By DPA,
Paris : US President Barack Obama arrived in Paris late Friday for a visit of at least one day to take part in ceremonies commemorating the 65th anniversary of D-Day.
Obama flew to Orly Airport directly from Germany, where he had toured the historic city of Dresden and met Chancellor Angela Merkel, before proceeding to the former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald.
Obama is scheduled to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy Saturday for talks on a broad range of topics, including Afghanistan, global warming and Iran’s nuclear programme.
Also on Saturday, Obama and Sarkozy will join British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Britain’s Prince Charles and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as well as thousands of World War II veterans for ceremonies at the cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer.
The event is to honour the American soldiers who died in the June 6, 1944, Allied invasion of Normandy, which marked the beginning of the end of the war.
Sarkozy and Obama are scheduled to have lunch in the city of Caen Saturday. However, the two leaders may have to settle for cold cuts and eat them in the dark because of power cuts threatened by angry utility workers, the daily Ouest France reported Friday.
Trade unions representing workers for the energy providers EDF and GDF, who are in the ninth week of a campaign for higher wages, said they would cut power to the city centre to press their demands.
Electricity was cut earlier Friday in the first town liberated by the Allied troops 65 years ago, Sainte-M�re-Eglise, the online edition of Ouest France reported. Other power cuts have been threatened for the town Saturday.