Beirut- French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday that the mounting war of words between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah should not be taken seriously, but he warned that the region was still tense.

"One must always take threats seriously, both those made by Israel and by Mr. (Hassan) Nasrallah ... because this is a very inflammatory region," Kouchner said after talks in Beirut with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman.

Damascus - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Damascus on Monday for a brief visit ahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's official visit to Syria in early September.

Paris  - Four armed men commandeered a 55-metre luxury yacht near the French island of Corsica, looting the vessels' safe, French media reported Monday.

Paris - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner Monday ruled out th

Paris, August 24 : The European Space Agency (ESA) is about to launch the most sophisticated mission ever to investigate the Earth''s surface, core, and, gravitational field, with unprecedented resolution and accuracy.

Known as the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE), the satellite will be placed onto a low altitude near sun-synchronous orbit by a Russian Rockot vehicle launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia, some 800 km north of Moscow. 

Lift-off is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, September 10. 

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday said Russian troops must leave the important Black Sea port of Poti, even as he thanked his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev for keeping his commitment on the withdrawal of troops from Georgia.

The two heads of state discussed over telephone the importance of fully implementing the six-point ceasefire brokered by France, which currently holds the European Union presidency.