Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to serve one-year jail sentence

2/3/2021

(See Translation in Arabic Section)

Sydney - M E Times Int'l: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been handed a one-year prison sentence after being found guilty of corruption.

The 66-year-old was convicted by a court in Paris over attempts to bribe a judge in 2014 after he left office.

 Mr Sarkozy was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison but two of them were later suspended.

 The former president is able to request home detention with an electronic tag and is the first former French president to obtain a custodial sentence.

Fresh fears for UK’s Prince Philip after his move to new hospital

London: After being moved to another hospital in the UK where he’ll remain until “at least” the end of the week, there are mounting fears over the state of Prince Philip’s health.

The 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh was transferred from King Edward VII’s Hospital to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Buckingham Palace said, “where doctors will continue to treat him for an infection, as well as undertake testing and observation for a pre-existing heart condition”.

“The Duke remains comfortable and is responding to treatment but is expected to remain in hospital until at least the end of the week,” the palace said.

Philip was first admitted to King Edward VII hospital on February 16 as a “precautionary measure”.

But the mood inside Windsor Palace has “shifted” after hospital move, royal editor at The Mirror, Russell Myers, said.

“(But) it’s a bit more serious than we were first led to believe. I think everyone has their fingers crossed for him.”

PM rejects call for independent Cabinet inquiry into historical rape allegations

Canberra: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rejected calls for an independent inquiry into historical Cabinet rape allegations.

 Mr Morrison said the minister in question “categorically” denied the accusations when the issues were raised on Wednesday.

The PM has stood by the minister, saying he should not have to stand aside, and the matter should be handled by police.

There are growing doubts police will be able to investigate because the woman who alleged the rape died in June last year before making a formal statement.

NSW Labor calls on government to better enforce anti-racist laws

Sydney: NSW Labor has urged the NSW Government to properly enforce section 93Z of the Crimes Act to better protect multicultural communities from racial hatred.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman admitted under questioning in Budget Estimates that there have only been two prosecutions under the act and that both prosecutions have to be annulled.

The Liberals and Nationals did not want to introduce this new section and only did so in 2018 after pressure from many multicultural and religious communities.

Mr Speakman said his government is not doing enough to enforce these new laws on the same day that a Cumberland City Councillor of Chinese Australian background received a letter filled with racist abuse and a park in Bondi was defaced with a Nazi swastika.

NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay said: “Racial vilification is a criminal act. It is dangerous, hurtful and bad for our community. It is something the government needs to take seriously.

Why the current Sydney housing boom could be unprecedented

Sydney: Sydney’s housing market is booming again due to a “perfect storm” of low interest rates, pent up buyer demand and a shortage of available housing.

It has seen prices skyrocket in recent months and the major banks have forecast significant rises to occur over the year.

Commonwealth Bank this week released projections showing Sydney prices could jump by 20 per cent over the next two years. Westpac earlier forecast growth of about 7.5 per cent over 2021.

The modelling came as realestate.com.au data showed there were 53 per cent more “serious intent” buyers in the national market over January than over the same period in 2020, before the pandemic hit.

In NSW, buyer demand quadrupled in the most popular markets and queues of home seekers have been snaking down the street at open for inspections.

Buyers have been vacuuming up almost anything that comes on the market – last week more than 90 per cent of the auctions across Sydney were a success.

This was well above the long-term trend of about 65 per cent for weekly auction clearance rates, according to CoreLogic.

Agents reported frustrated buyers are often resorting to vicious tactics, especially in the pressure cooker northern beaches market.

Stone Real Estate agent Eddy Piddington said some beaches buyers aren’t even touring properties and simply make offers as soon as listings go online.

“We never had that before, not in the 17 years I’ve been in real estate,” he said.

“People do this when they’ve missed out on multiple properties and the frustration builds up.”

Close to 60 per cent of the buyers Mr Piddington met in recent weeks claimed to have missed out on prior sales, he said. “They say to us, ‘what do I have to do to get this?’ No one wants to keep missing out.”

One veteran agent, who wished to remain private, told The Daily Telegraph “things were about to get messy” for home buyers.

“It’s a rising market and people are starting to lose their marbles,” he said. “It’s herd mentality. In a falling market you struggle to get offers out of buyers, but when it’s strong there’s a rush.”

Real Estate Buyers Agents Association president Cate Bakos said a lot of buyers were being “reckless”.

“We’re coming against people who won’t order building inspections, they just throw out offers at the opens.

“Not even we can move that fast. We have solicitors we can call up at 12am to sign contracts if we need them to, but there’s not much we can do when other buyers lose common sense.

“It’s like if you’re not in the front third of the queue at the open for inspection you can miss out.”

Housing debt reaches nearly $29 billion in loans for January

Sydney: Australians are taking on new housing debt at an alarming rate resulting in almost $29 billion in loans in January. The latest data is 11 per cent higher than December and a 44 per cent increase from a year before. The borrowing binge is complemented by a spike in house prices which surged by 2.1 per cent in February According to CoreLogic, it is the highest monthly increase in 17 years.

Meghan and Harry's Oprah interview is ‘extraordinarily arrogant’ and 'self-wallowing narcissism'

Piers Morgan has slammed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's “self-wallowing narcissism” in their upcoming tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, calling it "extraordinarily arrogant". Morgan also accused the Duke and Duchess of Sussex of being “hypocrites” for complaining about the press but also agreeing to the high-profile interview with Oprah.

Yemen: The nine-year-old war-zone school teacher

In the city of Taiz, Yemen, hundreds of children arrive for lessons each day in the ruins of a school near to front-line fighting between the government and Houthi rebels.

Ahmed, a nine-year-old boy who has been blind since birth, steps in to take classes when the teachers can't make it.

One in every five Yemeni schools is out of use, according to Unicef. But at this one, teachers decided to open it despite the damage, so that education could continue.

Produced by Orla Guerin, Goktay Koraltan, Claire Read, Ahmed Baider and Suad al-Salahi.