The 2013 Tour de France begins on the island of Corsica on June 29.

CNN: Wiggins withdraws from Giro d'Italia

Voters in France's Mediterranean island of Corsica narrowly rejected a plan for limited autonomy that had been put to a referendum.

ECONOMIST: America abroad

Mr Bonnet, who was sent to Corsica to rid the island of corruption and gangsterism, is being questioned about the firebombing of a restaurant last month.

BBC: News | Europe | French parliament debates Corsica scandal

The country's Constitutional Council, the equivalent of America's Supreme Court, has just ruled against a key part of his plan to devolve legislative power to the perpetually troubled island of Corsica.

ECONOMIST: France's Constitutional Council

Other important world stories saw the head of the Israeli secret service forced to resign after a bungled assassination attempt and the top bureaucrat in the French island of Corsica murdered by separatists.

BBC: click on a month

On February 7th gunmen in a street in Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, killed the prefect, Claude Erignac, the highest representative of the French state on the island, as he was on his way to a concert.

ECONOMIST: Corsica