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.

.The only surviving Union Jack from the Battle of Trafalgar has sold at auction in London for close toly $700,000 after being found tucked away in a drawer in a Sydney home.
The battle-scarred flag, which was flown from the mast of HMS Spartiate during the battle, was given to Lieutenant James Clephan by his crew mates 204 years ago as a reward for his bravery during the fighting.
Lieutenant Clephan’s relatives moved to Australia in the 1960s and the flag was tucked away in the bottom drawer of a home in Castle Hill, Sydney for safe-keeping.
The 1805 naval engagement pitted the British fleet under Lord Nelson against the combined French and Spanish fleets, and the ensuing British victory was seen as a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars.
During a fierce bidding war the price climbed more than 30 times the original estimate, setting a new world record for a British flag.
Overnight a London auction house was stunned when the flag sold for a world record of 384,000 pounds ($687,774). .
The buyer is an American collector who wants to remain anonymous.
“So this is a passion I’ve had for history and many of these artefacts people often do not keep the story and the history together.
“I’m a collector and I’ve been collecting flags for over four decades, and I work on keeping the story and the relic together,” he said.
“In the United States it would have a nice home and if we’re not able to work something out with the British government, we of course will give it a good home in the US.
“We understand the concern people may have in the United Kingdom about the flag going to America, but we’re working on a plan to work with the British government to accommodate that concern.”
The buyer says he finds the story of Lieutenant Clephan “intriguing”, which is what attracted him to the flag. I’m sure it will be on view in the US for people to see.
“We’re familiar with the history of the lieutenant who was given the flag at the time right after the battle.
“It’s one of the most historical flags, certainly in the Western world, that’s well documented from a historical event,” he said.”

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“This is a man who worked himself up through the ranks of the British Navy and became one of only 16 captains to do that in the history of the Royal Navy

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New Zealand is seen as a soft target by gangs, which launder millions of dollars through this country, says the head of an Australian police unit set up to combat Melbourne’s criminal underworld. .

New Zealand needed to target organised crime rings, or risk reaching a crisis point of its own, he said.

Mr Edwards heads the Purana Taskforce, set up after a “crisis” of gangland killings in Melbourne, on which the television drama Underbelly was based. You will get shootings, you will get killings – if you do nothing about it. “Hopefully you realise that you need to stop it before the problems start. She said examples included:

Killer Beez gang owned the hip hop record label Colourways.”

Police Minister Judith Collins told the conference gangs had infiltrated businesses, and turned legitimate enterprises into money-laundering outlets.

– Gangs increasingly attended public and community celebrations, projecting themselves as harmless groups with a strong community spirit. Its music videos were thinly disguised recruitment advertisements for the gang and played on mainstream television.

– Gangs partnered with businesses in finance, transport, private security, entertainment, real estate and various trade-related industries. They had run lotteries, and uniformed police had been sent to oversee the draws.

Mrs Collins said gangs existed to make money and gain power, and their new level of sophistication was presenting a serious challenge. These partnerships help facilitate their real businesses – violence, extortion, drug-dealing and money-laundering.

Mr Edwards cited one of his taskforce’s cases, the busting of a cannabis-growing operation run by an organised gang.

But the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act, which made possible the seizure of any assets that were probably gained illegally, would help dismantle organised crime.5 million was found to have been sent to New Zealand bank accounts from Australia. A$2.

Police Association president Greg O’Connor said the drug trade here was already leading to money-laundering and violence by organised groups. It was then sent to Vietnam and its value eventually returned to Australia in the form of drugs.”

Police tackling organised crime needed to be tasked with targeting those at “the highest level”, he said, but that could mean no tangible results in the short term. “All the things he’s talked about are already here.

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Money-laundering – by which criminals try to hide the origin of money or property gained illegally – was the result of gangs making large sums from the methamphetamine trade and needing to find legitimate places for it

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Spanish police are searching for a third man who was at the apartment of Boyzone star Stephen Gately, after the singer was found dead in his holiday home in Majorca after a night out, a UK newspaper reports.

