World Briefs: France's Sarkozy to run in 2017 election

France's Sarkozy to run in 2017 election

PARIS • France's former leader Nicolas Sarkozy announced his presidential comeback bid yesterday, declaring he would run for next year's election.

Mr Sarkozy, 61, was unseated from the Elysee Palace at the last election in 2012 by the now deeply unpopular President Francois Hollande, but had been widely expected to try to win back the office.

"I have decided to be a candidate for the 2017 presidential election. I felt I had the strength to lead this battle at a troubled time in our history," Mr Sarkozy wrote on his social media pages ahead of the publication of a book called Everything For France tomorrow.

REUTERS


Corbyn vs Smith for Labour Party chief

LONDON • Voting began yesterday to decide if Mr Jeremy Corbyn will remain leader of Britain's Labour party.

Party members have until Sept 21 to decide whether to choose challenger Owen Smith, a lawmaker little known outside Parliament.

Mr Corbyn, the favourite with strong trade union and grassroots backing, released a list of four key pledges as ballot papers went out.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


British priest held for sex offences

LONDON • A British priest accused of child sex offences has been sent back to the United Kingdom from Kosovo and arrested at London's Luton airport, five years after he went on the run.

Laurence Soper, 72, was detained on Sunday and charged with nine sexual assault offences committed between 1972 and 1986.

He has been accused of abusing five pupils when he taught at a private Catholic school in London.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


Meeting to stop civil war in South Sudan

NAIROBI • US Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda met in Nairobi yesterday to discuss ways to prevent South Sudan from sliding back into civil war.

The meeting was expected to discuss UN plans, not yet agreed to by South Sudan's government, to deploy a 4,000-strong "protection force" in the capital Juba, to bolster the existing UN peacekeeping mission. The UN has threatened an arms embargo if the government does not cooperate.

REUTERS


Women in police force harassed

SYDNEY • Almost half of the women working for Australia's national police force say they have been sexually harassed on the job, according to a report yesterday.

The review of the workplace culture of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) also found that more than 60 per cent of staff - men and women - reported being bullied.

Women across the AFP also reported difficulties in having to "fit in" to a male-dominated culture, including having to "prove themselves".

Releasing the report, AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin apologised to staff past and present who had been subjected to unacceptable behaviour.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 23, 2016, with the headline World Briefs: France's Sarkozy to run in 2017 election. Subscribe