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Translated French to English -------It is the new illusion of the French. Depities by a widening which diluted their capacity in Europe, they dream of political Europe which would organize itself around the Franco-German couple. Would come then a second circle, a Europe-market corresponding more or less to the current Union, while a third circle, more abstract, would include Turkey, the Ukraine, the Caucasus and the Mediterranean basin. Actually, rare which is those believe in Brussels with this idea of hard core, launched in 1994 by the German Christian Democrats Karl Lamers and Wolfgang Schãuble, and begun again six years...

French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged. Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity. The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by US values. This, he said, would lead to a "general world sub-culture" based around the English language, which would be "a real ecological catastrophe". Citing Hollywood's stranglehold over the film industry as an...

DRAGUIGNAN, France (AFP) - A top US admiral speaking at a ceremony in southern France paying homage to World War II US troops used the occasion to draw parallels with US President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s worldwide war on terror. "Today we are fighting a war against an enemy that respects no borders, has no civilised norms of behaviour in sparing innocent lives and who does not share our sincerest vision and deeds of goodwill to all peoples," Admiral Gregory Johnson said. The senior officer, who is the NATO (news - web sites) commander for southern Europe...

France's government buried more than 60 unclaimed bodies Wednesday in a section of Paris's Thiais cemetery historically reserved for paupers. Hundreds more fill France's morgues, awaiting relatives too busy holidaying to arrange for earlier burials. The dead are but a small fraction of the estimated 11,000 people, mostly elderly, who died during France's searing summer heat wave. The country's leaders, including President Jacques Chirac -- who was himself vacationing in Canada during the worst days of the crisis -- are now looking for ways the country may atone for its collective neglect and ensure the tragedy is never repeated. So...