Avignon, France - The European Union must push for closer ties with Belarus and Georgia and conflict resolution in Moldova if it is to counter Russia's growing assertiveness in eastern Europe, EU foreign ministers said Saturday.

"It is a very good time to rethink our relations with Belarus. Belarus is sending desperate signals to the West," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Avignon, France  - European Union foreign ministers should hold four informal meetings per year instead of two, the ministers agreed at such a meeting in the sun-drenched mediaeval French town of Avignon on Friday.

"We have decided that there will be two (informal meetings) per presidency and per half year, and the next one will be held in Paris," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who chaired the talks in the French town of Avignon, said.

Avignon, France  - The European Union is set to give formal go-ahead to a team of ceasefire observers for Georgia at a meeting of foreign ministers on September
15, diplomats meeting in the French town of Avignon said Friday.

"All the decisions will be taken on September 15 that we go for full deployment of an European Security and Defence Policy mission in Georgia," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said at an informal meeting with EU counterparts.

Avignon, France  - The European Union must close ranks with the United States if the two powers are to protect their global influence, EU foreign ministers are set to say on Friday.

At an informal meeting in the French city of Avignon, the foreign ministers of the EU's 27 member states are due to discuss how they would like to cooperate with the next US president to solve questions of global security such as climate change and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Washington, September 4 : The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which goes into operation on September 10, might lead to the discovery of new dimensions.

Located on the border of France and Switzerland, the LHC is the world’s largest particle accelerator complex.

According to Professor Etzion, an experimental physicist in high-energy research, ”It is hard to grasp the dimensions of the practical benefits from this project, but we’re expecting to explore the basic forces that hold the world together.”

Paris - France's unemployment rate remained stable at 7.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2008, the government's statistical office INSEE reported on Thursday.

A little more than 2 million men and women of working age remained unemployed on average in the quarter, which was about the same number as in the first quarter of the year.

The report generally surprised analysts, who had expected a small rise in joblessness in the period due to the slumping economy.

According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), France's GDP is expected to grow by only 1 per cent this year, well below previous government forecasts.