France coach Marc Lievremont has opted to stick with the same squad for the clash with Ireland despite fitness fears over Luc Ducalcon, Aurelien Rougerie and Benjamin Fall.

France opened up their RBS Six Nations rugby campaign with an impressive, forward-dominated victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.

The Dordogne (dept. 24) is placed to take advantage of speedier rail links to Paris and Spain – so enhancing tourism – as strategies for TGV routes for the South West are revealed.

The new proposed tracks for the Lignes à Grandes Vitesses connecting Bordeaux-Toulouse and Bordeaux-Spain could very well cut journey time from Dordogne to Paris to three hours and Dordogne to Spain to four hours.

Johan Bruyneel, the manager of Team RadioShack has released the details of 14 cyclists in contention for the 9 places with the team’s 2010 Tour de France programme.

The first-year ProTour outfit’s long term programme contains several experienced Tour de France entrants, led by seven time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

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Festival de Cannes

For over 60 years the Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival) has made a celebration of the cinema.

During this time, L’Association Française du Festival International du Film (the French Association of the International Film Festival) has been able to evolve whilst retaining the essentials: the passion for motion pictures, discovery of new talents, and enthusiasm of festival-goers and professionals from around the world, all contributing to the birth and distribution of films.

The French health ministry released an alert on Tuesday just after eight individuals died and seven became ill in two European countries through using heroin contaminated with anthrax.

Wedding. http://ping.fm/p/AlzPX

is wondering if the status is live

If the virtual personal network is the centre of everything, would President Obama be in your network?

Tour de France 2010

The 2010 Tour will be launched from the south side of Rotterdam, for a prologue time-trial. The launching pad will actually be set up in Zuidplein, from where the riders will move north.

The choice of Rotterdam, a vast urban centre with one million two hundred thousand inhabitants, is directly in keeping with the special start of the Tour in London in 2007. The proposed project – “Rotterdam and the Tour, a new energy” – seduced us. It fits into an overall policy that aims to an even bigger place for the bicycle in the city’s heart, while leaning on the popularity of the biggest cycling race in the world, the Tour de France. From the banks of the Thames to the biggest port in Europe: the same desire, the same will.

According to Christine Lagarde, France’s Finance Minister, the French government does not believe that taxing bank bonuses will cause traders and financial operations to leave Paris.

In an interview published by Le Figaro today, Mme Lagarde is quoted as saying that France will enact a law as early as the end of March levying a 50 percent tax on bonuses above €27,500,  regardless of whether they are paid in cash or shares; affecting some 2,500 bankers.