Marseille - The Spanish port city of Barcelona is to be the seat of the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said Tuesday in Marseille.

Agreement on what had been a bone of contention among the 43 members of the union was reached during the two-day meeting of foreign ministers and other representatives from European Union members and Mediterranean states.

The meeting was held in the French city of Marseille because France currently holds the 6-month rotating EU presidency.

Malta and the Tunisian capital Tunis had also been in the running to host the group's secretariat, which will bring status and jobs to the city.

Marseille, France - Five models of the Nissan luxury brand, Infiniti, will be available in Europe from 2009 including the new G37 and the EX and FX Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs).

The G37 line-up will include the convertible which is scheduled for sale late in the year and celebrates its world debut at the upcoming Los Angeles Motor Show, featuring a retracting steel roof.

The G37 is powered by the same 320 hp V6 engine as the sedan and coupe versions. The basic model will sell for around 40,000 euros (53,876 dollars), according to the company.

The Crossover EX 37 will sell for 46,000 euros (62,000 dollars) with the longer FX costing an additional 9,000 euros (12,123 dollars).

Paris, Marseille  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy moved on Monday to rally world leaders to meet on the global finance crisis and called a meeting with French financiers as share prices collapsed on the Paris Bourse.

After an EU-India summit in the southern French city of Marseille, Sarkozy, the current holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, urged world leaders to hold emergency talks on the current financial crisis "within weeks."

Marseilles (France), Sept. 29 : Seeking to defend his UPA Government on the issue of the recent attacks on Christians in Orissa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, said on Monday that every community in India had a right to practice its religious beliefs, and violence to curb these beliefs would be firmly dealt with.

Marseilles (France), Sept. 29 : The European Union and India have identified new activities to complement the 2005 India-EU Joint Action Plan, with the objective of promoting international peace and security and working together towards achieving economic progress, prosperity and sustainable development.

They include the following:

Promoting Peace and Comprehensive Security

- To strengthen their consultations in the United Nations Human Rights Council and sustain their dialogue on human rights with a view to promoting the universality of human rights.

Marseilles (France), Sept. 29 : The Horizontal Civil Aviation Agreement signed between India and the European Union on Sunday evening, finally ends nearly six years of legal uncertainty on bilateral deals on civil aviation services between EU member states and third countries discriminated against airlines from other EU states.

It may be recalled that in November 2002, a European Court had decided that such deals could not be encouraged.

With the passing of the latest deal, 26 separate deals that India had held with individual EU member states have been

India’s Ambassador to the European Union, J Bhagwati, French government and EU officials inked the deal.