French Foreign Affairs Minister, Alain Juppé praised on Thursday the life sentence declared by the Argentine justice system against former navy spy, Alfredo Astiz, for the crimes against humanity, tortures and kidnappings he committed during the last military dictatorship. Juppé said the decision “honours Argentina.”
The Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday that France and Germany had agreed to boost a euro zone financial rescue fund to two trillion Euros pushing US stocks and the Euro higher despite doubts about whether there was such an agreement.
In a carefully worded statement, Moody's Investor Service hinted that the outlook for France's top-tier credit rating could be at risk. The nation still enjoys very high government financial strength, said the ratings agency in its annual credit report on France, released late Monday.
France and Chile are in the last stages of the transfer of the amphibious assault ship ‘Foudre’ to replace the decommissioned multipurpose ‘Valdivia’ that was extensively used for the transport of troops and military equipment, reported the Chilean navy.
The leaders of Germany and France promised to unveil a new comprehensive package for solving the Euro zone's debt crisis by the end of the month, but offered no details and papered over differences on how to shore up European banks.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner held on Wednesday a 45 summit meeting with her counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy on the third and last day of her official visit to France.
French magistrates formally opened an investigation into IMF chief Christine Lagarde this week for possible misconduct in approving a huge payment to a friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy when she was Finance minister.
Moody’s, Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Fitch confirmed Wednesday that France still rates as a triple-A country with a stable outlook. The comments came in response to market rumours of a French sovereign credit rating downgrade, which hit French bank stocks.
Britain can’t go on shielding behind its membership of the UN Security Council to avoid dialogue on the Falklands/Malvinas question, but Argentina is confident “negotiations will take place” said Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman in Paris following a meeting with his French peer Alain Juppé.
The Brazilian government will not review multibillion-dollar bids for a fighter jet deal until the start of 2012, Defence Minister Nelson Jobim told reporters in France.