Gately, 33, was a singer with the Irish boy band Boyzone and made headlines when he came out as gay a decade ago.

He was believed to have been found dead on Saturday afternoon by his partner Andrew Cowles.

The Daily Mail reported that Gately was thought to have “died after choking on his own vomit after a drinking session”. The couple, who wed in a civil union in 2006, were on holiday on the Spanish island of Majorca. He was found squatting down on the sofa almost in a praying position,” a police investigator told the newspaper.

“He was in a strange position.

London’s The Times reported that there was no suicide note or sign of violence but a Bulgarian man, who was invited back to the couple’s holiday home, was being sought by police.

A Gately family friend, Gerald Kean, said the singer died of natural causes, although these were not identified.

“We do not think this man is involved in any way in Stephen’s death but his testimony could prove vital,” Spanish police told the newspaper. It’s just a tragic accident is what we’ve been told, and we’re happy that that is correct information,’’ Kean said.

“There’s no foul play involved, and it’s not suicide. It’s not drugs, we don’t believe.

“There is nothing untoward. It’s not suicide. It’s not suicide. That’s what we’ve been told. It’s not a fight.

Members of Boyzone arrived at Palma de Majorca international airport on Sunday afternoon.’’

An autopsy is expected to be conducted on Tuesday. .

Gately’s bandmates – Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch – said they were “completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen”. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world.

“Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. We love you and will miss you forever, ‘Steo’.

“Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen’s family. Gately had also released several solo singles and appeared in stage musicals, including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Gately had also released several solo singles and appeared in stage musicals, including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

He revealed his sexual orientation to a British newspaper in 1999.

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A Nelson police officer is to stand trial on assault charges after pepper-spraying a cyclist not wearing a helmet and then ramming him into a bank with his patrol car.

Justices of the peace Donald Horn and Mary Harley yesterday committed Senior Constable Garry Dunn to trial after a two-day depositions hearing in Nelson District Court.

Nelson chef Shaun Robert Taylor told the court Dunn used excessive force against him for not wearing a helmet on February 10 this year. Dunn, who faces two charges of assault, has been stood down from duty on full pay. Mr Taylor said he ran away and when Dunn saw him cycling toward Tahunanui, Dunn did a speedy U-turn in rush-hour traffic, mounted the footpath and rammed him into a bank.

Mr Taylor said he was stopped and pepper-sprayed by Dunn after an argument.

Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne McCoy, of Nelson CIB, told the court he interviewed Dunn on May 7.

Mr Taylor said he “flew” over the bonnet and landed against the driver’s door.

In the statement, Dunn said he first told Mr Taylor to get off his bike just past the Richardson St intersection with Rocks Rd, but Mr Taylor kept cycling. Dunn gave him a written statement, which Mr McCoy read to the court. He said he got back into his car and told Mr Taylor to stop, put on his lights and siren, and Mr Taylor eventually stopped around Magazine Point.

Dunn said he pulled into Basin Reserve car park and Mr Taylor crossed the road.

He said he thought he would have trouble physically restraining Mr Taylor, partly because Mr Taylor was so sweaty and he believed he would be overpowered.

Dunn said Mr Taylor would not tell him his name or address, so he told him he was under arrest for failing to stop.

Dunn said he first showed Mr Taylor the spray. Because Mr Taylor was resisting him he decided to use pepper spray for his protection.”

Dunn had told Mr McCoy that Mr Taylor ran away after being pepper-sprayed and he called for backup. . It was necessary to go up to the bank to block his escape. He said he did a U-turn to head back toward Nelson and saw Mr Taylor riding towards him. Resisting arrest and failing to stop were punishable by imprisonment.

Mr McCoy said not wearing a bike helmet was punishable by a $55 fine.

