Over 250 African and French business leaders rubbed shoulders with African heads-of-state in Nice on Monday, as the 25th France-Africa summit, which for the first time will focus on both trade and politics, got under way.

The more time that Nicolas Sarkozy spends at home with his fellow countrymen, the less liked he becomes. And the more he globe-trots, or is seen to be dealing with world affairs, the more his popularity rises. For a leader who badly needs to rescue his poll ratings from the record lows that they hit in April, the temptation is clear.

The real purpose of burqa bans is to assert European cultural identity -- secular, liberal and individualistic -- at the expense of a visible, traditional religious minority. A nation such as France, proudly relativistic on most issues, is convinced of its cultural superiority when it comes to sexual freedom.

A French court ordered the release on Tuesday of an Iranian who was serving a life sentence for the 1991 murder of Iran's last prime minister under the Shah, the convicted man's lawyer said.

As part of the plan, DCI seeks to "create French influence" through academic and training courses, Rotrubin said. Instilling an appreciation of the language and culture, the company's leaders believe, will confer a competitive advantage for French products, and DCI hopes graduates might later draw up specifications that reflect the French training.

...enjoying the full patronage of the Government of France and the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka, the AF de Kotte joins the ranks of the other official Alliance Francaise Centres in Kandy, Matara/Galle and Jaffna, offering French language classes to all age groups.

Two-thirds of French people want a law limiting the use of face-covering Islamic veils such as the niqab and the burqa, with only a minority backing the government's plan for a complete ban, a poll showed Saturday.

A cultural tit-for-tat is happening in France as Namaste France picks up steam. It follows hot on the heels of Bonjour India which saw French cultural events highlighted across 18 Indian cities. Now the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Indian Embassy in Paris has even outdone the French.