World vignettes

Sarkozy left standing in the dark in Canada

TORONTO: Was it a nefarious Canadian plot that left French President Nicolas Sarkozy standing silently at a microphone in the dark? At the end of two back-to-back summits hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper,the French leader ignored protocol,which dictates that meeting hosts get to hold their press conference before other leaders. But when he took to the stage in a small tented room at a summit site,Sarkozys microphone didnt work and the lights were turned off. It took French aides a frantic five minutes of scrambling to turn the volume and the lights on. Its Canadian sabotage, joked Finance Minister Christine Lagarde from the front row.