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FRANCOIS Hollande had hoped to draw a line under the scandal plunging his presidency into farce when he phoned the French state news agency to announce his separation from Valerie Trierweiler. But his domestic woes look set to continue amid claims he will have to pay her compensation for the humiliation and loss of earnings she suffered because of him. As France's erstwhile first lady flew to India yesterday on a humanitarian assignment, friends said she was expecting to thrash out a financial settlement with the head of state upon her return. "These women will have cost me dear," Mr Hollande told advisers over the weekend. The President left his five-bedroom flat in a chic suburb of Paris to Segolene Royal, the mother of his four children, when he dumped her for Ms Trierweiler in 2007. Sources in his office say he has no intention of installing Julie Gayet, 41, the actress and film producer who is his latest mistress, in the Elysee Palace for now. The publication of photographs showing Mr Hollande, 59, arriving on a scooter for a nocturnal encounter with Ms Gayet plunged him into private and political turmoil a fortnight ago. He sought to restore dignity to the presidency when he telephoned Agence France-Presse, the national press agency, over the weekend to read an 18-word statement saying he had terminated his relationship with Ms Trierweiler. It came after Ms Trierweiler, 48, refused to sign a joint statement with Mr Hollande, switching off her mobile on Friday and leaving his messages unanswered. Her spokesman, the only one of her five government staff still working for her, said she was now on "good terms" with Mr Hollande and in better health after the announcement of their break-up. | 
