THE TELEGRAPH: Rachida Dati, the French justice minister who controversially returned to work five days after giving birth, is to keep her job in an imminent reshuffle.
Miss Dati, the first senior French minister of North African origin, was tipped to step down and represent President Nicolas Sarkozy's Right-wing UMP party in June elections for the European parliament.
But she has confirmed that she will keep her post in 2009 despite reports that her cabinet days were numbered.
The minister is at loggerheads with magistrates, prison officials and lawyers, who say she is unable or unwilling to dialogue with them on reforms. A string of her advisers have thrown in the towel, reportedly exhausted by her abrasive management style - leading to insistent reports that she would soon leave the government or move to a lower-profile ministry.
But she told the newspaper Le Figaro: "I only recently received assurances from the President that I would continue in 2009 to my work as justice minister." >>> By Henry Samuel in Paris | Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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