London on the move -those geographical wizards at CNN are at it again

Remember a couple of months ago when, during the G20 summit in Cannes the US cable news channel CNN managed to show a map during one report which placed the city not on the French Riviera but several hundred kilometres away in Spain?

No big deal perhaps as Cannes is only slightly well-known internationally for hosting an annual film festival and whoever was responsible for the mix-up can be forgiven for his or her error - can't they?

Obviously though the channel isn't content with "small fry" in its attempt to redraw the map of Europe.

It has now turned its attention to a much bigger "fish" - London.

(screenshot CNN)

Because in a report last weekend on the latest arrests in the 'phone hacking scandal that have "rocked" (don't you just love that word?) the United Kingdom, some bright spark at CNN managed to move the capital 120 miles to the north-east.

It is, according to the channel, now to be found in the county of Norfolk - right where Norwich used to be.

But wait.

That's not all.

CNN has also created an entirely new town in the south-west of the country; Cornwall.

That's reassuring isn't it?

Oh well, let's just hope that when it comes to the Summer Olympics the channel manages to get its act together.

On current form though, it doesn't bode well.

Did Sarkozy really spend €37,000 a night on his G20 hotel room? No!

"As world teeters on the brink, can leaders enjoy €1m of hospitality? Yes they Cannes" screamed the headline to a story in that bastion of journalistic accuracy The Sun last week.

Majestic hotel, Cannes (screenshot from YouTube video)

The paper was beside itself and in apoplectic full flow over the amount of money some world leaders had spent on accommodation, "gourmet meals and fine wine" during the G20 summit held in the southern French city of Cannes.

And according to the paper the biggest culprit, in terms of the amount he had spent on a place to rest his head for two nights, was none other than the host to the whole shebang, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

In the piece readers learned that the former master of Bling Bling had forked out an "eyewatering" £32,000 or around €37,000 a night for "the Presidential Suite at the five-star Majestic Hotel".

What a scandal, especially in these times of belt-tightening austerity, and the comments from Sun readers were suitably outraged.

Except it's not true, according to both Franck Louvrier, a spokesman for the French president's office, and the hotel itself.

You see, the French national daily Le Monde actually took the time to check on the veracity of the claim and provided evidence to back up what it had found.

It's a clever technique that surely still has its place in reporting called "backing a story up" with evidence or "attributing" it.

"The information is false," Louvrier told Le Monde.

"The actual cost was ten times less even though there are suites at that price."

There are indeed, as the hotel confirmed; one at €30,000 a night and another at €38,000.

But Sarkozy wasn't in either of them and instead had been in a room which typically cost between €1,500 and €3,000 a night.

The Majestic was too discreet to mention which room in particular Sarkozy had stayed but it did confirm that the bill for his two-night stay had been between €6,000 and €7,000.

So there you have it. Perhaps The Sun article slapped on an extra "zero" - by mistake.

And what does it say for the rest of the claimed expenses and accompanying graphics?

CNN reports from G20 in Cannes - Spain!

All right a question to all Americans reading this.

How good is your knowledge of European geography?

Hopefully a little (or should that be a lot) better than someone over at CNN, the US cable news channel with of course its well-known international counterpart.

The channel has deployed, what the French weekly news magazine Le Point calls, "its usual army of journalists and technicians" to cover the G20 summit.

You know, the talkathon currently taking place in Cannes - hosted by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy with guest of honour his US counterpart Barack Obama.

The two men are to appear in a 15-minute pre-recorded interview on prime time news in France on Friday evening - apparently more than enough time to cover all the world's issues and any questions on re-election they might both face next year. But that's an aside.

Er - so where were we? Oh yes - G20 summit, Cannes on the French Riviera and ergo in France...well not quite it appears.

Because someone back home at CNN HQ responsible for putting together world maps managed to place the city, world famous for its annual film festival, not just several hundred kilometres away but in a completely different country - Spain to be precise.

Now we all know that Americans can have a rather - how to put this politely? - tainted view of the world, geographically speaking but really!

The blunder didn't go unnoticed on the Net of course with comments ranging from "CNN exclusive - northern Spain has been ceded to France" to the suggestion that "when the US invades Iran, best make sure that CNN are not embedded with the military."

Click here to see one of many images of CNN's latest take on European geography.

Claude Guéant - "a minister whispering into the ear of France's far-right Front National"

Not a day seems to go by without the recently-appointed interior minister Claude Guéant making a remark which many are interpreting as an attempt to reach out to potential voters of the far-right Front National (FN).

"He's a minister whispering into the ear of the Front National," is how one prominent Socialist party politician, Jean-Marc Ayrault, described Guéant's latest comments about the need to prevent anyone using the country's services from wearing religious symbols.

Yes Guéant is at it again.

Claude Guéant (screenshot from i>Télé interview)

In the space of a week he has made remarks that have angered the opposition Socialist party - and many others - worried some within his own party, confused and surprised those who've worked close to him over the years and provided a platform for the FN to expound its policies.

After "the French not feeling at home in France" and praising Sarkozy for "leading the crusade in Libya" comes the latest in what some see as a direct appeal to those tempted to vote for the FN.

This time it was the suggestion that religious symbols should be banned in all public services - not only for those working in them, but also those using them.

"Obviously anyone working in a public service shouldn't wear a religious symbols or show any religious preference," he said in an interview on the news and current affairs channel i>Télé on Thursday.

"Nor should those using them," he added.

Guéant tried to cover himself somewhat by saying later that he had mainly been talking about hospitals and in particular cases in which women didn't want to be seen by male doctors.

But as had happened on the previous day with his "crusade" comment, the reactions came thick and fast and once again Guéant was flavour of the day in terms of news reporting.

