Massive Paris Police Action Quells Riots

Attacks against officers won't be tolerated, he says

(NEWSER) - Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to bring armed rioters to justice after visiting wounded policemen in the hospital today, saying, “Opening fire at officials has a name—attempted murder.” More police were deployed last night, bringing violence down, but buildings and cars were burned throughout Paris and Toulouse, the BBC reports. Sarkozy also promised a judicial inquiry into the deaths that ignited the riots. More»

(NEWSER) - Seven French politicians, including President Nicolas Sarkozy, have received death threats accompanied by live ammunition, the Independent reports. The letters, which included 9mm rounds, were signed by an unknown group called Solidarity Earth. Though the name perhaps suggests an environmental group, and anti-terrorism officials are investigating, those in the know attribute the act to a “disturbed individual.” More»

Target was Sarkozy's law firm's building

(NEWSER) - A bomb exploded in a Paris office building today, killing a secretary and seriously injuring at least one other person, Bloomberg reports. The parcel was addressed to the fourth floor, which houses the Shoah Foundation, a Holocaust research group. The building is also home to Nicolas Sarkozy’s former law firm. A second suspect package is being defused in the now-cordoned off building. More»

Nicolas Sarkozy has left the building

(NEWSER) - France today installed Socialist Francois Hollande as its new president for the next five years, replacing conservative Nicolas Sarkozy with a mandate to ease up on the austerity measures with which Europe has fought its economic crisis. Hollande, the first Socialist to have access to France's nuke codes in 17 years, promptly called for "compromise" in Germany's stripped down approach to the crisis, reports the BBC . He'll name a prime minister and fly to Berlin this afternoon to face the music—and Angela Merkel, who supported Sarkozy—there. More»

...But François Hollande might be even more simpatico with Obama administration

(NEWSER) - France's election was something of a can't-lose proposition for the Obama administration. On the one hand, the US isn't pleased to see the backside of Nicolas Sarkozy, an ally so steadfast that in France he was sometimes called "Sarko the American." Sarkozy, after all, was in lockstep with the US on Iran, Libya, and other foreign policy issues. Incoming president François Hollande isn't likely to be nearly as accommodating in that arena, the New York Times reports. More»