Interpol launches paedophile photo campaign

The global police body Interpol launched a worldwide photo appeal on Tuesday to find a suspected paedophile after its first such campaign led to the arrest and trial of a Canadian in Thailand.

Interpol posted pictures of a white-haired, balding man on its website, saying they were part of a series that showed him sexually abusing boys aged between 6 and 10 in southeast Asia.

The identity, nationality and whereabouts of the man were not known. The first pictures of him were found by police in Norway in March 2006 and so far about 800 images have been discovered, all featuring the same victims and locations.

Interpol, based in the French city of Lyon, said it believed the photographs were taken between April 2000 and May 2001 and the man would look older today than he appeared in the pictures."

"The law enforcement community around the world has done all it can to find this man who clearly presents a danger to young children, and we are now asking the public to help identify this predator and protect other potential victims from abuse," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble.

The campaign is a repetition of the first such appeal last October, when Interpol unscrambled images of a suspect's "swirly face" on the Internet.

This led to the arrest of 32-year-old Canadian Christopher Neil, who has since gone on trial in Thailand charged with molesting and distributing pornographic images of two Thai boys.

If found guilty he faces up to 20 years in prison.

website: http://www.interpol.com/

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Monaco's Prince Albert set to wed at 50 - magazine

Prince Albert of Monaco will marry his girlfriend, former South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock, in September, a French magazine said on Tuesday.

A photo of the prince, who will be 50 on Friday, and 30-year-old Wittstock filled an online front-page preview of the latest edition of Point de Vue magazine, which hits news stands on Wednesday.

Prince Albert II of Monaco arrives with his friend, Charlene Wittstock, Olympic swimmer of South Africa, for the opening ceremony of the 12th Games of the Small States of Europe in Monaco in this June 4, 2007 file photo. (REUTERS/Eric Gaillard)

"While the date is not yet fixed, two sources confirm that preparations are under way for a royal wedding at the end of summer," the celebrity gossip weekly reported.

The media have portrayed Albert as a playboy with a liking for fashion shows, but he has also set up an environmental foundation. He has dated a series of models and said he wants to marry, but in his own time.

He has two children out of wedlock but, under the succession rules in the Catholic principality on the French Riviera, only children born within marriage may succeed to the throne.

The last time Monaco celebrated a wedding of its ruling prince was in 1956, when Albert's father Rainier married Oscar-winning American actress Grace Kelly.

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Rebel Catholics say Vatican caved on Latin prayer

Rebel Catholic traditionalists who champion the old Latin mass have accused Pope Benedict of caving in to "foreign pressures" by dropping negative comments about Jews from a rare prayer in the Church's official language.

The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which was expelled from the Church in 1988, denounced the change in a Good Friday prayer that it said was one of the oldest in Christianity, dating back to the third century.

On Feb. 5, the Vatican revised the prayer, removing a reference to Jewish "blindness" over Christ and deleting a phrase asking God to "remove the veil from their hearts".

Jews criticised the new text because it still says they should recognise Jesus Christ as the saviour of all mankind. It asks that "all Israel may be saved" and keeps an underlying call to conversion that Jewish leaders had wanted omitted.

"Following foreign pressures on the Catholic Church, the Pope felt obligated to change the very venerable Prayer for the Jews which is an integral part of the Good Friday liturgy," the SSPX news service DICI said in a report at the weekend.

"While the necessity of accepting the Messiah to be saved has been retained, one can only profoundly deplore this change," it said. DICI did not elaborate on the "foreign pressures".

The change in the prayer will only be heard by a tiny minority of Catholics who attend services on Good Friday, the day marking Jesus Christ's crucifixion, that are held in Latin rather than in their local languages as usual.

RABBI SUPPORTS POPE

Changing the Good Friday text was necessary after Pope Benedict allowed wider use of the old Latin mass last year. The Good Friday prayer said in local languages was revised in 1970 to drop all references that Jews had found offensive.

Widening the use of the old Latin or Tridentine mass was partly meant to attract followers of the SSPX back to Rome. The SSPX claims about a million followers, a small fraction of the 1.1-billion strong Church.

The leadership of the Swiss-based SSPX is still resolutely opposed to reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), including changes in liturgy and in relations with Jews. The Vatican says they must accept the Council to be readmitted.