Most telling of all the reactions though is from someone who knows Guéant well, and indeed worked alongside him for eight years.

Interviewed on Friday morning's news magazine La Matinale on Canal +, Abderahmane Dahmane, president of the democrates musulmans de france and until recently a special advisor to the French president Nicolas Sarkozy in charge of diversity, said he was as confused as anyone by Guéant's remarks.

"I have the impression that the sky is falling in on them," he said in reference to Guéant and Sarkozy, both of whom he said he still considered friends.

"In eight years of working together I never heard a word uttered by Claude Guéant that could annoy anyone. He was always the go-between, the moderator," he continued.

"But now, I don't understand why he's saying what he is. What purpose does it serve?"

Indeed.

And where is Sarkozy in all of this?

All right so he's currently playing "King of the World" as leader of the G20, G8 and the "crusade" against Libya.

But he's also a man used to meddling in all aspects of domestic affairs as he sees fit and reining in ministers whenever they're deemed to be overstepping the mark.

Sarkozy has been strangely quiet.

Perhaps part of the answer for Guéant's apparent change in behaviour and Sarkozy's silence comes in those cantonal elections on Sunday.

Oh yes and there's that debate on laicity set by the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) for April 5, which the leader of the party Jean-François Copé is organising to "discuss religious practice in France - including Islam - and its compatibility with the country's secular laws."

But there is of course also Sarkozy's poor showing in the opinion polls, the rise of in popularity of the FN leader Marine Le Pen and the fear that some UMP supporters will be attracted to her and her party's policies when it comes to next year's presidential elections.

Recent polls suggest that Sarkozy might not even make it past the first round of those elections.

Has he "unleashed" Guéant on France in an attempt to win over that far-right vote?

Sure looks that way - whatever anyone else is saying - or not saying.

Banking bonuses are back in France

Forget the financial crisis of last autumn and the promises made by bankers that lessons had been learnt and things would be different in the future.

The French bank BNP Paribas, one of this country's biggest, has announced second-quarter net profits of over €1.6 billion or 6.6 per cent and along with it of course come bonuses for its traders for a job well done.

And not just a couple of centimes scattered here and there, but a full €1 billion more than in 2008 according to the national daily, Libération.

It's a figure, although not denied by the bank, that isn't far off the mark as it admits in a written statement released in response to the article.

"Libération's calculations are close to the amount," it read. "But in any case at the moment they're only virtual bonuses because they won't actually be paid out until the end of the year depending on the results."

Oh well, that's all right then. They're just "virtual bonuses" and traders won't be taking home wallets stuffed to overflowing - well not quite yet.

But wait. There's more. As well as confirming the news, the bank actually justifies it too,

And it comes from none other than the BNP Paribas CEO himself, Baudouin Prot.

In an interview with the daily financial newspaper, La Tribune, Prot clearly doesn't see a problem admitting that the bank has plans to pay out bigger-than-expected bonuses.

"As far as paying bonuses to traders is concerned we have been one of the first banks in the world to respect scrupulously the recommendation of the G20," he said.

"For example, we intend to spread bonuses over several years and make them dependent on results and not revenue," he added

"Those are the principles we're going to apply for 2009."

Reassuring words indeed from a man who also insists that the "crisis has changed us".

Ah yes, as it proudly promotes itself on its official website, BNP Paribas really is La banque d'un monde qui change" or "The bank for a changing world".

G20 over but where was Carla?

The talking is over, the dining done and most importantly an historic deal has been agreed.

But away from the serious business of politics and economic, the burning question on many lips here in France - and apparently in the British media too - was where was Carla during the G20 in London?

You might remember that almost a year ago France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy wowed the media the other side of the channel when she accompanied her hubbie on a state visit.

But there was no sign of her in London during the G20 and instead the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was left to cope on his own during the dinner thrown by the hosts, Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah.

Sarkozy refused to answer journalists' questions as to his wife's whereabouts, according to the French glossy magazine, Gala, and instead was reportedly in "something of a sulk as he tucked into his meal isolated, without his beauty at his side to help him out with his less-than-perfect English."

So where was Carla?

Back home in the French capital according to a British tabloid, the Daily Mail, having a ciggie (tut tut) and putting her feet up.

In what the paper quite clearly saw as somewhat haughty behaviour from France's first lady, Bruni-Sarkozy's absence was described as being something of an insult to Sarah Brown, and more importantly perhaps explained in terms of her not wanting to be outshone by her US counterpart, Michelle Obama.

All right so that's perhaps one slightly less than generous clarification of Bruni-Sarkozy's absence.

Others included the more diplomatic interpretation of not wanting to appear to compete for the limelight with Michelle Obama.

In an interview with American television last November, Bruni-Sarkozy was full of praise for the new US first lady calling her "a strong, formidable and intelligent women, whom she was keen to meet."

Another explanation was that she found the idea of hanging on Sarkozy's arm more than a little boring and of course most unkind of all maybe that she didn't want to appear as yet another giant beside her much shorter husband during photo calls with the US presidential couple.

Of course Bruni-Sarkozy wasn't the only "no show" as the British daily, the Guardian points out.

Her husband may have had to "muddle through without her for a couple of days, but he was in good company as spouses of a couple of other G20 heads of state or government chose not to attend.

As is often the case on official business, Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel, was without her husband, Joachim Sauer, who rarely puts in an appearance at such events.

And Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez, was also without her other half, Nestor Kirchner.

But as he was her predecessor in office, maybe that was just a bit of protocol coming into play.

Back to Bruni-Sarkozy though, and whatever might or might not have been the reasons behind her decision to stay at home, she will meet the US presidential pair this weekend - on home turf so-to-speak - as France hosts the Nato summit in Strasbourg.