AFP - French President Jacques Chirac defended his eye-brow-raising exit from an EU summit session, accusing the French head of Europe's employer union of piquing French pride by daring to speak in English.

Reuters - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joked about declaring war on France on Friday and pretended to massage President Jacques Chirac, making light of a clash between their two countries over energy mergers. Leaving for the second day of European Union summit, Berlusconi told reporters: "There is no news, unless you journalists want us to declare war on France."

Reuters - French President Jacques Chirac walked out of a European Union summit briefly on Thursday when the French head of the EU's industry lobby addressed leaders of the bloc in English.

Reuters - French President Jacques Chirac briefly walked out of a European Union summit on Thursday when the French head of the EU's industry lobby addressed leaders of the bloc in English.

AP - The European Union on Wednesday banned 92, mostly African airlines from landing at European airports, declaring them unsafe by international standards. The ban applies to cargo and passenger carriers from Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and Liberia judged to have an "inadequate system for regulatory oversight" or insufficient safety standards.