The SSPX was expelled from the Church in 1988 when its founder, French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without Vatican approval.

Jewish groups have criticised the new text of the Latin prayer as offensive. An assembly representing Conservative rabbis worldwide expressed dismay over it and called on the Vatican to clarify the text's meaning.

But the Pope received support from a prominent Jewish scholar on Saturday. Rabbi Jacob Neusner of New York wrote in the German Catholic daily Die Tagespost: "Israel prays for non-Jews, so the other monotheists -- including the Catholic Church -- should have the same right without anyone feeling hurt."

Sometimes called "the Pope's favourite rabbi", Neusner was frequently cited in Benedict's 2007 book Jesus of Nazareth.

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Sarkozy's son seeks to break into politics

The son of French President Nicolas Sarkozy took a first step towards a political career on Wednesday, announcing he would seek a local council seat in his father's former fiefdom.

Jean Sarkozy, son of France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, attends an official statement at the UMP headquarters in Paris February 12, 2008. (REUTERS/Charles Platiau/Files)

Jean Sarkozy, 21, told the Le Figaro newspaper's Web site he would seek endorsement of the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) to be councillor in Neuilly-Sud in the chic suburb which was his father's power base as mayor.

"The moment has arrived for me to put myself at the service of a town ... for which I have a deep and sincere attachment. I wanted to fight for myself and for others. I have things to prove," Jean Sarkozy, a law student, said.

Sarkozy himself used the same suburb as a springboard to the Elysee Palace, rising to become mayor of Neuilly which is one of the most opulent areas of France.

Despite his youth, Jean Sarkozy, the president's son by his first marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli, showed ruthless political instincts earlier this month in an electoral fiasco there.

Sarkozy had anointed David Martinon, his spokesman, for the plum job of mayor which he himself held for 19 years.

But when Martinon failed to impress the powerful, well-heeled electorate of the town, Jean Sarkozy took the initiative with two senior UMP councillors and publicly deserted his campaign, pulling the rug out from under him.

Martinon subsequently withdrew from the race.

Jean Sarkozy defended his action on Le Figaro Web site.

"I never betrayed anyone. I warned the candidate (Martinon) about the problems we were encountering. I did it in the frankest way possible," he said.

Asked what advice his father had given him, he said: "He told me to be myself and assume responsibilities."

Last December he appeared in a Paris court on a charge of damaging a car with his scooter in October 2005 on the Place de la Concorde square in central Paris.

Jean Sarkozy said he had nothing to reproach himself for. The court ruled that the case would be examined in June.

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France's first lady defends marriage and her image

PARIS - France's first lady Carla Bruni has denied that her marriage to President Nicolas Sarkozy was over-hasty and has leapt to the defence of her husband, whose approval ratings are in freefall.

France's first lady Carla Sarkozy (R) relaxes in the sun as she rests her head on the shoulder of President Nicolas Sarkozy who uses the phone while at a cafe terrace in the gardens of the Versailles Chateau near Paris, February 3, 2008. (REUTERS/Antoine Gyori)

In her first interview since their secret wedding earlier this month, Bruni played down her image as a man-eating socialite and told L'Express magazine that she would take her new role seriously.

Sarkozy and Bruni, an Italian supermodel-turned-singer, married just three months after first meeting and a mere four months after the president wrapped up a swift, painful divorce from his second wife, Cecilia.

Their whirlwind romance has raised eyebrows in France, and given voters the impression that Sarkozy is over-impetuous, but Bruni denied that they had moved too fast.

"That's false. Things between Nicolas and me weren't quick, they were immediate. Therefore, as far as we were concerned things moved quite slowly," she was quoted as saying.

"I didn't have any hesitation. I wanted to marry him straight away. I feel that nothing bad can happen when I am with him," she said in a glowing eulogy of his merits.

Bruni, 40, has been linked with numerous men in the past, has a child from a previous relationship and has been portrayed in the press as a party animal and a home-breaker.

"I understand that people are worried about what I am, especially with these portraits of me that are often fantastical and sometimes awful. But I want to reassure the French. I am 40, I am normal, serious, aware, simple, even if I am privileged."

ANTI-DIVORCE

Sarkozy, 53, has been married twice before and cynics have questioned how long his third marriage might hold up.

