France

The meeting between Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and European Parliament President martin Schulz is underway in Brussels on the sidelines of the 2-day EU Summit that starts Thursday.

'Submission' by Michel Houellebecq (Picador, 256 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

France's new consul general to Istanbul, Bertrand Buchwalter, lived twice in Turkey before being appointed to his last post. He came to Ankara to live for the first time as a young boy, only to come back to the city as a young diplomat.

Married to a Turkish wife, Buchwalter speaks fluent Turkish.

The lower chamber of the French Parliament voted to extend the state of emergency in France by 7 months - until July 15, 2017, reported BNR.

Increased security measures have been in force since November last year when jihadists killed 130 people in the centre of Paris.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is to suggest to European counterparts this week that the International Monetary Fund should be left out of the Greek program, sources have told Kathimerini.

While talks with Greece’s creditors on the second review of the bailout program have reached a critical phase, with the IMF embroiled in disagreements with both the its European partners and Greece, PM Alexis Tsipras is scheduled to depart for Brussels on Wednesday to take part in Thursday’s EU Summit.

Cristiano Ronaldo won his fourth Ballon d’Or title Monday, beating rival Lionel Messi for the title of best footballer in the world for 2016.

Workers at the Eiffel Tower concerned over an upcoming paint job at the famous landmark went on strike Tuesday, the third stoppage at the monument in six months.

The European Union has backed away from an October threat to impose sanctions on Russia over the bombing of Aleppo despite an intensification of Moscow's air campaign and accusations by France that the Kremlin is lying in peace talks.

In a strange turn of affairs, IMF chief Christine Lagarde will be taking time off her day job solving the world’s financial crises in order to solve a legal crisis of her own on Monday – a trial — in which she has been accused of negligence after the French state handed over $425 million to Bernard Tapie, a tycoon friend of the French president’s in 2008.