Warsaw - Polish President Lech Kaczynski is unable to meet French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy next month for talks on unblocking the European Union's reform treaty, an aide said Thursday.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's six-month until December 31, has previously said he would meet Kaczynski on December 6 to discuss the Lisbon Treaty. But the Polish president's office said he will be visiting Asia.

Nice, France - Before European Union leaders can fully appreciate Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's expected proposals on European security at Friday's EU-Russia summit in Nice, France, they need to consider the importance of one word: bistro.

According to legend, the French word "bistro" comes from the Russian "bystro!", meaning "quickly!", and was brought to Paris in 1814 by Cossack troops who occupied the city and had the habit of

yelling the phrase at reluctant waiters.

Nice, France - When European Union and Russian leaders meet in the French resort of Nice on Friday, the following points are expected to draw their attention:

FINANCIAL CRISIS: The EU-Russia summit comes less than 24 hours before the leaders of the world's most powerful nations meet in Washington to discuss a response to the global financial crisis.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the host of Friday's meeting,

Paris - A four-day strike called by unions representing pilots for French carrier Air France will cost the company up to 100 million euros (125 million dollars), company head Jean-Cyril Spinetta said Thursday in an open letter to the pilots.

"Four days of strike is a diminution of 100 million euros of our profits and therefore of our capacity to invest at a time when ... banks are not eager to finance companies," Spinetta wrote.

The company said that the strike, which is to begin on Friday, will lead to the cancellation of at least half of its 760 middle-distance and 73 long-distance flights.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy convinced Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin not to attack the Georgian capital Tbilisi and overthrow Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili this summer, the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur reported on Thursday.

Citing Sarkozy's foreign policy advisor, Jean-David Levitte, the magazine said that the incident occurred at the Kremlin on August 12, when Sarkozy - as president of the European Union - was trying to negotiate an end to the Russia-Georgia conflict.

Paris - The United States and the nations of the euro zone have entered an economic recession that will be long and could be severe, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a preliminary forecast released Thursday in Paris.

"Economic activity is expected to fall by 0.9 per cent in the US next year, by 0.5 per cent in the euro area and by 0.1 per cent in Japan as OECD countries enter a protracted slowdown," the OECD said.