Bruni herself said she was in it for the long haul.

"I've never been married before. I come from an Italian culture and wouldn't like to get divorced. I'm therefore the first lady until the end of my husband's mandate and his wife until death," she said.

Wearing her heart on her sleeve, Bruni said her husband made her feel safe. "Nicolas is brave enough for two people. He is very protective, very paternal," she said.

"I don't yet know what I can do in my role as first lady, but I know the manner in which I want to carry it out -- seriously," she added.

She said her first official trip as first lady would be a visit to Britain scheduled for March 26-28, adding that it would be "exhilarating" to meet the queen.

Her marriage to Sarkozy has helped trigger a collapse in his ratings, with many voters accusing the president of focusing too much on his private life and not enough on their economic problems, such as the growing cost of living.

But Bruni said her husband was constantly at work and they managed to have very little time together. Even their honeymoon had lasted just 20 minutes, she joked.

Although Bruni is used to the glare of the media, she said the attention she had received since she started dating Sarkozy had staggered her, with "600 photographers" turning up to shoot their holidays in Petra in January.

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After protests, Pope changes Latin prayer for Jews

VATICAN CITY- Pope Benedict has ordered changes to a Latin prayer for Jews at Good Friday services by traditionalist Catholics, deleting a reference to their "blindness" over Christ, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

Pope Benedict XVI waves to faithful during a mass in Plebiscito square in Naples October 21, 2007. (REUTERS/Tony Gentile)

The Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano published the new version of the prayer in Latin and said it should be used by the traditionalist minority starting this Good Friday, March 21.

Apart from the deletion of the word "blindness," the new prayer also removes a phrase that asked God to "remove the veil from their hearts".

But the new prayer hopes that Jews will recognise Christ.

Jewish groups had protested against the old prayer and had asked the Pope to change it.

According to an unofficial translation from Latin, the new prayer says in part:

"Let us also pray for the Jews. So that God our Lord enlightens their hearts so that they recognise Jesus Christ saviour of all men."

It also asks God that "all Israel be saved".

Jewish groups complained last year when the Pope issued a decree allowing a wider use of the old-style Latin Mass and a missal, or prayer book, that was phased out after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which met from 1962 to 1965.

"It is less offensive in its language but it still is in contradiction to changes that the late Pope John Paul brought about," said Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti Defamation League in the United States.

"John Paul taught that the Jewish people are the older brothers of Catholics and that Judaism has its own merits and viability. The language is better but it's still troubling," he told Reuters by telephone.

Good Friday is the day Christians commemorate Christ's death.

Only some several hundred thousand traditionalists follow the old-style Latin rite and will use the Latin prayer.

The overwhelming number of the world's some 1.1 billion Catholics attend mass in their local languages.

They would use a post-Second Vatican Council missal, which includes a Good Friday prayer for Jews which asks that they "arrive at the fullness of redemption".

Benedict's decree, issued on July 7, authorised wider use of the old Latin missal, a move which traditionalist Catholics had demanded for decades but which Jews and other Christian groups said could set back inter-religious dialogue.

Implementation of the decree has been difficult. The Pope's number two, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said recently the Vatican was preparing a document on how it should be introduced around the world.

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Bruni says not married to France's Sarkozy … yet

PARIS - Carla Bruni has "not yet" married French President Nicolas Sarkozy and does not plan to accompany him on an official visit to India later this week, the singer and former supermodel said in an interview published on Tuesday.

However, the Italian-born Bruni was quoted by Liberation newspaper as saying that she and the president were planning on tying the knot, although she gave no details.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) and his girlfriend, former supermodel Carla Bruni, walk together during a visit to the Valley of the Queens (Tomb of Nefertari), near Luxor in this December 27, 2007 file photo. (REUTERS/Stringer)

The couple's whirlwind romance has sparked intense media interest, and has been blamed in part on a slump in popularity for Sarkozy, with voters unhappy about his ostentatious private life at a time when the economy is struggling.

There has been speculation that she would accompany the divorced Sarkozy to India for an official visit later this week in what would have represented a challenge to protocol.

India remains deeply conservative about divorce and extra-marital relationships and concerns that Bruni might join the delegation have overshadowed the build up to the trip.

Sarkozy, 52, hinted at a news conference earlier this month that he would marry Bruni and added that the media would probably find out about it after the event.

