France has gone so far in the debate over .wine and .vin as to demand an overhaul of how ICANN is structured and run. TheFinancial Times reported over the weekend that Paris planned to call for an international "general assembly" to oversee ICANN with a "one country, one vote" policy at a meeting on Monday. The French have also said that proceeding with the domain names could "imperil" talks on a transatlantic trade deal between the EU and the U.S.

It's not a good sign when the leader of a G7 nation feels the need to state his country still matters.  That is precisely what French President Francois Hollande did at a meeting of European Union leaders last month after his Socialist party's humiliating defeat by the hard right National Front in European Parliament elections.

On Thursday, French President Francois Hollande will host foreign dignitaries to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-day. And the celebration will conclude with a state dinner — or, rather, two state dinners. Officials told the AP that President Hollande will eat twice, once with President Obama and then again at a late dinner with Russian President Putin. 

The president will land in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday morning where he will help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the solidarity movement. He then heads to Brussels for a G7 summit on Wednesday. He’ll dine privately with French President François Hollande in Paris on Thursday and commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy on Friday — all while Russian President Vladimir Putin is nearby.

French President Francois Hollande is set to host security summit in Paris , a month after over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls from Chibok were abducted by Islamist militants Boko Haram.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will also attend the talks and address security threats the country face from militant groups including Boko Haram and strategies to tackle with them.

Positioning itself at the crossroads between Africa and Asia, Mauritius is also looking north – especially to France and Britain, where it has strong historical ties. Africa's most developed country is striving to become the continent's leading higher education hub.

In September 2009, Charles Rivkin, the U.S. ambassador to France, drove to northern Paris for the unveiling of a mural at the Collège Martin Luther King, a middle school in the suburb (or banlieue) of Villier-le-Bel.
 

Since its early days, train travel has been shrouded in an aura of romanticism. It has become emblematic of a bygone era of epic voyages, adventures, and discovery—the excitement and possibility of accessing vast new territories.