Louis likes to call itself the gateway to the West.

FORBES: Yes, there is a pulse

French intelligence identified about 200 vehicles and thousands of men, mounting a two-pronged offensive - from Douentza in the east and from Lere in the west, near Mauritania - aimed at seizing the strategic city of Mopti, gateway to the Malian south.

BBC: France: How was it dragged into the Malian conflict?

"Our country is the gateway for this kind of drug-resistant malaria to spread west to Bangladesh and India, " Saw Lwin, from Burma's Health Ministry, told reporters in Thailand.

BBC: Can Asia save Africa from drug-resistant malaria?

If he is right, that could mean an Israeli strip of land, 20-30km in width, running west of the Jordan river, the Palestinians' main gateway to the Arab world.

ECONOMIST: Israel's security barrier