Carla Bruni parades her burgeoning bump after her father-in-law reveals she IS pregnant with Sarkozy's child

* Her dark-coloured outfit failed to hide ther obvious condition
* Pal Sarkozy, 82, is 'sure it's a girl who'll be as beautiful as Carla'
* Earlier television presenter 'congratulated' Bruni who did not deny her pregnancy

Carla Bruni proudly displayed her burgeoning bump in Paris on the same day her father-in-law finally confirmed that she is pregnant.

As the wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy made her way into the launch event for her illiteracy foundation she had quite a task hiding the obvious.

The 43-year-old wore a fitted dark jacket with a navy shirt and trousers - the dark colours failing to disguise her obvious condition.

UN, French attack Gbagbo heavy weapons in Ivory Coast

A UN vehicle patrols on the northern outskirts of Abidjan April 9, 2011


UN and French helicopters attacked forces loyal to incumbent Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo late last night, damaging the presidential residence and destroying heavy weapons that UN chief Ban Ki-moon ordered silenced.

Gbagbo has refused to step down since UN-certified elections last November showed his rival Alassane Ouattara won, reigniting a civil war that has claimed over a thousand lives and uprooted over a million people.

“The operations are on going,” Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for UN mission in the country said late yesterday.

“We had targeted and hit several different places where we found heavy weapons, not only the areas around Gbagbo’s residence, but all places where we know that there are heavy weapons,” Toure said.

“We will review the situation tomorrow (Monday).” he added.

Ban said UN headquarters in Ivory Coast, Ouattara’s base and two civilian districts had been hit by machinegun, sniper and rocket-propelled grenade fire in recent days.

French ban on full veil goes into force

The full-face veil that France is banning , triggering a call for civil disobedience.

France’s ban on full-face veils, a first in Europe, went into force today, exposing anyone who wears the Muslim niqab or burqa in public to fines of €150 (RM653).

A Muslim property dealer, who is urging women to keep wearing the veil if they want to, has urged supporters to go to Notre Dame cathedral in central Paris for a silent prayer during the day, and is also offering to help people pay the fines.

The five million Muslim minority in France is the largest in Western Europe, but fewer than 2,000 women are believed actually to wear a full-face veil.

Many Muslim leaders have said they support neither the veil nor the law banning it.

Gbagbo digs in as Abidjan siege intensifies - France Flexing Military Muscles in Libya, Former Colony Ivory Coast

For four long months Ivory Coast's internationally recognized president was confined to a besieged Abidjan hotel, at the mercy of United Nations troops for protection.

Chirac corruption trial suspended

Paris judge delays long-awaited trial of former French president following a constitutional challenge by the defence. A Paris judge has suspended the long-awaited corruption trial of Jacques Chirac, France's former president, after a constitutional ...

Russia agrees to buy French helicopter carriers

The Mistral class is a class of three amphibious assault ships, also known as a helicopter carrier, of the French Navy.


Russia has agreed to buy two helicopter carriers from a French-led consortium, the French and Russian governments said yesterday, in Moscow’s first major foreign arms purchase since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Under the long-discussed deal, the Mistral-type amphibious assault ships will be built by French shipyard companies DCNS and STX along with Russia’s state-run United Shipbuilding Corporation, known as OSK.

Some of France’s NATO allies had voiced concern, urging Paris not to sell Moscow high-tech systems that could be used against Russia’s former communist neighbours, especially since Russia’s brief 2008 war with neighbouring Georgia.

Tension as Italian students protest education law

Thousands of Italian students marched in protest against a new university reform law yesterday as police blocked off large parts of central Rome to stop a repeat of violent clashes at a similar march a week ago.

Last week’s demonstration saw cars torched, shop windows smashed and dozens injured in street battles between protesters and riot police after the initially peaceful march descended into some of the worst violence seen in Rome for years.

No trouble was reported yesterday in a rainy Rome but there were clashes at a demonstration in Palermo and reports of other incidents in Naples, Milan and Turin.

The law, which the government says will strengthen Italy’s crumbling university system but which critics say will merely cut funding without solving real problems, was due for Senate approval yesterday though a vote may be delayed to today.

French strikes force petrol stations to shut

Police and protesters clash in Nanterre as vehicles are set on fire

About 1,500 petrol stations in France have run dry or are about to close as fuel supplies are hit by strikes over government pension reforms, officials say.

A blockade of oil refineries is into its seventh day and the body that supplies most supermarkets says one in four petrol stations is affected.

Thousands of protesters take to the streets as French unions battle pension reforms

French ports in Marseilles remained closed today as more than three million people were expected to join striking workers in protests against plans to raise the country's retirement age.

President Sarkozy caused outrage in the France last month after plans to cut the deficit by raising retirement age from 60 to 62 were announced.

Strikes across France on September 23 sparked widespread chaos as work stoppages disrupted schools, international flights and public transport.

The banner depicting L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt reads 'Retirement with 60, because you're worth it'. French unions have called for a day of strikes and protests against the retirement reform

French Roma round-up draws more flak

French Roma round-up draws more flak

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government was forced further onto the defensive Monday over its drive to deport Roma Gypsies, as more UN and European officials sharply criticised the policy.

The attack from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights came as France struggled to account for a leaked government memo which appeared to confirm that the Roma ethnic minority had been singled out for expulsion.

