Obama to visit D-Day beaches on June 6: France

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Source: Reuters

PARIS - U.S. President Barack Obama will visit the World War Two D-Day beaches on June 6, a senior French official announced on Thursday, denying press suggestions of strained relations between Washington and Paris.

Obama is travelling to eastern France for a NATO summit next week and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had hoped to take advantage of the trip for a lengthy bilateral meeting with the newly installed U.S. leader.

The White House rejected a French suggestion to squeeze in a visit to the Normandy beaches ahead of the summit, but Sarkozy’s most senior aide said Obama had agreed to come back in June for the 65th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, D-Day landings.

‘This will allow for a longer conversation and a more ambitious bilateral visit,’ Claude Gueant, the secretary general in Sarkozy’s Elysee Palace, told France 24 television.

Read more: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2009/March/international_March2114.xml§ion=international

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1. Mrs. Obama in Paris.. bet those are going to be some great pics, esp. in June.