"The eighth notes are not even, " Mr. Haas told her, emphasizing a core principle of French baroque playing in which the player gives unequal values to notes that look the same on the page.

WSJ: Restoration Hardware | By Heidi Waleson

Core menu items, such as French fries and the Whopper, have also been tweaked as part of the company's efforts to improve food quality.

MSN: Burger King hops on bacon bandwagon for dessert

In truth, French people have felt touched to their core by Depardieu's gesture.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

No 1930s French-style malaise gnaws at its core.

FORBES: An Inspiration and a Regret

But even Mr Sarkozy has proved a hard-core national protectionist when it comes to special pleading by French industry.

ECONOMIST: France

Its 26 renovated and enlarged galleries are reminiscent of those at the core of the museum devoted to the Renaissance and British and French paintings.

WSJ: American Idyll

Some Malian soldiers have since rallied to fight with the French, but the question is whether these can form the core of a reformed army, or whether "we move over and have the Africans in the lead rather than the reverse, " said the diplomat.

BBC: Mali conflict: Rewriting the UN's best made plans

Most of the French and German capital deficit should be remediable through selling shares to investors or selling non-core assets, without recourse to taxpayers.

BBC: Will propping up Italy weaken France?

The French, for their part, want to dress up the treaty as the beginning of a core euro zone, and to extend its scope beyond mere budgetary issues.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne