France presidential election: Who won TV debate?

France presidential election: Who won TV debate?

cheap replica louis vuitton The French only got the chance for one televised debate between Sunday's two presidential candidates, but my word did it live up to expectations.By turns passionate, confrontational, rowdy - even abusive - but also instructive and comprehensive, it must have kept viewers glued to their seats for the full three hours.The tone was set in the first minutes, when - after Francois Hollande's measured, maybe ponderous, opening remarks about his three key principles: justice, recovery, unity - Nicolas Sarkozy went straight on the attack.Scorning what he called Mr Hollande's "empty formulas", the incumbent president said that what the Socialist meant by rassemblement (bringing people together) applied "only to those who agree with you"."Maybe that is what makes the difference between us," the president said.There followed one of the many outbursts of ill-tempered cross-talking that was the despair of the two adjudicators, largely incomprehensible to the viewer. But it forcefully accentuated the drama of the occasion. This was no polite exchange of views. It was a clash of personality, ambition and politics at the highest possible level.'Nasty assumptions'The format took the participants through a range of subjects: unemployment, the deficit, Europe, immigration, nuclear energy and Afghanistan.The clock was carefully monitored so the two men had equal amounts of speaking time. But it must have been Mr Sarkozy's much quicker delivery, because he certainly appeared to be making more points.The president was desperate for this chance to bring the election campaign back to what he thinks has been missing: a comparison of the two competing programmes.

cheap replica louis vuitton handbags He got his way.On the economy, Mr Hollande spoke of his plans to cap petrol prices; create 60,000 teaching jobs over five years; end tax exemptions enjoyed by the wealthy; and set up a Public Investment Bank to put money into new projects.Mr Sarkozy spoke of competitiveness, his planned rise in VAT to bring down the cost of taking on labour, and - against constant sniping from Mr Hollande - he vehemently defended the record of his five years in office.On Europe, Mr Hollande repeated his pledge to renegotiate the budget pact, and "reorientate" the EU from the policies of "generalised austerity".Mr Sarkozy attacked him for not being serious about the task of cutting the deficit."If you want to control your destiny, the first task is to bring down the debt," he said.On immigration, both promised to reduce current levels - but there were angry exchanges over the right for non-EU foreigners to vote in local elections.Mr Sarkozy, who opposes this, said it would open the door to "community-based" voting, with places with large Muslim populations choosing to have separate hours in swimming-pools for men and women.Mr Hollande said Mr Sarkozy was making nasty assumptions about Muslims.'Pontius Pilate' quip What viewers will remember most, though, are some of the highly volatile moments when Mr Sarkozy's attacks were at their strongest.Several times the president said Mr Hollande had "lied" - leading the Socialist to retort: "That word seems to come very easily to you."

replica louis vuitton travel bags On the nuclear industry, the president said Mr Hollande - in promising to reduce France's dependence on atomic power - had "sold the workers… on the altar of a pitiful political deal with the Greens".He not-so-subtly got into the debate on Europe the fact that Mr Hollande had never once attended an EU summit.And at one point he even said Mr Hollande was like "Pontius Pilate" for washing his hands (in Sarkozy's view) of the embarrassment of the Strauss-Kahn affair.So who won?It is an impossible question to answer, and every French man and woman will make up his own mind.For my money, Mr Sarkozy clearly had the better of the argument.He was combative and clear - fiercely fending off attacks by Mr Hollande on his personal integrity or his supposed "partisanship" in favour of the rich.He made some telling strikes on Mr Hollande's economic programme, as well as on the Socialists' vaunted "normality"."You speak of being a 'normal' president. But it's not a 'normal' job. De Gaulle, Pompidou, Mitterrand... these were not 'normal' men. Your 'normality' does not match the distinction of the office," he said.Mr Hollande concentrated his attacks on Mr Sarkozy's record in office, allowing the president to appear more at grips with the challenges of the coming presidency.And there were times when the Socialist appeared knocked off balance, as if his evidently decent self was not especially enjoying the encounter.

replica louis vuitton wallets sale ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Thirteen people were charged Wednesday in one of the biggest college hazing cases ever prosecuted in the U.S., accused in the death of a Florida A&M University drum major who authorities say was mercilessly pummeled by fellow members of the marching band.The charges came more than five months after Robert Champion, 26, died aboard a chartered bus parked outside an Orlando hotel following a performance against a rival school.While the most sensational hazing cases have typically involved fraternities, sororities or athletic teams, the FAMU tragedy in November exposed a brutal tradition among marching bands at some colleges around the U.S."The death ... is nothing short of an American tragedy," said State Attorney Lawson Lamar. "No one should have expected that his college experience would include being pummeled to death."Eleven defendants were charged with hazing resulting in death, a felony, and misdemeanor offenses that all together could bring nearly six years in prison. Two others face misdemeanor charges.It was not immediately clear whether those charged were all students or whether they included faculty members or others involved in the road trip.By Wednesday afternoon, two students were in custody at the Leon County jail in Tallahassee: Rikki Wills, 24, and Caleb Jackson, 23. Both are charged with felony hazing resulting in death.Wills, who was also drum major, declined comment when reached by phone. No working phone number was available for Jackson.

