PARIS, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - Nearly nine out of 10 French believe the divorce of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia is a private affair, according to an IFOP poll to be published Sunday.

Some 89 percent of those questioned described the divorce, announced Thursday, as 'a private affair that only concerns the presidential couple,' according to the survey to be published in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

More than three-quarters of the 964 people surveyed judged the divorce 'would not weaken' the president in his duties abroad.

PARIS, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - Cecilia Sarkozy said she and her former husband French President Nicolas Sarkozy had never lied about their marriage, in an interview that appears Saturday in the weekly magazine Elle.

'I always acted and thought for my family and wasn't calculating. Nicolas and I never lied. We tried to rebuild, save our relationship, right up until the end,' in response to suggestions they could be 'accused of having lied during the election campaign in playing a united couple.'

PARIS, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Cecilia Sarkozy admitted Friday to falling in love with another man but insisted she and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had 'tried everything' to avoid the divorce which has gripped the nation.

As the split made headlines around the world, the glamorous but single minded 49-year-old ex-first lady told of her torment at being the president's wife in an interview with a regional newspaper.

Explaining her prolonged absence since Sarkozy was elected in May, she said she preferred to be in 'the shadows' and out of the public glare.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush is to host his French counterpart President Nicolas Sarkozy November 6 and 7 in Washington, the White House said Friday.

Sarkozy, who Thursday announced his divorce from his wife of 11 years, Cecilia, will be making his first official trip to the US capital since taking office.

LISBON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday declined to speak about his recent break-up with his wife Cecilia, insisting it was a private matter.

'My state of mind is very simple. I was elected by the French to bring solutions to their problems not to comment on my private life,' he told journalists on the sidelines of an EU summit in Lisbon.

The Elysee Palace confirmed the split on Thursday as weeks of speculation reached fever pitch and newspapers devoted extensive front-page reports to the collapse of the marriage.

TRIPOLI, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has voiced regret at the divorce of France's first couple, whose joint involvement in resolving a long-running row between Tripoli and the EU has sparked a French parliamentary inquiry.

'In a personal capacity, I wish to express my deep regret at the separation of my two very close friends (President Nicolas) Sarkozy and Cecilia,' Kadhafi told AFP in a statement late Thursday.

Kadhafi regretted that the breakup 'came abruptly giving no time for personal intervention by their friends to reconcile them.'

PARIS, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Cecilia Sarkozy admitted Friday to falling in love with another man but insisted she and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had 'tried everything' to avoid the divorce which has gripped the nation.

As the split made headlines around the world, the glamorous but single minded 49-year-old ex-first lady told of her torment at being the president's wife in an interview with a regional newspaper.

Explaining her prolonged absence since Sarkozy was elected in May, she said she preferred to be in 'the shadows' and out of the public glare.

NANCY, France, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Cecilia Sarkozy said in an interview published Friday that she and French President Nicolas Sarkozy 'tried everything' to avoid their divorce but found it impossible to live together any more.

The president's wife admitted she had fallen in love with another man in 2005 and left Sarkozy but insisted that she had returned with the intention of 'trying to rebuild something'.

PARIS, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Nearly 80 percent of French believe the divorce of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia is of little political importance, according to a poll released Friday.

Seventy-nine percent said the divorce of the presidential couple was 'little or completely unimportant' for French politics, with 18 percent holding the opposite view, according to a CSA Institute poll conducted Thursday after their split following 11 years of marriage was announced.

LISBON, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Lisbon on Thursday to attend an EU summit, hours after the official announcement that he was divorcing his wife Cecilia.

Sarkozy displayed a tense smile as he emerged from an official car to be greeted by photographers and reporters. He made no comment as he entered the summit venue to begin talks with his 26 fellow leaders on the new EU reform treaty.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia have divorced by mutual consent after an often tempestuous 11 year marriage, the presidency announced Thursday.

The Elysee Palace released a statement to confirm the split as weeks of speculation reached fever pitch and newspapers for the first time devoted extensive front-page reports to the collapse of the marriage.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The separation announced Thursday between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia is a 'divorce', the Elysee palace said Thursday.

'What is intended by the word separation is divorce,' an aide to the president said.

Earlier the Elysee put out a statement reading: 'Cecilia and Nicolas Sarkozy announce their separation by mutual consent. They will make no comment.'

It had not been clear whether this represented legal separation or divorce.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia have agreed to separate 'by mutual consent' after an often tempestuous 11 year marriage, the presidency announced Thursday.

