Weird but true, France is being threatened with a €17 million penalty if it doesn’t clean up its act and come up with a strategy to save the European hamster, one of the continent’s most threatened species Last week the European Commission, the executive branch of the 27-member European Union, gave France a two-month deadline or else it would have to cough up the whopping fine for failing to comply with the Habitats Directive (yes we’re in Eurobabbleland here) to prevent the rodent’s extinction

The French have rather an appropriate expression for a football game that ends in a draw – “match nul” And that just about sums up the general sentiment after France’s opening 0-0 non-thriller against Romania at Euro 2008

One of France’s top news anchors, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, will bid farewell to viewers this summer and be replaced by the darling of the French media, Laurence Ferrari PPDA as he is more affectionately known has been a familiar face on prime time news for more than three decades

It’s just what France (and the world) has been waiting for – the real story behind the marriage of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his third wife Carla And that’s exactly what it’s going to get on Thursday – apparently – with the release of a new book “La Véritable Histoire de Carla et Nicolas”

The French justice minister, Rachida Dati, has once again shown that she has a less than a firm grasp of her job by doing a complete volte face in a case that has been making the headlines here in France over the past week On Monday Dati asked the public prosecutors office to appeal a court ruling, which had annulled a marriage because the wife had lied about being a virgin

It’s about 450kms from Paris to Lyon (or Lyons if your prefer in English) but forget about the four-and-a-half hour drive and instead save money, time and the environment by taking the high-speed TGV train service After all, the journey time is just under two hours

She might have been absent from national politics for the past eight years, but now a one-time leading light of the Socialist party, Martine Aubry, appears to be back in favour Aubry is being touted – not least by herself – as a figure behind which activists could unite in the tussle for the leadership of the party due in November

The French capital is to get just what it needs to set it apart from the rest of the globe’s major cities - a new 300-metre skyscraper set to challenge the world-famous Eiffel tower’s domination of the city’s skyline France’s very own Jean Nouvel fought off competition from four other world class architects to be awarded the commission to construct the new Signal tower

What a start to the day for the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy He was up and about before dawned cracked rubbing shoulders and pressing flesh with the hoi polloi at Rungis, France’s largest wholesale food and flower market just south of Paris

For the first time in 21 years a French film has scooped top honours for best movie at the Cannes film festival “Entre les murs” (The Class) directed by Laurent Cantet won the coveted Palme d’Or on a unanimous decision by the jury