Paris  - Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovich on Monday handed over his country's official EU membership application to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current EU president.

Also present at the meeting was EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, who said, "the European perspective given to the Balkan countries is essential for the stability and prosperity of the region and the EU."

Paris - Two people have died and some 90,000 households were without electricity on Monday following a powerful weekend storm that left much of central France buried in snow.

On Sunday, a 50-year-old woman lost her life after her vehicle skidded on a snowy road near the town of Lavoute-sur-Loire and plunged into the icy Loire River.

In addition, a 58-year-old Swiss man hiking with snowshoes in the Jura Mountains was caught in an avalanche and killed. His wife was gravely injured in the accident.

Paris, Dec. 14 : Envoys from Afghanistan, its neighbours and the world''s great powers are meeting here today to discuss ways to ease Afghanistan's socio-economic crisis.

States around Afghanistan, especially Pakistan and Iran, are likely to be told to help in Kabul''s attempt to regain control of the war ravaged and economically deprived land.

India's Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher and Iran''s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will be some of the participants at the meeting.

Paris - France's First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is going to court to prevent the sale of a shopping bag adorned with a photo of her in the nude, the online edition of the weekly Le Point reported on Friday.

Bruni-Sarkozy's attorney, Thierry Herzog, said the bag - which is made by the Pardon company based on the island of La Reunion - damages her image, which was used without her consent.

"We will ask for a ban on the sale of this article and 125,000 euros (166,000 dollars) in damages," Herzog said. The money, if it is awarded, will be donated to charity, he added.

Paris, Dec 12 : Data and images from Mars Express suggest that groundwater springs played a much important role in shaping the surface of the Red Planet than previously believed, and may have even sheltered primitive life forms as the planet started drying up.

Light Toned Deposits (LTDs) - martian sediments that most closely resemble sediments on Earth - are some of the most mysterious sediments on Mars. Causes for their origin remain unknown.

These deposits occur on a large scale in Arabia Terra, Chaotic Terrain and Valles Marineris, close to the Tharsis volcanic bulge.

Until now, different mechanisms, including volcanic processes, have been proposed for their formation.

Algiers/Paris  - The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) must decide on a "drastic" cut of oil production during its next meeting, OPEC president Chakib Khelil, told Algerian radio on Thursday.

The next meeting is scheduled for December 17 in Oran.

"The Oran meeting must decide on a drastic (production) cut to establish an equilibrium between supply and demand," Khelil said during an interview on Radio Algerienne. Khelil is also Algeria's energy minister.