France's Sarkozy officially being investigated   The preliminary
charges were issued against Sarkozy, 58, after he went through
hours of questioning in a Bordeaux courthouse, according to the
prosecutor's office. The ex-president is accused of "abuse of
someone in an impaired state" in the case involving L'Oreal
cosmetics fortune heiress Liliane Bettencourt, who is now 90.
Sarkozy potentially could join his predecessor and former
mentor, former President Jacques Chirac, who was convicted after
office. In a political financing scandal of his own, Chirac in
late 2011 became the only former French leader since World War
II-era Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain to be charged
or convicted of a crime.  The charges were unlikely to have any
immediate political impact. The conservative Sarkozy said his
political career was over and assumed a low profile after losing
his re-election bid to Socialist Francois Hollande in May. While
some polls suggest Sarkozy is the mainstream right's favored
candidate in the