Two a penny

.French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of spending $400,000 of taxpayers’ money on a luxury shower that was never used. .
A spokesman for the French government said the $400,000 was spent on renovating more than just the shower.
It was custom-built for Mr Sarkozy, with power and massage jet buttons and surround-sound radio.
The French Court of Accounts put the total cost at $280 million.
The French European Union presidency, which ran from July to December 2008, was one of the most expensive in history.

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Kiwis heading into Labour Weekend have been warned to expect mixed weather, and told to take care on the roads.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce issued a statement today calling formotorists to take care on the roads over the long weekend.

”Please act responsibly to ensure your own safety as well as that of your passengers and other road users.

More people were choosing to holiday in New Zealand this year and the roads will be unusually busy, he said.”

In the lower North Island, the New Zealand Transport Agencyclosednorthbound passing lanes on State Highway 1 at Waikanae and Te Horo from midday todaybecause of expected heavy traffic.

”Enjoy the weekend break but please use commonsense and patience on the road. The delays were due to a minor crash close to Waikanae.

However, police said shortly after 4pm that traffic was already extremely heavy between Paraparaumu and Waikanae and, at times, not moving at all. But the southbound passing lane north of Otaki will be closed on Monday for the same reason.

The Waikanae and Te Horo passing lanes willbe reopened late on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Sergeant Kris Burbery of the Central District Highway Patrol said additional units would be drafted in for the weekend.

Police are also planning a heavier presence north of Wellington.

Meanwhile, Metservice forecaster Ian Gall said the remnants of a cold southerly wind were easing over the country and were expected to give way to temperatures from 16 to 20 degrees across the country for the start of Labour weekend.Police will betargeting speed and alcohol related offences, as well as the behaviour of drivers around passing lanes and intersections.

“We’re getting rid of cool times so generally speaking we’re going to see maximums in the top half of the tens.

“Nationwide we’re talking about mostly fine weather, possibly a few afternoon showers in a few places and quite a lot of clear patches with some morning frosts,” he said.

However, showers were possible around the central North Island and eastern parts of the South Island.”

Mr Gall said they expected temperatures to be consistently luke-warm across the country.

It was expected to remain “pretty good” over the North Island, he said.

Mr Gall said the sun was expected to give way to cloudy patches later in the weekend, in particular over the South Island on Sunday with the wind expected to slowly turn into a north-easterly.

“We’re still in unsettled spring conditions so any good spells we’re getting have been fairly brief and are likely to be fairly brief for a while yet,” he said. .

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A former French spymaster denied Monday taking part in a plot to smear President Nicolas Sarkozy during his much-awaited testimony at the trial of ex-prime minister Dominique de Villepin.

Yves Bertrand, the former head of the RG police intelligence service, said he had never heard of the Clearstream dirty tricks scandal before the media began reporting on it in July 2004.

Villepin and four other defendants are on trial on charges of conspiring to slander Sarkozy in 2004 by implicating him in corruption at a time when the two men were jostling to succeed president Jacques Chirac. .

The case centres on a fake list of account holders from the Clearstream financial clearing house who were said to have received kickbacks from the sale of French frigates to Taiwan.

This is a completely fantastic tale, Bertrand told judges at the Paris criminal court.

Bertrand’s testimony was crucial after another defendant, Imad Lahoud, admitted in court to adding Sarkozy’s name to the list in the ex-spy chief’s office.

I never met Lahoud in my office nor anywhere else and I state that emphatically, said the ex-spy chief, who was at the helm of police intelligence for 12 years.

But Gergorin testified that he had never laid eyes on Bertrand before their face-to-face encounter in court.

Lahoud, a former employee with Franco-German aerospace giant EADS, said the meeting with Bertrand took place in March 2004 in the presence of another defendant, EADS vice president Jean-Louis Gergorin.

Three weeks of testimony have however failed to clear up questions about the bogus list and how Sarkozy’s name along with those of more than 100 prominent people ended up on it.

Dubbed the trial of the decade, the Clearstream case features a Who’s Who of big names in French politics, industry and intelligence circles, beginning with Sarkozy, who is a civil plaintiff in the case.

Judges were to wrap up testimony on Monday and begin hearing submissions from lawyers representing Sarkozy and some of the 38 other civil plaintiffs in the case.

Villepin took the stand last week to deny that he had leaked the fake list to investigators and ordered a special probe to focus on Sarkozy as one of the alleged Clearstream account holders.

The trial ends on October 23 after the defence and the prosecution make their final submissions, but a verdict is not expected before several months.

The trial ends on October 23 after the defence and the prosecution make their final submissions, but a verdict is not expected before several months.

Clearstream trial – Dominique de Villepin – France – Nicolas Sarkozy

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France Telecom announced the replacement of the group deputy head Louis-Pierre Wenes, whom labour unions claim is the man behind stress-inducing management policies blamed for a tense working climate. The French telecom company has come under fire for the alarming suicide rate among staff members, with 24 employees having taken their lives in the last 18 months alone.

French socialist and communist opposition leaders have been calling for the resignation of both Lombard and Wenes, but the group chief executive enjoys the backing of the French government.

Wenes has been replaced by Stephen Richard, a former cabinet director for French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who joined France Telecom on September 1 and was being groomed to replace the group CEO, Didier Lombard, in 2011. According to the website of French weekly Le Point , the finance minister mentioned Richard as a possible replacement for Wenes at that meeting. Lagarde reasserted her full and unwavering support for the troubled CEO after the two met last Thursday. Wenes is symbolic: he was responsible for &lsquoterror management&rsquo tactics.

A concession to unions

News of Wenes&rsquo departure was greeted with satisfaction by employees and union members.

CFDT union member Pierre Dubois told them that Wenes&rsquo ousting was the logical consequence of his perceived insensitiveness to employee suicides. He had to leave, CFE-CGC union member Pierre Morville told AFP. . A second sticking point was his refusal to negotiate on the policy of forced transfers, whereby France Telecom managers are required to change postings every three years.

There was never any kind of dialogue with Wenes, Dubois told them.

According to Ivan Le Roy, author of a book on management by stress at France Telecom mobile phone unit Orange, Richard is well perceived by most unions, or at least much better than Wenes, who was despised as a &lsquocost killer&rsquo from day 1. On September 24, Wenes had told French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur that he would consider himself the victim of a monstrous manipulation if he were to take on the responsibility of employee suicides. He never accepted to meet us, not until we published an open letter calling for his resignation on September 25.

Iin a joint press release, leftwing unions Sud and Solidaires said: The nomination of St&eacutephane Richard, a close collaborator of President Nicolas Sarkozy, has raised concern among employees about the future of France Telecom.

Deontological concerns

Although most unions are hopeful that negotiations will start afresh with Richard, some warn against hasty optimism. Dubois was also cautious: Richard remains a big question mark &ndash we don&rsquot know much about him. We hope he will rapidly shed light on his future role.

Deontological concerns surfaced immediately after Richard nomination. We hope the management style will change, and that he will bring a fresh look to the heart of the issue: restructuring France Telecom. However, it is not altogether clear how Richard is expected to do so, given that the state is one of the company main shareholders. As a former member of government, he has been authorised to join France Telecom on condition that he abstain from any contact with the cabinet of the finance until June 30, 2012 .

France – France Telecom – telecommunication