Dunn was remanded to December 16. He said charges of failing to stop, resisting arrest and escaping custody were dropped.

.Somali pirates attempted to storm the French navy’s 18,000 tonne Indian Ocean fleet flagship after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the military have said.
The crew of La Somme, a 160-metre command vessel and fuel tanker, easily saw off the brazen night-time assault by lightly armed fighters on two open-topped motorboats and captured five pirates, a spokesman said.
La Somme is the French command vessel in the Indian Ocean, overseeing French air, sea and land forces fighting Somali pirates and hunting terrorists under the banner of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom.
“The pirates, who as a result of the darkness took the French ship for a commercial vessel, were on board two vessels and opened fire with Kalashnikovs,” Admiral Christophe Prazuck said.
The pirates tried to flee when they realised their mistake but were pursued by French forces who, after an hour-long chase, caught one of the skiffs, Admiral Prazuck said.
Officers on the ship have directed commando operations to free French hostages in the hands of Somali pirates.
The world’s naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates in one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes.
On it they found five men but no weapons, water or food as the pirates had apparently thrown all of the boat’s contents overboard, the spokesman said.
This was not the first time that Somali pirates have mistakenly attacked a French naval vessel.
La Somme was operating 460 kilometres off the Somali coast, on its way to resupply fuel to frigates patrolling shipping lanes as part of the European Union’s Operation Atalanta anti-piracy mission.
Somalia has had no proper government since it plunged into lawlessness after President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Several pirates were captured in May when they attempted to board a frigate in the area. .
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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

.From Caen to Dieppe, Monet to Pisarro and Debussy to Ravel, the Normandy region that nurtured the French impressionists plans to fete the movement in what it says will be the country’s biggest event of 2010.
With exhibitions, concerts, films and picnics on row boats, the first Impressionist Festival from June to September 2010 will offer dozens of events related to the art movement, organisers say.
“Normandy is impressionist, and impressionism is very much from Normandy,” said former left-wing prime minister Laurent Fabius, who is an MP for the region.
There will be concerts of works by Debussy and Ravel, readings from Marcel Proust and dancing, picnics and cruises on the Seine river that featured through much of the work.
Among the dozens of art exhibitions planned, the biggest will gather 100 works from collections worldwide at the Rouen art museum including Monet, Pissarro and Gauguin.

.France’s ex-prime minister Dominique de Villepin assailed President Nicolas Sarkozy as he went on trial for charges of plotting to smear his arch-rival and torpedo his bid for the presidency.
“I am here as a result of one man’s will.
“I will come out of this a free man and exonerated,” Mr de Villepin told reporters before entering the courtroom where in 1793 Marie Antoinette was sentenced to the guillotine. I am here as a result of the dogged determination of one man, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also President of the French republic,” he said as he arrived at the Paris court with his wife and children.”
The ex-prime minister and foreign minister faces charges of conspiring to defame Mr Sarkozy in 2004 when the pair were in a fierce battle to win their right-wing party’s nomination and succeed President Jacques Chirac. “I know that truth will prevail.
One name on the bogus list was that of Mr Sarkozy, then France’s ambitious finance minister who suspected Mr de Villepin, Mr Chirac’s chosen heir, of planning to use the fake document to wreck his presidential bid.
The case centres on a list – later found to have been fabricated – of account holders at the Clearstream financial clearing house in Luxembourg who allegedly took bribes from the sale of French warships to Taiwan.
The suave career diplomat whose stirring speech against the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 drew applause at the United Nations is accused of complicity in defamation and using forgeries, dealing in stolen property and breach of trust.
The 55-year-old Mr de Villepin, who denies any wrongdoing, faces up to five years in jail and a 45,000-euro fine if convicted.
Mr de Villepin’s lawyers went on the offensive at the outset of the hearings, asking the court to strip Mr Sarkozy of his status as a civil plaintiff to ensure their client gets a fair trial.
Dubbed France’s political trial of the decade, the judicial drama features a who’s who of big names in French politics, industry and intelligence circles, beginning with Mr Sarkozy, who is a civil plaintiff in the case.
Mr Sarkozy registered as a plaintiff in 2006 to gain access to the case files and secure his right to seek damages, as have 39 others including Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund.
“We want to be tried through a fair procedure,” said defence lawyer Henri Leclerc.
“We’ll see in light of the testimony and hearings whether or not Nicolas Sarkozy has hijacked this case,” Mr Herzog told reporters.
Representing Mr Sarkozy, who was not present at the trial, lawyer Thierry Herzog argued that the president had a constitutional right to launch legal action and that he had done so openly.
The Clearstream trial has become a new clash between Mr de Villepin and Mr Sarkozy, whose mutual hatred is legendary in French political circles. .
Judges are expected to take several months to reach a verdict after the trial ends on October 23.
Mr de Villepin is scheduled to take the stand next week.
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Prime Minister John Key says he is well aware of the danger New Zealand’s Special Air Service (SAS) troops face in Afghanistan and sending them there again wasn’t an easy decision.

