FOX NEWS: PARIS – Socialist Francois Hollande took over as France's president Tuesday and jetted off to Berlin hours later for talks on Europe's debt crisis -- only to have his plane struck by lightning. No one was hurt.
The Falcon 7X aircraft was hit by lightning shortly after take-off Tuesday, and returned to the Villacoublay air base outside Paris as a precaution for inspection, Defense Ministry spokesman Gerard Gachet said.
Defense officials say the president and his entourage were transferred to another aircraft, a Falcon 900, and took off shortly thereafter. Hollande is due to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss Europe's financial crisis.
It was a stormy presidential beginning for a man who promised to be a more "normal" president and less flashy than predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy. » | Associated Press | Tuesday, May 15, 2012
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