .

In reality, Nimes is just over 800 kilometres (500 miles) from Calais. They leave us free and we understand nothing.

Every night we try, but police big big problem, said Yussuf, looking frail and drawn from the nights sleeping rough.

At night — as they have done since reaching Calais two months ago — Yussuf and his companions, aged 13 and 16, are back dodging police patrols to try to jump on a truck bound for the British El Dorado.

Besson says the raid was a blow to smuggling networks but rights activists denounced it as a media stunt that would drive migrants further underground.

Immigration Minister Eric Besson ordered the razing of the jungle, used as a base by up to 700 migrants in June, after Calais officials complained it had become a crime magnet and a health hazard.

They are coming back little by little, said Francoise Peenaert of the Belle Etoile charity.

On the Calais quays, a newly arrived Iraqi couple and their three-year-old son waited Monday with a hundred other Afghans, Iraqis or Eritreans outside a daily soup kitchen run by a local aid group. Now they are sleeping here and there, where ever they can, said the 61-year-old aid worker, handing out tarpaulins along with food to the destitute migrants.

But they are afraid.

It’s around the same number as before they razed the Pashtun camp, said Catholic social worker Maurice Collier.

At the local Catholic shelter, 40 migrants, most of them Afghans, used the free showers on Monday.

Since Thursday, there has been incredible aggressivity in Calais.

For Charles Framezelle of the C-Sur coalition of aid groups, the raid’s main effect was to fray the nerves of the migrant population, some of whom hurled stones at a French television crew Monday.

Britain, which last year stopped 28,000 migrants trying to cross the 35 kilometres (22 miles) that separate it from France, has hailed the crackdown and Besson insisted Monday it had been a success. The migrants are all very tense, said the activist, who believes many of those who have returned are people-smugglers.

But Jack Lang, the Socialist lawmaker for the Pas-de-Calais region, slammed it as a failure.

We achieved our goal, which was to destroy an insanitary camp and a hub for illegal smuggling to Britain, said the minister, announcing two more raids on migrants squats this week.

Rather than rounding up migrants, both the UN refugee agency and the EU’s justice commissioner say the priority should be to offer full and fair asylum rights to migrants across the European Union.

Rather than rounding up migrants, both the UN refugee agency and the EU’s justice commissioner say the priority should be to offer full and fair asylum rights to migrants across the European Union.

France - French politics - immigration