The Elysee Palace released a statement to confirm the split as weeks of speculation reached fever pitch with French newspapers and magazines putting the first couple on their front pages with reports of divorce proceedings.

'Cecilia and Nicolas Sarkozy announce their separation by mutual consent. They will make no comment,' the brief statement said.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy has always projected the image of a strong leader -- but he has also been ready to admit that his relationship with his wife, Cecilia, left him vulnerable.

The president professed his love for the former model in public, expressed his anger when pictures of his wife and her lover made the front page of a society magazine and shocked many when he admitted that their relationship was foundering.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Some notable divorces involving international heads of state or government:

Andreas and Helen Papandreou -- Greece

Papandreou, who was prime minister of Greece from 1981 to 1989 and from 1993 to 1996, obtained a divorce from his American-born wife Margaret in June 1989. He was then 70 and she 65, and they had been married for 38 years.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia have separated 'by mutual consent', according to a statement from the Elysee Palace Thursday.

'Cecilia and Nicolas Sarkozy announce their separation by mutual consent. They will make no comment,' the statement said.

Rumours have been circulating for several days that the couple's 11 year marriage could be close to collapse.

Several newspapers reported that they initiated divorce proceedings earlier this week. However the official statement spoke only of separation.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Cecilia Sarkozy is an elegant, enigmatic and determined character who rejected from the outset the role of conventional first lady.

She had already run away from her husband once before the permanent split that French press reports say is now being formalised with the French head of state.

The tone for the relationship was set on the day of Nicolas Sarkozy's election triumph in May. Cecilia did not even cast a vote for her husband. Since then her few public appearances were dogged either by gossip or by controversy.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The French people have watched enraptured as the marriage of President Nicolas Sarkozy has collapsed before them.

But the story of Nicolas and Cecilia Sarkozy's reported separation is also a new chapter in the modernisation of French politics.

The French public is not surprised at the split but at the access they have been given to it.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's rocky marriage to his wife Cecilia appeared on the verge of collapse Thursday, as the press for the first time headlined reports of the couple's imminent separation.

Several newspapers reported that divorce proceedings were initiated on Monday, when Cecilia Sarkozy went to a family court judge in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

The judge later visited Sarkozy at the Elysee palace where he co-signed the divorce papers, according to the reports.

PARIS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - French newspapers on Thursday ran front-page stories reporting that President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia have initiated divorce proceedings.

The left-wing Liberation, which has so far refused to comment on what it called rumours, said it had information that Cecilia appeared on Monday before a judge to request a divorce by consent.

Its headline, beneath a full-page picture of the couple, was 'Desperate Housewife.'

Le Parisien newspaper also bore a front-page picture of the Sarkozys beneath the headline, 'A page turns'.

PARIS, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - The French president's spokesman refused to comment Wednesday on a report that Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia went before a judge on Monday to start separation proceedings.

Le Nouvel Observateur said on its Internet site that 'the president and his wife went before a judge on October 15 at the end of the day to initiate separation proceedings.'

Reports have been circulating for several days that the couple could be on the verge of a split, but Sarkozy's spokesman has refused to comment on what he terms 'press rumours.'

PARIS, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy will not accompany President Nicolas Sarkozy on a state visit to Morocco next week, his spokesman said Monday but he declined to comment on reports that they are getting a divorce.

'I have no comment to make on this issue,' presidential spokesman David Martinon told journalists who asked about a spate of articles over the past week reporting that the couple had decided to end their marriage.

PARIS, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be under new pressure Monday to clarify the state of his marriage, as reports intensified over the weekend that a divorce announcement is imminent from his wife Cecilia.

La Tribune financial newspaper quoted on its Internet site a 'generally well-informed source' saying that a divorce will be officially declared by a court on Wednesday.

Le Nouvel Observateur magazine, on its website, said an 'official separation announcement should take place Monday.'

PARIS, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - A spokesman for the French presidency refused to comment Friday on a newspaper report that Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia are shortly to announce a divorce.

Quoting 'sources close to the Elysee', L'Est Republicain newspaper said on its Internet site that the couple's 'separation and divorce' would be made public Friday.

'Things should move pretty quickly, with divorce papers filed rapidly at the courts in Nanterre (a suburb of Paris),' the newspaper said.