louis vuitton cruise 2011 handbags The names of the 11 others have not been released.Jackson was serving probation for a felony battery charge, according to state and local records. He was arrested in 2009 by Tallahassee Community College police for battery and resisting without violence and arrested again by Tallahassee police a year later, according to county jail records.Champion had bruises on his chest, arms, shoulder and back and died of internal bleeding, Lamar said. Witnesses told emergency dispatchers that the drum major was vomiting before he was found unresponsive aboard the bus.The prosecutor gave no motive for the beating. But witnesses said Champion might have been targeted because he opposed the routine hazing that went on in the marching band or because he was gay, according his family's attorney.Legal experts had predicted more serious charges, such as manslaughter or second-degree murder.Champion's mother, Pam, said she was glad charges were brought but disappointed they weren't more severe. "I thought it should send a harsher message," she said.Lamar said prosecutors didn't have the evidence to bring more serious charges."The testimony obtained to date does not support a charge of murder, in that it does not contain the elements of murder," he said. "We can prove participation in hazing and a death. We do not have a blow or a shot or a knife thrust that killed Mr. Champion. It is an aggregation of things which exactly fit the Florida statute as written by the Legislature."Hazing in Florida was upgraded to a felony in 2005 following the death of a University of Miami student four years earlier. Chad Meredith was drunk and died trying to swim across a lake at the behest of his fraternity brothers. No charges were filed, but a civil jury ordered the fraternity to pay Meredith's parents $12 million.

louis vuitton antheia handbags Champion's death has jeopardized the future of FAMU's legendary marching band, which has performed at the Grammys, presidential inaugurations and Super Bowls and represented the U.S. in Paris at the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. FAMU, based in Tallahassee, has suspended the band and set up a task force on curtailing hazing.Hazing has long been practiced in marching bands, particularly at historically black colleges like FAMU in the South, where the band is often as revered as the football team and members are campus celebrities.Much of the hazing reported at FAMU has involved students trying to get into certain cliques within the band, and it has typically included punching, slapping and paddling.Solomon Badger, chairman of the FAMU board of trustees, said the school is doing everything it can to eradicate hazing. He said of the charges: "I hope this wraps its arm around everything we have been plagued with the last six months."Richard Sigal, a retired sociology professor at the County College of Morris in Randolph, N.J., who holds anti-hazing workshops at schools, said he could not recall another hazing case with so many defendants. Most cases don't result in criminal charges, and those that do typically end in plea bargains with little or no jail time, Sigal said.Champion's parents have sued the bus company owner, claiming the driver stood guard outside while the hazing took place. The company said the driver was helping band members with their equipment.The lawsuit described two types of hazing that took place on the bus.In one ritual, students ran from the front of the bus to the back while other band members slapped, kicked and hit them. A student who fell was stomped and dragged to the front to run again.In a ritual known as "the hot seat," a pillowcase was placed over the student's nose and mouth and he or she was forced to answer questions.

louis vuitton damier azur canvas If the student gave the correct answer, the pillowcase was removed briefly; a student who supplied a wrong answer was given another question without a chance to take a breath, the lawsuit said.In a separate incident at FAMU, three people were charged with severely beating a woman's legs with their fists and a metal ruler last fall to initiate her into a clique of band members from Georgia. The woman suffered a broken thigh.Also, four band members were arrested earlier this year and charged with hazing for allegedly punching, slapping and paddling five students from the clarinet section.On Tuesday, a lawyer for two FAMU music professors who allegedly were present during a hazing of band members in 2010 said they have been forced out.Former drum major Timothy Barber said the charges could help stop hazing at FAMU. "It kind of strikes a level of fear in people, that this hasn't stopped and it's not going to be tolerated," he said.In some other major hazing cases around the country, four former students at California Polytechnic State University pleaded no contest and were sentenced to about a month in jail in 2010 in the drinking death of a fraternity pledge.In 2005, four fraternity members at California State University pleaded guilty in the death of a student who was forced to drink large amounts of water during an initiation. The most serious charge was involuntary manslaughter, resulting in a one-year sentence for one member. Two others pleaded guilty to accessory to manslaughter and got six months.