These two islands are a Gallic aberration in North America, an honest-to-goodness French department in the Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland, where you pay with euros and connect your calls through French telecom services, but with a bit of Canadian bonhomie thrown in.

BBC: Living in: Remote islands

The department has just designated broad swaths of the mid-Atlantic and Southwest as regions where more power lines are critically needed in order to avoid more blackouts.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The report says the Venezuelan Army Corps of Engineers is now studying construction of a highway between Puerto Cabezas in the Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and Rio Blanco in the central department of Matagalpa, also to be integrated into the network linking to the Dry Canal.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Tehran threat in the US�� backyard

Campaign group A Human Right, which is supported by the UN, has called on the Department for International Development to contribute a substantial amount to the engineering costs of connecting the island to the South Atlantic Express, a new superfast fibre optic cable being laid by South African firm eFive.

BBC: Technology

Only once it's determined that any Atlantic sea creatures 50 miles offshore can withstand the racket of a few drilling rigs will the department even consider scheduling a lease sale.

FORBES: In Texas parlance, it's a classic case of all hat, no cattle.