PARIS, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - French deputies on Thursday set up a commission of inquiry into whether six Bulgarian medics jailed on charges of infecting children with AIDS in Libya were freed in exchange for French military aid.

The commission is to hear testimony from top aides to President Nicolas Sarkozy to shed light on negotiations that led to the release in July of the five nurses and Palestinian-born doctor after eight years in prison.

PARIS, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - A senior advisor to President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday lashed out at a star French philosopher who accused him of being racist, describing the writer as a 'pretentious little shit'.

Henri Guaino, an influential ally and speechwriter to the president, was quoted as making the comments on the French webite Rue89, after the philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy singled him out for attack in a radio interview.

Government spokesman Laurent Wauquiez told French radio Wednesday that Guaino had been responding to an 'insult'.

MOSCOW, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's first meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin late Tuesday was 'relaxed,' 'detailed' and 'frank,' and could lead to a 'convergence' of views on the Iranian nuclear issue.

'During these three hours we had a very long, relaxed, detailed, frank and passionate discussion,' Sarkozy told French reporters after a dinner with Putin in the presidential residence of Novo Ogaryovo in the Moscow suburbs.

PARIS, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - A star French philosopher on Tuesday attacked President Nicolas Sarkozy's speechwriter as a 'racist' over an address suggesting Africans were to blame for their continent's problems.

Speaking on France Inter radio, Bernard-Henri Levy attacked presidential advisor Henri Guiano over the contents of a speech delivered by Sarkozy in the Senegalese capital Dakar in July, which sparked an uproar on the continent.

PARIS, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy is not obliged to testify before a parliamentary commission of enquiry into the release in Libya of six foreign medics, but she and the president will 'carry the responsibility' of a no-show, the head of the commission said Sunday.

SOFIA, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy leveled a new charge against Russia on Thursday, accusing the country of complicating the world's problems, and urging it to start helping resolve them.

Russia 'should understand that big countries have not only rights, but also responsibilities,' Sarkozy said during a question and answer session with students during a visit to the University of Sofia.

PARIS, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy won glowing praise from former first lady Bernadette Chirac on Thursday who described him as an 'extremely dynamic and extremely courageous' leader.

The 74-year-old wife of former president Jacques Chirac said Sarkozy 'was implementing the reforms that he has committed himself to' and had undertaken this task 'with all of his might'.

'He is extremely dynamic and extremely courageous,' she told RTL radio.

PARIS, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy won glowing praise from former first lady Bernadette Chirac on Thursday who described him as an 'extremely dynamic and extremely courageous' leader.

The 74-year-old wife of former president Jacques Chirac said Sarkozy 'was implementing the reforms that he has committed himself to' and had undertaken this task 'with all of his might'.

'He is extremely dynamic and extremely courageous,' she told RTL radio.

PARIS, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his predecessor Jacques Chirac on Wednesday made a joint visit to a Paris museum of oriental arts, in the company of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

According to Sarkozy's office, the president invited Chirac -- a keen amateur of eastern arts who oversaw the renovation of the Guimet Museum in Paris -- to take part in the visit.

Mittal donated the museum a Himalayan bronze of Avalokiteshvara, the most widely revered bodhisattva in Buddhism.

PARIS, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - A French car magazine which sent reporters to follow President Nicolas Sarkozy's official escort has found it guilty of serial motoring offenses.

The weekly Auto Plus said that in a four week period ending on September 26 Sarkozy's convoy breached the speed limit eight times, went through eight red lights, and twice went the wrong way down a one-way street.

'Is this an example, or is he a monarch above the law?' it asked.

WASHINGTON, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush is expected to host French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Washington next month, a senior US administration official said Monday on condition of anonymity.

The visit, Sarkozy's first formal trip to the US capital since taking office, comes as the United States and its partners, including France, have sought to beef up pressure on Iran over its suspect nuclear program.

PARIS, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy Friday hailed the nomination of Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund as 'a great victory for French diplomacy.'

Strauss-Kahn, a prominent French Socialist whose candidacy was backed by the right-winger Sarkozy, pledged following his appointment to implement 'without delay' much-need reforms at the troubled institution.

MOSCOW, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy will make his first official visit to Russia on October 9 and 10, at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said Friday.

Sarkozy, elected in May, has already met Putin, speaking with him in June at a G8 summit held in Heiligendamm, Germany.

But he has become more critical towards Russia than his predecessor Jacques Chirac, and moved closer to the United States, meeting President George Bush only weeks after his election.