Regional daily L'Est Republicain reported last week that they had wed in private, sparking a fresh round of media frenzy. Bruni was quoted as saying on Tuesday she was "not yet married", but added: "Even if we are planning to."

The paper said she sent text messages to friends last week telling them that the report of the secret wedding was wrong, calling the rumours "a hurricane of madness".

She also said she was not planning to accompany Sarkozy on an official visit to New Delhi on Jan 25-26.

"I cannot take part in an official visit with the president," she said, adding that she needed to be in France because she was starting to record a new album in February.

Bruni also denied reports that even if she skipped the official part of the trip she might still have hooked up with Sarkozy for a swift visit to the Taj Mahal at the end of his stay in nearby New Delhi.

"I am not going to spend the afternoon in India," she said, joking that air travel wasn't fun. "It's not good for your health either," she was quoted as saying.

However, Liberation said Sarkozy was still pushing hard for Bruni to join him and had held up the release of the official list of French delegates in the hope she might change her mind.

The paper said the confusion had upset India, adding that his hosts "were fed up with Sarkozy's bad manners".

Indian newspapers have revelled in the protocol conundrum with reports wondering if Sarkozy and his girlfriend might share the same plush suite or where she should be seated at the official banquet with Indian president Pratibha Patil.

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World powers close to Iran resolution deal - source

PARIS - World power foreign ministers should agree on a new draft sanctions resolution against Iran at a meeting in Germany on Jan. 22, a French diplomatic source said on Monday.

"The ministers should reach agreement tomorrow on a draft resolution to send to New York," the source said, declining to be named. "We are really very close to an agreement."

Foreign ministers from the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany are scheduled to meet in Berlin on Tuesday to discuss a possible third U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran for refusing to halt sensitive nuclear work.

Iran's Chief Nuclear Negotiator Saeed Jalili answers a question at a news conference in Beijing January 18, 2008. World power foreign ministers are expected to agree on a new draft sanctions resolution against Iran at a meeting in Germany on January 22, a French diplomatic source said on Monday. (REUTERS/Jason Lee)

"I think we will be able to transfer a draft resolution to New York in the coming days," the source told reporters.

Russia and China, commercial partners with Iran and long wary of increasing pressure on Tehran, have been more reluctant to impose further penalties since a U.S. intelligence report in December said Iran halted a nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

Some Western diplomats have said any fresh resolution may be less harsh than what was in prospect before the report.

Tehran has repeatedly said sanctions will not force it to halt its nuclear programme, which it insists is for peaceful purposes only. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, says it wants to build a network of atomic power plants.

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France's oldest man dies, one WWI survivor left

PARIS -France's oldest man, a First World War veteran who refused a medal and spoke powerfully about the horrors of war, has died at 110, leaving just one veteran alive from the conflict.

Louis de Cazenave died at his home in the Auvergne region in central France on Sunday, the government said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy called his death a reminder of the 1.4 million French who had lost their lives in the 1914-18 war.

France's Louis de Cazenave seen in his home at Brioude, central France in this November 10, 2007 file photo. (REUTERS/HO/Ville de Brioude)

Cazenave survived both the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the Second Battle of the Aisne a year later, two of the bloodiest episodes of the "war to end all wars".

Born in October 1897, de Cazenave became an infrantryman in 1916 and retired in 1941. He refused a military decoration but was eventually awarded the civilian Legion of Honour in 1999.

"Some of my comrades weren't even given a wooden cross," he told Le Monde newspaper in 2005.

Recalling events etched into his mind 88 years earlier, he gave a grim account of the offensive on German positions along the river Aisne which caused about 350,000 French and German deaths and led afterwards to a partial French mutiny.

"You should have heard the wounded between the lines. They called out to their mothers, begged us to go finish them off," he told Le Monde.

"We found the Germans when we went to get water at the well. We spoke to them. They were just like us; they had had enough."

He described patriotism as "a way of making people swallow anything" and war as absurd and useless. "Nothing can justify it, nothing," he said.

The last surviving "beardy," the nickname given in France to First World War veterans because of conditions in the trenches, is now Lazare Ponticelli, 110.

He has refused an offer of a state funeral, saying it would show disrespect to war victims who never got the same honour.

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