1. President Jacques Chirac of France, who had traveled to Singapore to lobby personally for Paris‘s bid, congratulated London for having the "honor of staging the Games." In a statement issued by the Élysée Palace as Mr.

2. It is a demand for results." Sarkozy, the head of the governing Union for a Popular Movement who had been in the running for the prime minister‘s job, will return to his job as minister of the interior, when Villepin names his cabinet, Élysée Palace said.

3. The International Herald Tribune listed negative comments made about Sarkozy in the run–up to the election, including that he is "arrogant" and "brutal", as well as describing him as "one of the most polarizing figures to move into Élysée Palace in the postwar era." The paper praised the new president for his "brash manner and strong oratory style," also pointing out that he is "nakedly ambitious, pragmatic and calculating and not beyond betrayal to reach his goals," comparing him to Napoleon and Louis XIV.

4. His first attempt to revamp his image, at the Élysée Palace last week, backfired when he seemed indifferent to the cost of living and chatted like a teenager about «Carla and me». He has been damaged further by Cécilia Ciganer, his wife until last October, who is quoted in a new book as calling him a skinflint lothario who parties all night «with women whose name he doesn‘t remember». While the Socialist opposition has been likening Mr Sarkozy to Louis XIV, the self–obsessed Sun King, officials in his Union for a Popular Movement are worried that the backlash could translate into losses in nationwide council elections in March.