Philippe De Villiers News

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said he believed many European leaders were eager to end the standoff over sanctions with Russia. "I think that many in Europe including the politicians, my colleagues, ... (want) to get out as soon as possible of a situation, which is damaging our cooperation," Putin said during a visit to the Crimea peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine earlier this year. He added that he had recently spoken to his French counterpart Francois Hollande and felt this also reflected the French president's mood.

Philippe de Villiers, deputy head of France's RPF dissident Gaullist party, has vowed to sue oil company TotalFina for polluting the French coastline after its chartered tanker Erika sank and split apart. De Villiers, who is also president of the council of one of the areas affected by the spill, argues that the state should sue TotalFina, and said he believes the oil giant is "responsible morally and without a doubt legally" for the pollution. He said a part of the profits from the oil company, formed from the merger of TotalFina and Elf Acquitaine, should be seized.