Sarkozy calls for new bank rules

French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Europe on Thursday that it cannot escape shock waves from the U.S. financial crisis and that to protect its future, it must take the initiative in rewriting worldwide banking rules to end the “folly” of an underregulated system he said is now “finished.”

Sarkozy, who also holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, said he would propose swift action by the 27-nation bloc at its next meeting to tighten controls over European banks. But beyond Europe, he said, the leaders of all the world’s major industrial powers should gather at a special summit before the end of the year and start to construct from scratch a new financial and monetary framework to replace the U.S.-dominated system set up at Bretton Woods, N.H., in 1944.

“We can no longer manage the economy of the 21st century with the instruments of the economy of the 20th century,” he declared. The U.S.-inspired lack of regulation in recent years, he added, “was a folly whose price is being paid today.”

Brampton, Ontario

Man found guilty of terrorist offense

A Canadian man accused of participating in military exercises and firearms training as part of a group authorities say plotted to storm parliament and behead the prime minister was found guilty Thursday.

The man’s attorney says the plot was a “jihadi fantasy” and that his client knew nothing about it.

A judge ruled Thursday that evidence of a terrorist group was “overwhelming.” The man is the first person to be found guilty of a terrorist offense in Canada since the country enacted anti-terrorism laws in 2001.

The arrests of the 18 group members, known as the “Toronto 18,” made headlines around the world and heightened fears in Canada, where people believe they are relatively immune from terrorist strikes.

Prosecutors said there were plans to truck-bomb nuclear power plants and a building housing Canada’s spy service.

Superior Court Justice John Sproat found the man guilty of knowingly participating in a terrorist group.

The man has not been identified because he was 17, a legal minor, when he was arrested in 2006. He is now 20.