The order, circulated to police chiefs last month in the wake of a hard-line speech by Sarkozy, has undermined France's claim to be treating cases of illegal immigration on a purely case-by-case basis.

In particular, it has embarrassed Immigration Minister Eric Besson, who last week assured his European colleagues that Roma are treated no differently than other EU migrants who fail to meet French residency criteria.

Britons caught in France strike chaos as public sector workers walk out over pension age rise

Britons caught in France strike chaos as public sector workers walk out over pension age rise


British travellers in France were facing travel chaos today as a general strike brought the country to a standstill.

As thousands prepared to take to the streets in a protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to raise the retirement age, many transport services shut down.

The 24-hour strike also affected banks, postal services and colleges and schools.

Among those worst affected were England football fans making their way to the national side’s European championship game with Switzerland in Basel, just over the French border.

Huge turnout: Thousands of striking workers march in Marseille, southern France

No room: Passengers wait on the platform at Gare du Nord tube station in Paris, held up by the general strike

Popular French fast food chain causes controversy by introducing halal-only food

France's number two burger chain has started serving halal-only food in 22 of its outlets.

Quick, the most popular burger chain in France after McDonald's, has taken the decision to change their menu to target the large Muslim population.

In their view it is an underexploited market that has long been ignored by big business.

Halal hamburger: Quick, the second most popular fast food chain in France, have moved to cater for the dietary needs of the Muslim community

Bruni should die after stoning comments, says Iranian paper

An Iranian newspaper said today that Carla Bruni, the wife of France’s president, deserved to die after she expressed solidarity with a woman sentenced to be stoned for adultery.

The hardline daily Kayhan called Bruni a “prostitute” whose lifestyle meant she deserved a similar fate as the Iranian woman who was sentenced to death for adultery.

Carla Bruni was one of several French celebrities who published open letters to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose case has caused international outrage and highlighted Iran’s use of stoning as capital punishment.

Bruni has expressed solidarity with the Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned for adultery

Carla Bruni branded 'prostitute' by Iran after she campaigns for woman threatened with stoning

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has been branded a ‘prostitute’ by Iran after she publicly attacked the country for threatening to stone a woman to death.

France’s First Lady is part of a campaign to save the life of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two.

She is accused of cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him, and is now facing capital punishment for her crimes.


Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who became President Nicolas Sarkozy¿s third wife two years ago, has signed a petition calling for Sakineh¿s release

U.N. rights body rebukes France for mistreating Roma

A United Nations human rights body rebuked France on Friday for its crackdown on Roma and urged the government to try to integrate members of the EU's biggest ethnic minority as part of a Europe-wide solution.

The 18 independent experts voiced concern that some of the hundreds of Roma flown to Romania in recent weeks under what France calls a voluntary repatriation programme had not been fully informed of their rights or had not freely consented to returning to their homeland."We understand that a state has a right and a responsibility to deal with security issues and issues of illegal immigration. But our view is when you are doing so, it should not be on a collective basis, you should not be targeting a group as a whole," said Pierre-Richard Prosper, vice-chairman of the U.N. Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

"There is an appearance of discrimination," Prosper, an American, told a news briefing.

French footballer Franck Ribery facing three years in jail for underage prostitute offence

Questioning: French football star Franck Ribery, right, arrives at a Paris police station for questioning today

To be Franck: Despite the scandal, Ribery was called up for the French national team for the World Cup

French midfielder Franck Ribery is facing up to three years in prison after being charged with soliciting an underage prostitute for sex.

Karim Benzema, a fellow French national team player, was waiting to hear if officers investigating the case would charge him as well.

The pair were earlier held for questioning by police as part of an investigation into an alleged prostitution ring.

Sarkozy forced to deny reports his party received cash donations from billionaire L'Oreal heiress

Denial: French President Nicolas Sarkozy insisted allegations that his party had received illegal campaign donations in cash from France's richest woman were false

Liliane Bettencourt heiress to the L'Oreal fortune, is seen during an interview at her home in Brittany

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy was today forced to deny allegations that his party had received illegal campaign donations in cash from France's richest woman via the current labour minister, Eric Woerth.

The claims stem from a former bookkeeper for Liliane Bettencourt, main shareholder in the cosmetics giant L'Oreal.

Thousands of French Nazi collaborators to be exposed as official reports are published online for the first time

Tragic end: The only photo French Resistance fighters facing the firing squad at Mont Valerien outside Paris

Victory march: German troops parade down the Champs-Elysees in Paris following their victory

Thousands of French people who collaborated with the Nazis are to be unmasked as secret files from 70 years ago are finally made public.

The records, which include information passed on to the Gestapo by those who lived during the Occupation of 1940-44, will be published online.

Park de Triomphe - the day French farmers turned the Champs-Elysees into a garden

Business as usual: How the busy Champs-Elysees usually looks, clad in concrete and choked with traffic

Rustic charm: Visitors walk between planted fields on the Champs Elysees near the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris. French farmers have organised a two-day event to draw attention to their trade

With its designer shops, cafes, boutique restaurants and bars - and non-stop traffic - there is nothing rural about the Champs-Elysees, Paris's most famous avenue.

Yet, for the next two days, it is the closest destination for Parisians who want to escape to a country garden.

French cabinet approves burqa(full veil) ban law-Women vow to fight ban on islamic full-face veil-France could fine women for wearing face veil