Brussels - French car manufacturers are the closest to hitting proposed European Union targets for reducing their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while Japanese makers are the furthest away, a study by a Brussels pressure group released Tuesday said.

But neither group managed to make substantial cuts in their new cars' emissions in 2007, leaving it open to question whether they would hit their targets, the study commissioned by Brussels-based environmental group Transport and Environment (T&E) said.

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.