At a press conference this afternoon, Mr Key said the troops left for Afghanistan last Wednesday. . Troops will be there for 18 months in three rotations.

It is the fourth SAS deployment to Afghanistan.

Mr Key said the SAS would operate only in Afghanistan, and would not take part in any anti-terrorist actions in neighbouring Pakistan.

The troops will be under the control of the Nato international security assistance force, but NZ Defence Force chief Lieutenant-General Jerry Mateparae retains full command of the task group through the SAS commander in the field.

He would not confirm where in Afghanistan the troops were operating.

“I recognise this is a dangerous environment,” Mr Key said at his post-cabinet press conference today.

Labour previously criticised the Government for its decision to send the SAS back to Afghanistan.”Mr Key said the SAS, who are part of an international force, were there with the aim of helping stabilise Afghanistan.”The Italians lost six people last week, that is the very real risk our people face, and it wasn’t an easy decision to send them.”Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government is beleaguered by fraud accusations following the August 20 election, and Mr Key was asked whether he was concerned that the SAS could be seen to be propping it up.”I think the alternative is that we are left with a country where control is ceded to the Taleban, where in all probability more terrorist activities will be planned and schemes will be hatched.”No.”No.It is the fourth SAS deployment to Afghanistan, the last being in 2005 under the previous Labour government.About 140 New Zealand Defence Force personnel are running a provincial reconstruction team in Bamyan province, which the Government intends gradually winding up.The US asked for the SAS to be again sent to Afghanistan, and Mr Key today denied his announcement was timed to coincide with his trip.Mr Key made the arrival announcement just before leaving for New York, where he is expected to briefly meet United States President Barack Obama..”We made a commitment.that plan has been in process for six or seven weeks, this was always the time they were due to leave,” he said..Mr Key first announced the decision the previous month, when Labour opposed it.The SAS operations would be confined to Afghanistan and they would not be in neighbouring Pakistan.”We feel the provincial reconstruction team is both a more effective contribution in Afghanistan and is a lower risk to the individuals concerned.”We feel the provincial reconstruction team is both a more effective contribution in Afghanistan and is a lower risk to the individuals concerned.”Mr Goff said there were big question marks around the legitimacy of the Karzai administration and the legitimacy of the election.”I think a growing number of people in New Zealand and elsewhere in the world are concerned that we would be sending our people to die for a regime that we don’t believe is an effective governor of Afghanistan.”Green Party foreign affairs and defence spokesman Keith Locke said the election had been “obviously fraudulent” and questioned why the SAS should be risking their lives to support it.”The American-led war is destabilising the country and causing many civilian casualties,” he said.”It’s crazy to send the SAS just as Western public opinion is turning against the war and most commentators describe it as unwinnable.”