Huh!  I lost my panel last night when I tried to uninstall some of my unused application.  And after rebooting my dreaded laptop (Thinkpad R51), boom!  No panel at all.  What I did was:

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+F1-F6 (F1 used) to go to the terminal
2. michaelm$ sudo apt-get install -y gnome-panel
3. michaelm$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
4. After that I rebooted my laptop.  Bingo!  My panel is back!

Now checking, I also removed this component: evolution-data-server-common

Anyway, its there already, and using it!

By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 5:12PM BST 21 Oct 2008

Investigators say the two suspects of Congolese nationality – described as “small time crooks” – were seized in the Paris area and remanded in custody.

“They no doubt were unaware that it was the president’s account,” said an investigator.

Mr Sarkozy complained to police in September after noticing “small amounts” had been stolen from his account, but the scam was only made public this week.

At first it was thought the fraudsters had siphoned money out of the president’s bank account via the internet after obtaining his user name and password. This led to calls for more internet banking security.

But police now believe they randomly obtained his account number to create a fake identity kit including false names and addresses. This they used in a store to obtain a mobile phone subscription.

In all, the thieves had drained less than £200 from the president’s personal account before the scam was detected, sparking a manhunt involving France’s top financial fraud experts.

Police said financial thieves regularly make lots of small illegal withdrawals as a means of trying to keep their crimes undetected.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3235762/Two-arrested-over-Sarkozy-bank-account-raid.html

PARIS (AFP) — The French government has launched a probe into withdrawals by thieves from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s personal bank account, said a senior official Sunday.

“An inquiry is underway, the President of the Republic has filed a complaint,” government spokesman Luc Chatel told Radio J.

“We will see if there was fraud in a way in which the perpetrators can be sanctioned,” he added.

News that thieves had managed to take out money from Sarkozy’s bank account after obtaining his account number was first reported by the Sunday newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche.

The thieves pirating the account likely “did not know that it was the president’s account,” a source close to the inquiry told AFP.

“This was a classic case of data piracy, likely by one or several low-level swindlers,” the source added.

The president’s office confirmed Sarkozy had filed complaints last month concerning the theft, which the newspaper quoted sources as saying involved only small amounts.

It “is not excluded” that Sarkozy’s bank might face some penalty over “misuse of personal data,” Chatel said.

“When one gives personal information to one’s bank, it is not so the information is used for marketing or recruiting purposes, or that it should be divulged here or there,” he added.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24525437-663,00.html